July 2012 Boston’s hometown VOL. 23 #7 journal of Irish culture. $1.50 Worldwide at All contents copyright © 2012 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. bostonirish.com A handshake for the ages Sinn Fein’s McGuinness meets, greets Queen Elizabeth in

Associated Press The IRA formally aban- BELFAST — Queen doned its campaign to Elizabeth II and a former force Northern Irish Republican Army out of the commander offered each and disarmed in 2005. other the hand of peace Two years later, McGuin- on Wed., June 27, in a ness became the senior long-awaited encounter Catholic politician in a symbolizing Northern Ire- new unity government, land’s progress in achiev- the central objective of ing reconciliation after ’s 1998 decades of violence. peace accord. His coalition The monarch and Mar- with Robinson has gov- tin McGuinness, now the erned Northern Ireland in senior Catholic in the cooperation with Britain North’s power-sharing in surprising harmony government, met pri- since. vately inside Belfast’s McGuinness’s Irish na- riverside Lyric Theatre tionalist party, Sinn Fein, during a cross-community had refused all contact arts event featuring many with British royals until of Northern Ireland’s top this meeting with the musicians, poets and art- queen. ists. Media were barred The queen came to Bel- from seeing their first fast as part of U.K.-wide handshake, but the two celebrations of her 60th shook hands again a half- year on the throne. Later hour later for a TV camera in the day, she visited and two photographers. the city’s new Titanic Underlying the sensi- exhibition and attended tivity of the occasion, no an open-air party involv- live footage or sound was ing more than 20,000 permitted to be broadcast. locals at Stormont, the Outside, flak-jacketed hilltop base for Northern police shut down all roads History in the Making: Queen Elizabeth II greeted Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister and former Ireland’s power-sharing surrounding the theatre IRA commander Martin McGuinness at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast on Wed., June 27, as First Minister government. and told residents to stay Peter Robinson looked on. AP pool photo by Paul Faith IRA die-hards opposed inside their homes. to the group’s 2005 deci- The first soundless TV McGuinness’s Protestant ness and Robinson stand- for her. She didn’t appear Experts say McGuin- sion to renounce violence footage showed a serious- colleague atop Northern ing first in line to shake to say anything, just ness, 62, was the IRA’s and disarm sought to faced McGuinness walk- Ireland’s unity govern- the queen’s hand, then smiled and listened. chief of staff when the express their disapproval ing, hands behind his ment, Peter Robinson; Philip’s. McGuinness The event marked the outlawed group assassi- of the queen’s visit before back, behind the queen the head of state of the and Elizabeth exchanged latest, perhaps ultimate, nated the queen’s cousin, she arrived. Police said as she met poet Michael , Presi- smiles and brief pleas- moment in two decades of Lord Louis Mountbatten, nine officers were injured, Longley and pianist Barry dent Michael D. Higgins; antries. Northern Ireland peace- in 1979, making him one none seriously, during Douglas in front of newly and the queen’s husband, McGuinness said he making that have de- of the most high-profile overnight rioting on the painted portraits of them Prince Philip. told the queen, in Gaelic, livered a series of once- victims of a four-decade edge of Catholic west and other Belfast artists. Then, more delayed “Goodbye and godspeed,” unthinkable moments of conflict that has claimed Belfast. Also in the group was footage showed McGuin- and translated the phrase compromise. 3,700 lives. Fleadh ‘Peg’ Geraghty is dead at 85 The Irish-Amerian community is mourning the death Notebook of Margaret “Peg” Geraghty (at right), known as the Josie Coyne, shown “grande dame” of the Boston Irish, who passed away at right with her father on Tues., June 26, at the age of 85. Born in Jamaica John, received some good Plain and educated as a teacher at Boston Teachers advice from her mother College, she was the widow of Thomas J. Geraghty, the Lisa before competing in Boston area property manager who founded Geraghty the recent Mid Atlantic Associates. Fleadh competition: “She was an amazing woman who has impacted the “Play from the heart and lives of so many over the years with her kindness and just love the tune.” generosity,” said Mary Mulvey Jacobson of West Rox- As to the overall event, bury, a longtime friend of the Geraghty family. “Peg “The Boston/Eastern Mas- was the backbone of so many important projects and sachusetts Irish commu- initiatives and her loss will be deeply felt by many. Our nity had every reason to condolences are sent to her three children, Tom, John, take satisfaction,” writes Anne, and their families.” Sean Smith for the BIR. A profile of Mrs. Geraghty is on Page 6. Page 12. Sean Smith photo At Mt. 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Exp ______email: [email protected] www.aisling-gallery.com Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 3 Social Club gets help in push for license The Boston City Council has asked the Legislature to relax its limits on liquor licenses in Boston so that the Irish Social Club in West Roxbury can regularly serve alcohol to guests again. The move, which comes even as the council readies for a hearing on ways to convince the legislature to give Boston a lot more liquor licenses, is needed to help preserve “the legacy of Irish and Irish-American culture in Boston” that the club promotes, city coun- cilors Matt O’Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) and Steve Murphy (at large) say. The club shut down last year - and returned its liquor license - but has since has held several fundraisers and organizational drives to stay open. Currently, the club has to apply to the city for a special liquor license every time it holds an event at which it wants to sell liquor. O’Malley said the request will seek a special license that would apply only to the Irish Social Club - it could not be transferred or sold elsewhere. O’Malley, who grew up going to dances at the club, said it is “a safe place, a centrally located place,” for community events. He said the response from the com- munity to restoring the club has been overwhelming - a drive to raise $50,000 for a new sprinkler system raised $100,000. Murphy called the club “a jewel in the neighborhood of West Roxbury.” Councilor John Connolly, who lives in West Roxbury, said the club and the effort to bring it back City Councillor Terry O’Flaherty was installed for a second term as mayor of Galway in ceremonies “speaks to what makes West Roxbury a great place to live.” June 25 at Galway City Hall. She is pictured with eight of her siblings: Della Costello, of Dorchester, and The council voted unanimously in favor and, with sup- Betty O’Flaherty, seated. Standing, from left: Tony O’Flaherty, Angela Crowe, Claire, John O’Flaherty, port from Mayor Menino, the petition will next need Trudy Concannon, and Joe O’Flaherty. A tenth sibling, Mary Hardeman, resides in California and was approval from state lawmakers. Senator Mike Rush not present. Photo by Joe Shaughnessy, courtesy Tribune and Representative Ed Coppinger will take the lead at the State House, supporters say. (universalhub.com) Donegal to celebrate Tip’s ancestral roots Former Speaker of the House of events are being arranged to Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neil, at right, commemorate the centenary of BIBA plans networking was a son of Cambridge, but Co. his birth.” Donegal can make a claim as his The events will take place event on July 18 ancestral home. In September, in Buncrana, Co. Donegal