Month: July 2021

• 

I took my father to see Auschwitz, the infamous WWII concentration camp in Poland, shortly before he died. It was on his bucket list. He had a huge interest in all things associated with the second world war, so it was no surprise to me that he wanted to see the place.

I wasn’t as invested as he was, but I was still looking forward to the visit. I didn’t expect it to have such an impact on me, but the significance of that camp is so immense, you can’t avoid being affected. Just standing under the sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” is enough to send shivers down the spine but what really got me was the sight of miles and miles of barbed wire fencing with the ominous skull and crossbones signs warning of danger.

This was the first thing all those unfortunate people saw when they arrived at the camp. They must have been worried, but they had no idea of the real horror that lay ahead. 

Auschwitz still exists today for anyone wishing to visit and to pay their respects. It’s a trip well worth making but it’s difficult to describe the experience to someone who hasn’t been there. It’s informative, shocking, fascinating, horrifying and depressing all at once, but it’s something everyone should go through. As time passes, there are fewer witnesses left to tell their stories of what happened in those camps, but those victims must never be forgotten.

A Nazi hunter was interviewed on the radio recently and he was describing how his organisation remains dedicated to chasing down war criminals responsible for the murder and mayhem that took place in concentration camps. They are determined to bring them to justice, regardless of their age. Most would be in their nineties now at least but the men who carried out these atrocities were young and fit at the time and that is what drives them on.

It’s difficult for us to understand what life was like under the regime that prevailed during those times but reading the accounts of the survivors gives us a little insight. Listening to the stories of the suffering would make you want to take up the hunt yourself.

There were many brave souls who risked their lives to inform the world of what was happening in Auschwitz, and it was thanks to them that the horror was revealed as early as it was. Rudolf Vrba and Witold Pilecki were two of those.

The Holocaust Research Project has documented the story of Rudolf Vrba who was born in Czechoslovakia and was sent to Auschwitz in 1942. He was involved in “Farm Work” which consisted of excavating the bodies (for later burning), of over 100,000 prisoners that had already been murdered and buried. When the SS, discovered he could speak German he was transferred to a storeroom, where the clothing and belongings of the dead were sorted. 

He later became a camp registrar, and it was in this role that he saw first-hand, the horrors of the gas chambers and the crematoria. He began to calculate and “mentally record” the figures of those transported to, and later murdered, in the camp. Vrba met a fellow prisoner, Alfred Wetzler, who was 24 years old at the time and the two men became extremely close friends. They were from the same locality so they knew they could trust each other implicitly.  

They hatched a plan to escape together and two weeks after escaping from Auschwitz, Vrba and Wetzler met up with members of the Slovakian underground Working Group and began telling their stories. The reports were sent to the US and British governments, the Vatican, the Red Cross, and Hungarian Jewish leaders.

The horror that was unfolding in Auschwitz soon reached the ears of the Polish resistance who decided to send someone to the camp to gather information. Witold Pilecki volunteered. He was a 39-year-old Polish war veteran who fought against the Nazis and later joined the Polish resistance. Pilecki is probably the only person to ever volunteer to go to a concentration camp.

He set himself up for an arrest in 1940 and was eventually sent to Auschwitz where he remained for three years. He gathered information and secretly composed reports about life in the camp, including its transition from a prison to an extermination camp.

By April 1943, Pilecki had all the evidence he required and decided it was time to leave. He escaped with two others and made his way back to Warsaw where he described the horrors of the camp but failed to convince the Polish resistance to launch an attack on Auschwitz.

There were others too who called for the camp to be bombed by the allies according to Michael Berenbaum who wrote, “Why wasn’t Auschwitz bombed?” Some said it would be an ease to the people imprisoned there who were almost certainly going to face death anyway and it would also put the camp out of action, thereby preventing future exterminations.

One former inmate of Auschwitz recalled hearing bombing taking place close by and said they got comfort from it and would have been happy to have the camp bombed regardless of the outcome. He later wrote of that event, “We were no longer afraid of death, at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life.”

Bombing a concentration camp was a difficult call to make and posed a moral dilemma for the Allies. According to Berenbaum, Americans cited several reasons for not doing so such as lack of resources, the possibility of failure, and a fear it might provoke even more vindictive German action.

