irish travellers fights

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An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans. An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans. An epic 12-year journey into the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.

• James Quinn McDonagh
• Paddy Quinn McDonagh
• Michael Quinn McDonagh
• 15 User reviews
• 36 Critic reviews
• 65 Metascore
• 1 win & 4 nominations

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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User reviews 15

• eddie_baggins
• Jan 21, 2014
• How long is Knuckle? Powered by Alexa
• December 9, 2011 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• Official site
• King of the Travellers
• BBC Storyville
• Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• Dec 11, 2011

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• Runtime 1 hour 37 minutes

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The real Fighting Irish in documentary ‘Knuckle’ - VIDEO

Forget all those criminal cockney cliches populating guy ritchie movies..

Forget all those criminal Cockney cliches populating Guy Ritchie movies. If you want to see what a real life tough as nails subculture looks like take yourself along to the movies and see Knuckle, which opens in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas on Friday.

A you-are-there portrait of a hardy Irish traveling community in Britain and Ireland, it’s a true to life picture of feuding Irish traveling clans and their long-standing history of violent bare-knuckle boxing. First we meet James Quinn McDonagh and Paddy “The Lurcher” Joyce, two men who are related by blood but separated by a family feud that dates back generations and whose origins are mostly long forgotten. 

As the heads of rival families, they represent what they call their “breeds” through the brutal -- and illegal -- street fights they spend most of their adult lives training for.

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The film’s Irish director Ian Palmer was lucky enough to enjoy the opportunity of a lifetime to profile the community from the inside due to a lucky accident.

One day they needed a cameraman to film a wedding and they had his number. But Palmer had more on his mind than simply capturing the bride on film -- from the beginning the budding documentary filmmaker understood he was witnessing a remarkable and still untold story unfolding.

"I knew nothing about bare knuckle boxing growing up," Palmer tells the Irish Voice. "I hadn’t even seen travelers, I was brought up in south County Dublin.” In the nineties he had aspirations to become a scriptwriter, spending time in Los Angles pursuing his dreams. They didn't work out.

"I came back to Dublin when I had gotten tired of sleeping on someone’s couch. I had also been trying to raise funds in Ireland for a film but there was no funding, the Film Board was only really getting up and going then. It was difficult to get any money,” Palmer recalls.

Meanwhile, a friend of Palmer's had been doing community video work with Irish travelers, and so he went along one day to meet them out of curiosity. In the process he got to know the McDonagh traveler clan, who at the time were living on the outskirts of Navan, Co. Meath.

"I started going to the markets with them with a camera. One of the men at a fair day was pointed out to me. ‘Watch out for him,’ they said, ‘he’s a wide boy – and a fighter.’ The man turned out to be James Quinn McDonagh, the fighter I profile in Knuckle."

Palmer's familiarity with the clan was increasing, and one day out of the blue he was asked if he wanted to come along and witness a traveler wedding. The young bride was 17 and she was marrying her first cousin, he was told.

“I had been hanging out with a camera and so they asked me if I would film them for a potential project. That’s where I met the fighter James Quinn McDonagh and his brother Michael. But nothing was said to me about bare knuckle boxing at that time," Palmer said.

The family liked the footage Palmer shot, and a week later he got a call from Curly Paddy McDonagh saying his brother James was training for a fight, and would Palmer like to meet him? Palmer said yes and they took him to a boxing club in Darndale, Co. Dublin.

Because he wasn’t pushing hard to gain access, Palmer ended up being granted complete access to the families and their daily lives.

“It was a complete fluke that I was in the right place at the right time. Once I learned they were fighting I learned there was money involved too. But it really was about family honor and representing your family and your name or your breed as they say," he says.

Travelers are seen as uncontrolled, undisciplined people, Palmer says. But within their world there’s real order he says.

"Girls are chaperoned, matches are made by parents, and fights are set up and negotiated before they happen. In fact, if someone steps out of line, they’re disqualified. So the process of making the film changed my, and I think the audience’s, perception of who they are,” Palmer said.

Travelers aren’t this primitive kind of group on the edge of society, he says. They’re different, but they’re an extremely ordered culture.

"There are lots of reasons these guys fight. There’s a culture of it. But there’s also a keen awareness of the dysfunction these fights cause in the traveler community. Everything closes down in the families when a fight is happening,” Palmer says.

You have to ask, at what point will the mothers step in to end this brutal, pointless and bloody generational slug fest? As the film progresses ever more unsettling questions about men and violence and money and pride rise up until you -- like some of the fighters -- want to raise your hands to end it too.

Catch Knuckle at the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street. Here's the trailer:

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Two Men Settle Their Differences In A Bloody 30-Minute Bareknuckle Fight

A video uploaded to youtube shows two irish travellers drenched in blood after they fought in a bare-knuckle brawl that lasted half-an-hour..

Chris Ogden

Kids gathering around in the playground to watch people settle their scores in a scrap was a common sight in school. But it's rarer to see two grown men take the fighting genre to the max.

WATCH THE FIGHT IN FULL:

Credit: Deadline News

This video shows two Irish travellers drenched in blood after they engaged in a bare-knuckle brawl that lasted for over half-an-hour in front of amazed onlookers.

After several failed attempts, the two men were eventually persuaded by 'referees' to stop throwing punches, shake hands respectfully, and call it a day.

The two blokes, Davie Joyce and Michael Navin, took to a rainy abandoned car park in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in the south of England to have a go at slugging away at each other.

