Saturday 24 June 2017

BISHOP APPOINTS NEW PRINCIPAL WITHOUT ADVERTISING



Staff and parents ‘upset’ after bishop appoints priest as principal of school


Fintan "Lugs" Monahan


Bishop of Killaloe accused of ‘lack of respect’ for St Flannan’s college staff Post has a salary of about ¤100,000 and was expected to be advertised

Image result for father ignatius mc cormack
Fr Ignatius McCormack: appointed to the post without it being advertised

The appointment of the only priest on the staff of St Flannan’s Diocesan College, Ennis, as its new principal is continuing to cause reverberations among staff, parents and others involved with the school.
People who have spoken to The Irish Times are strongly critical of the way Fr Ignatius McCormack (44) was appointed to the post by Bishop of Killaloe Fintan Monahan without it being advertised. St Flannan’s is a large co-educational school with 1,200 pupils and more than 80 teachers.
The current principal, Carmel Honan, has been been appointed principal at Glenstal Abbey School in Co Limerick, the first lay person and first woman to hold the post. She applied for the Glenstal post when it was advertised and took part in two rounds of interviews.
One source close to St Flannan’s said staff and parents at the school were “upset” at how the principal’s post in their school had been filled. The appointment was announced by the bishop earlier this month without any advertisement or open competition.
“Everybody expected it to be advertised, but instead they were presented with a fait accompli.”
Speculation
The source said that after Ms Honan’s departure was announced, there was a good deal of speculation at St Flannan’s about her likely successor and whether it would be an internal or external candidate.
“The post has a salary of about ¤100,000 due to the school’s size so it was expected to be advertised. People had aspirations.” Ms Honan was the first female principal when appointed at St Flannan’s in 2006 and Dr Kieran O’Reilly was bishop of Killaloe. The post was advertised and she went through an interview process.
Her predecessor at St Flannan’s, Colm McDonagh, was its first lay principal. He was appointed in 2000 when Dr Willie Walsh was bishop of Killaloe. He too had responded to an advertisement and took part in an interview process.
“Everybody understood then that that was the end of the era of having a priest as principal,” according to another source.
Several people who spoke on condition of anonymity emphasised their concern is with the manner of the appointment and not with the priest appointed. The “way it was done” was “a major source of disappointment and showed a lack of respect for the large staff at the college,” one person said. It was “not good enough” for Bishop Monahan to say now he was willing to talk to people who had concerns about the matter. “Why not beforehand?”
Conducting interviews
Asked by The Irish Times why Bishop Monahan decided against advertising the post and conducting interviews, his spokesman said the bishop had made the appointment after consulting the joint managerial body on correct procedure for his making the appointment. Bishop Monahan then informed the board of management at St Flannan’s of his intention and also told its trustees. “It was only after having made representation to these three distinct bodies and having received no objection that the appointment was made,” the spokesman said.
He said the bishop had received “very positive feedback in relation to the appointment from a large number of people: clergy, laity, including members of the staff of the school.”
Such an appointment was not unique, he said. Recently there were “two voluntary secondary schools [Coláiste Iognáid in Galway and Callan CBS in Kilkenny] where a cleric/member of a religious order has been appointed following a lay principal, the spokesman said.
He said that “by this appointment, Bishop Monahan is showing his commitment to the ideals of Catholic education.”

PAT SAYS:

FINTAN MONAHAN of Killaloe has behaved like a 19th century Irish Catholic bishop by appointment Fr Iggy McCormack principal of St Flanans without a decent consultation process with parents and teachers - and even more so bu NOT ADVERTISING THE POST!

Parents and teachers are quite rightly outraged at the Monahan stroke!

The Euro 100,000 a year job should have been widely advertised, a short list drawn up and proper interviews conducted - with advice from a second level education expert.

The Euro 100,000 will be paid out each year by the government on behalf of the tax payers.

The Department of Education - on behalf of the public - should have the right to see that these jobs and salaries are achieved by appointing the most suitable person to these posts.

I think that the parents should not accept this autocracy.

PARENTS should remove their children from the college.

TEACHERS should go on strike.

THE PUBLIC should protest outside Monahan's palace door.

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION should refuse to fund the priest's new salary.

AND:

We needs NEW LAWS to stop bishops and other power individuals to giving high powered jobs to their favourites.

SHAME ON YOU FINTAN MONAHAN !!!


Image result for protest

52 comments:

  1. It's a private Diocesan Institution and Bishop Monahan has absolute discretion in this appointment.

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    1. Paid for by the Irish tax payer !!!

