2 | January 31, 2015 The Irish Post

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NEWS 2-9 COMMENT &OPINION 12-14 RÍ-RÁ 15-26 SPORT 33-40Joe Horgan — Prejudice against gay people in Ireland is still widespread Page 12

Rae of light – Rising star Rae Morris on her Irish roots and the inspiration of the Lake DistrictPages 20-21

How can we judge Roy Keane when we don’t even know him?Page 34

Britain to benefi t most from historic army link-up with IrelandPages 4-5

Plumber helps ex-pats return homePage 7

Irish PostTHE

BY FIONA AUDLEY

BEING a member of terrorist organisations such as the IRA or Al-Qa’ida would not be a crime under the Green Party, the group’s leader has con-fi rmed.

As the Government pub-lished its latest list of ‘Pro-scribed Terrorist Organisa-tions’ – which includes 65 international groups, featur-ing the likes of Al-Qa’ida, Is-lamic State and Boko Haram, and 14 linked to terrorism in the North of Ireland – Green Party leader Natalie Bennett defended the party’s position on supporters of such groups.

“What we want to do is make sure we are not punish-ing people for what they think or believe,” Bennett claimed over the weekend, while a guest on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.

“Obviously actions of incit-ing violence, supporting vio-lence, those are absolutely un-acceptable, illegal and should be pursued to the full extent of the law,” she added.

“What we are talking about is a principle that you shouldn’t be punished for what you think. And we need to balance – we do not protect freedom by destroying it.”

Current Green Party policy claims belonging to or having sympathy with the aims of a terrorist organisation should not be a crime.

Organisations currently ‘proscribed’ by the Home Sec-retary are deemed to ‘commit or participate in acts of terror-ism’, ‘prepare for terrorism’, ‘promote or encourage terror-ism’ or be ‘otherwise involved in terrorism’.

Proscription makes it an of-fence to ‘belong or profess to belong’ to a proscribed group in Britain or overseas, to ‘in-vite support for a proscribed organisation’, to ‘arrange, manage or assist’ a meeting in support of such an organisa-tion or ‘wear clothing or dis-play articles’ that suggest that you are a member or support-er of a proscribed group.

Released on Friday (Janu-ary 23) the Home Offi ce’s list of proscribed organisations includes the following groups related to the North of Ire-land: Continuity Army Coun-cil, Cumann na mBan, Fianna na hÉireann, Irish National Liberation Army, Irish Peo-ple’s Liberation Organisation, Irish Republican Army, Loyal-ist Volunteer Force, Orange Volunteers, Red Hand Com-mando, Red Hand Defenders, Saor Éire, Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Freedom Fighters and the Ulster Volunteer Force.

A Green outlook on terror

IRISH ARE LEADING THE WAY WITH INNOVATIVE NEW APPROACH TO PASSPORTSBY JAMES MULHALL

IRELAND has become the fi rst country to launch a card to complement the traditional passport.

The new passport card, which will be available from mid-July, will allow Irish people to fl y between European Union countries without the need for their traditional passport book.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan launched the new ven-ture on Monday.

A new app, which enables people to apply for one of the new cards, was also launched.

“Those travelling within the EU and EEA will also be able to use the passport card and frequent travellers will fi nd this particularly useful if their passport booklet is with an embassy as part of a visa application process,” said Minister Flanagan.

The supplementary card – which will be valid for fi ve years - will cost €35, in ad-dition to the €80 standard fee for a regular passport.

The card is only available to those who already have an Irish passport and are over 18.

“It will be particularly useful for young people who use their passport booklet as identifi ca-tion, especially on nights out,” the Minister added. “As a father, I have often felt concern about the impracticality of the passport booklet as a means of identifi ca-tion for young people on nights out and this new card will be a far more practical option.”

80 standard fee for a

The card is only available to those who already have an Irish

“It will be particularly useful for young people who use their passport booklet as identifi ca-tion, especially on nights out,” the Minister added. “As a father, I have often felt concern about the impracticality of the passport booklet as a means of identifi ca-

IRISH ARE LEADING THE WAY WITH INNOVATIVE NEW APPROACH TO PASSPORTS

BREAKING NEW GROUND: The new passport card will be especially benefi cial to young people

BY NEMESHA BALASUNDARAM

THE IRISH Government has confi rmed its commitment to nurturing more home-grown talent, following the publication of a global labour competitive-ness study that ranked Ireland 10th out of more than 90 countries.