It’s easy to be wise after the event but in hindsight, bombing Auschwitz might have been a blessing.

• 

Green Party Leader and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan is no stranger to dreaming up unusual schemes. Growing lettuce on our windowsills, reintroducing wolves, and village car-pooling are just a few examples and now he’s at it again.

His latest idea in relation to housing is a little confusing though. “We need to get the balance right, we do need to provide housing for our young people, and it does need to be close to the centre and high quality, and at the same time numbers. We do need large numbers of new housing, and they do need to be high quality,” he said. But to keep the prices down, he has suggested scrapping car parking facilities to cut costs of building new apartments.

Ryan reckons not everyone needs a car space, and the cost of the apartments could be reduced by not having to include expensive car parking. I think he might finally be onto something. He can’t eliminate car parking completely, but we could tweak his idea and save some money.

Parking spaces in apartment blocks, shopping centres and industrial estates are usually marked out with paint. They’re professionally lined to designate individual parking bays, with spots for disabled drivers and parents with toddlers. There is a cost associated with painting those lines and that gave me an idea. Don’t bother with them because nobody pays the slightest bit of attention to them anyway.

I meet my buddy every week for a coffee and because of the Covid restrictions we usually get the coffee and take it outside to the car and have a chat. Lots of people have the same idea and wherever we go, it’s always busy with cars constantly coming and going and it’s amazing the number of drivers who insist on doing things their own way with no consideration for anyone else.

It’s common to see drivers abandoning their cars, with the wheels on either side of the white line, taking up two spaces and lone drivers parking in parent and toddler spots and leaving it there while they go for a walk.

The worst offender of all though, is the cuckoo in the disabled bay. The one who parks the car and then trots off to the shop. I know not all disabilities are obvious or visible, but I reckon if you can give Sonia O’Sullivan a run for her money, then maybe you should save the disabled spot for someone who really needs it. 

According to the Irish Wheelchair Association, many of their members find simple tasks such as going shopping or meeting a friend for a coffee is an ongoing challenge because too often these spaces are occupied by people who do not have a disability and many of them can often be very aggressive towards people who attempt to highlight their inappropriate parking.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that sometimes the parking is so bad, I expect the driver to realise it when they get out of the car and dash back to fix it, but they never do. They just lock it up and walk away. It’s lazy, thoughtless, careless and very annoying but unfortunately, it’s typical of the way modern driving standards are deteriorating. A little consideration for other road users would go a long way.  

I was parked near the City Hall recently waiting to collect my wife after getting her vaccination. I reversed as closely as I could to the footpath behind me to make room for others. A lady pulled up in front of me and reversed up to my bumper. She turned off her engine, got out of the car with a shopping bag and was heading off about her business when I opened my window to call her.

I explained to her that my life was going to get very complicated if I tried to move. She looked at me and threw her eyes up to heaven, jumped back into the car and moved it forward. Then she got out again and stormed off as if I had stood on her corns. If she understood what she had done, she gave no indication of it.

I had to go to my daughter’s house recently at half eight in the morning and it was an eye opener. They were stuck at home thanks to some bug they picked up, so I ran to the shop to pick up a few things for them. Because I’m not used to being out at that hour of the morning, I had forgotten what it was like.

The traffic was manic. When I pulled into the supermarket car park, it was like being in the dodgems at a fairground. There were cars whizzing about in all directions and everyone seemed to be in a rush. The narrow roads were full of children walking to school, and in some places, there were no footpaths, but drivers weren’t slowing down. They were oblivious to any danger.

Passing the school was a nightmare. Cars were abandoned everywhere, including the very areas that are marked out to prevent parking. Those markings are designed to make the place safer for THEIR OWN children, but some people either didn’t understand or just didn’t care. Others were driving at a speed that was totally inappropriate for the location, given that there were children everywhere. By the time I got home, my nerves were frayed.

The following day I was walking through town when I saw a guy returning to his car to find he was blocked in. A car had parked to within six inches of his front bumper and another one had done the same thing behind him. He was scratching his head in amazement but there really was no mystery. Too many drivers simply can’t drive properly.