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    2. 'Absolute discretion'? This doesn't give him the right to act unfairly, to do whatever he pleases.

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    3. Bwho says he acted unfairly? He has the right of appointment and he has exercised that right. The taxpayers that Pat refers to are overwhelmingly Catholic in composition.

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    4. Jeez, must everything be spelt out for some of you people. The prick acted unfairly, first, because he clearly doesn't trust lay people with the faith, and, second, he had no moral right to deny a lay person the opportunity to do what that Christ-betraying priest was appointed to do.

      Your suggestion that the taxpayers, because they are Catholic, would support what this episcopal prick did is such obvious nonsense that I won't waste my energy commenting on it.

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  2. RE: BISHOP APPOINTS NEW PRINCIPAL WITHOUT ADVERTISING

    Dear Patrick,

    Bishop Monahan doesn't care for your opinions.

    Kind Regards,

    Common Sense

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    1. Of course I know that.

      He and his ilk do not care what anyone thinks.

      That's why people have less and less time for them!

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    2. It is not a matter of anyone's opinion, you idiot, but of objective moral reality: what that bishop has done is morally wrong and that priest's accepting his appointment is equally wrong.

      You people care nothing for Christ.

      No wonder unionists want nothing to do with the Republic in terms of geographical unity: it is still priest-ridden and priest-controlled.

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  3. This appointment, conducted in such an unacceptable manner, flouts all recent employment law! If this was in N Ireland, this would be illegal and one would expect full backing from the teaching Unions. Surely the Republic of Ireland has similar laws and strict guidelines for the setting up of exactly similar interviews for all the candidates etc The post would definitely be expected to be widely advertised and a neutral panel set up to conduct the interviews and shortlisting. This news is outrageous! It is up to the teachers and parents to challenge it, first of all by carefully researching the most up to date employment law regarding recruitment processes. Your Union should have this to hand but be aware that teaching Union officials are not above corruption and can turn a blind eye when they don't want to ruffle feathers! So do your own research (Citizens'Advice type of organisation could be very useful) It is usually available online these days anyway, certainly in N Ireland. The bishops need to understand that THEY CAN NO LONGER DO THIS!

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  4. Get in touch with the Irish Human Rights and Employment Commission as they will be able to explain the exact requirements of employment law particularly with regard to the stringency and structure of recruitment practices since 2016
    .There is a lot of information online on Irish "citizenship" websites etc also.
    Rule no. 1 is know your facts thoroughly! The laws in Ireland and the UK - - including European law(and you are in the European Community!) are ALREADY in place.

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  5. Yes the post should have been open to a proper objective assessment process. There may well be breach of Dept of Education protocol here. Being or not being a priest should have no bearing on the appointment under equal opportunities and inclusion guidelines I would also think. However allegedly looking back on many church school appointments in the past posts from dinner ladies up may well have been a done deal.

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  6. Headteacher needs new teacher he/she favours so Headteacher meets with lay Chair of Governors to persuade him or her (usually over expensive meal) to choose his candidate. Headteacher who is well in with PP has already him on board over Headteachers preference of candidate. All 3 at interview show great preference for Headteachers preferred choice. Two or more other interviewers on the day feel pressured to side with Head of Governors, PP and Headteacher, so Headteachers preferred candidate gets the position. If other interviewers don't like the preferred candidate then they are overruled anyhow by the other 3 with Chair of Governors having casting vote. I have seen this happen time and time again in a personal capacity and it is rife. It is wrong but I know it continues to this day. Many good and capable candidates are continually overlooked. I know of one instance in England where the Headteacher, originally from N. Ireland, always put newly qualified teachers from N. Ireland to the top of the list regardless of experience or ability.

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    1. I've known similar in the NHS - so due procedures can always be circumvented anyway.
      Pat I really can't see that he has done anything wrong assuming the way the school is set up allows him to appoint a priest. The majority of a school's parents don't get a say anyway, when a job is advertised, etc.
      I agree more with your point that to appoint a priest to a position which can be done as well or better by laity, is odd nowadays. This is with no disrespect to Fr McCormack.
      Do you have to have teaching qualifications to teach in this school? I'm not sure how it works in Ireland but in England you don't have to be a qualified teacher to teach in a private school.

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    2. 'No disrespect to Fr McCormack'? If he were truly a servant of Christ and not the institutional Roman Catholic Church he would have refused this appointment on the blindingly obvious moral ground that it is innately wrong.