on The Boston Irish Business Association will host a the county will host the first the September 7-8 and include networking event on July 18 at Mistral Bistro from 6-8 annual Tip O’Neill Diaspora the award presentation at the p.m. The organization, which kicked off the summer Award to mark the centennial Inishowen Gateway Hotel on season with a sold-out harbor cruise aboard Boston’s of O’Neil’s birth. the 7th; a presentation of Irish luxury private yacht, the Elite II recently, now boasts The organization behind the American Partnership Bursaries an active membership of more than 500 members. BIBA event notes that O’Neil “was a to schools from Buncrana; and president AJ Gerritson notes, “We are now one of the real friend and a person who the first annual Tip O’Neill largest business-focused member organizations in the contributed greatly to the cause Diaspora Lecture by Prof. Paul Boston area, and the only one focusing on creating op- of peace and to the economic Arthur. On September 8, a new portunities both here and abroad, upholding our mis- and social betterment of Ireland. memorial dedicated to O’Neil sion to foster economic and professional growth among Donegal is proud of this member will be unveiled on the water- our members here while fortifying our ties to Ireland.” of its Diaspora and a number font of Buncrana at 1:30 p.m. Kelly to veterans: Take pride in all that you have done The following are excerpts taken from ference! You did it with honor, and in bedtime story, or teach them a lesson the Memorial Day keynote address as many cases, for you combat vets, you of life. It means I will not ever again prepared for delivery by Greg Kelly, a did it with exceptional valor! embrace my wife, share a laugh, or help lieutenant in the Boston Fire Depart- It is my honor and with great pride her negotiate life’s obstacles.’ ment and combat veteran who served that I can say to you, ‘Welcome home.’ For so many young fallen warriors, in both the Army and Marines in Iraq ••• it means that ‘I will never marry the and Afghanistan. Lt. Kelly, 36, lives With that said, and as you veterans girl I love. Or I will pass before ever in Neponset with his wife and two know, our mission in Iraq is behind us, having the chance to look into the eyes children: but our mission is not over. We are still of my own child.’ at war. We have Americans that are For the fallen it means that ‘I gave This year, our theme is to welcome in harm’s way as we speak, many of you survivors and you the protected a home all of our Iraq veterans. This them, our friends and neighbors……. gift that I could only give but once. I theme is appropriate because as of and even family members. We still gave you all of my dreams so you can this past Dec. 31, after eight years, the have an enemy that is plotting and pursue yours. I forfeited all of my United States completed the military planning and adapting. We must not hopes. I gave you all of my tomorrows.’ withdrawal from Iraq. lose sight of this fact. This is a dynamic To whom much is given, much is There are a lot of mixed emotions enemy we face. This is more complex expected. We have a tremendous debt on Iraq. Should we have invaded or then simply bring our soldiers home. of gratitude owed to our fallen heroes. should we not have. Should we have If we don’t muster the national char- However, simply being gracious is not withdrawn at this point, or will we acter to figure a way to make being a enough. We must memorialize them. live to regret having withdrawn after terrorist – a most futile undertaking to We must remember them. We must enduring the worst of it. Just the word the enemies of our nation – then there honor their sacrifice by living by the “Iraq” means something different and will be plenty of fight left for our next example they have set. brings out different emotions in each the overall effort, and together the most generation to deal with. Today, fewer then one percent of veteran who served there, …as we capable military ever fielded. … Memorial Day is an important American families are military fami- each had our own experiences, some What becomes of Iraq going forward, day in our culture. How we conduct lies. good, some bad. remains to be seen. But you freed them ourselves on this day, reflects on … Finally, one last message, to the I think collectively, one emotion we from a dictator and without question, our culture. I read in the Dorchester young people present: This whole world should feel, is pride. The sacrifices you painstakingly gave them the building Reporter that this observance has is yours for the taking. Iraq vets have made, the risks you took, blocks they need to live free. It is up to been held here at Cedar Grove since The only thing that can stop you and the character you showed, inspired the Iraqi people to earn and preserve 1868. What a great reflection that is from accomplishing anything in life one nation, and liberated another. That their fragile democracy. You have on generation after generation of this is you! You may have to work harder is a fact. Try not to burden your mind planted the seeds of freedom in Iraq. community. then others to accomplish your goals. I with reflections on difficult moments. Now they must nurture those seeds So, why are we here? Why is this an know I did, but you have not failed until Focus on the fact that you contributed into a strong tree of Liberty. This next important day for us? Two words, two you quit. Never quit! Never benefit at to something so much bigger then your phase of their pursuit of liberty is theirs timeless words that have likely been someone else’s expense. If someone is own personal interests. to win, and theirs to lose. Years down repeated every year at Cedar Grove knocked down in life, help them up. You maintained an unbroken lineage the road, we will be old and gray, and since 1868. They are enunciated so Never lose sight of your moral compass. of valor, that began with the Minute- we will hold our heads high knowing, often that you must protect yourself It’s always right on. men, just a couple of miles from here we stepped up when our nation went from becoming desensitized to them: If something seems wrong, it is. Take during the Revolution and has since to war. We answered the call to arms “Ultimate Sacrifice.” another course. endured civil war, world wars, wars in like so many before us. I want you to think about that for a Don’t be too cool to pray. A friend frozen mountains, murderous jungles, With each mission, we did the best we minute. Think about what that means. once said to me, ‘I don’t believe in luck and sand-swept deserts. could with what we had to work with. It means, for the warrior who gave and I don’t believe in coincidence, be- Most importantly, you volunteered Most people will grow old and pass, his all that ‘I will not pursue any of my cause the closer I get to God, the more when your nation needed you. Some never having contributed so much, dreams. I will not ever accomplish my coincidences I have.’ of us were cooks, and some were com- never having risked so much, never life’s goals. I will not be there to walk Remember, all the excuses and tales mandos, and everything in between. having made such a positive impact with my mother to church. It means I of woe in the world cannot diminish this Each one, crucial in your own right to in lives of so many. You made a dif- will never read my child another truth, Only you can stop you.” Page 4 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com