A YouTube spat between the pair's families is said to have been the reason for the fight, as they looked to settle an 'unsettled argument'. Couldn't they have done it with a game of Connect 4 or something?

The fight was overseen by two 'referees', one from each of the warring families, who explained the rules before the pair started to exchange blows.

Within the first five minutes of the fight, Joyce, wearing black shorts, managed to bust Navin's nose, sending blood pouring down his opponent's face.

Navin, wearing grey shorts, didn't seem fazed at all, though, as he continued to scrap with Joyce despite being absolutely covered in claret.

The two men were slugging it out across the wet concrete for seven minutes before the referees told them to shake hands and walk away, but the fighters were having none of it.

The refs tried again after 15 minutes, but the pair still refused to stop doling out a beating to one another.

Eventually, the men were forced to shake hands and call it a draw, but not before they both ended up with their torsos covered in blood. Brutal.

Ifran Iqbal, who filmed the fight, explained that it took place at a 'secret location around Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire'.

"The fight between Davie Joyce vs Michael Navin started at 15.22 hours to be precise. It was very cold and wet, the fight lasted for 32 minutes and was agreed a draw by both fighters," Iqbal said.

"The fight was over a long-term unsettled argument via YouTube challenges to each other to honour their family name."

People commenting on the fight on YouTube had mixed opinions on the half-hour-long brawl, with some claiming it to be a good fight.

Others thought that Joyce accepted the draw too easily, saying that he had Navin on the ropes - if there had been ropes, that is.

Patrick McDonald said: "Good fucking fight. Two tough men, fair play to them both."

"Davy should be disappointed with himself for taking the draw..He dominated the fight with his jab..." TheHotrod017 commented.

"No way was that a draw. Davey won by a mile," Gary Doyle added.

All this might seem a bit much if the closest you've ever been to a fist fight is on an Internet forum, but there you go.

Topics:  Viral , Interesting , Community , YouTube

Chris Ogden is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from the University of East Anglia with degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing before completing his NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. Chris has previously written for the independent culture magazine The Skinny, among other publications.

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The long road towards acceptance for Irish Travellers

The Irish Traveller community is fighting for official recognition of its ethnic identity and for a way of life.

Avila Park, Dublin, Ireland –   In a wooden shed in his back garden, James Collins sits on a low stool hammering out the final touches on a billy can. At 68, he is one of only two remaining traveller tinsmiths in Ireland.

Above the clutter of well-worn tools and scrap sheet metal hang a dozen or so other cans. Nowadays, he says, there’s precious little demand for his trade, and he largely continues it as a hobby, occasionally selling some of his work at vintage craft fairs.

Since the introduction of plastic homeware in the 1960s and 1970s, tinsmithing – traditionally dominated by the historically nomadic community known as Travellers – has effectively died out. Even the block tin, James originally used, is no longer available.

“It’s more difficult to work with,” he says, holding up a gleaming aluminium can. “You can’t make what you want to make out of it because you have to use solder and that won’t take solder.”

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James was raised on the road in the Irish midlands, a traditional upbringing unknown to most Travellers today. “I was bred, born and reared on the road,” he says, “but the young lads today wasn’t. They all grew up in houses and went to school and all this craic. I never got any education, never went to school in my life.”

Until his late 20s, when he settled in Avila Park, a housing estate for Travellers on the outskirts of Dublin, the Irish capital, James plied his trade for farmers, smithing and repairing buckets. “It never goes out of your mind; you’re always thinking, thinking the whole time about the road,” he says.

In comparison, younger generations have little interest in traditional crafts or the travelling lifestyle – James’ children and grandchildren don’t know how to harness a horse, for example. And anti-trespass legislation introduced in the early 2000s, which was used to disperse encampments by the side of roads or on council-owned land, made a nomadic existence increasingly difficult.

Yet, even as the distinct traditions of Irish Travellers seem to fade into the past, the battle for official recognition of their identity continues.

The search for recognition

Unlike the United Nations and the United Kingdom, Ireland does not recognise Travellers as a separate ethnicity from the non-Traveller community. For decades, human rights organisations and Traveller advocacy groups have been seeking this recognition, but to little avail.

However, on January 26, a parliamentary committee established to investigate the issue stated unequivocally that “Travellers are, de facto, a separate ethnic group”.

“This is not a gift to be bestowed upon them, but a fact the state ought to formally acknowledge,” it further said.

The committee report urged the Taoiseach, Ireland’s prime minister, or the minister for justice to give a statement to the Dail, the Irish parliament, acknowledging this at the earliest opportunity.

This development was welcomed by members of the Travelling community, although some remain cautious in their optimism. It would not be the first time an Irish government has reneged on such commitments – a 2014 parliamentary report made the same recommendation, which was never acted upon.

A history of deprivation and discrimination

An examination of the almost 30,000 Travellers in the Republic of Ireland shows a staggering level of deprivation completely at odds with the non-Traveller community. Another 4,000 to 5,000 Travellers live in Northern Ireland, in a similar situation.

Around half of Travellers have no secondary education and only 1 percent have attended university, according to Pavee Point, a group fighting for the rights of Travellers.

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Some 84 percent of Travellers are unemployed, while suicide rates are almost seven times higher than among settled people. A 2010 study found that life expectancy was 15 years lower among men and 11 years lower among women when compared with their settled counterparts.

Discrimination against Travellers remains endemic at social and institutional levels. Being denied entry to businesses is a common occurrence and many try to hide their background when applying for jobs, fearing that potential employers will not hire them.