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    3. @ Magna Carta
      You're rather tetchy today. Up on another all-night bender? Or has the National Union of Traffic Wardens hired a charabanc to go to Glastonbury?

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    4. This is a solemn, infallible pronouncement : I shall ticket your old banger next time I see it.

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    5. Lol I just *knew* you were a traffic warden. Sadly it's off the road at the moment - Morris Marina parts are getting hard to come by.

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    6. I love classic cars. Jeez! You must really be old!

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  7. What a most interesting observation at 10.32. I believe this happened to me some years ago and that I was passed over for a teaching vacancy. The post was given to a younger more inexperienced person but I knew the PP and Chair of Governors favoured this person, it was a stitch up. I knew at the time and it was as 10.32 describes. What made it worse was my friend, the School Secretary, told me afterwards that the Head and the PP were having drinks in the Headteachers office to celebrate the successful outcome. This sort of favouritism makes my blood boil.

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    1. @11.02
      I understand perfectly!
      I experienced same as you almost to the letter.
      I had to quietly say nought and watch the person who was promoted unfairly bungle the job day after day until her dept were put on "special measures" by a dissatisfied Inspectorate. Eventually she walked out and left them high and dry. Then next thing we heard she was appointed as a Nursery School Principal. God help them, was our reaction...

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  8. I had a similar experience two years ago when applying for a lay chaplaincy position in Manchester. There were three candidates including myself, the others being a chemistry teacher who was soon planning to retire, and a woman the same age as me, who was a lay chaplain at a loca primary school. It later transpired the latter candidate was in fact the daughter of one of the school governors, was personal friends with the diocesan educational representative (who ironically was present to ensure transparency), and had been for a tour of the school the day before, she was frequently taken out for 'private meetings' with the headmaster throughout the interview day, and when it was time for the 'surprise task', she (rather not surprisingly) correctly guessed the activity.

    Eventually, the older candidate was sent home before the final round of interviews in the afternoon (making me wonder if she was selected specifically knowing that she would not get far). Myself and the other girl remaining were interviewed, then told we would hear back that evening. Of course they phoned and informed me that I hadn't been successful, giving the reason that I 'lacked the required experience of working with young angered me, because they had known my experience (or lack of) from my application form, but still invited me to interview. This only confirmed my suspicion that the day had been an elaborate 'stitch up', and when I enquired about the fact they knew my experience, they said, 'we had to GIVE THE IMPRESSION of providing a fair process'!

    The fact I had to travel 200 miles to get there, stay at a hotel the night before, and travel back the next day, none of which they offered to compensate for was equally insulting. However, they offered me 'an unpaid internship working along side the new chaplain, who I could cover for on days when she was absent. When asked how I would afford accommodation, food and travel etc. if I was having to move 200 miles to do this 'unpaid internship', they replied 'your parents could help you out'! As if being invited to a stitched up interview wasn't insulting enough, suggesting I do the same work as the pre-selected chaplain, unpaid, added insult to injury. This was the last chaplaincy role I applied to.

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    1. There seems to be too many examples of people like 12.01 on this blog today, does that not sound alarm bells? A grave injustice has been perpetrated against these people and what is being done about it? Nothing! From what I read in horror today is that this practice of favouritism of applicants still applies. Our own daughter suffered the same fate in Slough being pushed aside like an oily rag. A younger, much more inexperienced applicant, got offered the position. It was clear from day one that this was stage managed, the Diocese were useless. What transpired afterwards was the younger successful candidates Father played golf with the PP and the Padre was a regular visitor to them for Sunday lunch. One word to describe the whole episode - disgusting!!

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    2. In response to 16;09: Your daughter's experience is very similar to mine, shared above. Did she apply for a lay chaplaincy position? I do remember seeing an advert for a school advertising for one in Slough some time ago.

      This experience, completely put me off appkying for future positions, which my PP thought was a great shame, because he very much wanted me to undertake this sort of work, following graduation.

      A friend of mine had a similar experience at a local school here in the East Midlands. He applied, was welcomed to interview along with 5 other candidates (including one who was quite clearly the governor's and local PP's stooge, a teaching assistant already working within the RE department of the school), and not at all surprisingly, the favoured candidate was chosen. It seems most of these positions are made available for and filled by friends and favourites. In the case just mentioned, the favoured candidate was rumoured to have an inappropriate friendship with another local priest, who in turn was a close friend of the PP in charge of the appointment. The sad conclusion is: If you aren't known, don't bother applying.