The international study found that a lack of investment in appren-ticeships and other forms of “on-the-job” training created obstacles to labour fl exibility in Ireland, who are placed behind Britain (seventh), the US, Denmark and Luxembourg.

Ireland had however, risen eight places from the 2013 fi ndings – the same year that the then Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn announced an independent review of apprenticeship training in Ireland.

Some of the recommendations from that review – which are expected to be legislated for – included extending apprenticeships to a minimum of two years, with half of that time being spent on the

job as well as widening the number of industries to which apprentices can contribute.

“Ireland’s ranking in the top 10 highlights the country’s strong performance in many key areas of labour competitiveness,” a Govern-ment spokesperson told The Irish Post.

“The Government is taking ambi-tious steps as regards apprentice-ships, acknowledging that in the past this important labour market intervention was not given the pri-ority it deserves.”

The Global Talent Competitive-ness Index 2014, by business school INSEAD and recruitment group Adecco, surveyed the labour market patterns of 93 countries.

The research found Ireland per-formed strongly in attracting inter-national talent, but failed to nurture young “home-grown” talent.

It also highlighted the need for more Government investment in second-level education.

In a nod to the value of support-ing the next generation, the Irish International Business Network

(IIBN) in Britain launched its Future Leaders Programme in 2014.

It offers young professionals valuable experience via a network of mentors who have already achieved success in Britain.

Mentor and former IIBN Co-Chair Andy Rogers believes many young workers turn to Britain for opportunities not available back home.

“People left Ireland because there hasn’t been the range of indigenous jobs in the Irish economy that we would prefer to have, we have a lot of multi-nationals,” he said.

“A huge effort is now going into the creation of indigenous businesses in Ireland. All across the country there are local enterprise teams that are organising and helping those small businesses to get off the ground.”

Speaking about the IIBN’s men-toring initiative, Mr Rogers added: “There are 25 people currently in the Future Leaders Programme. The hope is that a number of them will want to go back to Ireland in due course and create businesses.”REVIEW: Former Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn

Continued from page 1

“The decision of Fianna Fáil Govern-ments to maintain a strategic and signifi -cant shareholding in Aer Lingus was with a view to protecting the country against long term threats to our connectivity,” he added.

“That was the correct decision then and it is the correct decision now. Dumping this stock in order to raise some short term cash to fund election promises would be a major mistake that the travelling public will quickly regret.”

Mr Dooley went on to claim the “threat”

to valuable Heathrow slots currently owned by Aer Lingus could “severely curtail” Ire-land’s access to international destinations and the economic investment won off the back of these connections.

He also warned that the takeover could have repercussions for Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, by “stymying their links with Heathrow and restricting access to other countries which are served via Heath-row”, while putting the livelihoods of more than 1,000 people currently in Aer Lingus employment at risk.

Those concerns were backed by the IM-

PACT trade union, which represents cabin crew, pilots and some ground staff at Aer Lingus.

In a letter sent to Minister Donohoe, IM-PACT national secretary Matt Staunton claimed the proposed takeover “represents a signifi cant risk to the security of employ-ment for Irish workers employed directly or indirectly by Aer Lingus”.

He urged the Minister to “consider the strategic importance” of retaining some holding in the airline, which “serves to maintain strong links with EU, US and oth-er critical trading partners”.

Responding to concerns raised this week, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Joan Bur-ton claimed the Government would protect

the nation’s international connections.“What we will want to do as a Govern-

ment, and what’s absolutely important, is to protect these slots and the connections of direct fl ights in and out of Ireland.”

Ahead of the Government’s offi cial re-sponse to the IAG proposal, which is expected this week, Mr Dooley added: “The Government must act to ensure that it does not allow Aer Lingus management to cave to any bid from IAG. Ireland’s stra-tegic national interests must be protected and that will not be done through a quick fi re sale, which relinquishes valuable slots at Heathrow, risks up to 1,000 jobs and gives away forever an important strategic asset.”

Calls to block Aer Lingus bid

Ireland pledges to support its home-grown talent