Publisher’s Notebook Commentary An urgent plea for Ireland targets ‘love, devotion’ Mitchell Scholars of Boston’s By Ed Forry Trina Vargo, president and founder of the US-Ireland By Joe Leary with a promise of “significant start up funding.” The Alliance, is on a mission in her role as founder and chief Special to the BIR Start in Ireland” group is part of the much larger advocate for the Mitchell Scholars program, named for When Brian Cowan, then prime minister of Ireland, Enterprise Ireland organization that already has the US Senate leader who was instrumental in forg- came to Boston in August 2009 to attend Ted Kennedy’s permanent employees in Boston. ing the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland. funeral, he met with reporters after Mass. Soaking “Start in Ireland” literature stresses the more than Late last month, it was revealed that the program wet in a rumpled suit from the rain that day and very one billion dollars in venture and seed capital that is would be de-funded by the State Department, so Vargo tired from his late night flight from Ireland, he was available to companies locating in Ireland. This is a hurriedly put together a campaign to encourage sup- asked rather rudely, “Why do you spend so much time similar effort to that of the Investment Development porters to speak out and encourage the administration caring about the Irish in the United States?” Agency (IDA), which also has permanent employees to reverse the plans. Seated at the end of a small table, holding his head in in Boston, with the difference being “Start’s” emphasis “The US Department of his hands, and a bit slumped on startup companies rather than the much larger State wants to eliminate fund- over, he brightened up and established American companies the IDA has been so ing for the George J. Mitchell with a sly grin said, “Ireland successful in attracting to Ireland. For more informa- Scholarship program. If that is the envy of the world with tion, see startinireland.com happens, we will not hold a our dedicated following in On June 19, yet another new Irish organization selection process in October/ the United States. I want to held its opening party on a beautiful early summer’s November to send a class of preserve and capitalize on evening overlooking the Charles River at Boston’s 2013-2014 Mitchell Scholars that love and devotion.” Museum of Science. “The Wild Geese Network of Irish to Ireland and Northern And today’s Irish govern- Scientists (WGIS) had its start in Washington DC Ireland,” she said. “We have ment is pursuing that objec- in February 2011, and quickly posted its purpose on received an outpouring of tive aggressively, sending the internet: “The WGNIS harnesses the knowledge, support and requests on how mission after mission to the experience and success of the Irish scientific Diaspora people can help.” United States to contact, from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland In an urgent letter to Congressional leaders, she organize, and influence Irish to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive global human database.” wrote: Joe Leary Americans young and old. “We are writing to ask you to quickly contact Sec- In a speech this past Feb- Though supported by government approvals, WGIS retary Clinton to urge her not to end the US Govern- ruary, Irish Prime Minister is a private non-profit organization. Professor Mark ment’s longstanding commitment to the George J. Enda Kenny launched an “Action Plan for Jobs in WJ Ferguson, director general of the prestigious Sci- Mitchell Scholarship program. This program connects 2012,” the aim of which is to make Ireland, “the best ence Foundation Ireland, spoke at the party, declaring future American leaders to Ireland and Northern small country in the world in which to do business.” his support for the organization. Ireland with a year of post-graduate study there. Kenny’s main target is the United States where Irish Then on June 26, another party, this one at the Irish ”The Department of State intends to provide no further innovation and business leadership has proven itself Consulate on Boylston Street, introduced a fourth funds for what is one of the most prestigious scholarship many times over the past especially in some organization supported by the Irish government: programs in the country. If that occurs, we will cancel of our major cities: Boston, New York, Chicago, and “ConnectIreland.” This group, also in the job creation the fall 2012 competition to select a class of Mitchell San Francisco. business, offers cash rewards if they Scholars for the 2013-2014 academic year. (The ap- In Boston, we have witnessed the creation of the are responsible for attracting new jobs to Ireland. plication deadline is early October 2012, so prior to new Irish organization “Irish Network Boston,” which Michael McLoughlin, the CEO of ConnectIreland, that date we would have to tell hundreds of universi- is dedicated to “connecting Irish and Irish Americans was at the Consulate reception ready to discuss all ties and thousands of students across the country that in Boston and beyond.” Modeled after a similar group the opportunities available for successful referrals. the program has been temporarily suspended.) We started in New York, and with others now spreading ConnectIreland will pay from 1,500 Euro to 3,000 hope that you will ensure that this does not occur by over the entire country, Irish Network Boston currently Euro ($1,950 to $3,900) for each job brought to Ireland impressing the following upon the Secretary: has 600 members who are asked to pay annual dues by the referral. There are rules of course that are 1. The Mitchell Scholarship program is about much of $50 each. You don’t have to be Irish to join – simply explained on the ConnectIreland website, connectire- more than the island of Ireland – it prepares America’s have an interest in Ireland. Their website says, “The land.com. The fact remains that financial rewards future leaders in areas that are State Department Irish Government through the consulate in Boston, are a very powerful incentive to excite not only Irish priorities while at the same time creating for those Enterprise Ireland and the IDA” all support the or- Americans but also people all over the world. The first leaders a tie to the island of Ireland. ganization. Its purpose is “to harness the energy and ConnectIreland incentive bonuses have been paid to 2. The less than $500,000 a year the Department talents of the Irish Diaspora in The United States.” three individuals. provides to the Mitchell Scholarship is a relatively small The Irish Network Boston, under the presidency For Bostonians, here is an opportunity to help amount (.0008 percent of the Educational and Cultural of the -born Boston businessman David Ireland and themselves by simply checking in with Affairs budget), yet necessary for the uninterrupted Greaney, has been a great success with its regularly ConnectIreland to follow the correct procedure and functioning of the program. (The Department has scheduled parties and networking events. For more begin to search for companies thinking about doing provided roughly the same amount, with no increases information on the group, visit irishnetworkboston.org. business in Europe through Ireland. in ten years.) Just last month three more government-encouraged The Irish government is making a very intelligent 3. Europe matters. For the last few years, our staff organizations came to Boston to gain recognition and move by enlisting support for job creation programs has been told by Department of State officials that it support. In early June, “Start in Ireland” Business from American citizens of Irish heritage. Irish Ameri- has other priorities and that Europe is not a priority. Development Administrator Brendan Fay visited cans want to be involved and this is a rewarding way We completely understand and agree that the USG selected Irish groups to advance his organization’s to help the economic recovery on their ancestral island. has myriad pressing crises around the world, including government brief to bring young companies to Ireland Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, ‘Arab Spring’ coun- tries, and China. However, Europe is facing economic instability that threatens the future of the euro and the Off the Bench prospects for the global economy, so it hardly qualifies as a place the US can ignore. Just recently, President Obama noted that Europe’s economy is ‘starting to cast a shadow on our own as well.’ And European countries Connubial Tales: A 50-year chapter are crucial partners in confronting the very real and By James W. Dolan going to lose anyway, why bother to argue in the first urgent crises the US faces around the world. Special to the Reporter place. Save yourself the aggravation and just give in. The years, when Ireland’s economy was As of this month we have been married 50 years. I My wife has qualities that I respect and admire booming, meant that not only fewer Irish were moving don’t view it as a great achievement; all you have to and a few I find annoying. I expect in a generous mo- to the US but many in the US returned to Ireland. Cur- do is stay married and live long enough. It was June ment, she would say the same about me. I admire her rently, employment prospects in the US are sufficiently 16, 1962, just before the sexual revolution. Probably strength and courage -- she is great in a crisis. Rarely unappealing that the Irish who are emigrating are more just as well, otherwise I may have been caught up in down, she is energetic, efficient, and fully engaged in often opting for places like Australia and Canada.” that movement. several hobbies. At month’s end, Vargo said, “We have created an online I declined to renew my She has been a great mother and grandmother petition so you may easily sign on and share it with marital vows, figuring that and as far as I’m concerned, that’s most important. your friends, family and colleagues. Please sign our if they worked till now, I Nothing binds us closer than our love of family. They petition by clicking http://bit.ly/Lhjrvx” wouldn’t need a booster. are the center of our lives and she is the heart of our Besides, back then I was family. We have a shared history, a lifetime of joyful too nervous to know what experiences and a few that were sad. I was saying. Now, I might She rented a large waterfront home in Woods Hole in Boston Irish want to renegotiate. We July for a week-long celebration. It will accommodate dated five years before we all 22 of us. Since we don’t expect to be around for our REPORTER married at 23, so we grew 75th, we’ll make the most of this one. The Boston Irish Reporter is published monthly by: up together. By the time Our parents were of a generation that believed mar- we were 30, we had four riage was for life. Divorces were rare. Things have Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., daughters. Our son was changed. We have gone from one extreme to the other. 150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120, Dorchester, MA 02125 born eight years later. Too often, it seems, couples split for reasons that have [email protected] www.bostonirish.com Looking back, I have no more to do more with the routine and tedious side of Mary C. Forry, President (1983-2004) regrets. Perhaps it could marriage than any fundamental problem. Those look- James W. Dolan have been better; certainly it ing for reasons to stay in a marriage will find them. Edward W. Forry, Publisher Those looking for ways out will also find them. Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr., Managing Editor could have been worse. Trying to substitute the per- fect for the good accounts for many of today’s broken If you want passion and excitement, you won’t find William P. Forry, Contributing Editor it at the center of a long-term relationship. What you Peter F. Stevens, Contributing Editor marriages. Learning to appreciate what you have, which hopefully will find, if you get beyond the honeymoon News Room: (617) 436-1222 Ads : (617) 436-1222 involves emphasizing strengths and overlooking stage, is a deeper love that involves loyalty, under- Fax: (617) 825-5516 [email protected] weaknesses, is necessary for a successful marriage. standing, shared sacrifice, mutual respect, forgiveness, On The Web at www.bostonirish.com Tolerance and patience are as much a part of love as and self control. It matures into a comfortable balance respect and devotion. between two people who have adapted to each other’s Date of Next Issue: August, 2012 If distance lends enchantment, togetherness buys humanity – the strengths and weaknesses. Deadline for Next Issue: Friday, July 20 at 2 p.m. reality. The glow of early love soon evolves into the I just feel better knowing she’s around and I believe Published monthly in the first week of each month. adjustments and accommodations of a more mature she feels the same. That’s as good as it gets. The Boston Irish Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in advertisements relationship. At 50 years, one is at the comfort stage, James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Court beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. The right is reserved by which is marked with appreciation, understanding, judge who now practices law. The Boston Irish Reporter to edit, reject, or cut any copy without notice. and few surprises. I long ago learned that if you’re Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 5 Point of View Voters deserve better than debates over debates By Peter F. Stevens chance to prove that their objections truly were based on BIR Staff religious beliefs and not at all in politics – specifically, There’s no question that US Sen. Scott Brown and support for the Republican Party over the Democrats. his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, are On June 13, in preparation for Fortnight for Freedom, “debating.” The televised debate proposed by Vickie the Catholic Church’s initiative on religious liberty that Kennedy, widow of the late senator Edward M. Ken- ends on July 4, Archbishop William E. Lori delivered nedy, to be moderated by heavyweight Tom Brokaw fell a speech in which he asserted that the “Fortnight is apart after Brown’s conditions – that she not endorse strictly about the issue of religious freedom, at all levels either candidate and that MSNBC not be a sponsor of government here in the US, as well as abroad—it – were not met. is not about parties, candidates, or elections, as some Brown showed political savvy in ducking what he and others have suggested.” his team viewed as a “Kennedy/NBC/Liberal Media” So it’s not about parties when the prelates and arch- set-up, but one can’t help but ask if his real concern conservatives have tightly lined hands on the issue of was having to field questions from Brokaw, not Vickie “Obamacare.” It might not be about politics, but the Kennedy’s certain endorsement of Warren. But while archbishop himself raised the specter of the IRS taking Brokaw would surely have made Brown own up to a hard look at the church’s role in the debate. While and defend his record of so-called bipartisanship, the Elizabeth Warren Scott Brown skeptical of the prelates’ claims that none of this is veteran newsman would also have pressed Warren political, this writer does not think that the church about the “Cherokee heritage” issue. dling of her ancestry, providing both Brown and the should have its tax status challenged by the govern- After stepping away from what he saw as a Demo- media the chance to zero in on this sole topic and to give ment. Still, Archbishop Lori contended that the Obama cratic ambush, Brown turned around and blasted War- secondary coverage of the candidates’ sharp differences health-care bill showed no concern for “the consciences ren for backing out of a WBZ-AM radio debate hosted on taxes, banking and Wall Street reform, the