County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,046 square kilometres and has a population of about 618,000. County Antrim has a population density of 203 people per square kilometre or 526 people per square mile, it is one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland, as well as part of the historic province of Ulster. The Glens of Antrim offer isolated rugged landscapes, the Giant's Causeway is a unique landscape and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bushmills produces whiskey, Portrush is a popular seaside resort and night-life area; the majority of Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, is in County Antrim, with the remainder being in County Down. According to the 2001 census, it is one of only two counties of Ireland in which a majority of the population are from a Protestant background; the other is County Down to the south. A large portion of Antrim is hilly in the east, where the highest elevations are attained.
The range runs north and south, following this direction, the highest points are Knocklayd 514 m, Slieveanorra 508 m, Trostan 550 m, Slemish 437 m, Agnew's Hill 474 m and Divis 478 m. The inland slope is gradual, but on the northern shore the range terminates in abrupt and perpendicular declivities, here some of the finest coast scenery in the world is found differing, with its unbroken lines of cliffs, from the indented coast-line of the west; the most remarkable cliffs are those formed of perpendicular basaltic columns, extending for many miles, most strikingly displayed in Fair Head and the celebrated Giant's Causeway. From the eastern coast the hills rise but less abruptly, the indentations are wider and deeper. On both coasts there are several resort towns, including Portrush and Ballycastle. All are somewhat exposed to the easterly winds prevalent in spring; the only island of size is the L-shaped Rathlin Island, off Ballycastle, 11 km in total length by 2 km maximum breadth, 7 km from the coast, of similar basaltic and limestone formation to that of the mainland.
It is arable, supports a small population. Islandmagee is a peninsula separating Larne Lough from the North Channel; the valleys of the Bann and Lagan, with the intervening shores of Lough Neagh, form the fertile lowlands. These two rivers, both rising in County Down, are the only ones of importance; the latter flows to Belfast Lough, the former drains Lough Neagh, fed by a number of smaller streams. The fisheries of the Bann and of Lough Neagh are of value both commercially and to sportsmen, the small town of Toome, at the outflow of the river, being the centre. Below this point lies Lough Beg, the "Small Lake", about 4.5 m lower than Lough Neagh. County Antrim has a number of air and sea links. Northern Ireland's main airport, Belfast International Airport, at Aldergrove is in County Antrim. Belfast International shares its runways with 38 Brigade Flying Station Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities, it is the fifth-largest regional air cargo centre in the UK. There are regular services to Great Britain and North America.
The region is served by George Best Belfast City Airport, a mile east of Belfast city centre on the County Down side of the city, renamed in 2006 in honour of footballer George Best. The main Translink Northern Ireland Railways routes are the major line between Belfast, Ballymena and Derry, Belfast to Carrickfergus and Larne, the port for Stranraer in Scotland and Coleraine to Portrush. Two of Northern Ireland's main ports are in County Antrim and Belfast. Ferries sail from Larne Harbour to destinations including Cairnryan in Scotland; the Port of Belfast is Northern Ireland's principal maritime gateway, serving the Northern Ireland economy and that of the Republic of Ireland. It is a major centre of industry and commerce and has become established as the focus of logistics activity for Northern Ireland. Around two-thirds of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade, a quarter of that for Ireland as a whole is handled at the port, which receives over 6,000 vessels each year; the population of County Antrim was 615,384 according to recent census information, making it the most populous county in Northern Ireland.
Statistics for 2009–2010 show 1,832 students attending the 12 Gaelscoileanna and 1 Gaelcholáiste. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest religious denomination, followed by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church of Ireland. County Antrim is one of two counties in Ireland in which the majority of people are Protestant, according to the 2001 census, the other being Down; the strong Presbyterian presence in the county is due to the county's historical links with lowland Scotland, which supplied many immigrants to Ireland. Protestants are the majority in most of the county, whilst Catholics are concentrated in Belfast the west of the city, the northeast, on the shore of Lough Neagh; the traditional county town is Antrim. More Ballymena was the seat of county government; the counties of Northern Ireland ceased to be administrative entities in 1973, with the reorganization of local government. In Northern Ireland the county structure is no long
Betty Williams (Nobel laureate)
Betty Williams is a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organization dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Williams heads the Global Children's Foundation and it's the President of the World Centre of Compassion for Children International, she is the Chair of Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington D. C. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Nova Southeastern University. She lectures on topics of peace, inter-cultural and inter-faith understanding, anti-extremism, children's rights. Williams is a founding member of the Nobel Laureate Summit, which has taken place annually since 2000. In 2006, Williams became a founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchú Tum; these six women representing North and South America, the Middle East and Africa, bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.
