The decision by University College Cork to first
appoint Feilim O hAdhmaill as a lecturer in social
policy and to then stand over the decision once
knowledge of O'hAdhmaill's IRA past began to filter
throughout the university is estimable. The Irish
Independent in a news article, while refraining
from being judgemental, ran the by-line of its
security correspondent (who co-authored the article)
to bring the matter to wider public attention.
This gave the whole affair a security connotation
it did not merit. Insidiously and subliminally,
O'hAdhmaill's appointment has become tainted with
subversion.
The
university in defending its decision pointed out
that O'hAdhmaill made no attempt to conceal his
past. On the contrary he was very 'upfront' about
it. The university appointed him because the peace
process in its view had created a context whereby
the application for the post should be considered
on merit and not against a background of the IRA's
armed struggle and associated English bombing
campaign. O'hAdhmaill was sentenced to 25 years
after being convicted by a British court of taking
part in that campaign. In considering his application
the university applied neither positive nor negative
discrimination toward him.
Feilim
O'hAdhmaill is a competent academic whose integrity
and experience are valued by those he has taught
and others who are familiar with his work. By
the time of his arrest and subsequent imprisonment
in 1994 he had acquired a PhD. But like Pat Magee
before him, who acquired his own doctorate while
in prison, he faces being pilloried in Southern
society on the grounds that such academic standing
does not matter; that because he was a republican
prisoner he should be shunned forever and a day
by academia, media and all other pillars of society.
It
is a fact of life that many former republican
prisoners play crucial roles in Irish life, as
they have done since the formation of the Free
State, now the Republic of Ireland. Some are local
government councillors while others are members
of Dail Eireann, the national parliament. If Sinn
Fein eventually enters a coalition government
with Fianna Fail, a former republican prisoner
could be Tanaiste. In the North it is likewise.
Many former republican prisoners are elected politicians
in three separate arenas, local government, the
Stormont assembly and the British parliament.
In 1984 a former republican prisoner received
around 90, 000 votes when he bid to become a member
of the European parliament. The notion that former
republican prisoners can lead the country but
not teach it is ludicrous.
Outside
of elected politics former republican prisoners
play an active role in all aspects of community
life. The argument that they should be demonised,
excluded and discriminated against because they
have a prisoner past should be rebutted wherever
it appears.
There is also a wider societal ramification. In
prison great value is placed on the education
facilities. They are lauded as the means whereby
a prisoner can emerge from prison and make a solid
contribution to society. Potentially education
can help reduce the high rate of recidivism that
is said to plague the Irish penal world. Educationalists
give of their time and energy in circumstances
hardly conducive to an academic setting to assist
prisoners to develop skills and enhance their
intellect. If education is playing a positive
role within the Irish penal network, it can be
claimed that it is one of the few success stories
of the country's prison system which is much more
used to being reported on for the appalling conditions
in which those behind its walls are forced to
exist. What, however, would the value of prison
education be other than to while away the time
and push back the tedium if it is seen by the
imprisoned to have no practical function on the
outside?
If
a small number of students feel they wish to protest
against the UUC decision to appoint Feilim O'hAdhmail,
in a democratic society it is their right to do
so. However, the university's decision to retain
O'hAdhmail should be robustly defended in the
face of such protests and against others who would
seek to sensationalise his appointment. Even though
the challenge to O'hAdhmail's appointment was
unsuccessful, it indicates that some are intent
on establishing an arbitrary line over which no
future academics who served time as republican
activists shall pass. It is a line that should
be pushed back, not just for former republican
prisoners but for all who for one reason or another
became familiar with the wrong side of a prison
wall.
A
wide ranging, multi-agency and inclusive prison
regime which spans both imprisonment and post-prison
environments is palpably absent in Irish society.
If it is ever created it will prove its worth
only when it is able to fully integrate ex-prisoners
back into society; and when it reaches the point
where ex-prisoners to all intents and purposes
cease to be ex-prisoners in anything other than
disused records files stored on some bureaucrat's
computer.
