Entries by O’ Donnell, Luke

On Wednesday, 9th July, I had the privilege of speaking at the Congressional Forum. The event was attended by my fellow WIP team mates, host family members, WIP alumni, associates of the program and congressmen. I would like to thank the congressmen who attended for the talks they gave which demonstrated the enthusiasm and interest they show for Ireland and its progress in the future. I would also like to thank the management team for organising the event, which turned out to be a tremendous success. Here is my speech:

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

Indeed President John. F. Kennedy was right when he echoed those words. Change is the law of life and Ireland as a nation has been no exception to that rule.

The good Friday Agreement which was signed by leaders of both governments in 1998 marked the beginning of a hope for peace, a hope which has at long last manifested itself into the fabric of society in Northern Ireland. And indeed more work remains to be done, bridges must still be built and grievances mended but the present situation proves that change for the better is possible when leaders are willing form both sides to engage in meaningful dialogue.

My name is Luke O’Donnell and I am from the Republic of Ireland, which has experienced its own unprecedented change in the last 10 years. Indeed in 1998, we were in the midst of our ‘Celtic Tiger.’ We transformed ourselves into one of the most thriving economies in Europe, attracting foreign investment, increasing employment and living standards and creating an educated workforce. It is true that many other countries are today using Ireland as a model for economic success.

My background is in the area of pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry itself is one of the main contributors to our economic success in the past 10 years. Today it contributes 29.7 billion euro to our total exports, is the largest payer of corporation tax and is a direct employer of 17,000 people.

Presently, I am interning at the Lombardi Cancer Research Centre, one of the best in its field and if I am to take something back with me, it is that dedicated, technical research is needed in curing cancer as well as other ailments. In the past 10 years, Ireland has grown in the biopharmaceutical area and has become a leading participant in different areas of scientific research.

As a nation that has undergone such radical change, we are faced with challenges in the road ahead. Some of these are unique to our own country, like the maintenance of peace in Northern Ireland, while some are being faced on a global scale, like climate change. And yes we will as all nations do, face tough times in the road ahead.

We may stumble in our efforts, we may not succeed first time, many may doubt us, but I am certain from our accomplishments in the past, that we will reach our goals in the end. We should be optimistic and instead of seeing the difficulty in every opportunity, try to see the opportunity in every difficulty.

My hope for the future is also that Ireland will continue its cultural and economic ties with the United States. It is no coincidence that an Irish man like myself is here speaking today. Instead the reason lies in our deep routes associated with this country that date back to the waves of Irish immigrants that landed here in decades past. No one can argue against the huge American investment that has seen our country grow economically over the past decade nor can one argue against the unparalled support America has given in shaping the peace in Northern Ireland. I hope for the future those ties can be maintained and that Ireland can act as a ‘bridging stone’ for the US to the European Union as is evidenced by the fact that a former Taoiseach of Ireland, John Bruton is the European Ambassador to the US.

What the past has taught us is that any challenges we face in the future must be solved through meaningful dialogue. We cannot live in a society of difference if we cannot speak, talk, vocalize and verbalise with each other.

We cannot share differences of religion, culture, ideas, place, history and form unless we dialogue with each other.

We cannot understand our neighbour unless we dialogue with them.

And we cannot understand our enemy unless we dialogue with them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I leave you with these words once spoken by the Dalai Lama:

The reality today is that we are all interdependent and have to co-exist on this small planet. Therefore, the only sensible and intelligent way of resolving differences and clashes of interests, whether between individuals or nations, is through dialogue.

Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the District of Columbia’s ruling that disallowed citizens the right to possess handguns in the home. The ruling was 5-4 thus making the present law null and void and paving the way for more redrafting of gun regulations.

Article II of the Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,…” Justice Antonin Scalia of the majority verdict was of the opinion that DC’s ruling was in clear violation of the people’s right to bear arms. The opposition including Justice John Paul Stevens argued that the “preamble” in the text clearly results in the meaning that the right of people to bear arms is restricted to a well regulated militia. In any case the verdict now stands and DC’s law is deemed unconstitutional.

Why do I care about this? After all, I don’t live here permanently. While reading newspaper articles in relation the above subject this morning, something struck me. Many countries have a sacred constitution which they uphold and interpret as the best way of ruling the country. The United States is no exception. The founding fathers of the nation who participated in framing the United States Constitution are held rightly so in high regard. They created a framework upon which a civil society could be established.

The thing that struck me though was how there is a certain perception that these laws are drafted by some wise wizard stroking his beard, who seems to have the answer to everything. I’m not trying to take away the prestige of these patriots. All that I am saying is that they are also human with just as many flaws as anyone else. It is arrogant to think that they have the answers to everything. And clearly this has been proven with amendments to the constitution. Both supreme court justice’s were yesterday deliberating what the framers of the constitution really did mean in article II as if those framers have a demi-god status.

