Muslim Community Lobby Ireland is an independent organization established 1st May 2007. Its motto is TO USE THE VOTE RIGHTLY AND TO RAISE THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY AWARNESS WITH THEIR RIGHTS AND TO PROMOTE TOLERANCE AND UNDERSTANDING OF OTHER EXISTING GROUPS. لترشيد استعمال الصوت الانتخابي ولتوعية وتعريف المسلمين بحقوقهم في ايرلندا وان يعيشوا بتفهم للواقع وللجماعات الاخرى الموجودة على الساحة

Thursday, January 27, 2011

NOTICE BOARD إعلانات: تصويت منع الحجاب في نيوزيلند

NOTICE BOARD إعلانات: تصويت منع الحجاب في نيوزيلند: "السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته هناك تصويت يقوم به موقع الياهو لمنع الحجاب على أخواتنا المسلمات في نيوزلندا ونسبة التصويت بالموافقة عالية ..."

NOTICE BOARD إعلانات: تصويت منع الحجاب في نيوزيلند

NOTICE BOARD إعلانات: تصويت منع الحجاب في نيوزيلند: "السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته هناك تصويت يقوم به موقع الياهو لمنع الحجاب على أخواتنا المسلمات في نيوزلندا ونسبة التصويت بالموافقة عالية ..."

Muslim C Lobby Ireland لوبي الجالية الاسلامية في ايرلندا: U.S. Ambassador and Imam Share Views at Muslim Ent...

Muslim C Lobby Ireland لوبي الجالية الاسلامية في ايرلندا: U.S. Ambassador and Imam Share Views at Muslim Ent...: "Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT, welcomes US Ambassador, Daniel M. Rooney and Sk Hussein Halawa, Imam of the Islamic Cultural Ce..."

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

U.S. Ambassador and Imam Share Views at Muslim Entrepreneurship Conference




Professor Brian Norton, President of DIT, welcomes US Ambassador, Daniel M. Rooney and Sk Hussein Halawa, Imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland to DIT for the first Muslim Entrepreneurship conference in Ireland

On October 6th 2010, a major conference on Muslim entrepreneurship in Ireland was held at the DIT Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship (IME). Sponsored by the US Embassy in Dublin, the event was part of the wider President Obama 'Muslim entrepreneurship initiative' to build ties with Muslim communities around the world, and featured speakers from the United States of America, England and Ireland.

In his speech to the conference, Ambassador Daniel M. Rooney spoke of the Department of State’s strong support for the Embassy’s sponsorship and, as a gesture of goodwill, offered a gift of President Obama’s autobiographies to Sk. Hussain Halawa, Imam of the Irish Islamic Cultural Centre. The Imam highlighted that the primary objective of Islam is to avoid all transactions that lead to disharmony and that morality was an important component of Islamic trading.

The focus of the conference was to identify ways in which greater entrepreneurial activity can be generated within the Muslim community in Ireland. According to Dr. Thomas Cooney, Academic Director of IME, one of the key findings from a recent survey of Muslim entrepreneurs was their lack of willingness to use mainstream business support agencies, often relying instead on self-help and informal sources of assistance, including financial assistance. Another key finding of the research was that the needs of ethnic businesses are frequently found to be quite distinctive as compared with those of other Irish firms.

"Although many of the needs of Muslim businesses are shared with their majority counterparts in Ireland, there are also specific issues they must contend with. These include language, religious practice, age, and gender aspects, and an understanding of these is necessary if business support is to be delivered and to be effective. There are also issues relating to the availability of Muslim banking products in Ireland. The Muslim community has a broad network of international contacts and we should tap into this substantial community if we wish to build Ireland’s export activity."

Attended by over 130 participants, including entrepreneurs, non-entrepreneurs, support agency personnel and policy makers, as well as high-level Embassy officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, among others. The event will be followed by a series of workshops across the island of Ireland in the coming months. Dr. Cooney feels the conference will help both entrepreneurs and the support agencies to better understand one another's roles.

http://dublin.usembassy.gov/news/events-outreach/muslim-entrepreneurship-conference.html

Monday, January 24, 2011

A word of thanks

A chara,

It has been my honour to have served as Úachtarán Fhianna Fáil. In my last act as leader, I wanted to send a clear message to you, our members and supporters: Thank you.

Thank you for your loyalty, for your hard work, and for your complete commitment to this movement.

I love this country and this party. In my remaining time as Taoiseach, I will continue to work on government business and to implement the plan for recovery. I pledge my support to my successor as leader of Fianna Fáil in the task that he or she will undertake in the coming weeks and into the future.

