Plot
When the Blair government takes office in 1997 the difficult job of Secretary of state for Northern Ireland, trying to broker peace between sectarian factions, goes to Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, known as 'Mo'. With her no nonsense attitude, rough language and liking for a drunk - not to mention the odd flasher's moment - she is equal to any man and totally committed to her role. However she has cancer. The chemotherapy gives her hair loss and she plays on this to defuse situations with humour. Unfortunately the cancer is malignant and will kill her within a few years but Mo keeps this fact quiet in order to see through her Northern Irish task.
Keywords: character-name-in-title, one-word-title
[Mo Mowlam and Adam Ingram arrive at a meeting of the Protestant Orangemen who want to stage a march past a staunchly Catholic housing estate]::Adam Ingram: Should I try telling them I've got a season ticket to Ibrox?::Mo Mowlam: Well, at least you're a Prod, Adam, and a bloke. I bet this is the first time there's ever been a fanny in the building.::[as they walk in there is heckling and jeering]::Mo Mowlam: I take that back - the place is *full* of cunts.
[Mo Mowlam is chairing a meeting between Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams of the Sinn Fein / IRA and Senator George Mitchell who will be chairing the Peace Talks. Both sides are trying to score points off each other. Mo defuses the situation by taking off her wig]::Mo Mowlam: Sometimes aren't there just times when all you want is a bloody good scratch.::Martin McGuinness: I suppose so.::Mo Mowlam: I tell you what, boys. Let's start this meeting again. Only this time, no cocks on the table.::[after the meeting]::Mo Mowlam: How did I do, George?::Senator George Mitchell: I have to say you have the most unorthodox negotiating technique I've ever seen in my life. My answer is: "brilliantly". I think we're in business.
[Mo Mowlam is meeting Loyalist Protestant prisoners in the Maze Prison after Republican IRA Catholic prisoners broke into a Loyalist wing and shot one of their friends dead]::Mo Mowlam: The Irish Republic will renounce all territorial claim on Northern Ireland which will remain part of the UK for as long as the majority here want it to. But everyone will have to make *painful* compromises. People will have to share power with sworn enemies. And perhaps see men back out on the streets who may have killed their friends and family. It'll be very very painful. But the prize is peace - for generations to come. I think you're big enough to grasp it.
[Mo Mowlam has just been on the phone to Reverend Ian Paisley]::Mo Mowlam: Paisley says there are terrorists and at least one homosexual in the building.::Adam Ingram: Well we'd better get Security onto that one. Is he sure there's only *one*?::[they laugh]
[Tony Blair is giving a speech and is thanking all the people who played a part in the Peace Talks. When he mentions Mo Mowlam's name, the audience get to their feet and cheer]::Tony Blair: I think I can say without fear of contradiction that's the first time there's been a standing ovation in the *middle* of a speech. And the person getting the ovation isn't even the person making the speech.
[as Mo Mowlam comes out of the Commons, Peter Mandelson is waiting for her]::Mo Mowlam: What are you doing here?::Peter Mandelson: Observing the Northern Ireland debate.::Mo Mowlam: What the fuck for?::Peter Mandelson: I have a long-standing interest in Northern Irish affairs. My grandfather, as you know, was a very distinguished Unionist.::Mo Mowlam: *Fuck* your grandfather. You're after my job - aren't you?::Peter Mandelson: Of course not. Though a cabinet reshuffle is on the cards and in politics one must never rule anything out.::Mo Mowlam: Don't lie. Smarming round Trimble. Probably telling Tony to sack me too, you devious cunt.::Peter Mandelson: Is this really the demeanour one would expect of a minister of the crown?::Mo Mowlam: You won't *fucking* win!::Peter Mandelson: If you carry on like this, people are going to ask if there's something wrong with you.
Mo Mowlam: [angrily] If you want a friend in politics, buy a fucking dog!