national not only of employers, but also of the various other by conservative/libertarian Dan Rea. Rea’s show is debt, and all aspects of the economy. Unless actual stakeholders in the health insurance process, such as often entertaining and almost always provocative; he proof that Elizabeth Warren used her claim of Native insurers and employees.” is also an unabashed supporter and self-avowed friend American ancestry to advance her career surfaces, it’s These are highly charged political words, whether of Scott Brown. So…it’s fine for Senator Brown to high time that a Senate race about genuine issues be- he admits it or realizes it. By not specifying “religious slip out of a debate sponsored by Vickie Kennedy, but gin. My suggestion: Let Scott Brown’s “misstatements” employers,” such as the church or Catholic universities, shocking for Warren to nix a sit-down with Dan Rea about his secret meetings with royalty and Elizabeth Lori seems to be asserting the right of any employer to as an “impartial” moderator? Warren’s mentioning of her Native American heritage deny coverage for any medical treatment on religious To the media, Brown expressed his “disappointment” cancel each other out, and the real debate, the one we grounds. It’s even more troubling to listen to the arch- at Warren’s decision to “duck the first debate.” He all deserve, commence. bishop trumpet insurers’ rights to deny coverage on contended that Warren “is saying one thing but doing moral grounds. Not political? Sounds like the very another.” Actually, both candidates are debating about Don’t Hold Your Breath Until ideas embraced by Congressman Paul Ryan and other avoiding debates that each feels is biased. Warren has Clerics Leave the Political Fray conservative Republican/Tea Party politicians. agreed to venues hosted by the Boston Herald, which Another ongoing debate boils on between America’s Again, all of this becomes a passing storm if the is deep in Brown’s camp, and by a WBZ television cardinals and bishops and the Obama health-care bill. Supreme Court tosses out the health-care bill and the debate moderated by Jon Keller, who can hardly be By the time this article goes to press, the argument Catholic church steps out of the political fray. I hope deemed partial to Warren, given his commentary on might well be a moot point if, as expected, the US Su- it does, but something tells me that the cardinals and the “Cherokee identity” as a “big issue.” preme Courts rules 5-4 that the health-care mandate bishops will keep on finding ways to let their political Warren has certainly blundered in her han- is unconstitutional. If so, the prelates will have their preferences show. Huge crowd turns out for John Joe Quinn memorial time Dorchester and the greater Boston Irish community turned out in huge numbers for a June 8th benefit time for the fam- ily of John Joe Quinn, who died suddenly on April 20 after suffering a heart attack. Quinn was just 42 years old and left behind his wife Noreen and two children: John, 15, and Abby, 8. Quinn had served as president of union Local 100 (Boston Water & Sewer Commission) and was an active member at the Leahy-Holloran Community Center and a coach in Cedar Grove Baseball. The fundraiser at Florian Hall drew in excess of 1,000 people. It included a performance by the Smith-Houlihan Irish Step dancing school and a large silent auction heavy with sports memorabilia. Noreen and the late John Joe Photos by Harry Brett Quinn

Bob Wolusky and Gary Ryan, Dorchester

Mary Ann and John Quinn Sheila Morris and Marcia O’Brien, Dorchester Melissa Graham and Adrienne Kaszanek, Dorchester

Carrie Doherty, Emily Shamshak, Kaitlyn Gutierrez and Brianna O’Brien, Gerri Munroe, Dorchester; Eileen Walsh, Galway; George Munroe, Dorchester all of Dorchester Page 6 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com BIR Profile Peg Geraghty, 80, Has Staked Out Her Mission: ‘We Have to Raise People Up, Educate Them’

By Greg O’Brien I thought Christianity was about reach- Special to the BIR ing out and helping people. Apparently, In many circles, they call her the that’s gone out the window.” “grande dame” of the Boston Irish, but On the priest abuse scandal, she adds, ask unassuming Margaret “Peg” Ger- cautiously, “I was upset as anyone else, aghty, and she tells you that he hopes but my faith in God is deeper than the to be remembered as “just a good lady.” imperfections of men. The abuse scandal At 80, the soft spoken and accom- went against everything I was taught, plished Geraghty, widow of the late but I wasn’t going to stop going to church Boston area property management over it, like others have. God cannot be principal Tom Geraghty of Geraghty held responsible for the sins of others.” Associates, is focused in earnest on On the role of women, she preaches: her continuing work on the board of “I think women have a lot of talents directors of Suffolk University, her that men could use, or take some advice on-going association with the Irish sometimes!” Cultural Centre in Canton, which she For someone who insists she has lived helped to establish, and her generous a sheltered life, Geraghty, entering her philanthropy “to raise people up.” ninth decade, offers a cosmopolitan pres- “I think we have to help the next ence. She was educated in public gram- generation; we have to educate them,” mar school, then attended Mission High the Dedham resident, a former teacher, in Roxbury, a private Catholic tuition says during an interview at her Fal- school. “My mother,” she says, “wanted mouth summer home overlooking a cove me to be a nurse because I was a pretty that her grandson calls Grandmother’s big girl, and she thought I’d be good at Pond. “We have to raise people up! turning patients over and being nice.” Welfare money is not doing the trick; The independent Geraghty thought oth- we must educate them.” erwise. “I wanted to teach, and so I did.” Asked how much she has contributed After graduating from the four-year over the years, Geraghty politely de- Boston City Teachers College, she taught murs. “I really can’t tell you that,” she elementary school in Medfield, Hyde says, then adds, “I had a good husband, Park, and Norwood. “Then I met Mr. who left me well taken care of.” Geraghty, a big Irish man with a lot of For Peg, a first generation Irish charm,” she says, noting that she couldn’t American with old country traits, a discern his brogue the first night at the “narrow-back,” as she calls it, and a dance hall because all of her cousins strong woman who is not reticent to spoke the same way. “I didn’t know he speak her mind, her life is still all about was Irish until later.” Galway-born Tom Geraghty, whom she But it didn’t take long for the two to met many years ago at Moseley’s Dance become one, and for Geraghty to quit her Hall on the Charles. It was love at first teaching job. The couple moved to Roslin- twirl. “I’m from that other generation,” dale, West Roxbury, and Milton. “I had she says, a comment more to do with her to raise all the cherubs,” she says, “and sustaining devotion to her late husband I had to assist with the family business.” (“a kind-hearted man”), and a blissful She learned well from her husband, marriage that raised three successful and successfully managed Geraghty As- children, all in the family business to- sociates after his death from colon cancer day -- Anne, Thomas, and John, reared n 1985 after a painful year and a half of with a consuming devotion to family, battling the disease. She also then became work, and to those in need of a helping Peg Geraghty: Woman on a mission active in the community, she says, by rid- ing her husband’s coattails. In 1989, she hand. To know Peg today is to know education for a better life.” homemaker. “She was very kind and Tom. They morphed over time into a was recruited for