The argument was laughable. Scalia was arguing that the second amendment is divided into two parts. According to what I read there is the prefatory clause and an operative clause. The prefatory clause can be thought of as the part before the comma and Scalia argues that it cannot limit or expand the operative clause, the part after the comma. Hence a well regulated militia has nothing to do with an individual’s right to bear arms. Steven’s on the other hand argued the complete opposite stating that the preamble as he calls it “informs the meaning of the remainder of the text.” So here we have a ratification to the amendment made more than 200 years ago and we’re still trying to figure out whether they meant one thing or the other as if these laws are some natural identity sprung out of the ground. No they are made by humans and only humans and not some universal creator.

From what I am saying, you may argue that well why don’t we stop interpreting these laws and just have a free society without laws which may lead to chaos. I’m not trying to suggest that. All I’m suggesting is that we live in the 21st century and taking every decree as sacred and written in stone and applicable to our times today is absurd. My opinion is that decrees like the one in question were written in a particular time but that does not apply to every situation. Instead of deliberating how long is a piece of string, I think it better for justices, police chiefs and the general public to come together and debate the issue. The debate could centre on gun control, rising crime and also people’s right to bear arms. Oh and the word ‘arms’ also raises another question.

If I am to agree with Scalia’s interpretation, then I feel I have the right to have a machine gun in my home. But wait I can’t. I deem that against my rights. The ruling focuses on hand guns, yet seems to contradict itself in relation to other weaponry, ie. arms. Why does the federal government prevent me from having a nuclear warhead in my back-garden. Precisely because it’s a common sense approach. No need to elaborate on the obvious answer. Do you really think the federal government spent long arduous hours deliberating whether the right to bear arms pertained to the right to bear nuclear weapons on the people’s part? Quite obviously not. What I am trying to highlight is the absurdity of trying interpret these decrees as completely written in stone in times where they may be contrary to current situations. Let’s face it, would the ruling have been passed in an environment where everyday people were running around with hand guns shooting one another, despite being unconstitutional not to do so? I would think not.

We in Ireland also have our proudly upheld constitution, bunreacht na héireann. It is our symbol of autonomy as a republic. However it is not without its flaws as was proved in 1973 upon the amendment to the constitution, abolishing the reference to the "Special position" of the Catholic Church. Another example is the amendment in 1996 which up to that point saw divorce as illegal in the eyes of the state. It was a controversial issue and I stress that I cannot speak for everyone. The first referendum was actually defeated by voters in 1986, thus continuing the illegality of divorce. When put to voters again in 1996 and after much healthy debate, the referendum was passed and divorce was now legal. The vote was passed by a narrow margin and hence though passed many people still thought it wrong making it legal.

My point in this matter is that I would shudder to think what our country would be like at present if one religion was given a special position over all others and the state disallowed you the right to divorce irrespective of your personal situation. This is why I feel it is dangerous in taking any document as completely applicable to our times and fair for all. My opinion is that healthy public debate on any issue is critical. After all it is the general public who feel the repercussions of these enactments. The same would apply for the present ruling in the US in regards the second amendment. Maybe I'm wrong or maybe many disagree but I feel that a group of nine men affecting the lives of over 250 million people is somewhat unbalanced. And yes I understand that these men are very knowledgeable about the law but the general public are the ones that are ultimately affected.

But hasn't that always been the case in the course of history. A group of people in the upper echelons of society have always decided the fate of others, either directly or indirectly. These are our leaders Presidents, Taoiseachs, Prime-Ministers, chief justices and many more have all, some more than others, affected people's lives through the power they and their entourage yield. The question is do they represent the majority and are they free from mistakes?

Upon writing this, I am presently in my second week of work. Where's that? It's in the Lombardi Cancer Research centre, located beside Georgetown University Hospital. The work so far has been an absolute eye-opener to the world of oncology. It's amazing to think that textbooks on the subject are trying to keep up to date with research that is streaming directly out of places like Lombardi.

So far I've been working with Dr. Rebecca Riggins who is amazing at her job. The research lab I'm involved with has been looking at a particular drug for breast cancer patients called Tamoxifen. However some patients are resistant to the drug ie. they experience little or no effect from it and require larger doses, which inevitably leads to more adverse reactions. Rebecca along with others has been looking into why that is exactly.

Together we have taken protein samples from two cell lines, one resistant to the drug and the other sensitive. In short we quantified the proteins and separated one in particular, ERR gamma. Studies so far indicate that this protein is actually present in higher concentration in those cells that are resistant versus those that are sensitive.

more to come soon...........

