The pendulum continued to swing between optimism and pessimism in Northern Ireland at the time of going to press, with the main political parties still in talks and Senator George Mitchell poised to release his long-awaited report on the state of the peace process. Mitchell, hailed by commentators of all the persuasions for his role in securing the Good Friday Agreement, flew … [Read more...] about Quiet Optimism Over NI Talks – Mitchell Report Anxiously Awaited
Peace Process
Irish Power, U.S. Politics U.S. Rep. Richie Neal Talks to Niall O’Dowd
Richie Neal’s extraordinary journey from a working-class neighborhood in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., and one of the most powerful jobs in American politics as the chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. On November 7, 1960, Mary Garvey Neal, who had roots in Ventry, County Kerry, took her son to the Springfield, Massachusetts, town hall. It was very … [Read more...] about Irish Power, U.S. Politics U.S. Rep. Richie Neal Talks to Niall O’Dowd
Arrests in Death of Journalist
Police investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry have arrested four people under terrorism legislation. ℘℘℘ The four males – aged 15, 18, 38, and 51 – were arrested in the city on Wednesday morning, May 8, in connection with the killing. The suspects have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave PSNI Station in Belfast, where they are being questioned … [Read more...] about Arrests in Death of Journalist
Wild Irish Women: A Most Sorrowful Mystery
Oh! star of Erin, queen of tears, Black clouds have beset thy birth, And your people die like morning stars, That your light may grace the earth. – "Stars of Freedom," 1981 By IRA volunteer Bobby Sands, M.P. H-Block, Long Kesh Prison Camp Watching Bobby Sands die in 1981, much of the world realized, finally, that the young IRA soldier and hunger striker was a freedom fighter, … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: A Most Sorrowful Mystery
Hall of Fame: Lawyer, Public Servant, and Peacemaker John C. Dearie
John Dearie may not remember the specific year, but he remembers a very small, very important detail about one New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade in the late 1980s. “I remember seeing all of these people marching by, county after county. It had to be tens of thousands of men and women marching by. And they were all wearing this ribbon.” Dearie – a longtime New York state … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Lawyer, Public Servant, and Peacemaker John C. Dearie