a steering committee What her father lacked in formal caring, but she was a candid woman,” to establish the Irish Cultural Centre, single existence. After Tom’s death, education, he made up in the conduct Geraghty says. “All of her many sisters Peg, who had been trained at schooling which ultimately moved to headquarters of his life—an attribute he passed along and cousins who lived near us would come off Route 138 in Canton. Until recently, third graders, ran the family business, to his daughter. “My dad had all these to her for advice. She was like a mother with offices in Hyde Park and Readville she served on its board. The organization impressive gold stripes on his uniform,” confessor, and never hesitated to speak was created to promote and organize and more than 1200 apartment units Geraghty, an only child, recalls. “He her mind.” to manage. The children now manage Irish cultural, educational, sporting ,and never talked about it. Then one day, I Like mother, like daughter. Geraghty social events. “It’s something Tom would Geraghty Associates. picked up his uniform at the dry clean- has never hesitated to speak hers whether Each month, the Boston Irish Re- have liked,” she says of her commitment ers and a man inquired, ‘Whose suit is it was over the threatened closing of her to the center. “But in recent years, I’ve porter has profiled some of Boston’s that? Those are conduct stripes. This parish church in Dedham or the wrench- elite -- its leading Irish-American had to cut back.” man is a perfect guy!” ing priest abuse scandal, or women’s As summer sets on another Cape season politicians, clerics, businessmen and By job description, the elder Geraghty rights. To stem the closing of St. Su- businesswomen and its talented and she prepares to return to Dedham, was a ship’s engineer, who later was sanna’s, she helped organize a successful Peg Geraghty is agog with life. Most of it scribes—variously celebrated in their assigned to work at the Hingham am- parish support group to keep the church respective endeavors. But Geraghty, is about the life of others. Settling back munition dump. In reality, his daughter open. This stay of execution expires next in her living room overlooking “Grand- to the point, is distinguished not for says, he shoveled coal into a furnace. year when the archdiocese will revisit what is generally known about her, mother’s Pond” in East Falmouth, she While he was away from home a great the closing. “Church membership has notes, “I hope I keep my health. I can but for what is not known about her, deal, his impact on her was lasting. increased, and we’ve held fundraisers,” and for what she keeps to herself. She still see and hear and get around pretty “He was a disciplined man, but a man she says of the group’s efforts. “But we’re good. I pray a lot these days. I have a is a silent inspiration to many around of great compassion.” still on the list. We’re told the church will her, and for that, her deeds are as sig- long prayer list of people with cancer, Beyond all measure, Geraghty was be judged on the number of weddings and I pray that all young mothers will nificant as any done on Beacon Hill, in strongly influenced by her mother, a and funerals held. Can you believe that! the business world, in the pulpit and have healthy babies.” in the media. Indeed, her soul exceeds At 80, she still kneels every day in the spirit of most. prayer. “My knees,” she complains, “aren’t Color Peg (Cassidy) Geraghty green. as good as they used to be.” But she Her late mother, Anne Carr, was raised “Peg” Geraghty funeral concedes the Lord will sustain her, and in , Galway, and her late take her some day on from here. What a father, Michael, a career Navy man, ride it has been for this grande dame of was born in Boston, then raised back in July 2, at St. Theresa’s the Boston Irish, who wants only to be Galway City as a child. The two met as thought of as “just a good lady.” The funeral Mass for Margaret “Peg” Geraghty will be said on Mon., July 2, Greg O’Brien is editor and president of young adults on the boat to Boston and at 10 a.m. in St. Theresa’s Church in West Roxbury. they eventually married and settled in Stony Brook Group, a publishing and po- Jamaica Plain. Geraghty’s father, who The wake of the Jamaica Plain native, daughter of the late Anne (Carr) and litical/strategy company based in Brew- had no formal education, spent 33 years Michael Cassidy and mother of Thomas and his wife Susan of Westwood, John ster. The author/editor of several books, in the U.S. Navy, working his way up to and his wife Mildred of Milton, and Anne of Dedham, will be held at the Wil- he is a regular contributor to regional chief petty officer. “That’s why he was liam J. Gormley Funeral home, 2055 Centre St., West Roxbury on Sat., June newspapers and magazines, a political always pushing schooling,” she says. 30, from 2 to 4 & 7 to 9 p.m., and on Sun., July 1. from 4 to 8 p.m. columnist for Boston Metro newspaper “You have to go to school, he always Interment will be in Milton Cemetery. and a television scriptwriter. insisted. You have to get a formal

Where in the World Can You Find News about Ourselves & Our Town www.BostonIrish.Com Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 7 Boston Irish Reporter’s Here & There

By Bill O’Donnell supportive of the united Ireland that Gerry Adams ernment are “strangling” the Catholic Church. Which, Immigration Reform Not On Front Burner— suggested a few years ago might bloom when Ireland of course, is the most bogus claim to date by a church Despite the stunning rescue by President Obama of marks the centennial of the 1916 in four that knows better. the core of the Dream Act and all that it means now to years, but for the average punter it’s nay, nay, not quite Just up the road in the Providence Diocese is Bishop those who were bought to the US as children, the harsh that fast—if ever. Thomas Tobin, who has called President Obama reality is that there is no comprehensive immigration A recent poll representing all voters in Northern Ire- “devious and divisive” and “creepy”—yes, “creepy”—for reform on the horizon nor is there likely to be anything land showed strong support for the status quo, affirming citing his daughters’ questions when he announced his doing for months. The Obama initiative, end-running that today, and likely even 20 years down the line, only support for same sex marriage. And Tobin offered a forum the GOP, is a policy that deserves to be the law of the one-third of the electorate would support unity. Only on “children” in his diocesan newspaper to America’s land and the president, who 7 per cent of NI voters would vote for a united Ireland premier enabler of priest/child abuse, Bishop John speaks often about fairness, this year. McCormack of New Hampshire, who easily deserved was on solid ground, albeit The Catholic population was divided, and shy of 50 indictment after being Law’s chief priest-shifter and he is being criticized for the percent support for unity, with just 7 per cent voting for apologist. politics of doing it in an elec- unity now, and a further 41 percent who would support (2) Since the early 1980s, the Vatican has had at least tion year bid to the growing it in 20 years from now or in the foreseeable future. three major scandals —two involving money laundering Hispanic community. A surprising aspect of another recent poll published by charges and massive Vatican bank irregularities, and a Let it be clearly enunciat- the Community Relations Council found that Catholics suicide under the bridge. The Vatican is now involved in ed now that the Republican already constitute a majority among those under age damage control over leaks involving blood feuds among Party of 2012 is clueless and 30. Despite this, the new survey shows that support for opposing