Latest news with #Smyth
The Journal
a day ago
- Business
- The Journal
Politicians ask questions about services and the Occupied Territories Bill but get few answers
POLITICIANS QUIZZED OFFICIALS from the Department of Foreign Affairs today about the government's draft bill to ban goods from Israeli settlements, but the pending legal advice from the Attorney General regarding the inclusion of services hung over much of the discussions. The Department's political director Gerard Keown and legal advisor Declan Smyth appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and fielded questions from TDs and Senators looking for clarity on the bill and what it entails. But it was an area not covered by the draft legislation that featured most often in the queries put to the two civil servants. Most questions related to the decision not to include services alongside goods in the bill, but politicians made little ground on the topic as Smyth repeatedly said he would not pre-empt advice from the Attorney General (AG), which both he and Keown said would be delivered to the Department 'as soon as possible'. Numerous members of the Committee requested that the two officials pass the message onto the Department and the AG that time was of the essence, while also noting that the advice would be needed to inform their work on pre-legislative scrutiny. Fianna Fáil TD Shay Brennan was one of the members who raised concerns about the 'tight timeline'. He said that waiting on the AG advice was 'not going to work' while Sinn Féin's Donnachach Ó Laoghaire was also critical of the fact that the Committee was considering the bill without it. Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl also described the situation as 'very frustrating'. 'The attorney is very well aware of the time pressures and of the political priority attached to this bill,' Smyth said. The AG already provided legal advice about the inclusion of services in the original draft of the Occupied Territories Bill, but Smyth said that because the government is moving ahead with its own version, new advice had been sought. Advertisement The reason why services were not included in this new bill was that there is a regulation at EU level that allows member states to make unilateral decisions on the importation of goods from outside the single market, but there is no corresponding one for services. This, he said, had led to a 'two-track approach' whereby the government is seeking to deal with goods as an individual state and services through diplomacy at the EU level. US pressure One question asked by Shay Brennan concerned pressure applied by other countries in response to the government's plans to pass the original Occupied Territories Bill. Keown said that there was 'contact at official level' from the US government when Joe Biden was president, but he also noted that Tánaiste Simon Harris recently said there has been no such correspondence with the current administration. Later in the hearing, Senator Garret Ahern asked Keown if that correspondence could be provided to the Committee. 'I'll have to take that back to the Tánaiste,' Keown replied. The Ditch reported last year that the US ambassador at the time, Claire Cronin, had emailed government leaders expressing concern about the bill's impact on US companies and warning of 'consequences' if the bill was passed as it was. A few days later, then-Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he was 'not surprised' that the US had concerns. Keown also told the Committee today that the Department is currently analysing the potential economic consequences for Ireland if the bill passes. This, he said, is because there are a number of states who do not agree with Ireland on the issue. He also told the Committee that a number of EU member states and countries outside the bloc have been in touch to ask questions about the proposed legislation. Keown said the hope is that other countries follow Ireland's lead and adopt similar legislation. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Wales Online
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
John McEnroe's rockstar wife's 'split' admission and golden relationship rules