I know that you and I, along with all members of Fianna Fáil, will unite to work as hard as we can to support our leader and spread our message in the coming campaign. I know what we are capable of.

This party and its members can rise to any challenge that faces us, when we muster the collective determination to do so. We have done so in the past and we can do so again.

Once again, it has been an honour to lead Fianna Fáil. While times are difficult now, there are better days ahead, both for our party and our great nation.

Thank you once again.

Brian Cowen TD

Leadership vote of confidence


A chara,

Following last night’s vote, I am deeply grateful to my colleagues for their vote of confidence in my continued leadership of Fianna Fáil. Both the Parliamentary Party and I now have a renewed focus and determination to bring our message to the people. We want to fight for this country, and set out our plan for its future.

We are confident that there is a better future for our people if we implement a credible, honest plan. And we look forward to taking that case to the public over the coming weeks and months.

However, we face an opposition which is determined to engage in deeply cynical electioneering, and which offers no solutions to our current difficulties.

Today, I challenged the negative "politics as usual" of the Labour Party and its leader. You can watch a short video of this by clicking here.

I do not know how Labour intends to instil confidence in the country when they keep calling it "an economic corpse", "banjaxed", and "stuck in the mire". Their entire strategy seems to be based on writing off our country.

However, I believe people are starting to see through their rhetoric. Labour's credibility on real policy is beginning to be put to the test.

In the coming weeks and months, we will be looking for your help to spread the word that Ireland is not “banjaxed” and that we have a real, credible plan to secure recovery.

You can help me today by watching this video, and sharing it with your friends: www.fiannafail.ie/LabourNegativity.

Thank you.







Brian Cowen TD
Taoiseach, Úachtarán Fhianna Fáil

Clonskeagh Mosque imam 'grateful ' proposed Koran burning called off


Dublin has said he is “very grateful to Allah” that the proposed burning of the Koran by an American preacher will not now take place.

Imam Hussein Halawa said if the burning had happened, it would have been considered an act of terror by Muslims and would have led to violence.

Terry Jones, the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Centre church in Florida, withdrew plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

His threat attracted worldwide condemnation and a phone call from US defence secretary Robert Gates who said the burning would put the lives of American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq at risk.

Pastor Jones had objected to the plan to build a mosque in New York on the site of the September 11th attack.

Speaking through a translator yesterday afternoon, Imam Halawa said he was “very grateful to Allah” that the burning was called off. “Otherwise it would create violence with Muslims everywhere,” he said.

“That’s because the holy Koran is the most sacred masterpiece for Muslims. We do not accept insult to any religion and so we do not accept any insult to our own religion.”

He said such an act, if it had happened, would be considered an act of terror and would lead to a counter-reaction of terror and violence.

“I am sorry such an act was to be done by a holy man or a priest,” he added.

Hundreds of Muslims had gathered at Clonskeagh Mosque yesterday to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of the fasting season of Ramadan. A barbecue and games for children in the grounds of the mosque and community centre followed a morning of prayer. Families and friends greeted each other with a hug and “may Allah accept your fasting and my fasting”.

Over 40 nationalities were represented at the celebrations, each enjoying what was a mild and showery day in the capital. People expressed their relief that Ramadan, which requires them to fast from sunrise to sunset, was complete.

Safi Eddine, from Gorey, Co Wexford, said the observance was particularly tough in Ireland because we have such long days. “I am from Tunisia and the day used to be shorter even in the summer time, but in Ireland it is so long, but it is great that it is finished,” he said.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

vote of confidence


A chara, Following last night’s vote, I am deeply grateful to my colleagues for their vote of confidence in my continued leadership of Fianna Fáil. Both the Parliamentary Party and I now have a renewed focus and determination to bring our message to the people. We want to fight for this country, and set out our plan for its future.
We are confident that there is a better future for our people if we implement a credible, honest plan. And we look forward to taking that case to the public over the coming weeks and months.
However, we face an opposition which is determined to engage in deeply cynical electioneering, and which offers no solutions to our current difficulties.
Today, I challenged the negative "politics as usual" of the Labour Party and its leader. You can watch a short video of this by clicking here.
I do not know how Labour intends to instil confidence in the country when they keep calling it "an economic corpse", "banjaxed", and "stuck in the mire". Their entire strategy seems to be based on writing off our country.
However, I believe people are starting to see through their rhetoric. Labour's credibility on real policy is beginning to be put to the test.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be looking for your help to spread the word that Ireland is not “banjaxed” and that we have a real, credible plan to secure recovery.
You can help me today by watching this video, and sharing it with your friends: http://www.fiannafail.ie/page/m/1363c70/33741a9e/244763b0/585bcd13/138101685/VEsE/.
Thank you.