“Symbolically it would have a profound impact on our collective sense of identity, self-esteem and confidence as a people,” says Martin Collins, the co-director of Pavee Point, on the recognition of Traveller ethnicity.

“Some travellers have internalised [racism] and end up believing that they are of no value, they are of no worth … So that’s the impact. That’s the outcome of both racism and your identity being denied.”

A culture denied

It was a 1963 government report, the Commission on Itinerancy, that has set the tone for the state’s attitude towards Travellers ever since, says Sinn Fein Senator Padraig MacLochlainn, the first person from a Traveller background to be elected to the Irish parliament.

The Committee on Itinerancy ‘s terms of reference defined Travellers as a “problem”, whose social ills were “inherent in their way of life,” and outlined the goal of “promot[ing] their absorption into the general community”.

No Travellers were on the committee, nor were they consulted for its report.

“Our people and our state denied their history and decided that they were criminals and they needed to be immersed in with the rest of us,” says MacLochlainn.

This refusal to acknowledge the community’s rich cultural history – notably their own language, Cant, and significant contributions to Irish traditional music – persists today.

Traveller culture is frequently portrayed in the media as separate and distinct, MacLochlainn says, but almost always in negative terms, in exploitation TV shows   such as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and exposes on Traveller criminality.

“You clearly accept them as a distinct group – why are you making these programmes if you don’t? If they’re a distinct group, could you do it now in positive terms?

“When it comes to negative characterisations, the media, the establishment … in Ireland are more than happy for them to be characterised in negative terms,” the senator says.

Behind James’ shed in Avila Park, traditional and modern Traveller accommodation sit side by side. A wooden barreltop caravan, washed green with blue and red embellishments, sits between two mobile home units, where his younger relatives stay.

Only one has both electricity and running water, which were installed by the family. Power is provided from the house by a yellow cable, wound loosely around plastic drainpipes and holes in its pebbledash exterior.

An early morning fire in a nearby prefabricated unit just a few weeks before offered a bleak reminder of the danger these makeshift electrical fixtures pose. A neighbour raised the alarm and the young couple inside escaped before their home was reduced to a charred husk.

Children burned to death

This near disaster has reminded some people of a fire in the south Dublin suburb of Carrickmines more than a year ago, which continues to cast a shadow over relations between the Traveller and the settled communities.

In the early hours of October 10, 2015, a fire ripped through a halting site killing 10 people, including five children, from two families – the Lynch and Gilbert family and the Connors. The youngest victim was five months old. It was one of the deadliest fires in the history of the Republic of Ireland.

Social workers had raised concerns about the site’s substandard prefabricated units to authorities in the months before the fire, but no action was taken. The blaze and its aftermath would, for many, become an example of the pervasive discrimination Travellers face in Ireland today.

Three days after the fire, some locals blockaded land marked for temporary accommodation for the surviving members of the Connors family, preventing construction vehicles from entering. Though the obstruction was condemned by then Environment Minister Alan Kelly and several Traveller groups, the protesters were successful.

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On October 21, one day before the last victims were buried, the county council announced that the Connors family would instead be resettled on a reclaimed dump on council land in a nearby suburb. At the time of writing, the family remain in that location.

Alongside many expressions of grief on social media after the fire were comments highlighting the discrimination towards travellers in Irish society.

On one popular news site, a comment simply wishing that the victims rest in peace received hundreds of thumbs down votes from other readers. “Hundreds of Irish people gave a thumbs down to an expression of sympathy for children who were burned to death,” says MacLochlainn. “That’s terrifying; that’s absolutely terrifying.”

In response to the tragedy, local authorities across the country conducted fire safety audits at Traveller accommodation sites. “All we got was a few fire alarms, a few fire blankets and some carbon monoxide alarms,” says Collins, of Pavee Point.

“That’s like re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic. That’s totally inadequate. These sites need to be completely redeveloped [and] refurbished, because the sites are just inherently dangerous. Getting a few fire alarms and a few hoses will not rectify the situation.”

For Collins, the long overdue recognition of Traveller ethnicity is an important milestone, but as the Carrickmines example shows, a commitment to materially improving the lives of Travellers is also necessary if they are to be truly equal in their own country.

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Irish America

Bare-Faced and Bare-Knuckled: Fighting Traveller Families

October 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Filmed carefully over a period of twelve years, the documentary Knuckle sheds light on the inner workings and on-going feuds of three Irish Traveller clans. Up next for the film: a New York premiere and an HBO spin-off series.

Don’t let the bandaged fist in the photo fool you. Knuckle , Ian Palmer’s documentary about the bare-fisted boxing tradition of the Irish Travellers, might be about blood, but it’s not about gore. The blood Palmer seems most interested in is the stuff that pumps through the veins of the intricately connected Traveller community he visited and filmed over 12 years, a society where cousins marry, work together and, when the occasion arises, beat each other senseless.

“I wanted to make a film from inside their world,” Palmer told indie/WIRE when Knuckle premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. “The idea and the approach was simple. I spent as much time as I could with the families with a minimal crew and small camera.”

His approach resonated at HBO, which is adapting the documentary into a new drama series. Industry blogs hint that the HBO treatment will trend toward dark comedy, since it is being developed by writer Irvine Welsh (author of the gritty novel Trainspotting, on which the film of the same name was based), and director Jody Hill of Rough House Pictures, the project’s producer, whose politically incorrect comedy Easthouse & Down also airs on HBO.