factions in the Ratzinger Vatican. That has without anything to offer in Irish unity, at 36 percent, is slightly lower in the 18-24 yet to play out. the quest for realistic im- age group, compared to 37 percent in the population (3) There is a comprehensive action plan from the pope migration reform save the as a whole. and his allies throughout the Vatican Curia to denigrate maniacal mantra of sending The Neighborhood Mayor Stays Active—You can’t and dismiss Vatican II, and elevate its opponents, like Opus Dei leader who was fast Bill O’Donnell some 12 million illegals keep a good man down as the ageless bromide says, and Josemaria Escriva, home (somehow). “Intel- that certainly is the case with Raymond L. Flynn, tracked into sainthood despite widespread belief that lectually” bankrupt is the phrase that readily springs former Boston Mayor and Bill Clinton’s Ambassador he was a fascist and mentally sick; that he was anti- to mind. to the Vatican. Just recently, Flynn was out and about Vatican II; that he misspent fund;, and that his Opus On June 10, the Boston Globe published the photo- lending his support to East Boston residents opposed to Dei was, and is, a cult. graphs and brief biographies of 39 Boston high school the casino proposed for Suffolk Downs. Flynn’s advocacy Pope John XXIII, creator of Vatican II, has been valedictorians, Of the 39, 18 were born outside the is likely not embraced by his successor, Tom Menino, consigned to the very bottom of the sainthood list while United States. These kids are our riches from foreign who has worked the precincts and the Legislature dili- Escriva of Opus Dei was rushed into undeserved saint- lands; they will be doctors, teachers, scientists, and gently to try to ensure that the East Boston racetrack hood. It’s not what you do … join many other professions when they graduate from will get the nod for a casino. The same pope and his Curia are working to give new Harvard, Holy Cross, Wellesley, UMass, and Regis, to The former mayor, a good boss (it says here) and com- life to the ultra-conservative Society of Pius X and to name a few destinations for them. Some will go home to passionate city leader, is also the de facto, non-clerical the followers of Bishop Lefebvre. They are for making help create change there; others will stay and become voice hereabouts for the Vatican on matters Catholic. a comfortable home for the Ministry of Christ, and for part of a challenged new generation here; and some will On the political front, Flynn, a nominal Democrat in giving new authority to Law’s Communion & Libera- be future CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. (More than recent years, is now supporting Scott Brown for the tion group. All Benedict’s people share a desire to erase 200 Fortune 500 companies in the US were started by US Senate and Willard M. Romney for president. Both Vatican II reforms as they reconstruct the Church. immigrants or their children) choices are likely predicated on their position re current What we are seeing is the seeding throughout the We are blessed not burdened. However, we must end moral/sexual issues supported by the Catholic Church. hierarchy of ultra-conservatives who oppose Vatican the congressional deadlock and bring both parties and ’s Croke Park For A Sight To Behold—The II. Law is on the three-man panel that makes recommen- the next president together to hammer out a practical GAA signature stadium for Irish football and dations on US bishop appointments while also leading and humane immigration plan that opens our front (although I watched Muhammad Ali and Al “Blue” the charge against America’s nuns. His soft landing in door and tightens the unaccountable, unmanageable Lewis in a match there in 1972) has been refur- Rome confirms that he was a favored consigliere for the back door. Reform of our borders and decisions about bished in recent years. Today its capacity ranks behind past two popes and their key man in the US. who and how we allow people to enter America is a only Wembley in London and the stadiums in Barcelona (4) The assault on the women religious in the US fundamental tenet of a civilized nation. & Madrid. As part of the Croke Park redevelopment, in recent months is a blundering disgrace. While the You Can Rent A Slice Of Irish History—Visitors there is now a series of viewing platforms atop the nuns live Catholic social justice every single day, the to Ireland have a broad selection of places to stay, from stadium roof that offers tourists a panoramic view of spoiled, male-only hierarchy from the Vatican on down is castles and country houses to modern hotels and comfy Dublin and many of its most celebrated landmarks. determined to silence them. Do your work, but be silent! bed and breakfasts, but my favorite escape would be a The roof walkway viewing platforms offer a rarely seen That’s what the good sisters are being told by preening, 200-year-old circular, three-story, historic stone building perspective of such sights as Glasnevin Cemetery, Guin- over-indulged cardinals who want to keep the nuns in overlooking Dublin Bay. ness Brewery, the Dublin Mountains, Dun Laoghaire indentured servitude as long as they don’t speak out. A recent stroll across the internet unearthed my idea Harbor, Trinity College, St. Patrick’s and Christchurch This is a high price that America’s nuns have not bent of a reasonably priced getaway that will allow you to dine Cathedrals, Phoenix Park, and the Docklands. the knee to. out for months with tales of “How I spent my vacation.” The roof viewing area has only been opened since June The Church’s problems transcend the clergy abuse I’m talking about a unique experience rich in history 1of this year. Two-hour tours are regularly operating horror show, but what is happening secretly and in- with every modern convenience and no backup lines at and should be frequent during high season. If Dublin ternally with papal approval and direction this very your friendly hotel reception. is on your Irish itinerary, the Croke Park Aerie sounds minute ultimately threatens the very existence of the Are you ready for a week at a Martello Tower just like an ideal spot to have a look over the fair city. Catholic Church, I am afraid. seven miles from Dublin’s City Centre that hugs Dub- Parity Of Esteem Atop Belfast City Hall—The But, hell, no, I’m not leaving. lin Bay and looks out toward super scenic Howth. Just question is: When to fly the Union flag, which has flown (To learn more about what one author, Matthew Fox, such a redoubt can be found —and rented — in Sutton, over city hall every day since 1906. There’ll be no decision calls “The Pope’s War,” pick up a copy of his book at a County Dublin, a short ride from Ireland’s capital city. by the Belfast City Council until a public consultation public library or bookstore or Sterling Ethos Publishers.) Back story: In the early days of the 19th century, is complete and a vote taken on November 1. Change RANDOM CLIPPINGS England and Ireland were concerned about an invasion is coming and even Unionists believe that the fall vote, The best bet for a summer walk that you won’t forget by Napoleon Bonaparte and first Ireland and then with the Alliance Party holding the balance of power on is the guided walking tour of the Boston Irish Heritage England began building a series of round stone towers the council, will result in flying the Unionist flag only Trail organized by Irish Massachusetts’s Mike Quinlin to repel any armed aggression. The refurbished Sutton- on special occasions and not daily. (617-696-9880). … The BC oral history donnybrook has based Martello Tower, built in 1804, and 150 other The four options being considered before the Novem- found fresh interest from a bevy of Irish orgs including towers never fired a cannon in anger but their presence ber