It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world. Williams is a member of PeaceJam. Williams was born on 22 May 1943 in Northern Ireland, her father worked as her mother was a house wife. Betty received her primary education from St. Teresa Primary School in Belfast and attended St. Dominic's School for her high school studies. Upon completing her formal education, she took up a job of office receptionist. Rare for the time in Northern Ireland, her father was Protestant and her mother was Catholic. Early in the 1970s she joined an anti-violence campaign headed by a Protestant priest. Williams credits this experience for preparing her to found her own peace movement, which focused on creating peace groups composed of former opponents, practicing confidence-building measures, the development of a grassroots peace process. Betty Williams was drawn into the public arena after witnessing the death of three children on 10 August 1976, when they were hit by a car whose driver, an IRA guerrilla named Danny Lennon, had been fatally shot in return fire by a soldier of the Kings Own Border regiment Williams was driving in her car with one of her own children when she witnessed the PIRA hit squad open fire on an army foot patrol and the army foot patrol returned fire killing Lennon and wounding his accomplice John Chillingworth.
As she turned the corner to her home, she saw the three Maguire children crushed by the swerving car and rushed to help. Their mother, Anne Maguire, with the children committed suicide in 1980 after a failed attempt to start a new life in New Zealand. Williams was so moved by the incident that within two days of the tragic event, she had obtained 6,000 signatures on a petition for peace and gained wide media attention, she co-founded the Women for Peace which with co-founder Ciaran McKeown, became The Community for Peace People. Williams soon organised a peace march to the graves of the slain children, attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women. However, the peaceful march was violently disrupted by members of the Irish Republican Army, who accused them of being "dupes of the British"; the following week, Williams led another march that concluded without incident – this time with 35,000 participants. At that time, Williams declared the following: First Declaration of the Peace People We have a simple message to the world from this movement for Peace.
We want to build a just and peaceful society. We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, our lives at home, at work, at play to be lives of joy and Peace. We recognise that to build such a society demands dedication, hard work, courage. We recognise that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict and violence. We recognise that every exploding bomb make that work more difficult. We reject all the techniques of violence. We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbours and far, day in and day out, to build that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad memory and a continuing warning. In recognition of her efforts for peace, together with her friend Mairead Corrigan, became joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977. In her acceptance speech, Williams said, "That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car.
A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10, 1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, create the possibility of a real peace movement... As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, every death in every war, fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labour spurned". Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Williams has received the People's Peace Prize of Norway in 1976, the Schweitzer Medallion for Courage, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 1984, the Frank Foundation Child Care International Oliver Award. In 1995 she was awarded the Rotary Clu
Órlaithí Flynn
Órlaithí Flynn is an Irish politician and MLA who represents Belfast West in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The daughter of Patrick Flynn, a Provisional IRA veteran in West Belfast, Flynn was educated at St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls before studying politics at the University of Ulster, she completed a master's degree in Irish politics at Queen's University Belfast. Flynn joined Sinn Féin as a teenager, she worked as an adviser to a succession of politicians: Rosie McCorley, Sue Ramsey and Alex Maskey. In 2016, she was selected by the party to become a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast West, replacing Jennifer McCann. and was re-elected in the assembly elections of March 2017. Media related to Órlaithí Flynn at Wikimedia Commons
Veritas
In Roman mythology, meaning truth, is the goddess of truth, a daughter of Chronos, the God of Time, the mother of Virtus. She is sometimes considered the daughter of Zeus, or a creation of Prometheus; the elusive goddess is said to have hidden in the bottom of a holy well. She is depicted both as the "naked truth" holding a hand mirror. Veritas is the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness, considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess; the Greek goddess of truth is Aletheia. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger argues that the truth represented by aletheia is different from that represented by veritas, linked to a Roman understanding of rightness and to a Nietzschean sense of justice and a will to power. In Western culture, the word may serve as a motto; this Latin word "veritas" now appears in the mottos of many universities. It is capitalized in mottoes for being an ideal. Veritas is the motto of Hutchesons' Grammar School, Harvard University, The University of Western Ontario, Drake University, Knox College, Bilkent University, the University of California - Hastings College of the Law, as well as the Dominican Order of the Roman Catholic Church, Providence College and Molloy College, run by the Dominicans.