Knuckle will have its New York premiere on September 30 at Irish Film New York, which will feature five other recent Irish releases. This new screening series of contemporary Irish films is co-presented by New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House, and runs September 30 through October 2 at NYU’s Cantor Film Center.

Festival founder and curator Niall McKay, who is also the founder and director of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and co-founder of the LA Irish Film Festival, said he deliberately chose films for the series that depict Ireland as it is today.

“I particularly wanted films that had a real physical effect on me,” he said, “ones that made me cry or laugh or get angry.”

“We’re pleased that Niall McKay has chosen to work with Glucksman Ireland House to present this excellent addition to the city’s arts scene,” said Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chair of the Glucksman Ireland House NYU Advisory Board. She praised the festival for presenting “works that would not otherwise be seen by a wide audience. It should be an exciting experience for our Irish American community.”

Besides Knuckle, Irish Film New York will also feature the New York premieres of the Galway Film Fleadh-winning Parked with Colm Meany, a study of a friendship between two men who live in their cars, and The Runway, the story of a downed pilot in Cork rescued by a little boy, with Weeds star Demián Bichir. Other films include the bittersweet coming-of-ager, 32A, directed by Marion Quinn, a hilarious peek at Dublin teenagers called Pyjama Girls, and Sensation, about a man who tries to lose his virginity but ends up running a brothel. Directors and stars of the films will appear at Q&A sessions after each screening.

There will also be an industry panel in conjunction with NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where filmmakers and producers will discuss the direction of Irish film at home and abroad.

McKay says the mission of Irish Film New York is to expose American audiences to the best in Irish contemporary cinema and to give Irish filmmakers “a fair crack at the U.S. market.” It will join with the San Francisco and Los Angeles Irish Film Festivals to bring the filmmakers of Knuckle, Parked, and The Runway on a tri-city tour in anticipation of each film’s U.S. release. Knuckle will appear in independent U.S. theatres this December, with The Runway and Parked following shortly after.

Director Palmer admitted to Irish Independent Weekend that he did not approach the filming of Knuckle like an investigative journalist.

“It was more about observing the [Traveller] families and trying to let the life reveal itself. The reasons behind the fighting were difficult to get at. The feuds stretched back over generations. It was always about defending your name and family pride.”

The three rival families that he studied, the Quinn McDonaghs, the Nevins and the Joyces, are all related, often sharing the same grandparents. As one of the women remarks, “We’re all one in the end.” Even if a Nevin married a Quinn, or a Quinn has a mother who is a Joyce, the rationale for fighting rests on defending just one family’s name.

While Palmer is able to ferret out the powerful origin of one particular feud, the sources of the disputes don’t seem as important as the disputes themselves. “Would it not be possible for you guys to get together to talk about it and make up?” the director asks Michael Quinn McDonagh, on his way to a fight in England. “You’re crazy,” Michael laughs, dumfounded at Palmer’s naiveté.

The matches are called “fair fights” and are organized with unexpected formality: when a challenge is issued, it is promptly accepted, a date and location are set, and the fighters hit the gym to train weeks before the match. Fair fights take place in secret locations with few onlookers. There are referees from neutral families and lots of rules. And everybody obeys the rules. Anyone who doesn’t is disqualified, and his family takes the loss.

Technology and money play crucial roles in this tradition-bound ritual: Families exchange videotaped challenges and fight results are reported by cell phones. Bets are negotiated for astonishing amounts of cash; winner (and family) takes all.

The fighters accept Palmer’s presence with the nonchalance of a generation bred on reality TV. But despite his desire to let the story emerge from the people themselves, they never forget the camera is there. Dodging it, challenging it, playing with it, they turn the camera – with narrator Palmer – into another character in the film.

Palmer said it was only during editing that he realized that the narrative would work better if he allowed himself to be an obvious part of his film. “The film is more honest for accepting that Knuckle is my experience of this world,” he said, “and my relationship to the people in the film and how that affected me.”

His “shaky cam” character dances around the fair fight scenes with a perilous immediacy. At any moment, you expect a fist to fly into the lens. Because he interviews both families involved in a fight, Palmer never appears to be taking sides. Even though he follows one fighter’s story more closely than others, he is not making a fight movie. There is no Big Match to decide it all, no good guys or bad.

James Quinn McDonagh, the soft-spoken man whose winning battles form the core of the film, says over and over again he doesn’t want to fight, but is provoked into it by the other families, claiming he’d like “to be known for something more positive.”

James doesn’t like to train either. “I’d rather be socializing,” he quips. But when a challenge comes from the Joyces or the Nevins, he comes out with fists blaring. “It’s the best way to sort things out,” he explains. Even after he swears off fighting, he is seen anxiously prepping his brother by cell phone before a fight, exclaiming as he waits for the results, “Grandfathers in Heaven, send Michael the power!”

Why do the fights continue? Palmer sees “fair fighting as still mainly about family and individual honor and pride,” a deeply felt emotion expressed here in macho posturing: “We will fight because we are men, we’re Joyce men.”

Then there’s the fast cash from the betting. The suggestion of inconsistent employment implies that fighting is a needed source of income, and might also be a way to establish self-respect when the outside world offers too little.

But within a closed community, the flip side of self-respect can be a cult of personality. Joe Joyce, an older man who nevertheless continues to fight, boasts, “I’m still King of the Travellers!” One of James’ opponents, the dewy-faced youngster, Davy Nevins, says the fights are not about revenge.

“James thinks he’s better than us,” he explains calmly. “People think he’s a god. I don’t want to defeat the Quinns, I just want to defeat James.”