John McEnroe's rockstar wife's 'split' admission and golden relationship rules John McEnroe and Patty Smyth have been a couple for almost 35 years, yet the pair once revealed the one thing that could have torn them apart John McEnroe and Patty Smyth have opened up on how to have a long and happy marriage (Image: Getty ) US tennis hero John McEnroe and his rockstar wife Patty Smyth once candidly shared the potential deal-breaker in their long-standing marriage. The couple, who have been together for nearly 35 years, faced a moment that could have ended it all when they considered joining a reality TV show. Smyth, who rose to fame with the band Scandal, believes that maintaining a low profile with the former tennis icon is the secret to their enduring relationship. Speaking to People in 2020, Smyth revealed how discussions about participating in a reality series nearly two decades ago ultimately fell through due to her concerns about the impact on their union. "For me, it was a superstition thing," Smyth said. "I didn't want to be like, 'Hey, look at us, we're this happy couple.' I just thought if I kept it on the down-low, I had this gut feeling that we would stay together - if I threw it out to the world, that we wouldn't - because I've seen that happen so many times. That [reality show] probably would have broken us up, I bet you." McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon champion and BBC commentator, first encountered the Grammy-nominated artist in 1993, leading to their nuptials in 1997. Smyth emphasised that she followed her "instincts" when she met the famously forthright McEnroe, despite her previous marriage to musician Richard Hell between 1985-86, reports the Express. Article continues below McEnroe meanwhile, was formerly married to Oscar-winning star Tatum O'Neal from 1986 until 1994. McEnroe and Smyth have two children together, and Smyth is thankful for the marriage, claiming it's a relationship that's still bearing fruit decades later. McEnroe and Smyth married in 1997 (Image: Getty ) Reflecting on their history in 2020, Smyth said, "Twenty-something years later, I'm like 'Wow', I still have these feelings when I see him. Never did I think that I would ever be with somebody for this long. ... I think we got very lucky." Yet, always one to inject humour, McEnroe playfully added that there's another crucial element for their enduring bond, "You're forgetting the most obvious one," he quipped in the interview, which led Smyth to divulge their other secret: "Sex. You've got to keep the sex going." McEnroe's storied career boasts seven Grand Slam victories and a total of 77 singles titles. This was paralleled by a reputation for an outspoken persona on and off the court. In a revealing interview back in 2018, McEnroe shared insights into his mindset before meeting Smyth, initially resistant to commitment. Article continues below "I was 35 years old when we started to go out and at that time I thought I don't want anymore kids, I don't want to have another marriage," he said. "I just want to go out with some young girls who don't want to do anything but have a good time, and then Patty came along. It gave me a second lease on life and she doesn't get thanked enough. "[Smyth] has allowed me to do my thing. She makes me more whole and a better person. I like to think we work as a team and we've made each other better, the sum of the two of us is better than individual parts."
Yomiuri Shimbun
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
On Ireland's Peat Bogs, Climate Action Clashes with Tradition
CLONBULLOGUE, Ireland (Reuters) — As wind turbines on the horizon churn out clean energy, John Smyth bends to stack damp peat — the cheap, smoky fuel he has harvested for half a century. The painstaking work of 'footing turf,' as the process of drying peat for burning is known, is valued by people across rural Ireland as a source of low-cost energy that gives their homes a distinctive smell. But peat-harvesting has also destroyed precious wildlife habitats, and converted what should be natural stores for carbon dioxide into one of Ireland's biggest emitters of planet-warming gases. As the European Union seeks to make Dublin enforce the bloc's environmental law, peat has become a focus for opposition to policies that Smyth and others criticize as designed by wealthy urbanites with little knowledge of rural reality. 'The people that are coming up with plans to stop people from buying turf or from burning turf … They don't know what it's like to live in rural Ireland,' Smyth said. He describes himself as a dinosaur obstructing people that, he says, want to destroy rural Ireland. 'That's what we are. Dinosaurs. Tormenting them.' When the peat has dried, Smyth keeps his annual stock in a shed and tosses the sods, one at a time, into a metal stove used for cooking. The stove also heats radiators around his home. Turf, Smyth says, is for people who cannot afford what he labels 'extravagant fuels,' such as gas or electricity. The average Irish household energy bill is almost double, according to Ireland's utility regulator, the €800 ($906) Smyth pays for turf for a year. Smyth nevertheless acknowledges digging for peat could cease, regardless of politics, as the younger generation has little interest in keeping the tradition alive. 