• 

Tennis has always been a popular sport in our family. My wife and I both play it and my son Colin, has played since he was about six years old. He is now a professional tennis coach and plays to a high standard as well. We spent a lot of time driving him to various tournaments around Munster as a child, but it was worth it because he loved to play.

It became obvious at an early age that he was competitive. He was normally a quiet, reserved character but turned into something else when he was on court. So much so, that I often wondered if he was somehow related to John McEnroe. I threatened to quit as his chauffeur unless he behaved himself and told him if he ever broke a racquet, he wouldn’t get another one but now I’m wondering if I made a mistake.

It takes a lot to become a top-class tennis player and it begins at an early age. If you look at the background stories of how Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and more recently, Andy Murray, reached the pinnacle of their careers, you’ll find a few common denominators. Determined parents, a competitive spirit, talent, dedication to hard work and a belief in their ability.

Poor Colin was born into the wrong family because I was anything but determined. I remember on one occasion when he was about ten, he entered a tournament in Sundays Well Tennis Club around the time we were getting ready to go on holidays. The caravan was packed and ready for the off, but Colin won his first-round match, and had to return for the second round the following day. We weren’t expecting that.

The caravan was unhitched and back we went to Sundays Well. Standing behind the court, I cheered and clapped like the rest of the anxious parents while secretly hoping Colin would lose so we could get away. That wasn’t the best attitude for an ambitious dad so it’s partly my fault Colin never won Wimbledon and why I don’t have a beach house in the Bahamas today.

I’m fairly certain those thoughts never entered the minds of Mr. John McEnroe senior, Mr. Agassi or Judy Murray. I remember reading Agassi’s autobiography many years ago and I was shocked to learn what he went through. His father was a tough man and drove his son hard. He even moved to a bigger house just so he could build a private court for Andre to practice on. His father was a hard taskmaster and so tough on Andre that he eventually grew to hate tennis.

He suffered for his sport and told a story of a match he played against Greg Rusedski. It was a long gruelling five-setter and after the game he ended up on the floor in the changing room and had to be lifted onto the table. His muscles were seizing up and he needed a massage before he could move.

Towards the end of his career, he used to get out of bed in the morning on all fours until he stretched himself out so he could eventually stand up. His back was giving him serious trouble.

John McEnroe had his trials and tribulations too. He grew up in New York City, but his paternal grandparents came from Ireland. He was a tough kid, and even though he wasn’t tall, he had a flair for any sport with a ball. His exceptional hand eye co-ordination was spotted at an early age, and he soon came to the notice of some good tennis coaches.

What he lacked in height, he made up for with speed and talent. He also learned that he hated to lose and in the early years whenever he lost, he just cried. That changed as he got older, and he made a name for himself with his tantrums on court. His most famous outburst was in Wimbledon when his ball was called out, he shouted at the umpire, ‘You cannot be serious.’

That behaviour was unheard of in Wimbledon and McEnroe was considered uncouth and unsuited to the All-England Club. The suits didn’t like him, but the fans loved him. The BBC weren’t overly fond of him either but ironically, he now works as a sports commentator and regularly covers Wimbledon for that broadcaster.

Andy Murray is another guy who has proven his worth through hard work and dedication and even though he has been laid low several times with injuries, he keeps bouncing back. He recently had a good run at Wimbledon after a break of a couple of years and now has a metal plate in his hip, but his love of the game keeps him going.

Attitude is everything to these guys except maybe for Benoît Paire. The Frenchman is controversial to say the least and has been in trouble with officials over his antics. In his first-round match at Wimbledon this year, the umpire cautioned him to do his best after he appeared to have no interest in the game and didn’t seem to be trying.

The crowd got on his back and booed him with one spectator abusing him for wasting everybody’s time. In an interview afterwards he said he didn’t care what fans thought of him. He wasn’t selected for the Tokyo Olympics either for what the French authorities called ‘inappropriate behaviour’ and in the Argentina Open he was cautioned for spitting on court.

In Rome recently he got into an argument with the umpire who called his ball out, and he responded by photographing the mark with his phone. He has spent lots of money on fines but couldn’t care less.