Some Nevins relatives suggest a possible link between being a Traveller and the need to keep fighting. When an old man muses, “There’s always been wars,” the younger Spike Nevin replies, “But we’re Travellers. At least wars are about something. Something right.”

Conspicuously absent from the film are Traveller women, who are reluctant to appear on camera. Yet, the only strong voices condemning the fighting come from a sofa full of older women gathered for an after-fight party. “I think it should end,” one woman states firmly. “All this fighting over names. It’s an awful life to have. It should be finished.”

“I don’t know what they’re fighting for,” James’ mother adds.

“When my sons grow up, they aren’t doing it,” a much younger woman declares with convincing resolution. But she quickly adds a caveat, “If I can help it.”

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Irish holidaymakers face summer of chaos with looming pilots' strike

Aer Lingus typically carries up to 40,000 passengers daily over the summer months, with fears 95% of those travellers would see their flights cancelled should the strike proceed. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

Holidaymakers are facing a summer of chaos, with Aer Lingus pilots set to strike, potentially within the next two weeks.

In the build-up to the busiest part of the holiday season, Aer Lingus members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to take industrial action, up to and including the withdrawal of service, over a pay dispute with the airline.

Both parties met for face-to-face talks following the pilots’ ballot from Thursday morning, however, sources on both sides agreed little progress had been made. Talks were adjourned on Thursday evening and it was unclear at the time whether further discussions would take place. 

“Everyone is speaking, but no one is being heard,” said one source of how the talks had unfolded.

Should Aer Lingus pilots actually go on strike it would be the first time for 22 years.

The airline typically carries up to 40,000 passengers daily over the summer months, with fears 95% of those travellers would see their flights cancelled should the strike proceed.

Ialpa wants a 23.8% pay rise for its pilots, which it says has precedent in a similar rise given to British Airways pilots in 2019. Both BA and Aer Lingus are part of the International Airlines Group.

The ballot for action follows two workplace determinations with regard to pilots in recent months, one from a Pilot Pay Tribunal last December, and the second from the Labour Court last month, the latter of which proposed a 9.25% pay hike. While Aer Lingus had accepted those offers, Ialpa rejected both.

Pilot remuneration at Aer Lingus varies depending upon the employee’s experience, rank and length of service. A captain with nine years’ experience is currently paid €116,000, rising to €177,000 when individual flight pay, pension contributions and other add-ons are accounted for.

As the prospect of industrial action increased earlier this week, Aer Lingus chief operations officer Adrian Dunne wrote to Ialpa requesting at least 15 days’ notice be given of any strike.

“This level of notice has been a norm where industrial action has been taken internationally in other airlines,” he said.

However, union sources suggested an initial stoppage could conceivably occur within the next fortnight. The legal minimum notice that can be given is one week.

Ialpa president Mark Tighe said the 98% vote for industrial action shows the pilots are “determined to secure a fair and reasonable pay rise after years of inflation”, noting Aer Lingus had posted €225m in profits in 2023, a 400% increase on 12 months previous.

Sources in Aer Lingus said any industrial action during summer would so disrupt the airline’s bottom line as to make pay rises of any sort untenable.

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I’m a Euro 2024 time traveller and England are finally going to be celebrating a penalty shootout this time around

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Gareth Southgate's side are tipped to win Group C, which could set up a tricky path to the final.

The Three Lions will likely have to beat Italy and France to reach the final for a second successive Euros.

And according to TikTok user footballtimetraveller2, England will beat Belgium in Berlin to claim their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.

To make things even better, they will apparently win the match on penalties.

The TikTokker has previously claimed to have found out the correct results of other sporting events by time travelling, including the 2023 Champions League final and Tommy Fury's fight with KSI .

England have a notoriously painful history of penalty shoot-outs.

Three years ago they were beaten on penalties by Italy in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley.

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England have won just three of the ten shoot-outs they have competed in down the years, also suffering Euros heartbreak at the hands of Portugal in 2004 and Italy in 2012.

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Southgate must take tactical gamble to save Euros dream

GARETH SOUTHGATE needs to go back to the future in Germany, writes SunSport's Charlie Wyett.

It certainly worked in Russia at the 2018 World Cup. And due to various issues with the defence - as illustrated in this dismal and embarrassing performance at Wembley - Southgate needs to look at playing with five at the back.

We can talk all night about England’s power-packed attack and how they should definitely be getting out the cigars in Berlin on July 14.

Yet there is now a genuine cause for panic as we are now just eight days away from the first game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen and the defence is a total mess.

England have kept just two clean sheets in the last seven games. If Southgate’s team are to play seven games at Germany - and that would mean an appearance in the final - there must be a bloody great improvement.

The Three Lions will get out of their group because it is virtually impossible not to. But if England do not improve, they will end up getting knocked out in the last 16, like they did against Iceland in Euro 2016.

Speaking at Middlesbrough’s training ground on Sunday, Southgate was asked about whether he has thought about a back five which in Russia, saw his team reach the semi-finals.

He said: "We haven't as yet. Clearly we could. We know all the strengths and weaknesses of doing that. It's interesting to read about it being proposed, because I think we were pretty much killed for doing it for quite a long period. 

“But given our tactical flexibility, we'd look at everything and it would be silly to rule something out. You can play a three in different ways.

"You build with a three now anyway, so some aspects of our game could have a three involved.

"But for me, it's less about shoehorning players into the team, it's about having the best team and players to come into it, because you need that at tournaments."