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  9. What priest would accept a head teacher appointment after all the abuse scandals
    Perhaps he never heard of the '' Sean '' factor.
    Will these Roman Catholics never learn from their past?
    Us laity will keep reminding you...never fear !!!
    Should he not be in a parish? where there seems to need ?

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    1. The obvious implication here is a financial one - the head teacher's salary is either not paid or goes to the diocesan coffers.
      This is also the real reason religious orders resist lay control of the institutions they formerly controlled.

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  10. Rightly or wrongly, according to the procedures agreed by management bodies, the Department and the ASTI, in a diocesan-owned school, the bishop may appoint a cleric to be a teacher or Principal, directly and without competition. Likewise, in a religious-owned school, the Provincial or equivalent may appoint a religious directly. This isn't to make a judgment on the current case. It is simply to say that under the Articles of Management for Secondary Schools the bishop was entitled to do what he did. Neither the union nor the Department of Education and Skills have grounds on which to object. Whether he was wise to exercise that right is another question.

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    1. "The bishop may appoint a cleric.."[as Principal]
      Ye gods! -Pardon me in my earlier post for referring you to the Equality Commission etc.. I had, of course, presumed you had joined the 21st century! But as apparently not...

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  11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_T6XMDg53g

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  12. Pat a good news story, the ordination of David Vard will being at 3pm in Newbridge. Live on the diocese website. He is a good one from the class of 16/17 ?

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    1. Is it possible the Dominican curate resident in the secondary school will be there?

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    2. Fr David is a lovely guy and a kind person. Congrats to him. he will make a wonderful priest.

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    3. So pleased for David. Hes a young lad taking on an enormous challenge but hes a good guy. My very best wishes to him and his family. Maynooth you have redeemed yourself somewhat in this ordination. May God continue to bless this young man and his vocation. Congratulations Father David.

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    4. Well done David. unlike the rest of your year you are truly a priest of Jesus Christ

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  13. All the diocesan colleges were founded as junior seminaries so the ideal president/principal is a priest. Also teachers in a Catholic school shouldn't be grasping after money. In my old school, St Michael's College, Enniskillen, the priest presidents were appointed by the bishop of Clogher. As for the 100,000 euro salary I'd be astonished if the priest president was allowed to draw that full salary for himself.

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    1. @15.20
      No, as you say, teachers shouldn't "be grasping after money." Quite.
      But let me tell you that very few teachers would continue in their demanding and time-consuming vocations if they were drawn to the profession by their prospective remuneration considering that similarly highly qualified graduates in other professions and in some trades receive far more - - sometimes two and even three times as much with much less daily harassment and responsibility too. Teachers are entitled to receive a fair wage for the work they put in, be it in classroom hours,preparing and marking, planning, counselling disturbed youngsters etc. without your unedifying label of "grasping". They are entitled to be treated as valued professionals and anyone in the job who doesn't live up to the expected standards will not be tolerated (Believe me, the mechanisms are in place to deal with such..) In the 21st century, we should not have to tolerate arbitrary appointments or promotions. Merit and qualifications and experience and suitability are what should count in an open and transparent process.

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    2. @16.09
      Absolutely! Thank you for that.

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  14. why did no one from Maynooth attend the ordination? No connolly, no Mullaney, no Deacon Gallagher. Have they all gone on caribbean cruises?

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    1. Well, you know what they say... It's manners to wait until you're asked...

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    2. the bishop thank all those involved in his formation - mentioning all the gang from maynooth - at this point David Vard leaned into his mother and said something, wondering what he said to her.

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  15. He prob said
    ,, what a load of bollocks''

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  16. David Vard he lean over to his mamma and say Heh bitch,are you sure you posted them god damn invitations?

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  17. 'I know the halls booked and the food paid for, but any chance I can back out of this'

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    1. 'Not once you've been ontologically changed, son, no. Canon 290 would apply,' his mama replied.

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    2. "I gave the invitations to your father to post.."

