The future of the Rose of Tralee Festival, which features girls of Irish ancestry from around the world competing for the festival crown, was in grave doubt at the end of 2003, when Siobhán Hanley, the event's chief executive admitted that they needed to raise Euro250,000 to save the annual event. The Irish government refused to bail out the festival, saying that Euro500,000 … [Read more...] about Rose Festival Saved
Hibernia
Bono Portrait Unveiled
Bono looked admiringly at the soft white portrait painted by one of today's greatest Irish painters, Louis le Brocquy, an artist whom Bono has admired since he was 13, at an unveiling at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. The U2 frontman described le Brocquy as "one of the grandmasters of European painting." The portrait, entitled Image of Bono, is the fifth in a series … [Read more...] about Bono Portrait Unveiled
Terrorists Plotted Against Kennedy and Hill
Irish Sunday Independent journalist Alan Murray unearthed a plot by loyalist terrorist Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair to assassinate Courtney Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy and her husband Paul Hill when they were in north Belfast in 1994. Adair had planned to attack the couple with a rocket-propelled grenade while they were driving in their car. Hill and three others spent 15 … [Read more...] about Terrorists Plotted Against Kennedy and Hill
Filmmakers Threaten to Leave Ireland
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
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