It was only after the World Cup in 2018 that Southgate revealed the reason why he played with three central defenders. This was because he was worried about the inexperience of Harry Maguire who had played just five times before going to Russia.

Due to Maguire’s omission from the squad due to his fitness, Marc Guehi will take his position and this was only his 11th cap.

Guehi was England’s best defender but against better opposition in a more pressured environment, he will be tested more. Against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he did not play particularly well.

Yet last night, John Stones - having started just 12 Premier League games for Manchester City in his worst season for the club -  really struggled before being replaced by Ezri Konsa at half-time.

It did not help that Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson fell on him early on but Stones did not cover himself in glory when the same Icelandic player scored the winner.

Luke Shaw , sidelined since February with a thigh injury, will not be fit until the second game at the earliest.

And with Ben Chilwell not even making the provisional 33, Southgate currently only has right-footed defenders.

Kyle Walker is arguably the best right-back in Europe but his form dipped in the last two months of the season for Manchester City.

He was caught out for the first goal as he appeared to have left his turbo boosters at Tottenham’s training ground. He then blamed Phil Foden for not covering properly.

After making his mass changes for the final quarter,  England’s back four was Trent Alexander-Arnold , Konsa, Guehi and Joe Gomez . That is not a defence you would want to see in the latter stages

So, Southgate needs to look at having a back three with Walker switching into the central three like he did in Russia, alongside Stones and Guehi.

Trent Alexander-Arnold would be more comfortable at right-wing back with Trippier on the other side before the return of Shaw.

With a five-man defence, Southgate would partner Declan Rice with Kobbie Mainoo or Adam Wharton but you would lose an offensive player.

Bukayo Saka would have to make way and you would have Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden as the offensive midfielders playing behind Harry Kane .

Southgate also played with a back five against Italy in the final of Euro 2020 although since then, has discarded it.

But regardless, if he sticks with a back four, he will want his players to do the basics better. And then, we can think about maybe winning a match in the last 16.

As for reaching the final, let's put that one on the back-burner.

However England have the best chance of winning a penalty shoot-out at Euro 2024, according to Half Time Content .

The Three Lions' top five penalty takes have a combined conversion rate of 97 per cent - the most of any team.

While goalkeeper Dean Henderson has saved 33 per cent of penalties he's faced in the last five seasons, compared to just four per cent for Jordan Pickford.

England Euro 2024 guide

GARETH SOUTHGATE is under no illusions coming into this competition – it is win or bust.

The Three Lions have never had a better opportunity to end their 58-year wait for a major international trophy given the talent and experience they have in their armoury.

MANAGER: Gareth Southgate

The former England star has come closer than anyone since Sir Alf Ramsey to ending the Three Lions' trophy hoodoo.

Southgate is aware that the nations expects, and has even suggested he will quit if he doesn't deliver the European Championship .

STAR MAN: Jude Bellingham

The Real Madrid star is arguably the world's best player at the moment and gives England the platform they need to dominate big games.

How England attack

England will look to dominate the ball against almost everybody.

Declan Rice is crucial in progressing the ball, Bellingham, Saka and Foden will rotate to pull defenders out of position and Kane can both score and drop deep to provide chances for others.

How England defend

England press man-to-man with the midfield pushing up to support Kane when the ball is lost and look to win it as close to the opposition goal as possible.

However, the left-back spot could be a cause for concern, particularly with Luke Shaw entering the tournament with fitness worries.

Read the full England Euro 2024 guide here , including predicted line-ups, odds and Wags.

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LONDON: The UK announced Thursday dozens of new s new  sanctions aimed at constraining Russia's war in Ukraine , including targeting Moscow's main stock exchange, a day after Washington announced similar measures. London said the 50 new curbs - part of "co-ordinated action with G7 partners" as the Western-led bloc's leaders meet in Italy - will hit the Russian financial system and suppliers supporting its military production. It follows Washington's unveiling of a raft of sanctions on Wednesday, including those on the Moscow exchange and several subsidiaries, which raise the stakes for foreign banks that still deal with Russia. The major new financial punishment, set to complicate billions of dollars in transactions, prompted the exchange to halt dollar and euro trades on Thursday. Moscow's foreign ministry has said it will respond to the "aggressive" raft of new US sanctions. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK "will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for freedom".   "Today we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia's ability to fund its war machine," he added, as G7 leaders convene for their summit in southern Italy.

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What can I do if Aer Lingus cancels my flight because of a pilot strike?

Under eu rules the airline must offer a refund or a rerouting but it’s not that simple in practice.

Aer Lingus pilots' strike: The industrial action might not happen – that is the most optimistic scenario. Photograph: Alan Betson

Earlier this week we got a mail from a reader called Pat who was troubled by news he’d just heard and he wanted to see if we had any advice.

We suspect Pat is not the only person in the country troubled by the news that summer strikes may be on the cards at Aer Lingus and while we are able to offer some advice we don’t have much by way of comfort as there are some areas where Pricewatch fears to tread and industrial relations is one such area

“We have a flight booked with Aer Lingus on July 6th to Lanzarote to return on the 16th,” he said. “What are our rights if the pilots decide to strike before/while we are on holiday? We want to go on holiday and have paid for our accommodation so a cancellation with a refund is no good to us,” he says.

“Are we entitled to ask the airline to find us alternative flights to and from our destination? Or do we have to accept a refund if they choose that option?”

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Pat said that the last time he and his wife flew with the airline “the volcano blew up and grounded all flights in Europe and we lost out on a wedding anniversary trip to Paris”.