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  18. Dear Bishop Pat,
    You and your gentle readers need to prepare yourselves for a shack!
    There occurred such an incident in this district of Prince Albert St last Wednesday and nobody is worth tuppence since.
    It turns out, Bishop, that thon aul doll, Maggie Carter, who is always writing in to you (thon aul bore, I know), well as it happens, Maggie is a man – not a woman.
    Well, to be more exact, Mag is a shrewish, scaldy old woman, trapped inside a skinny aul lad’s body.
    Here’s what happened.
    Big Lily, as good a cratur as ever walked this district – a heart of corn – everybody’s friend, wouldn’t pass ye in the street – not a bad word to say about anybody (even thon big eejit, the Dean, who nobody round here could stand, Big Lil wouldn’t let ye say a word about him) – anyhow – Big Lily is terrible good til aul doll Carter, even though aul Carter has Big Lily tortured.
    On Wednesday evening, about six a clack, aul Carter decided to have her monthly wash in the sink down her back kitchen. So off she strips and hoists her scrawny haunches into the big Belfast sink.
    Around the same time, Big Lily was goin til the shaps and went to call in til aul Maggie to see if she wanted any messages.
    Now, when aul Carter has her monthly scrub she always snibs the front dour. But, on Wednesday night, she fargat.
    So down goes our Big Lil and in she goes til aul Margarita’s wee front parlour:
    “Maggie luv, are ye in?”
    No answer (aul Carter’s ears were full of carbolic soap).
    So Big Lil goes down the scullery and, lo and behold, there is aul Carter in her pelt, furiously applying a scrubbing brush to her jaxsey.
    She turned round, not having heard Big Lily come in. Big Lily saw what she saw and let out such a piercing yell that the whole population of Prince Albert Street came pouring out of their houses, til see what the matter was.
    There it was when aul Carter turned round to face Big Lily. A penis. A willy. A very small one mind ye – but, unmistakably, a John Thomas all the same.
    (Personally, I’ve always had suspicions about aul Carter. You would meet her with the make-up caked on her bake but there was always a wee hint of a five a clack shadow).
    Big Lily came tearing out of aul Maggie’s like a bat of hell. She flew up Prince Albert St and on til the Falls Rd. She never stapped running til she arrived at her daughter’s house in Moyard where she collalapsed outside.
    They had til get the ambulance for her to bring to the Royal. I’ll tell ye how bad she was – her name was give out at the Clanard naveena – “dear God, please let Big Lily get better for she has had the shack of her life”.
    Well the uproar in this street had to be seen and heard to be believed. Between Big Lily’s ear-splitting screeches and aul Carter guldering “FOOLS! FOOLS! FOOLS! FOOLS! BASTARDOS!”
    Aul Carter hasn’t been seen all weekend. Wee Lizzy Maneegin (Monaghan) who misses nathin, says she saw her climbin over her yard wall, in her fur coat, with her laptop under her oxter. She was still muttering “Fools. Fools. Fools. Bastardos”. We think she is away over to her other house on the Malone Road to hide out because, after all, she’s bound to be scundered (though some people say ya couldn't cut her with a hatchet).

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    1. Ack! Y' silly oul cow! Didn't any wan ever tell ye? Big Lil's on meddication fer hearin' an' seein' things that can't be heard an' seen by normal people. The Clonard Novena crowd's prayin' roun' the clack fer her, so it is. But they're wastin' their time, so they are.

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  19. (The saga of Big Lily and Maggie's willy continued).
    Big Lily was put on a Valium drip and kept in the RVH overnight. She is staying with one of her other daughter’s in the New Lodge for a few days til she feels at herself again.
    Between ourselves, Big Lily has some odd tales to tell bout aul Carter. She talks about her Ma as if she is still alive and her Ma dead for years. Big Lily hopes that Maggie isn’t like yer man Norman Bates.
    Now that the dust is settling though, we are all starting to see the funny side of it. Except for aul Joxer O’Toole. He was having a bit of a thing going on with aul Carter. He thought nobody knew but sure the whole street knew.
    He was in the pub last night and was overheard talkin til aul Micky Flanagan: “I know nigh why she would only ever let me make a back door entry in the dark”, he said.
    Anyhow, Bishop Pat, tell aul Maggie to come on on on back over til the wee street. Sure we’re a broadminded wee neighbourhood here. We understand her issues and, to keep her happy, we will still call her ‘Mrs Carter’. And we will still call her ‘thon aul beg’ behind her back. Only sleggin.

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    1. Oh how traumatic for her - I am sorry. The sad story brings this image to my mind: http://www.ukcolumn.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/forums/Captureerger4rghe_5.PNG
      That said, I have to confess I did wet myself a bit at the word 'jaxsie'...

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  20. Gawd that's shockin'. She must be one o'yon tran whatsits? There was a thing on one night about them on Channel 4

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  21. If there's no Catholic funerals for active homosexuals what will the Irish church do with the bishops bodies when they die?

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