On second thoughts, maybe I was right not to push Colin – it might have been expensive.

• 

Like everyone else, I was shocked to see the recent newspaper headlines in relation to gardai not responding to 999 emergency calls. It’s been reported that around 3,000 of these calls were related to domestic abuse. In one instance, a woman who was assaulted by her partner, rang 999 three times in one hour but gardaí never arrived.

An internal computer system designed to track and record 999 calls revealed that thousands of calls were being “cancelled” by gardaí. This means the caller did not get a police response and it has been reported that hundreds of frontline gardaí are thought to be implicated in the cancellation of thousands of these calls to avoid follow-up inquiries and lessen their workloads. The figure of 10,000 has been mentioned.

The Garda Commissioner has apologised and said a new system had been put in place to ensure that 999 calls could now only be cancelled under supervision. This confused me a little because in my time in An Garda Siochana, the response to 999 calls was always supervised. I know this because from 2001 until around 2005, I was a supervisor in the garda command and control centre in Cork city which dealt with these calls.

That centre is located in Anglesea Street and is the communications hub for gardai but also deals with calls from the general public, including 999 emergency calls. In those days, when someone dialled 999, they were connected to a call centre based in Limerick, where an operator asked them what service they required ie. gardai, fire service or ambulance. Their call was then transferred to the relevant service. For garda emergencies in Cork, those calls came to Anglesea St. where a despatcher recorded the details and sent a garda to the scene.

The system for recording those calls and the action taken was very basic. Each call taker used small index cards. When they received a phone call, they noted the details on one of these cards and in the case of an emergency call, they wrote 999 in the corner of the card to distinguish it from an ordinary call.

The details of the member going to the scene were also recorded and they retained those cards until they received a result from the investigating member. At that stage the cards were passed to me, and it was my job to check the results to ensure every call was dealt with satisfactorily before filing the cards in sequence for future reference. All noteworthy incidents were highlighted for the information of the various superintendent across the garda division.

It wasn’t a very high-tech system, but it was effective and during my time there, I never had an issue with members refusing to respond to an emergency call. Mistakes were made occasionally, and some calls fell through the cracks, but they were few and far between and certainly nothing on the scale of what is currently being reported. It wasn’t always easy though.

The call takers didn’t always get clear information. Language difficulties, bad connections and lack of correct addresses were common and made things difficult. It’s also worth noting that the 999 system was regularly abused, particularly on weekend nights. People used the emergency line for all sorts of nonsense. It wasn’t unusual to receive calls complaining about the lack of taxis and even requests for spins home. Complaints about being refused entry into nightclubs were commonplace.

Drunks thought it was amusing to tie up the emergency line talking rubbish or to make spurious complaints against neighbours, friends, family members and gardai or just to complain about the weather. We regularly received calls to addresses that didn’t exist and to incidents that never happened. The system received lots of abuse and it was wearying at times.

I knew what it was like to be on the other end too. In my younger days I responded to many of those calls. One guy in particular was a regular caller. He lived on his own in a dingy little flat and he obviously had his own issues to deal with. The only reason he used the emergency line was to talk to someone. We advised him on numerous occasions not to abuse the service, but it was hard not to feel sorry for the guy so we still responded.

I was sent to a call about a domestic dispute one time in the early hours of the morning. It was about 2am and I had difficulty finding the address. I drove around for ages until I eventually found it but when I got to the front door there was no sign of life, but I rang the bell anyway.

A lady opened the door and apologised for calling me out and assured me that everything was ok. I had no reason to think otherwise so I left and thought no more about it. She wasn’t ok though and she was subsequently assaulted and reported the incident the following morning when her partner left the house. 

There was no intention on my part to avoid dealing with the incident. The lady looked OK and sounded genuine but that story being told by someone else might look completely different. Statistics don’t always tell the full story.

In my day, emergency calls were taken seriously and always took priority. Most of the people making these did so out of a real sense of fear and the vast majority were genuine. They wanted help and the reason we joined the Force in the first place was to provide that service. If that’s different now, then it represents a complete change in policing attitudes here and that would be very troubling.

I think we should keep our powder dry for a while though until we hear the full story.