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HomeNewsJENNIFERSLEEMANRite & Reason, page 16

Let empty pews give the powers-that-be in the church the messagethat women are no longer happy to be second-class citizens“

Family appeals for missingdraft on epic sea voyage

Actor and director Ben Affleck turned out last night for the Irish opening of his latest film, The Town,at the Savoy Cinema, Dublin. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

Legal moveto oust TonyQuinn fromoil company

PAUL CULLEN

YOGA GURU Tony Quinn isfacing a challenge to his role as adirector of an oil company inCentral America.

A legal action taken by PaulMarriott, a former director of thecompany, International NaturalEnergy, also seeks to have itwound up.

The case taken by Mr Marriottrepresents the latest bout offeuding within the company sinceit discovered massive reserves ofcrude oil in Belize in 2005.

Another former director, JeanCornec, is taking legal actionseeking millions of euro he claimsare owed to him after he sold hisshareholding.

INE was founded by two womenfrom Northern Ireland, SusanMorrice and Sheila McCaffrey,along with Mr Marriott, MrCornec and Mike Usher, who hassince died.

Most of its 400 shareholdersare Irish people who at one timeattended one of Mr Quinn’s“Educo Mind Power” seminars.Mr Quinn was not involved whenoil was discovered, but was invitedto join the board two years later.

Subsequent disagreementsamong directors led to the suspen-sion of Ms McCaffrey, who is cur-rently considering her legaloptions.

While most shareholdersremain fiercely loyal to Mr Quinn,a minority have expressed frustra-tion at the lack of financial infor-mation from the company and itsfailure to pay a dividend since oilstarted flowing.

INE earns up to $100 million inoil revenues each year but says ithas had to borrow heavily to fundfurther exploration and is pre-vented by its banks from paying adividend.

Last Christmas, it provided$9 million in loans to shareholderswho were “in good standing” with

the company. Mr Marriott,through his drilling companyMaranco LLC, has started his legalaction in the High Court in Nevis,the Caribbean offshore tax havenwhere INE is incorporated.

The claim is against INE and itssubsidiary Belize Natural Energy,Mr Quinn and Ms Morrice.

He is seeking a court order com-pelling the defendants to purchasehis shares or else to liquidate thecompany.

He is also seeking a declarationthat the purported appointment ofMr Quinn as a director be declarednull and void.

In a letter to shareholders, MsMorrice says Mr Marriott’s claimis “wholly without merit” and partof an orchestrated campaignagainst the company. Share-holders will “lose everything” ifthe case is successful.

“In the world, throughout his-tory, the tail always seems to wagthe dog.

“Similarly here, a smallminority are loud and aggressiveabout their position while thesilent majority just looks on.”

Mr Marriott then respondedwith his own letter to share-holders, in which he states that liq-uidation of the company is beingsought “as a last resort”.

Last week Mr Marriott told TheIrish Times his action would helpother “poor souls”, many of themIrish, who had put money into theventure.

While a liquidation wouldn’t behelpful to anyone, “if it gets tothat, so be it”.

Mr Quinn could not be con-tacted for comment.

KATHRYN HAYES

THE FAMILY of an Irishman whosailed around the world when hewas 70 have appealed for help intracing a precious manuscript inwhich he documented his epicvoyage.

Pat Lawless, whose solo circum-navigation of the world made hima household name in the 1990s,died suddenly last month aged 84.

The Limerick man was given ahero’s welcome in July 1996 whenhe returned home after finallycompleting a 30,000-mile voyagearound the world on his thirdattempt.

Yesterday his son Dan Lawlesssaid his father had written adetailed account of his expedition,which publishers now wish toprint.

However, the family cannot findthe original manuscript and they

have appealed for help in tracingit. “What we’re hoping is that heloaned it to somebody and it’s sit-ting in their home somewhere on abookshelf and they’ve just for-gotten that they have it,” MrLawless explained.

“Our father also did a lot of lec-tures series around the countryand he used to keep his boat in CoClare and Dingle so he could havegiven it to anybody not justsomeone in Limerick.”

In July 1996 the then70-year-old sailed his 30ft vessel,the Seadog, up the Shannonestuary after spending three yearsat sea. “We’ve also decided that allproceeds made from the book willbe given to the Life Boats Associa-tion which he would have likedtoo,” Dan Lawless added.

Anyone with information aboutthe manuscript can contact him087-2259108.

Ger Connolly:acting directorof the Irish FilmClassificationOffice.

World champion Taylor delighted to behome after ‘best two weeks of my life’ALISON HEALY

AIRPORT SECURITY lined up toprotect Katie Taylor as shearrived at Dublin airportyesterday, but the world boxingchampion could probably handleherself if an eager fan made alunge at her.

About 100 people gatheredaround the arrivals area to cheeron the world championlightweight boxer from Bray.

Her brother Lee led the crowdwith “Olé Olé Olé” as she camethrough the sliding doors to ahero’s welcome after her victoryin Barbados. “There’s only oneKatie Taylor!” chanted supportersas she signed autographs forchildren.

“It’s lovely. I can’t believe theamount of people that turned outtoday,” she said. “The receptionI’ve got here is absolutelyamazing. I’m just delighted really,delighted to be home.”

So what do you do afterwinning the world championshipfor the third time, as well asscooping the boxer of thetournament award?

“I’ve a few weeks off now, thankGod, so I’m just going to enjoy therest,” she said. “For the momentI’m not going to think aboutboxing for a few weeks. I’m justgoing to enjoy my rest and catchup with my friends and family.”