He added that, while they got refunded the cost of the flights on that occasion, they lost money on the booked hotel for four nights.

“Any advice is welcome,” Pat says.

First we better provide some context.

All Aer Lingus passengers might have to contend with possible strikes in the weeks ahead after its pilots voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action yesterday in a deepening and alarming row with the airline’s management over money.

If Pat is at home and the outbound flight is cancelled then, under EU Regulation 261, Aer Lingus will have to offer him a refund or a rerouting on the next available flight or at a later time of his choosing

IALPA members at the airline have called on management to “come to their senses” with its representative, Captain Mark Tighe, saying its members will announce in the days ahead what action the public can expect. He said the union’s preference was to avoid industrial action which could lead to widespread travel disruption for holidaymakers this summer - but he wasnt ruling it out.

“We want to avoid industrial action, we want management to come to their senses,” he said.

Any strike action would have a “severe impact” on customers, the airline’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Donal Moriarty, warned.

He said that Aer Lingus would “do everything possible both to refund customers and to arrange alternative transport for them to get to their destination”, he said.

But he also admitted that looking after everyone at the height of summer would be a challenge.

For its part, the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) is calling for a resolution.

The umbrella group’s president Angela Walsh said on Wednesday night that ”any pilot strike over the summer months will cause serious impact for both holidaymakers and corporate travellers, as we are in the busiest travel period of the year, with knock on effects on accommodation reservations and connecting travel.”

She said agents “are on the front line when strikes, cancellations and other disruptions occur and are the first port of call for customers. While we are always happy to minimise all disruption for our customers, we urge the airline and greater travel industry to put the consumer first in an effort to avoid such disruption to travel plans.

“Those who have booked with a travel agent can contact their agent in the case that any strike is confirmed and we will work to rearrange travel plans to the best of our abilities.”

Pat did not book a package so contacting an agent is a route he cannot travel and he lacks the protection that such a booking gives.

And that protection can be substantial with each element of the holiday protected insofar as is possible by the travel agents.

The DIY option makes it tricker and we have seen this before because we have been in strike land before – and not only with Aer Lingus. As a result we have some sense of what might happen next.

The first thing we would say to our reader is don’t panic. We don’t know what is going to happen and what form – if any – the industrial action will take. Everything is – if you forgive the expression – up in the air so, by our reckoning, there is little point in worrying overly about what might happen three or four weeks from now.

Telling someone to stay calm is one thing, actually staying calm is quite another and to be honest Pricewatch would be up to 90 if we were in Pat’s position. And we have found ourselves worrying about this exact scenario in times past.

When it comes to the weeks ahead there are a range of scenarios facing Pat and all Aer Lingus passengers.

The industrial action might not happen and Aer Lingus managment and its pilots might do a deal – that is the most optimistic scenario. We have no idea how likely that is.

The second scenario for Pat is that a strike grounds planes on the day he is due to travel which means he can’t get to his destination as planned.

[  Pricewatch: Will energy prices remain high for the foreseeable future?  ]

Another scenario would see the couple fly out but then be unable to get home from Lanzarote on the planned date as a result of a strike at that point.

The rights they have will depend on the scenario.

If Pat is at home and the outbound flight is cancelled then, under EU Regulation 261, Aer Lingus will have to offer him a refund or a rerouting on the next available flight or at a later time of his choosing. If Pat goes for the refund, the airline’s responsibility to him and his wife ends immediately.

But as he points out, a refund will be of little use as the holiday is paid for. That is why he asks if the airline might find him a flight on another carrier.

It is a reasonable question but we’d not be overly optimistic on that score. If a strike happens there will be many thousands of passengers impacted and there is while Aer Lingus might try and get passengers to their destination through other means the chances it will successfully book everyone on different carriers seems remote, much as we might like that to happen.

Pat could cancel his booking and then book with another airline himself and then try claim the money back from Aer Lingus. We have heard of people being successful doing this on occasion – and not necessarily with Aer Lingus – but we have also heard of people being unsuccessful in their attempts to do this so it very much depends.

All we can say at this point is that people who find themselves impacted by any strike should keep the channels of communication between them and the airline open and keep a careful record of all correspondence.

And if the airline gives the green light for an alternate booking, happy days – but get it in writing.

The other scenario is that Pat is stranded overseas as a result of a strike.

Of course, the days of airlines being on hand to ferry passengers facing cancellations to airport hotels have long gone in many instances but that does not mean your rights are gone

If he finds himself in this position he will have the same rights under EU Regulation 261 and the airline must offer him and his wife a refund or a rerouting on the next available flight or at a later time of their choosing.

The airline also has an obligation to get their passengers home and to take care of them while they are overseas until they are in a position to do so.

Passengers are legally entitled to meals and refreshments while stranded and if necessary, the airline will have to cover the cost of hotel accommodation and transport between the hotel and the airport. They also have to offer passengers two free telephone calls and access to email – although in the age of smartphones that is less relevant.

Of course, the days of airlines being on hand to ferry passengers facing cancellations to airport hotels have long gone in many instances but that does not mean your rights are gone.

If people can’t make contact with the airline or it does not provide the care and assistance it is legally obliged to at the moment they need it, then they will have to make your own reasonable arrangements. It is incredibly important that if a person does this they retain all receipts because they will need them to claim back the reasonable expenses.

The definition of reasonable is pretty loose. If Pat were to check into a five-star hotel In Lanzarote and eat and drink all around them while waiting to get home and then look to be reimbursed he might be disappointed.

