Recently Hollywood and the Irish government have come to blows over taxation. The debate is over the section 481 tax allowance, otherwise known as the film-tax incentive that has bolstered the film industry in Ireland by 18 percent over the last 10 years. The incentive is due to expire at the end of 2004, and though the film industry is placing pressure on the Department of … [Read more...] about Filmmakers Threaten to Leave Ireland
Hibernia
A Tribute to Courage
Thousands turned out in lower Manhattan on a rainy Sunday morning on September 28 to remember relatives and friends lost on September 11, and to retrace the final steps of Stephen Siller, a firefighter from Brooklyn. Siller, of Squad 1 in Park Slope, was off-duty when he strapped on 60 pounds of gear and walked to Manhattan through the Battery Tunnel to West and Liberty … [Read more...] about A Tribute to Courage
Into Africa, Seeing and Believing
We're juggling with numbers here. Every five seconds someone in the world loses his/her sight; a child goes blind every minute. That amounts to seven million cases a year. Add that to 45 million people already blind and another 135 million with limited vision. Patricia Hallahan, regional director with Sight Savers International, confesses she's not very good at figures but … [Read more...] about Into Africa, Seeing and Believing
Heaney Donates Letters to Emory
Seamus Heaney, Ireland's Nobel Prize-winning poet, is donating his papers and letters to Emory University in Atlanta. While Heaney's manuscripts will stay in Ireland, his letters and papers will further enrich Emory's impressive collection of Irish papers. Emory currently holds the correspondence, as well as manuscripts, of poets Michael Longley, James Simmons, Ciaran Carson … [Read more...] about Heaney Donates Letters to Emory
Flatley Cleared of Charges
Rape charges against Michael Flatley filed last March by Tanya Marie Robertson have been dropped. A judge in Chicago advised Robertson's lawyer to drop the case or see it be thrown out of court. Flatley never denied having sexual relations with Robertson but claimed the act was consensual. The two met at a boxing match in October 2002, and some weeks later spent a day together … [Read more...] about Flatley Cleared of Charges