Brian Cowen TDTaoiseach, Úachtarán Fhianna Fáil

Murder of Adil Essalhi


A man has appeared in court in Dublin charged with the murder of a man whose body was found in a ditch in a field in Tyrellstown earlier this week.
Wayne Kinsell, aged 39, of The Plaza, Tyrellstown, was charged with the murder of Adil Essalhi, who was from Drumcondra.
The body of Mr Essalhi, who had an address in Drumcondra, was discovered in a ditch in a field close to Belgree Avenue in Tyrrelstown in the west of the city on Thursday.
A 21-year-old woman was also arrested yesterday.
She has been released without charge.
RTE

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Immigrant interns in local and regional newspapers


1. The purpose of this scheme is to give non-Irish nationals an opportunity to get involved in this area of the media and to increase content in the paper giving the perspective of immigrants. In this way, the wider readership would be exposed to the experience of this new group in Irish society and integration would be enhanced.

2. There will be funding for 2 internships of 6 months (subject to the review referred to at point 7 below) at separate local or regional newspapers.

3. Interns must be persons born outside Ireland (32 Counties) who are legally resident in the State and who can legally take up the position of intern.

4. Selection will be on the basis of applications submitted jointly by the newspaper and the proposed intern. It is for the paper to source the prospective intern or for that person to make contact with a paper with a view to submitting a joint application.

5. Selection will be by this Office on the basis of the ability of the proposed intern to discharge the role as described in point 6 below and the capacity of the newspaper to support the intern so that they can benefit from the arrangement. There will be a preference for persons who have been in Ireland for 5 years or less though persons who have been here for longer than this are not excluded from applying. Persons, who have (i) resided in Ireland for a considerable number of years such that they would be reasonably regarded as well integrated into Irish society or (ii) already worked in the field of journalism in a professional capacity or to a significant extent, are unlikely to be selected.

6. The internship will be a full time position. The intern will, following appropriate induction, regularly write by-lined articles or reports for publication in the newspaper. These articles or reports may deal with issues relevant to immigrants and integration of immigrants as well as general issues.

7. This Office will bear in full the salary cost of the internship at a rate of €11,440 and associated employer’s PRSI for the six month period. Half of this will be paid to the newspaper at the commencement of the internship. Prior to the conclusion of the third month, this Office will review experience with the internship on the basis of separate written reports from the editor of the newspaper and the intern and material authored by the intern and published in the newspaper. If this Office considers that the arrangement is operating satisfactorily, the remainder of the cost will be paid to the newspaper and the internship will continue for the remainder of the six month period.

8. The intern will be the employee of the newspaper proprietor and not of this Office and the proprietor will be subject to the legal obligations that arise from the employment relationship.

9. The newspaper will acknowledge appropriately adjacent to published articles and reports by the intern the fact that funding was provided by this Office

10. The joint application by the prospective intern and the newspaper should set out how the factors referred to in point 5 above are met. Applications must be received in this Office before 1600 hrs on 12 January 2011 in hard copy. To facilitate processing, they should also be sent by e-mail to jhurley@pobail.ie. Enquiries should also be sent to this e-mail address.



Office of the Minister for Integration
Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs
43/49 Mespil Road
Dublin 4




Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Illnesses linked to BP oil disaster


Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.

Independent scientists have confirmed that Gulf marine life is heavily contaminated by the dispersed oil and oil sheen in the water. Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.

Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.

Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.

Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.

"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."

Chronic health effects

Lloyd Pearcey, from Bonsecour, Alabama, worked on a BP clean-up team as a foreman for four months.

During that time, he collected oil-soaked boom and drove a bulldozer "filled with the tar balls and tar mats we collected. Other times we stood in the water in Tyvek suits putting out shore boom with oil all over us. The fumes got to you."

"I just got my results from the blood tests," Pearcey told Al Jazeera, "I have the chemicals of the oil and dispersants in my blood."

Pearcey had experienced many of the now common symptoms of acute exposure to BP's chemicals.

Dr. Soto is testing his patients, and said he has ample documentation attesting to the levels of toxins people are being exposed to.

Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.

One of the more extreme cases he treated was a woman who developed acute respiratory problems after a visit to the beach.

"This is a young woman in good health, with good nutritional intake, no health issues, hates to take any medication, and ate only organic foods," he explained, "But shortly after going to the beach, where she was likely exposed to toxins, she developed respiratory illness and developed cancer within weeks. I think this was due to direct exposure to chemicals in the dispersants and VOCs."