But if he can stay in a modestly-priced hotel and eat in modestly priced restaurants while waiting for the strike to end, then he will be able to claim that money back.

Passengers who find themselves in this position should send copies (it is very important the original documentation is never sent in case it goes missing) of all receipts to Aer Lingus. Submissions should also include booking references, passenger names, original and new flight details. And the money will come back.

But, and we can’t stress this enough, we are getting ahead of ourselves and July 6th is awhile away so we don’t know what might happen and it is beyond our control so there is little point in worry about it all just yet. And fingers crossed it won’t be an issue for anyone

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Colombia's lower house on Friday approved a pension reform proposed by President Gustavo Petro, marking a victory for the leftist, who has struggled to get lawmaker approval for several of his cornerstone promises.

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Neil jordan claims ex-irish pm expected payment for ‘michael collins’ praise (report).

In a new memoir, the Irish filmmaker alleges Garret FitzGerald wanted to invoice Warner Bros. for an op-ed that pushed back against criticisms of the film from historians and politicians.

By Abid Rahman

Abid Rahman

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Michael Collins director Neil Jordan has claimed that ex-Irish leader Garret FitzGerald expected payment from Warner Bros. for penning an op-ed at the time that pushed back against the wave of criticism the political biopic faced.

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FitzGerald, who twice served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987, penned an op-ed in the Irish Times in September 1996 defending Michael Collins . The Guardian reports that FitzGerald’s op-ed said, “By any standards, the film is a triumph, and for many Irish people viewing it, is likely to prove a deeply moving experience.” FitzGerald’s column also pushed back against the historical inaccuracies accusations against the film, by suggesting that Michael Collins captured the mood and spirit of the time. “Neil Jordan merits our applause, and our gratitude,” FitzGerald wrote.

In a lengthy interview with the Guardian , Jordan recounts meeting FitzGerald after the article was published and thanking him. “That reminds me, I must send in an invoice, I still haven’t been paid,” FitzGerald said, according to Jordan.

“By the Irish Times ?” Jordan asked. “No,” FitzGerald allegedly replied, “by Warner Bros.”

In the interview with the Guardian , Jordan says he was “shocked” by FitzGerald’s suggestion. “I don’t want to besmirch the man’s reputation but that conversation is exactly as it happened.”

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Moscow Could Target Countries Supplying Weapons to Ukraine, Putin Says

President Vladimir V. Putin said that since Western governments were allowing long-range missiles to be used on Russia, it could do the same.

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By Neil MacFarquhar

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia warned on Wednesday that Western nations supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles and allowing them to be used to attack inside Russia was a “dangerous step” that could prompt Moscow to reciprocate against Western targets.

“If someone thinks it possible to send such weapons to a war zone to strike our territory and create problems for us,” Mr. Putin said at a news conference , “then why do we not have the right to send our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where strikes can be made on sensitive facilities of the countries that do this against Russia?”

Mr. Putin singled out Germany, saying that its supply of battle tanks to Ukraine had been an initial blow to Russian-German relations, but its permission to use missiles in Russia was even worse.

“Now, when they say that some missiles will appear that will strike targets on Russian territory, this, of course, is ultimately destroying Russo-German relations,” he said.

Mr. Putin was speaking to senior editors from at least 15 news agencies from around the world that were invited to meet with him on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Mr. Putin had skipped the tradition since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but this year the invitation was extended to Western outlets such as The Associated Press, Reuters and various European agencies including Agence France-Presse, DPA from Germany, ANSA from Italy and EFE from Spain.

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that representatives from “unfriendly countries” were included because “it is very important for them to get to know Putin and understand Russia firsthand,” according to Russia’s official news agency, Tass.

Western business executives largely avoided the forum, while China had a significant presence, including a presentation of a bulletproof limousine that retails for more than $560,000 in China, Tass reported.

Mr. Putin answered questions on a wide range of topics, but many of the queries focused on the war in Ukraine. Although Russia invaded Ukraine after it had begun destabilizing the Eastern regions in 2014 by supporting separatists, Mr. Putin again portrayed the war as the fault of Ukraine and its Western allies.

Countries that are supplying weapons to Ukraine risked being dragged into a war with Russia, he said.

It was not clear where Mr. Putin possibly planned to position Russian weapons in other regions. Troops and armaments have been deployed in Belarus, possibly including nuclear missiles, during the war. Belarus borders Europe more closely than Russia, as does the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Russia also has forces in Syria near bases where the United States operates.

In terms of relations with Washington, Mr. Putin said that he did not think the looming presidential election would change much as long as the United States continued to pursue “greatness.”

Asked about the recent conviction of the former president, Donald J. Trump, Mr. Putin said that the United States was burning itself from within. “It is obvious all over the world that the prosecution of Trump, especially in court on charges that were formed on the basis of events that happened years ago, without direct proof, is simply using the judicial system in an internal political struggle,” he said.

On the subject of Evan Gershkovich , the American reporter from The Wall Street Journal who has been imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges for more than a year, Mr. Putin said that the United States was taking “vigorous steps” toward his release. Mr. Gershkovich, The Journal and the U.S. government have all denied the charges.

Such issues “should only be resolved on the basis of reciprocity,” Mr. Putin added. “The relevant U.S. and Russian agencies are in contact with each other on this issue.”

Milana Mazaeva contributed reporting.

Neil MacFarquhar has been a Times reporter since 1995, writing about a range of topics from war to politics to the arts, both internationally and in the United States. More about Neil MacFarquhar