Our journey to Washington was in perfect time and flawless and really went off without a hitch despite the one slight interrogation but lets forget about that.
The anticipation and excitement at the airport was huge. We met our host families for the first time. These were the people we would be spending the next eight weeks with, forming friendships and contacts for life and hopefully bringing some of our own diversity to. Hence I was filled with apprehension but that was soon quelled upon meeting my host 'dad' David O'Brien. He is one of the nicest guys you could meet. He also has a nice BMW convertible.........sweet!

David also has a very stress-free approach to life which resounds in all things he does. I feel the next seven weeks with him upon writing this should be great!

We arrived on a Saturday and went home with our host families, giving us time to settle in etc. On Sunday, we, the 'Virginia Crew' were treated to a lovely barbecue by Meghan Ceyers. Plenty of fun was had by all. One thing I did remember vividly was the sweltering heat which contrary to what I expected seemed to be getting worse toward evening time but that's just me!

On Monday we met, all clad in our professional gear outside the White House and all sweating profusely from the near 96 degrees weather. However luckily, the WIP office was air-conditioned. The main event that day was the newseum and as the name suggests it is a museum dedicated to the history and admiration of news be it newspaper reports to TV news reports. It was truly amazing. There were newsreels from the fall of the Berlin wall to 9/11. Some of it felt like a step back in time.

Then came Tuesday with Michael Galligan-Stierle with his personality seminar. We had a fast track personality assessment to determine if we were a blue, a green or maybe a yellow or even a red. As obscure as it sounds, the colours represent a personality type. Though not completely convinced by this as I believe personality cannot be quantified when areas of the brain responsible for various personality traits are not fully known, it was fun and informative in parts. Other reasons come to mind too like how can a neutral personality test be created if the people creating the test supposedly have their own views and theories on personality traits that haven't even been fully understood in the first place. While I may not be very convinced, many others were and many businesses subscribe to it and I must thank Dr. Galligan-Stierle for his seminar, which many people loved.

Our next stop was Oakley's death tour. Why death? Well because in the past interns have perished under the extreme heat and walking distances around the various monuments. Only joking but it was scorching outside! It was amazing seeing the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam and Korean veteran's memorial and Arlington Cemetery and also the Roosevelt memorial. One memorable moment was the changing of the guards at Arlington Cemetery. It was accomplished with finesse and procession and I could not help but feel for the soldiers who unlike us in our shorts and tee-shirts, were in full military attire amidst the sweltering heat.

Wednesday brought with it the Library of Congress tour and a seminar on the rare manuscripts. The library of congress is an immense building with a wonderful Italian, renaissance style architecture. We got a tour of the Jefferson Building by Elizabeth Pugh. An interesting part of the building was the 'Exploring the Early Americas' section which contained a $10 million dollar ancient map of the world bought off the German government by the library with various donations from patrons and congress.

Thursday was a big day. Our first port of call was the elementary school J.O. Wilson, located in North East DC. It is situated in a deprived neighbourhood but the school copes extremely well with its excellent staff. It has had a long, good relationship with the program and every year, the WIP class give something back to the school with fun and games for the children. Twenty-six of us were divided into four groups of around six people each. Each group had to prepare a snapshot of some aspect of Irish culture. They included Irish dancing, drama, music and the Irish language. I was in the drama group where we performed the ancient legend, 'The Children of Lear.' When I say it was one of the highlights of the week, I mean it. The children were great fun and enjoyed every second of our company. They learned some Irish, music, drama and dancing. One child, Earl asked Matthew if he could trade some of his Pokemon cards for Matthew's watch. I reckon he'll be a business man one-day but as the children were about to leave, I gave Earl my watch which I hope he can use or maybe even trade, whichever he prefers. It was a great public service on all our parts and as echoed by many of the alumni, proves to be one of the highlights every year.


We also got to meet Senator Leahy on the Senate steps of Capitol Hill. He had an acting role in the soon to be released Batman film, 'The Dark Knight.' Jonathan presented him with a photo-shop edited cover of Time magazine, with Senator Leahy on the front cover and the bat symbol in the sky behind. He was unsurprisingly delighted.

Finally the end of the epic week came and for some it was a particularly important day. Andy, Elaine, Gary and Sarah had to present their speeches at an event hosted by the Northern Ireland Bureau at the National Press Club. Their speeches were excellent and really set the standard for everyone else.

We had a costume part for the evening event, the theme being, 'Icons of the '90's.' I went as Donald Trump, with the appropriate catch phrase, "You're fired!" Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and there was plenty of food and drink, a testament to the hospitality of the host.

Overall what can I say, a great week and surely a great start to an epic summer.