Plot
15 August 1998: the Real IRA exploded a bomb on a crowded street in Omagh, just into Northern Ireland, to halt the Good Friday accords and peace process; 29 people died. Families formed the Omagh Support Group to press the police in their inquiries. The film focuses on the Gallagher family, who lose their son Aiden. His father, Michael, a mechanic, becomes chair of the support group. The press for answers strains his relationship with his wife. High-ranking police speak in bromides. Shadowy figures offer intelligence that calls into question the integrity before and after the bombing of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its Special Branch. Will the murders remain unsolved?
Keywords: advance-warning-of-a-bombing, ambulance, army, atrocity, auto-mechanic, barn, based-on-true-story, bbc, belfast-ireland, belfast-telegraph
Michael Gallagher: There's Catholics in this room, and Protestants, and Mormons - Marion's here - and some of us believe in God, and now maybe some of us have no God.::Michael Gallagher: But I can tell you this, we're not going to get anywhere unless we do it together. That's the truth of the matter. [crowd: Here, here]
Michael Gallagher: [on meeting Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein leader] Where's Lawrence? Stanley wouldn't come on principle, nor Godfrey or Ann Wilson. We should have spoken to the others at the very least, Lawrence. You didn't handle this right, you're gonna upset the whole group.::Laurence Rush: Are you coming or not? Gerry Adams is in a room there. And he's gonna have to face ME.
Michael Gallagher: [on meeting Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein leader] Mr Adams, my brother was murdered by an IRA gunman in 1984. No witnesses came forward for that either. So they got away. I agree with you - let's put the past behind us. That was my brother then. But this is my son now. The war is supposed to be over. You say you want to build a new Northern Ireland. A peaceful Northern Ireland. But how can we build a peaceful Northern Ireland unless you help us bring his killers to justice?
Michael Gallagher: [final scene, addressing the media pack] The day our loved ones lost their lives and our families were torn apart, we were told that everything would be done to bring their killers to justice. To learn today that they have failed us, before the bomb, after the bomb, and are still failing us now. To have that knowledge, however distressing, however shocking means that we can at last move forward. I would like to announce today that we will be pursuing our own legal action against the Real IRA. Against those who support and fund it. And those who are responsible for this dreadful atrocity. But more than that: we would like to call into account the security forces, and the police, and the politicians in London, Belfast, and Dublin. They have promised us so much but have so far singularly failed to deliver. We speak not just for ourselves. We speak for the victims of terrorism of whatever tradition. And all those victims of terror wherever it happens. We will not go away. We will not be quiet. We will not be forgotten.
Gerry Adams (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála (TD) for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern Ireland and the largest nationalist party. From the late 1980s onwards, Adams was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, initially following contact by the then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and subsequently with the Irish and British governments and then other parties. In 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) indicated that its armed campaign was over and that it is now exclusively committed to democratic politics. Under Adams, Sinn Féin changed its traditional policy of abstentionism towards Oireachtas Éireann, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, in 1986 and later took seats in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly. However, Sinn Féin retains a policy of abstentionism towards the Westminster Parliament, but since 2002, receives allowances for staff and takes up offices in the House of Commons.
Vincent Browne (born 17 July 1944) is an Irish print and broadcast journalist. He is a columnist with The Irish Times and The Sunday Business Post and a part time barrister.
From 1996 until 2007, he presented a nightly talk-show on RTÉ Radio, Tonight with Vincent Browne, which focussed on politics, the proceedings of tribunals on political corruption and police misconduct. He now presents Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3, which broadcasts from Monday to Thursday at 11.05pm. The Guardian has described him as an "acerbic host...Ireland's Jeremy Paxman."
Born in 1944, he grew up in Broadford, County Limerick, where he attended the local national school. He spent a year at the Irish language college in Ring, County Waterford, then a year at St. Mary's secondary school in Dromcolliher, County Limerick, before going to Castleknock College (1957–1962). He graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Economics. He also founded the oldest surviving UCD newspaper, the College Tribune, in 1986.