'They don't want to go to the bog. I don't blame them,' Smyth said. Turbary rights Peat has an ancient history. Over thousands of years, decaying plants in wetland areas formed the bogs. In drier, lowland parts of Ireland, dome-shaped raised bogs developed as peat accumulated in former glacial lakes. In upland and coastal areas, high rainfall and poor drainage created blanket bogs over large expanses. In the absence of coal and extensive forests, peat became an important source of fuel. By the second half of the 20th century, hand-cutting and drying had mostly given way to industrial-scale harvesting that reduced many bogs to barren wastelands. Ireland has lost over 70% of its blanket bog and over 80% of its raised bogs, according to estimates published by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and National Parks and Wildlife Service, respectively. Following pressure from environmentalists, in the 1990s, an EU directive on habitats listed blanket bogs and raised bogs as priority habitats. As the EU regulation added to the pressure for change, in 2015, semi-state peat harvesting firm Bord na Mona said it planned to end peat extraction and shift to renewable energy. In 2022, the sale of peat for burning was banned. An exception was made, however, for 'turbary rights,' allowing people to dig turf for their personal use. Added to that, weak enforcement of complex regulations meant commercial-scale harvesting has continued across the country. Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency last year reported 38 large-scale illegal cutting sites, which it reported to local authorities responsible for preventing breaches of the regulation. The agency also said 350,000 tons of peat were exported, mostly for horticulture, in 2023. Data for 2024 has not yet been published. Green vision Pippa Hackett, a former Green Party junior minister for agriculture, who runs a farm near to where Smyth lives, said progress was too slow. 'I don't think it's likely that we'll see much action between now and the end of this decade,' Hackett said. Her party's efforts to ensure bogs were restored drew aggression from activists in some turf-cutting areas, she said. 'They see us as their archenemy,' she added. In an election last year, the party lost nine of the 10 seats it had in parliament and was replaced as the third leg of the center-right coalition government by a group of mainly rural independent members of parliament. The European Commission, which lists over 100 Irish bogs as Special Areas of Conservation, last year referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to protect them and taking insufficient action to restore the sites. The country also faces fines of billions of euros if it misses its 2030 carbon reduction target, according to Ireland's fiscal watchdog and climate groups. Degraded peatlands in Ireland emit 21.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year, according to a 2022 United Nations report. Ireland's transport sector, by comparison, emitted 21.4 million tons in 2023, government statistics show. The Irish government says turf-cutting has ended on almost 80% of the raised bog special areas of conservation since 2011. It has tasked Bord na Mona with 'rewetting' the bogs, allowing natural ecosystems to recover and eventually making the bogs once again carbon sinks. So far, Bord na Mona says it has restored around 20,000 hectares of its 80,000 hectare target. On many bogs, scientists monitoring emissions have replaced the peat harvesters, while operators of mechanical diggers carve out the most damaged areas to be filled with water. Bord na Mona is also using the land to generate renewable energy, including wind and solar. Mark McCorry, ecology manager at Bord na Mona, said eventually the bogs would resume their status as carbon sinks. 'But we have to be realistic; that is going to take a long time,' he said.
South Wales Guardian
6 days ago
- South Wales Guardian
Review that led me to resign as archbishop was partly ‘wrong', says Welby