According to the US Government, BP's oil disaster released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, that are banned in at least 19 countries, to sink the oil.

Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.

While there are many examples of acute exposures like Pearcey and Dr. Soto's patient who developed cancer, his concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later.

"This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera. "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems."

Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function."

The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble," meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto.

"The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "And these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children."

His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer."

Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes intravenous detoxification programs.

All clear?

State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters, and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.

Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.

US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.

In addition, most doctors in the effected coastal areas are not treating people as though they are suffering acute exposure to toxic chemicals.

While Al Jazeera has heard of incidences where doctors having received threats, and while many fear litigation for talking openly about patient illnesses being attributed to BP's oil disaster, most doctors are simply not trained to deal appropriately with acute chemical toxicity on a mass scale.

Dr. Mary Jo Ghory a general and pediatric surgeon, and a member of the American College of Surgeons, told Al Jazeera she believes most doctors along the Gulf Coast are unlikely to connect the illnesses they treat to BP’s chemicals, because of a lack of adequate training.

"Toxicology is not usually a course, and there is not much discussion of the toxic effects of chemical exposure," Dr. Ghory said. "When confronted with an array of confusing and widely varying symptoms related to chemical exposure, it is difficult for each individual physician to sort things out, especially without a definite profile of what to expect."

Dr. Soto says he is in a very unique - but isolated - position, as he is one of the only medical doctors he knows in the region who is treating people accordingly.

Like Dr. Ghory, Dr. Soto believes this is largely due to lack of training.

The Exxon Valdez legacy

Merle Savage was a cleanup worker for the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, and she is still suffering health effects from chemicals in the oil and dispersants.

"The first few weeks I was on the beach spraying hot water onto the oil covered rocks," Savage explained to Al Jazeera. She was soon promoted to a foreman working on the support barges where workers returned each evening.

"So when they started spraying the dispersant, the crews that came back in from spraying it returned with it all over their suits and boats. They were sprayed off with water, and the steam that came off them was dispersant chemicals and we all breathed this in."

"The symptoms mimicked the flu, and everyone was coughing," Savage added, "Then it came on and stayed. I went to the doctor during some time off the cleanup, and at that time I was congested with bronchial problems. Then it became a stomach disorder. My whole system since then has been jeopardized."

After finishing her work on the oil disaster clean up, she returned to her home in Anchorage, where her problems worsened.

Savage moved out of Alaska, thinking that would improve her health. Yet after moving, a liver biopsy showed cirrhosis of the liver.

"I have always been physically active and very healthy," she explained, "I don't drink or smoke, and I eat health food."

Savage, now 72-years-old, completed a chemical detoxification program three years ago, and is now feeling better.

"There was 21 years of watching my body break down like that, and nothing I could do helped, until I learned I was chemically toxified, and could treat that appropriately," she said.

Reacting accordingly

Independent scientists and activist groups have been carrying out their own blood testing of Gulf Coast residents.

Recent results released in a report involve a 46-year-old male who lives 100 miles from the coast. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was not a BP cleanup worker, yet tested as having higher levels of chemicals from BP's oil in his blood than the actual cleanup workers.

Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist and Mcarthur Fellow, analysed his blood and found the highest levels of ethylbenzene than anyone tested to date. Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down; it is also present in BP's crude oil.

Styrene, a chemical produced in industrial quantities from ethylbenzene was also found, along with Hexane. M,p-Xylene, a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is refined from crude oil and is used as a solvent, was also present in the man's blood.

"I've never even seen a tar ball," the man, from Louisiana, told Al Jazeera, "I tried to stay away from all of it. So for me to have the high levels I have, tells me that everyone must have it."

Gregg Hall lived in Pensacola, Florida, and also had his blood tested by Dr. Subra.

"I have a cough that won't go away, my feet have been numb for months, I have headaches and nausea all the time," Hall said.

Hall recently moved to Idaho, and is among a growing number of Gulf Coast residents who feel that they are victims of an environmental catastrophe that has received inadequate response from the federal government.

Dr. Soto, whose list of patients related to the BP oil disaster continues to grow, feels similarly.

"It's criminal for the government to tell people to eat the contaminated seafood, and that it's alright for people go to our toxic beaches and swim in the contaminated water," Dr. Soto concluded, "This crisis has to be taken seriously by the government and health care community."



Dahr Jamail

Monday, January 3, 2011

Barroso good measures put in place for Ireland


Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned against a "beauty contest" of national leaders at the forthcoming summit of the European Council, during a debate with MEPs on 15 December 2010.