Bruce Springsteen recently completed a very successful tour of Ireland, playing to more than 200,000 fans in Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Kilkenny.

He is without doubt one of those iconic musical figures who has transcended the ages and who without exception has delivered memorable three-hour concerts to a devoted fan base, none more than here in Ireland, where he has played on a regular basis, mostly with the brilliant E-Street Band.

His body of work has spanned the decades from ‘Born to Run’ in 1975, ‘The River’ in 1980, ‘Born in the USA’ in 1984, through to a more personal and reflective, ‘Letter to You’ in 2020.

I have been lucky enough to see him five times, including his first concert at Slane in 1985 and more recently last year at the RDS in Dublin, when he closed the gig with a magical tribute to former members, ‘I’ll see you in my Dreams’.

When he played his first concert at Slane in 1985, Ireland had not much experience of promoting large-scale concerts, and nearly 100,000 people packed the venue.

Security was chaotic and Health and Safety was unheard of, so much so that Springsteen himself became so alarmed at the sight of drunken fans disappearing from view and then dragged to their feet again that he wanted to cancel the second half of the concert.

It definitely was an ‘I was there’ moment, with the day blessed by unbroken sunshine and sublime music.

I was reminded of this recently when I paid a site visit to a remote area of Fermanagh to meet a client who had a boundary issue.

During our conversation, he reminded me that I had stood on his head at Slane while he was sleeping off an earlier over-indulgence.

I denied all knowledge, and wondered where this was leading, but he was adamant it was me, but thankfully bore me no grudge!

Bruce Springsteen paid a lovely tribute to the late Shane McGowan at Kilkenny, when he sang that fine McGowan song, ‘Rainy Night in Soho’.

 

British politics continues to be the gift that keeps on giving, with the announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the pouring rain that he was calling an election on July 4. The local battle for Fermanagh South Tyrone will be intriguing as Michelle Gildernew, sitting MP, is not standing and this week lost out on a MEP seat in the Republic. Instead, nursing leader Pat Cullen has been parachuted in; and Diane Armstrong, a popular local councillor, has announced she is running for Ulster Unionists. Some would give her a chance.

Apart from what happens locally, there is a strong possibility of a Labour government, after 14 years of Tory rule.

If that happens, then not only will Keir Starmer get the keys of Downing Street, but he will be ably abetted by a number of staff members with a distinctly Irish complexion. None more so than a lady who has strong local connections to Fermanagh, and who has in recent times run a public house in County Down, been appointed head of the NI Civil Service, investigated Boris Johnston’s colourful carry-on in Downing Street, and then morphed into one of Starmer’s most important electoral chiefs.

Step forward Sue Gray – a member of a large Irish family who emigrated to Tottenham in London, and whose father came from Belcoo, probably a relation of the late Jim Gray, who for many years ran a coffee van at the Mart.

If all this comes to pass, then surely she can be prevailed upon to favour her native village and county with largesse, including providing funding to improve the road from Enniskillen to Belcoo, which gets worse every year. 

An invitation to visit will surely follow from our dynamic Council.

Perhaps she could also use her influence to improve the plight of many of our local citizens as they are forced to travel miles for medical services due to the management of the South West Acute Hospital by the Western Trust.

 

On the most recent Bank Holiday Monday, and enjoying a coffee up town with friends, they were alarmed at the sight of an approaching ‘Redcoat’, as they were convinced that car parking in car parks and on the streets was free.

Not so, apparently – the car parks were free, but on-street parking wasn’t.

If local people were bemused, how on earth could we expect our visitors to know? How have we let things come to this when it would seem so much simpler to have all parking matters in the Council area dealt with by the Council, and operated by Council staff?

Could the Council not arrange for some of its staff to police both the car parks and the streets?

Apparently not, it seems, judging by the Council decision, in common with seven other councils in Northern Ireland, to award the contract for operating the Council car parks to an English company, ‘Marston Holdings Limited’, a multimillion security firm based in Birmingham, and more famous for its bailiffs and debt-collecting reputation.

Marston Holdings are also taking over the enforcement of parking penalties from the Department for Infrastructure and will conduct all matters through to the Judgement Enforcement Office, and ultimately the Courts.

They will be paid by the ratepayers of Northern Ireland, £13,500,000 over the duration of the contract.

They will also manage the currently free car parks and there is scope for the Council to make those fee-paying as well.

There were three bidders for the contract, and it seems Marston Holdings were the cheapest, as the weighting awarded 60 per cent on price, and only ten per cent for customer service.

It must beg the question as to what value-for-money does our local Council offer when it cannot even run its own car parks? Surely the time has come for a complete review of the way public services are delivered in Northern Ireland?

If the chief executive and officers are worthy of their salaries, then give the Council something to do, and move powers and services from the NI Civil Service.

The hard-pressed ratepayers are paying far too much for what is on offer and this latest move on parking merely serves to underline this.

There is a lot to be said for the American system, where Council chiefs and leading police office-holders have to stand for election every four years.

Now, that would be worth watching!

 

Reggie Ferguson is an Enniskillen-based solicitor, and member of the Save Our Acute Services health campaign group.