The former archbishop resigned in November last year and stepped down officially in early January after an independent review by Keith Makin concluded he had not done enough to deal with allegations of abuse by Christian camp leader Smyth. The report said Smyth 'could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013'. During an interview which took place at the Cambridge Union in May, Mr Welby denied having learned the full extent of Smyth's abuse until 2017. 'Makin is wrong in that,' Mr Welby said during the event. 'Not deliberately, but he didn't see a bit of evidence that subsequently came out after his report and after my resignation. 'The bit of evidence was his emails from Lambeth to Ely and from Ely letters to South Africa, where Smyth was living, and letters to the police in which the reporting was fully given to the police, and the police asked the church not to carry out its own investigations because it would interfere with theirs. 'Now I had checked, and I was told the police had been informed.' Over five decades between the 1970s until his death, John Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was 'never brought to justice for the abuse', the Makin Review said. Asked at the event why he did not report John Smyth in 2013 when he first heard of allegations made against him, Mr Welby said: 'First of all, I first knew of John Smyth's abuse in 2013 at the beginning of August, when one person in Cambridge disclosed to the diocesan safeguarding advisor that they had been abused. 'A few days later, I had a report through my chaplain who had been rung up from the Diocese of Ely, which Cambridge is in, saying … there was an allegation of abuse by one person. 'I didn't know the full details of the abuse until 2017 – that is clearly in the report … 'And it wasn't until about 2021, in a meeting with Keith Makin, that I discovered there were more than 100 people who had been physically abused. 'I disagree with the report on that … it's not truth. 'Secondly, I certainly didn't know about anything in Zimbabwe for the same period, and that emerged steadily as well.' Mr Welby added that, in 2013, he only knew of one person alleging they had been abused by Smyth, and that he was in the midst of dealing with other prominent cases of sexual abuse within the Church. Mr Welby said: 'I was dealing at the time with Peter Ball, the bishop of Gloucester, where we knew there were at least 30 victims, and he was going to prison, obviously, and one of those victims had committed suicide. 'That was among many cases that were coming out, and they were obviously getting my attention. 'I was focusing my attention on making sure it didn't happen again. 'I don't apologise for that. 'The worst of all possible things would have been to say, we're not going to change the system sufficiently to reduce the chances of such appalling events with such lifelong damage to survivors happening again.' The former archbishop, however, acknowledged he was 'insufficiently persistent' in bringing Smyth to justice while he was still alive – which ultimately compelled him to step down from his role as archbishop of Canterbury. Mr Welby also said he was seeing a psychotherapist with whom he has been discussing the time of his resignation, which he described as 'one of the loneliest moments I've ever had'. Asked about what he would have done differently, Mr Welby replied: 'I have thought a great deal about that. 'One must be very careful about making it sound as though it was all about me. It's really not. 'There will be people here who've been abused, who are the victims of abuse, sexual abuse, or physical abuse, emotional abuse, and I've been very open that I'm one of them, so I'm aware of what it means. 'There were two reasons it was right to resign. 'One was, although I thought I had done at the time everything I should have done, I hadn't. 'It had been reported to the police, the first signs of the abuse … and it was reported to Cambridgeshire Police and then to Hampshire Police, where he (Smyth) lived at the time. 'But I was insufficiently persistent and curious to follow up and check and check and check that action was being taken. 'And I felt that that had re-traumatised the survivors.' Mr Welby added: 'The other point was shame, because in my role, it wasn't only the Smyth case (in) the whole time I've been in post as archbishop for 12 years. 'There were more and more cases (that) emerged, very few from the present day, but going right back to the 60s and the 70s – 50, 60 years. 'And I'm sure we have not uncovered all of them, and I'm sure it goes further back than that. 'And there's one area the psychotherapist I have been seeing has helped me understand better, is: one develops an idealisation of an organisation, particularly the Church, and the sense of its failure made me feel that the only proper thing to do was to take responsibility as the current head of that organisation. 'It's one of the loneliest moments I've ever had, the reverberations of that I still feel. 'But I can persuade myself I could have done other things. I could have taken on the interviewers more strongly.' The process to replace Mr Welby is under way. It is expected there could be an announcement on a nomination for the 106th archbishop of Canterbury by autumn – a year after Mr Welby announced he was standing down.