Minister for Sport MaryHanafin was at the airport tocongratulate the winner, and

stood in a boxer’s pose with her.“Our time has arrived,” the

Minister said, her fist in the air.Was she perhaps alluding to thepossible Fianna Fáil leadershipchallenge? It wasn’t the time toask. “I think it’s a women’s year,”Hanafin continued, only adding tothe speculation.

She said the win was “fabulous”for Taylor, for Irish boxing and forwomen. “There’s no doubt Katie isone of our best ever sports stars,male and female, and the fact thatshe has for the third time a worldchampionship puts her up in theleague there with the very, verybest.”

Olympic silver medallist KennyEgan also turned up to supportthe champion and waited

patiently to shake her hand aspeople queued up to bephotographed with her.

“I’m so proud of her, she’s justan amazing athlete and hopefullynow she’ll go to London and dothe business in two years’ timewith me, please God,” he said.

“I know there’s going to be a lotof pressure on the two of us,

especially Katie being the worldchampion.”

Pauline and Jimmy Howe fromBallybrack don’t know the boxerpersonally but said they feltcompelled to go to the airport towelcome her home. “As a womanI’m so proud of her,” said Pauline.“She’s really achieved a hugeamount because women don’t getthat much help,” her husbandadded.

While winning is nothing newto the lightweight champion, shesaid these championships were thehardest yet, particularly thebruising semi-final against USboxer Queen Underwood. That,though, made the victory evensweeter. “It was just the best twoweeks of my life, I think,” she said.

Tony Quinn:mostshareholdersattended one ofhis “EducoMind Power”seminars

TG4 tobroadcast1916RisingseriesALISON HEALY

TG4 WILL tomorrow begin airingwhat it describes as the first majortelevision series on the EasterRising since the 50th anniversaryin 1966.

Each episode in the seven-partsubtitled series 1916 Seachtar naCásca examines the lives of one ofthe signatories of the 1916 EasterProclamation. The series is nar-rated by actor Brendan Gleesonand features reconstructions ofkey scenes.

While the seven signatories –Thomas J Clarke, Seán Mac Diar-mada, James Connolly, PádraigPearse, Éamonn Ceannt, ThomasMac Donagh and Joseph Plunkett– have become legendary figures,some of their personal stories arenot as well known.

The series highlights theirdiverse lives. One was crippled bypolio at the age of 28 (Seán MacDiarmada) while another was anaccountant and a gifted piper whohad played for Pope Pius X inRome (Éamonn Ceannt). Onespent eight years studying for thepriesthood (Thomas McDonagh)while another was a Scotsman bybirth (James Connolly).

The first episode looks at the lifeof Tom Clarke, who was consid-ered to have been the brains anddriving force behind the EasterRising. The tobacconist and OldFenian was jailed for 15 years forhis part in a failed bombing cam-paign in England and put togetherthe military council that was toplan the Rising.

He was the first to sign the Proc-lamation and was executed byfiring squad on May 4th, 1916.

Last week Taoiseach BrianCowen said unionist leadersshould consider a ceremony forthe 1916 Rising, just as the IrishGovernment would commemoratethe centenary of the Battle of theSomme in 2016.

However, he warned republicandissidents against using “thememory of the dead to bring suf-fering to the living”. He con-demned those “who will seek tohijack history, to fight again theold battles, to re-establish hostili-ties and to perpetuate division”.

1916 Seachtar na Cásca was pro-duced for TG4 by Abú Media andreceived funding from the Broad-casting Authority’s Sound andVision scheme and section 481 sup-port schemes.

Big Ben: Affleck attends Irish premiere of ‘The Town’ Re-release of ‘I Spit on YourGrave’ banned by film bodyDONALD CLARKE

THE IRISH Film ClassificationOffice has banned the DVDre-release of Meir Zarchi’s noto-rious 1978 horror film I Spit onYour Grave.

The body, formerly the IrishFilm Censor’s Office, has, inrecent years, been reluctant to banfilms outright, so this must beviewed as an unusual move.

The reason given for decliningto issue a certificate for the DVD,was the depiction of “acts of grossviolence and cruelty towardshumans”. Mr Zarchi commented:“It doesn’t surprise me that Ire-land have decided to ban the film.

“It has relentlessly continued toshock and offend audiences since1978 when it was first released,and it still does to this date.

“However, with the level ofgraphic violence and horror avail-able these days, it’s surprising thatIFCO sees this 1978 film as moreoffensive than some of the mostdaring and empty-of-content tor-ture porn available today.”

I Spit on Your Grave, a low-budget rape-revenge thriller, wasat the centre of the first so-called“video nasty” scandal in the early1980s.

At that time, the UK’s Directorof Public Prosecutions drew up alist of 72 films that could cause

retailers to be prosecuted underthe Obscene Publications Act.

Other films on the chart –viewed as excellent publicity bycanny distributors – included SamRaimi’s The Evil Dead and AbelFerrara’s The Driller Killer.

The new version, which featuresa substantial amount of extrafootage, is not the same packagethat was put before the BritishDPP 30 years ago.

The decision comes a little lessthan a year after John Kelleher,seen as a liberalising force, retiredas the director of classification.Ger Connolly, the current actingdirector, was formerly anaccountant in the advertising andmanufacturing industries. Thereissue is timed to coincide with anupcoming remake of Mr Zarchi’screaky original.

“I’m not goingto think about

boxing for a fewweeks. I’m just goingto enjoy my rest

World champion lightweight boxer Katie Taylor at Dublin airport yesterday after returning home from her third successive victory in the AIBA Women’s World BoxingChampionships in Barbados. Photograph: Frank Miller

Ex-director seeks to haveexploration firm liquidated

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 THE IRISH TIMES 3