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I just finished reading Paddy O'Hanlon's book "End of Term Report" which chronicles his anonymous authoring of the Good Friday Agreement - It makes for fascinating reading - Paddy was a sound GAA man from Mullaghbawn, Co Armagh and played football for St Colman's College,Mullaghbawn, UCD and Armagh - Paddy was heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement and later became one of the founding members of the SDLP - He later became a barrister and just before his death, he worked for the tribunal that looked into the deaths of Bloody Sunday in Derry - He authored the Good Friday Agreement anonymously, as it was correctly believed that if either the Provos or Paisley's lot thought there were SDLP or Irish Government fingerprints on such a document, they would reject it out of hand - Paddy wrote the document at the initial request of Frank Feeley (SDLP - Newry) and the finished document was given to Eamon Mc Kee of Foreign Affairs in the Irish Government (with a confidential copy given to Frank Feeley and to Seamus Mallon) - The document was then given to the British Government, who used the document as a starting point at the all-party talks in January 1998 - The document was used as the basis for all discussion in all subsequent discussions, which led to the Good Friday Agreement of that year.
I knew Paddy well, went to school with him (a few years apart) and had him stay with me here in Vermont for a visit - He was an Armagh-man through and through and loved the GAA and all that it stood for, and his happiest times were when he played for "The Bawn" - He wrote a novel entitled "The Crossmaglen Dispatch", which isn't great, but a good read on a cold winter's night
Just a word to some members of this board who use disparaging terms such as "stoops" when referring to the SDLP - The SDLP, and especially the founding members, are the primary reason why there is peace in the North and why the new generation of Catholics in the north will grow up with self-confidence and self-esteem in  abundance that previous generations could not even fantasize about, and Paddy O'Hanlon is a member of that group

Folks,
I just watched Prime Time on the internet and was shocked to hear how the inspection/certification of a building like Priory Hall was done - I worked in construction in Ireland, both north and south, through to the mid-1970's and admit that I am totally out of touch with current practices there as I've been in the States since then involved in construction of commercial buildings - And Priory Hall would be classified as a commercial building here as it's a multi-family building - I suspect that regulations differ north to south and possibly city to city, or maybe even county to county and I would be interested to hear from you folks how it works in the different jurisdictions - To start the discussion here's how it's done here in the state of Vermont for the building (The process for the site development is a separate process) - Plans (structural, architectural, mechanical and electrical) are submitted to the state department of public safety by the designer and these are reviewed and approved before any construction of any kind can start, which includes overall site work – Periodically during construction, an inspector from the department of public safety inspects the building progress and ALWAYS conducts a final inspection where fire rated labels on doors, electrical equipment and appliances, life safety systems (fire alarm, sprinkler etc.) are fully inspected and proven to be fully operational before a final certificate of occupancy is granted – If any of the items are not in compliance, the certificate is not issued, unless it is very minor, in which case a conditional certificate of occupancy is granted and a re-inspection is scheduled and is subsequently carried out – Would love to hear your feedback

Catholic Church approves Confession app

Get ready for the iPhone spiritual coach. The Catholic Church in the U.S. has approved an app that prepares Catholics for confession.

Confession: A Roman Catholic App is designed to make confession easier for Christians. Developer Little iApps bills it as "the perfect aid for every penitent."

It offers users a step-by-step guide to the Rite of Penance and is meant to be used in a church confessional. It's not a substitute for a priest.

Users create password-protected profiles and then go through a series of soul-searching questions related to the Ten Commandments. For the First Commandment, for example, the app asks, "Have I been involved with superstitious practices or have I been involved with the occult?"

The app was designed in collaboration with a Church official and approved by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend as the first officially sanctioned iPhone/iPad app, according to Little iApps.

Confession also lets users create "custom examinations of conscience" and log "custom sins." It also coaches penitents on responses to a priest's exhortations such as "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good."

Prayers stored in the app include such classics as the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and Hail Mary.

Confession: A Roman Catholic App is available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch for $1.99 on iTunes. According to Chip Leinen of Little iApps, a portion of the revenues will go to two charities.



Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030992-1.html#ixzz1DWXh08gm