An Phoblacht/Republican News  ·  Thursday November 30 1995

Swings and slides as country decides

Referendum '95, RTE 1, Saturday, 25 November
Rocket, UTV, Wednesday, 29 November

The most riveting television and radio of the week was RTÉ's live coverage of the referendum count on Saturday last. For those of us interested in politics, such counts are the equivalent of a soccer penalty shootout or the last five minutes of a Dublin-Tyrone all-Ireland football final. It was real edge of the seat stuff.

As the afternoon progressed we grappled with that magical 13.5% figure; we pondered whether the high turnout in Dublin as opposed to low figures in the west and north would make the crucial difference. The impact of rainy weather on polling day was aired as another possibly crucial factor. Fianna Fáil's Charlie McCreevy had jumped off the fence at a very early stage, predicting a Yes victory and by a clear margin. Meanwhile, an RTÉ Radio One reporter at the RDS count centre in Dublin had news from the more exotic end of the No campaign. Una Bean Mhic Mathúna, mother of No Divorce campaigner Niamh, had finally lost patience with lippy Yes campaigners and journalists of the liberal agenda persuasion. The hall resounded to her parting pleasantries as she left the building. "Where's Emmett Stagg now?" and "You're all a crowd of wife-swapping sodomites," were her parting shots. So much for calm under fire, but it was great radio.

As the afternoon turned to evening, Joe McCarroll, in the television studio for the No side, was repeatedly pressed in vain by John Bowman for a concession of defeat. Vincent Browne confidently echoed Charlie McCreevy's 52% Yes victory prediction. But then the Longford/Roscommon result did not reflect the early tally figures and all of a sudden, Richard Sinnott (a statistician who has slogged through many an electoral battle at Montrose and who had stuck to his "too close to call" position all day) was predicting a marginal No vote. Aaaargh!

And then the interminable wait until the three final Dublin constituencies finally came through - only to be followed by a full recount and the threat of legal action. This was what I finally paid my licence fee for and the answer to the critics who claim that RTÉ does not produce enough home-grown entertainment.

It was an unlikely setting. One of Ireland's most unassuming sporting stars in the glitzy city that was Elvis Presley's old stompin' ground, Las Vegas. But this is where WBC bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough, formerly of the loyalist Highfield Estate in West Belfast, now lives and works.

Although homesick for his first year in the States, Wayne, now known in typical US showbiz style, as the Pocket Rocket, has settled well and wants to stay. UTV's Rocket gave us a glimpse of how he is getting on and his preparations for his first title defence, against Johnny Bredahl this weekend in the King's Hall, Belfast. McCullough took the title in Japan in July, just two years after turning professional, and he immediately promised to make his first defence in his home town.

It is just three and a half years since McCullough won hearts and minds (as well as a silver medal) at the Barcelona Olympics, when his dynamic and fearless performances impressed even the most cynical. Today his style, although more polished, is basically the same. Wayne comes forward and throws punches and then more punches. In one of his fights his trainer clocked him at no less than 167 punches in one three-minute round.

In this documentary he comes across well, very level headed, ambitious but not taken in by the hype. We may have loved to hate his hero, Barry McGuigan, but Wayne is a nice guy.

In 1992 he and Michael Carruth celebrated their success with all the people of Ireland and McCullough is unique in being as popular in Finglas West as he is in both parts of West Belfast or on the western seaboard.

Wayne wants to retire undefeated in July 1999 and if his 17 unbeaten performances as a pro are anything to go by, it will take a train to stop him. If you were out on Wednesday night don't worry. Rocket is repeated on Saturday, 2 December at 1.45pm.

The big fight itself is live on UTV at 11pm that night.

PREVIEWS

Among my many vices I have a penchant for kitschy films, and 1960s horror flicks fall into that category. On Sunday, 3 December, (UTV, 11.10pm) Vincent Price, Barbara Steele and John Kerr star in Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Pit and the Pendulum. Price gets to stretch his acting abilities by playing a psychopathic madman.

Billy Wilder's classic 1966 comedy, The Fortune Cookie, starring one of the best double acts in cinematic history, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, is RTÉ 1's Last Picture Show presentation on Friday, 1 December at 11.45pm.

And to mark World AIDS Day, Network Two is presenting an award-winning documentary, Eagle Scout, about a 17-year-old American boy scout who contracted the disease (Network 2, Friday, 1 December, 9.05pm).

BY LIAM O COILEAIN