Additionally, the word appears in mottoes that are phrases, or lists e.g. the Buckley School of the City of New York employs the phrase Honor et Veritas, the University of Indonesia's motto is "Veritas, Iustitia", the University of Cape Coast in Ghana's motto is "Veritas Nobis Lumen", the University of Michigan's motto is: "Artes, Veritas". Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan's motto is "Veritas Liberabit Vos". "Veritas vos liberabit" is the motto of The Johns Hopkins University and St Thomas' College, the first catholic college in Kerala. Caldwell College in Caldwell, New Jersey issues a "Veritas Award" each year in honor of the Dominican Sisters who founded and administer the college. "Veritas" is included in the motto of Yale University, Lux et Veritas. It appears on the California State University's motto Vox Veritas Vita. Veritas Curat is the motto of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, a medical school in Puducherry, India. Howard University, in Washington, D.
C. goes by the motto "Veritas et Utilitas", translated to "Truth and Service", a motto "Truth-Service" of Payap University, Thailand. It exists in the logo of Seoul National University, Korea: "Veritas Lux Mea" – meaning "Truth is my light". Villanova University uses Veritas in its school motto, Unitas, Caritas. Uppsala University in Sweden uses Veritas in its school motto, "Gratiae veritas naturae"; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U. S. Navy's primary counterintelligence arm and law enforcement agency, uses the motto on its official seal. In vino veritas Via, Vita John 8:32 John 18:38 Truth Coming Out of Her Well Urim and Thummim History of Truth: The Latin "Veritas" Aletheia and Other Terms for Truth in Ancient Greek—Origins and developments of the concept of Truth
Nichola Mallon
Nichola Mallon is an Irish SDLP politician from Northern Ireland. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast North since 2016, was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2014–2015, she was elected Deputy Leader of the SDLP in 2017. Nichola Mallon was born in Belfast in 1979, her parents were a printer and a cook and she grew up in the Ardoyne district of North Belfast. She attended, she read Economics and Politics at Trinity College and graduated with a BA, followed by an MA in Comparative Ethnic Conflict from Queen's University Belfast. When she left QUB, she joined the civil service before moving to the General Medical Council and to a job with the SDLP, she has two children. Her family were involved in the trade union movement and she took part in May Day rallies as a girl. At school she became more interested in politics and was attracted to the SDLP. In 2010 she was co-opted by the SDLP onto Belfast City Council to replace Alban Maginness in the Oldpark. In 2014, she won the seat in polling just under 1,000 first preferences.
In 2013, she was appointed a special adviser to the SDLP's Environment Minister Mark H Durkan, but stood down from that position when elected Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2014. She served as the Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2014 to 2015, the first female Irish nationalist politician to hold the position, she was elected a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North in 2016 and re-elected in 2017, increasing the SDLP vote to 5,431 first preferences. She was elected Deputy Leader of the SDLP in 2017
President of Ireland
The president of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland and the Supreme Commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, can be elected for a maximum of two terms; the president is directly elected by the people, although there is no poll if only one candidate is nominated, which has occurred on six occasions to date. The presidency is a ceremonial office, but the president does exercise certain limited powers with absolute discretion; the president acts as a representative of the Irish guardian of the constitution. The president's official residence is Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin; the office was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, the first president took office in 1938, became internationally recognised as head of state in 1949 following the coming into force of the Republic of Ireland Act. The current president is Michael D. Higgins, first elected on 29 October 2011, his inauguration was held on 11 November 2011. He was re-elected for a second term on 26 October 2018.
The Constitution of Ireland provides for a parliamentary system of government, under which the role of the head of state is a ceremonial one. The president is formally one of three parts of the Oireachtas, which comprises Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. Unlike most parliamentary republics, the president is not the nominal chief executive. Rather, executive authority in Ireland is expressly vested in the government; the government is obliged, however, to keep the president informed on matters of domestic and foreign policy. Most of the functions of the president may be carried out only in accordance with the strict instructions of the Constitution, or the binding "advice" of the government; the president does, possess certain personal powers that may be exercised at his or her discretion. The main functions are prescribed by the Constitution: Appoints the government The president formally appoints the taoiseach and other ministers, accepts their resignations; the taoiseach is appointed upon the nomination of the Dáil, the president is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates without the right to decline appointment.