Powys County Times
6 days ago
- Powys County Times
Review that led me to resign as archbishop was partly ‘wrong', says Welby
The former archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said the review that led to him resigning was 'wrong' in stating he could have reported prolific abuser John Smyth earlier. The former archbishop resigned in November last year and stepped down officially in early January after an independent review by Keith Makin concluded he had not done enough to deal with allegations of abuse by Christian camp leader Smyth. The report said Smyth 'could and should have been formally reported to the police in the UK, and to authorities in South Africa (church authorities and potentially the police) by church officers, including a diocesan bishop and Justin Welby in 2013'. During an interview which took place at the Cambridge Union in May, Mr Welby denied having learned the full extent of Smyth's abuse until 2017. 'Makin is wrong in that,' Mr Welby said during the event. 'Not deliberately, but he didn't see a bit of evidence that subsequently came out after his report and after my resignation. 'The bit of evidence was his emails from Lambeth to Ely and from Ely letters to South Africa, where Smyth was living, and letters to the police in which the reporting was fully given to the police, and the police asked the church not to carry out its own investigations because it would interfere with theirs. 'Now I had checked, and I was told the police had been informed.' Over five decades between the 1970s until his death, John Smyth is said to have subjected as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK and Africa to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently marking their lives. Smyth died aged 75 in Cape Town in 2018 while under investigation by Hampshire Police, and was 'never brought to justice for the abuse', the Makin Review said. Asked at the event why he did not report John Smyth in 2013 when he first heard of allegations made against him, Mr Welby said: 'First of all, I first knew of John Smyth's abuse in 2013 at the beginning of August, when one person in Cambridge disclosed to the diocesan safeguarding advisor that they had been abused. 'A few days later, I had a report through my chaplain who had been rung up from the Diocese of Ely, which Cambridge is in, saying … there was an allegation of abuse by one person. 'I didn't know the full details of the abuse until 2017 – that is clearly in the report … 'And it wasn't until about 2021, in a meeting with Keith Makin, that I discovered there were more than 100 people who had been physically abused. 'I disagree with the report on that … it's not truth. 'Secondly, I certainly didn't know about anything in Zimbabwe for the same period, and that emerged steadily as well.' Mr Welby added that, in 2013, he only knew of one person alleging they had been abused by Smyth, and that he was in the midst of dealing with other prominent cases of sexual abuse within the Church. Mr Welby said: 'I was dealing at the time with Peter Ball, the bishop of Gloucester, where we knew there were at least 30 victims, and he was going to prison, obviously, and one of those victims had committed suicide. 'That was among many cases that were coming out, and they were obviously getting my attention. 'I was focusing my attention on making sure it didn't happen again. 'I don't apologise for that. 'The worst of all possible things would have been to say, we're not going to change the system sufficiently to reduce the chances of such appalling events with such lifelong damage to survivors happening again.' The former archbishop, however, acknowledged he was 'insufficiently persistent' in bringing Smyth to justice while he was still alive – which ultimately compelled him to step down from his role as archbishop of Canterbury. Mr Welby also said he was seeing a psychotherapist with whom he has been discussing the time of his resignation, which he described as 'one of the loneliest moments I've ever had'. Asked about what he would have done differently, Mr Welby replied: 'I have thought a great deal about that. 'One must be very careful about making it sound as though it was all about me. It's really not. 'There will be people here who've been abused, who are the victims of abuse, sexual abuse, or physical abuse, emotional abuse, and I've been very open that I'm one of them, so I'm aware of what it means. 'There were two reasons it was right to resign. 'One was, although I thought I had done at the time everything I should have done, I hadn't. 'It had been reported to the police, the first signs of the abuse … and it was reported to Cambridgeshire Police and then to Hampshire Police, where he (Smyth) lived at the time. 'But I was insufficiently persistent and curious to follow up and check and check and check that action was being taken. 'And I felt that that had re-traumatised the survivors.' Mr Welby added: 'The other point was shame, because in my role, it wasn't only the Smyth case (in) the whole time I've been in post as archbishop for 12 years. 'There were more and more cases (that) emerged, very few from the present day, but going right back to the 60s and the 70s – 50, 60 years. 'And I'm sure we have not uncovered all of them, and I'm sure it goes further back than that. 'And there's one area the psychotherapist I have been seeing has helped me understand better, is: one develops an idealisation of an organisation, particularly the Church, and the sense of its failure made me feel that the only proper thing to do was to take responsibility as the current head of that organisation. 'It's one of the loneliest moments I've ever had, the reverberations of that I still feel. 'But I can persuade myself I could have done other things. I could have taken on the interviewers more strongly.' The process to replace Mr Welby is under way.
