U2 guitarist The Edge becomes Irish citizen – after 62 years in the country
The 63-year-old British subject was conferred with Irish citizenship on Monday, 62 years after moving to Ireland in a step he said was 'long overdue'.
U2 may be a symbol of Ireland, and The Edge's woolly caps may verge on national treasure status, but David Howell Evans had not been a citizen until now.
'I'm a little tardy with the paperwork,' he told reporters after a conferring ceremony in Killarney, County Kerry. 'I've been living in Ireland now since I was one year old. But the time is right. And I couldn't be more proud of my country for all that it represents and all that it is doing.'
Evans was born in England to Welsh parents but has considered himself Irish – and Ireland his home – since he was a toddler.
He formed U2 in 1976 with three Dublin classmates – Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton – and went on to record Sunday Bloody Sunday and other songs that became Irish anthems.
Evans, however, never got around to applying for citizenship. 'Honestly, there were many moments in the past when I could have done it with just the form to be filled out but I'm happy it's now, it feels more significant,' he said.
Wearing an Irish tricolour clip, Evans swore an oath of loyalty and fidelity to the Irish state with hundreds of other newly created citizens in the Gleneagle arena – one of several back-to-back ceremonies that will confer citizenship on 7,500 people on Monday and Tuesday.
He said the ceremony had been very moving and especially significant for him because of Ireland's support for multilateral organisations, such as the international criminal court and the UN, and for 'speaking truth to power'.
'I have always felt Irish, Ireland will always be home to me and I'm so grateful for that,' he said. Ireland was showing real leadership in the world, he said. 'It couldn't come at a better moment for me so I am just so happy to be at this point, to be in even deeper connection with my homeland.'
Critics of U2 say the band's tax arrangements, which route some income not generated in Ireland overseas, undermine its commitment to the country.
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The 7,500 applicants at the Kerry ceremonies come from more than 143 countries, with the biggest number from Indiawith 1,888, followed by Brazil with 817, the UK 516, the Philippines 480, Romania 470, and Poland 396. They include shop assistants, meat plant workers and financiers.
The minister for justice, home affairs and migration, Jim O'Callaghan, said the ceremonies were milestones that would connect the new citizens to their adopted homeland. He said: 'It is a great privilege to become a citizen of this country and obviously with it comes responsibilities and duties, and I think everyone who is taking on citizenship will be aware of that.'
His comments came amid a growing backlash against immigration in the US and Europe, including Ireland and Northern Ireland. Thousands of protesters attended a rally in central Dublin on Sunday, some holding banners saying 'Ireland is full', others with caps saying 'Make Ireland Great Again'.
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The Independent
30 minutes ago
- The Independent
Plot targeting Miami Showband would have impacted Irish everywhere
A loyalist plot to paint the Miami Showband as transporting explosives would have impacted Irish people across the world, a survivor of the atrocity has said. Stephen Travers said he is not only relieved to have survived the atrocity, but also that the plot did not succeed. Mr Travers, along with fellow bandmate and survivor Des Lee, revisited the roadside close to Newry where they had come under attack 50 years ago for a commemoration on Thursday. The band's minibus had been stopped by loyalist terrorists operating a fake army checkpoint as they drove to Dublin following a gig in Banbridge on July 31, 1975. They were ordered out of the bus, and an attempt was made to place a bomb on board, but that device exploded prematurely and killed two of the attackers. Gunmen then opened fire on the band members, killing singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy. Mr Travers said the sight he saw on the road was 'horrendous', and that watching current scenes from Gaza makes him feel guilty as he made a plea for the violence to stop. He said he had mixed emotions being back at the site 50 years later. 'I remember when the killing and the shooting and the screaming all stopped and we were fairly certain they had gone away, and Des managed to get up on to the road, I remember looking up at the sky, there was a half-moon, and thinking to myself, what has just happened here,' he said. 'We were under the impression for a while that we were caught in some sort of cross-fire, but over the years we have discovered it was a plan that was in operation, we believe, for two years. 'When I consider the awful things that I saw, I was here for almost an hour crawling around between the bodies of our lads and the body parts of the unfortunate men who blew themselves up. Those memories will stay with me forever. 'The simple plan was to frame us. Had this operation gone successfully, had we been framed as terrorists, our families would have been destroyed.' He referred to the Maguire Seven, who were falsely accused of handling explosives in connection with the Guildford pub bombings in 1974 and whose names were not cleared until their convictions were quashed in 1991. 'I'm sure lots of you saw Fran's (O'Toole) father when he tried to follow his son into the grave in various clips on the television – can you just imagine bringing that man into a police station and questioning him as to what he knew about his terrorist son,' Mr Travers said. 'This is the tragedy. It's not just us that this thing was aimed at – it was a brilliant plan, had it worked. Every single Irish passport holder across the world would have been suspect and dragged into this. had it worked. 'So today when I'm asked how I feel about this, it is of mixed emotion, one is of great relief that I'm alive, and that Des is alive after 50 years, but there is another relief that the Irish people were saved the ignominy of being dragged into police stations whether they were crossing the border of Germany into Switzerland, or whether they were crossing from Canada into America.'
Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
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BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Legacy of Miami Showband ‘is more than music, it is bringing people together'
The legacy of the Miami Showband is about more than just music, it is bringing people together, a survivor of the loyalist ambush which targeted its members has said. Singer Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy were shot dead on a roadside close to Newry on July 31st 1975 after having been pulled over at a bogus security forces checkpoint. Advertisement Two of the loyalist terrorists from the Ulster Volunteer Force were also killed in the incident, when a bomb they placed on the bus exploded prematurely. Survivors Des Lee and Stephen Travers were among those who gathered at the roadside where the atrocity happened on Thursday to remember their bandmates. It was the first of a series of events, including in Newry and Dublin, being held on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary. Mr Travers said 50 years of tears have dried up and they want to tell the whole world of the legacy of the Miami Showband. Advertisement 'It's far more than a band at this stage because bands come and go, and music comes and goes, and styles change, and if you were to ask anybody under 50 years of age to name all of the members of the Rolling Stones, I'm sure they'd have a problem,' he said. 'These things come and go, but the legacy of the Miami Showband is one that I am enormously proud of, and it is simply this: when people came to see us, whether they were Catholic, Protestant, Unionist, Nationalist, they left sectarianism outside the door of the dance hall and they saw each other as human beings, and they danced with each other, and sometimes they even fell in love.' Father Brian D'Arcy opened the commemoration at the site on the Buskhill Road, hailing the survivors as 'proving that music and goodness survives'. 'That's what we're celebrating today, the survival of good, music and peace, and joy and bravery,' he said, adding a prayer for peaceful rest to all who died at the spot. Advertisement All those gathered said the Lord's Prayer together, before the hymn Abide With Me was played. First Minister Michelle O'Neill did not attend the event, but in a message said she could not be there but described a 'deeply traumatic event for everyone, and remains a painful reminder of our troubled past'. 'I commend you all for your commitment to remembering your friends by celebrating their lives and the joy of music they brought to so many in their tragically short lives, I truly hope that while never forgetting the pain of the past we continue to move forward as a society towards a peaceful, inclusive and better future for all of our people,' she said. Earlier, Mr Lee said he remembers 'every single thing in the finest detail' from the atrocity in 1975. Advertisement 'It was the most horrendous scene I have ever seen in my life, when I got up off the grass and I had to make a run up that embankment to get help. 'When I got onto the main road, it was the worst sight anyone could ever imagine,' he told the BBC Radio Ulster. 'They were my brothers, you know, three of my brothers.' While there has been criticism of a loyalist band parade planned to take place in Portadown on Saturday to remember one of the attackers, Mr Lee said he has 'no problem with that whatsoever'. Advertisement 'They are entitled to commemorate their dead as much as we are entitled to commemorate ours,' he said. He was, however, critical of the UK government over its handling of the past, saying he feels they are doing a 'dreadful job'. 'They're trying to push all the families under the carpet and hope that it all goes away, and as long as I'm alive, I will fight for Fran, Brian and Tony,' he said. Mr Lee said he expected the anniversary will be an 'extremely difficult day'. 'My whole philosophy in life now is forgive and forget and move on,' he said. 'I don't hold any grudge. What happened to my friends was appalling but I don't want to live for the rest of my life living in the past. 'But there's one thing we must never forget: Fran O'Toole, Brian McCoy and Tony Geraghty.' He described their only weapons as having been instruments to entertain audiences 'during that awful time' in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Ireland Miami Showband attack was 'worst sight anyone coul... Read More 'Fran had a microphone, Brian had a trumpet, and Tony had a guitar. That was the weapons that they had during that awful time in Northern Ireland, bringing two hours of peace and joy and happiness and dance and love and kindness and everything that went with it,' he said. 'That was our job to entertain those people for two hours, no matter what religion, no matter what creed. 'We were a band that were mixed, and we had never any problems regarding religion or anything. Our job was to entertain people, and that's what we did.'