The remainder of the cabinet is appointed upon the nomination of the taoiseach and approval of the Dáil. Ministers are dismissed on the advice of the taoiseach and the Taoiseach must, unless there is a dissolution of the Dáil, resign upon losing the confidence of the house. Appoints the judiciary The president appoints the judges to all courts in Ireland, on the advice of the government. Convenes and dissolves the Dáil This power is exercised on the advice of the taoiseach; the president may only refuse a dissolution. Signs bills into law The President can not veto a bill that the Seanad have adopted. However, he or she may refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. If the Supreme Court upholds the bill, the President must sign it. If, however, it is found to be unconstitutional, the president will decline to give assent. Represents the state in foreign affairs This power is exercised only on the advice of the government; the president receives the letters of credence of foreign diplomats.
Ministers sign international treaties in the President's name. This role was not exercised by the president prior to the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces This role is somewhat similar in statute to that of a commander-in-chief. An officer's commission is sealed by the president; this is the powers of which are exercised on the advice of the government. Power of pardon The president, on the advice of the government, has "the right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment". Pardon, for miscarriages of justice, has applied rarely: Thomas Quinn in 1940, Brady in 1943, Nicky Kelly in 1992; the current procedure is specified by Section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1993. There were plans in 2005 for paramilitary "on the runs" to receive pardons as part of the Northern Ireland peace process, to supplement the 1998 early release of serving prisoners after the Good Friday Agreement; this was soon abandoned along with similar British proposals. Power of commutation and remittance are not restricted to the President, though this was the case for death sentences handed down prior to the abolition of capital punishment.
Other functions specified by statute or otherwise include: The president is ex officio president of the Irish Red Cross Society. The president appoints, on the advice of the government, the Senior Professors and chairman of the council of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies; the president appoints one trustee to the Chester Beatty Library. This was given effect by a 1968 Act of the Oireachtas; the president is the patron of Gaisce – The President's Award, established by trust deed in 1985. The president is the patron of Clans of Ireland, including its Order of Merit, since he so agreed in January 2012; the president confers the title of Saoi on those so elected by the membership of Aosdána. The president is patron to several charities in Ireland; the president may not leave the
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares a border to the west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments". Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Unlike Southern Ireland, which would become the Irish Free State in 1922, the majority of Northern Ireland's population were unionists, who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom.
Most of these were the Protestant descendants of colonists from Great Britain. However, a significant minority Catholics, were nationalists who wanted a united Ireland independent of British rule. Today, the former see themselves as British and the latter see themselves as Irish, while a distinct Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed both by a large minority of Catholics and Protestants and by many of those who are non-aligned. For most of the 20th century, when it came into existence, Northern Ireland was marked by discrimination and hostility between these two sides in what First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble, called a "cold house" for Catholics. In the late 1960s, conflict between state forces and chiefly Protestant unionists on the one hand, chiefly Catholic nationalists on the other, erupted into three decades of violence known as the Troubles, which claimed over 3,500 lives and caused over 50,000 casualties; the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was a major step in the peace process, including the decommissioning of weapons, although sectarianism and religious segregation still remain major social problems, sporadic violence has continued.
Northern Ireland has been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown since the late 1990s; the initial growth came from the "peace dividend" and the links which increased trade with the Republic of Ireland, continuing with a significant increase in tourism and business from around the world. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17.2% in 1986, dropping to 6.1% for June–August 2014 and down by 1.2 percentage points over the year, similar to the UK figure of 6.2%. 58.2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sportspeople from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough and George Best; some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, the rest of the UK are complex, with Northern Ireland sharing both the culture of Ireland and the culture of the United Kingdom.
In many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games; the region, now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century. The English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Following Irish defeat at the Battle of Kinsale, the region's Gaelic, Roman Catholic aristocracy fled to continental Europe in 1607 and the region became subject to major programmes of colonialism by Protestant English and Scottish settlers. A rebellion in 1641 by Irish aristocrats against English rule resulted in a massacre of settlers in Ulster in the context of a war breaking out between England and Ireland fuelled by religious intolerance in government.
Victories by English forces in that war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and the Battle of the Boyne in this latter war are still celebrated by some Protestants. Popes Innocent XI and Alexander VIII had supported William of Orange instead of his maternal uncle and father-in-law James II, despite William being Protestant and James a Catholic, due to William's participation in alliance with both Protesant and Catholic powers in Europe in wars against Louis XIV, the powerful King of France, in conflict with the papacy for decades. In 1693, Pope Innocent XII recognised James as continuing King of Great Britain and Ireland in place of William, after reconciliation with Louis. In 1695, contrary to the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, a series of penal laws were passed by the Anglican ruling class in Ireland in intense anger at the Pope's recognition of James over William, felt to be a betrayal.
The intention of the la