council vote are: (1) Flying the Union flag on some the AOH, Brehon Law Society, and the I-A Unity Con- apparently persuaded Napoleon to look elsewhere for designated days, not daily; (2) Flying the Union flag on ference. … Starbuck’s Coffee with a big gaffe asking the conquest. Today there are 21 of the towers still standing. designated days plus extra days when appropriate; (3) Irish what makes them proud to be British. … And the The Sutton Martello tower on the north coast is three No flag or a neutral flag flown; (4) two flags, with the Irish attorney general who called Derry Londonderry, floors, and can accommodate four people or two couples Irish Tricolor flying alongside the Union flag. tsk, tsk. … Jim Sheridan of “My Left Foot” fame look- in splendor. The best thing about these storybook tow- Early indications suggest that Option 4 is a longshot. ing to get Brendan Gleeson (“The Guard”) to play his ers is that they can be rented for a two-day minimum, A Communicant Looks At Today’s Catholic father in an upcoming bio-pic. … or a week or two or more, for roughly what each couple Church—Not to put too fine an edge on it, but what doing an impressive series of plays by Tom Murphy would pay (around $150 per night) at a five-star hotel follows can be criticized as a diatribe or simply your this summer into September. but with a first rate modern kitchen, designer bed rooms, garden variety rant. I’m not sure how to characterize Curt Schilling’s cock-up as a video game wannabe a fantastic living room, a spectacular view and all the it. The only thing I know amidst a sea of uncertainties came as no surprise to Sox players and others who know privacy and location you could ask for. To contact the is that today’s Catholic Church, under this pope and the former pitcher as a big BS-er. … Irish birth numbers owners for full details, send an e-mail to martellotow- the hierarchy that surrounds Benedict XV1 and follows are way up with more than 75,000 births, the highest ersutton.com, or call 01-642671. his marching orders, is clearly dysfunctional, corrupt, since 1891. … Once again Taoiseach Enda Kenny as- QUOTING: “If a group of people living in Brussels and unheeding at too many crucial levels. The church sures US investors that Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate decide to go to Berlin or Barcelona for a weekend in- is slowly but vengefully pushing tens of thousands or tax rate is here to stay. … Canada and Australia are stead of Belfast, it is not because German and Spanish more of the historically faithful toward the exit. That’s accepting Irish emigrants in record numbers with the ministers have put their faces in more photographs; it one man’s opinion. economy in the US & the UK suffering. … Some 30,000 is more likely because there are air connections, a de- As a matter of personal conviction, I say that if I be- residents of the have applied for British cent public transport system, late-night clubs, and the lieved for a nanosecond that the Catholic Church was citizenship in the past 3 years. probability they will not be assaulted by drunken yobs defined by the pope, the Curia, and its pampered prel- The economist Kevin Gardiner, who coined the term while trying to find their way back to the hotel. These ates—and not by the millions of pay-and-obey faithful “Celtic Tiger,” says the worst is over for Ireland. … It are the issues Stormont needs to get to grips with.” in the pews who are looking for Jesus—I doubt, in good was not a bomb, but the recent Eucharist Congress had -- The Belfast-based newspaper, Newsletter, on tour- faith, that I could continue. a lot of empty seats and was a far cry from the last one ism issues. I have complaints and concerns that I believe are at the in 1932. … United Airlines has inaugurated a Dublin- New York City’s Next Mayor—After three terms core of a rotting, frequently myopic, disengaged institu- Washington flight, the first between the two capitals. as Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg will be tion led by a leader who is, alas, singularly unqualified … Sean Brady, Primate of all Ireland, has apologized term-limited next year and a new mayor will be elected by background, temperament, and administrative his- to the children there for the clerical abuse. … A good in November. The odds-on favorite to succeed Bloomberg tory to lead a universal church devoted to good works idea: Taoiseach Kenny and NI Deputy First Minister sixteen months from now is New York City Council and the search for Christ. Martin McGuinness agree that they would like to Speaker Christine Quinn, a gay, Irish Catholic elected (1) There are a number of cardinals (whom we know see one football team represent the island of Ireland. by her council peers as speaker in 2006. about) who should have been indicted and prosecuted. The Master, Leonardo Da Vinci, will have some of his Quinn, a populist liberal-leaning Democrat, leads in These include the priest-abuse enabler and backroom work showcased at the Museum (free admission) all the early polls and her work in the neighborhoods papal fixer in America, Cardinal Bernard Law. Also through August 27. … Alex Maskey, former Sinn Fein and her advocacy for the homeless and others in need Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, Cardi- Belfast councillor and mayor, was honored by LeMoyne and her image as a smiling, approachable, sensible nal Edward Egan of Connecticut and later New York, College in Syracuse. A good choice. … Michelle Obama’s hard worker should help make her New York City’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who led the ancestors have been traced to Ulster, as the six coun- first female, and first openly gay, mayor. flying column raid on the Irish College in Rome last year ties are sometimes called. … A course in Northern ‘Not So Fast’ On A Unified Ireland—You and I, and is now the pope’s enforcer trying desperately to give Ireland was named as the top course outside the US. resident on this side of the Atlantic, might be strongly flight to the canard thatBarack Obama and US gov- The honors went to Royal County Down in Newcastle. Page 8 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com BRETT’S BOSTON By Harry Brett Exclusive photos of Boston & events

he Irish Cultural Centre hosted its an- nual Boston Irish Festival on its 46-acre Tsite in Canton on the weekend of June 8-10, with three days of Irish music, sports, and cultural attractions. On June 9, the ICCNE also hosted a 5K road race. Congratulations to the winners: 1st Place Male, Neil Finnegan, Somerville; 1st Place Female, Margaret Duval Cape Elizabeth, ME; 2nd Place Male, Alex Sullivan, Allston; 2nd Place Female, Jennifer Hughes, Boston; 3rd Place Male, Darrin Young Columbia, MO; 3rd Place Female, Ann Hession, Canton; 1st Place Wheelchair, Chris McGarry; Best Costume, Mark Gagnon Ottawa, Ontario.

1.) Dancers at the Irish Festival; 2.) Tiffany 1. Beaulieu and “Titan,” No. Dighton; 3.) Patty Kahler, Rockland; Mar- garet Mullen Walsh, Quincy; 4.) Declan and his mom Fiona Bailey, Quincy; 5.) Chris and Sarah Colman, Watertown; 6.) Kathleen Shannon, Norwood; 7.) Peter and Sinead (6 1/2) Walsh, Foxboro; 8.) Timithy (2 1/2), Cullen, Brian, Mary, Kerri with dad and his mom, Northboro; 9.) Kara O’Donnell, Quincy; Sen. Tom Kennedy, Brockton; Michael King, Raynham; 10.) Brendan, Siobahn, and Sebastian (3) Cunningham, Norwood.

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9. 10. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 9

Irish International Immigrant Center Immigration Q & A An agency accredited by US Department of Justice Employment visas: 100 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 area of complexity Telephone (617) 542-7654 Fax (617) 542-7655 Q. “My nephew recently graduated from a university Website:iiicenter.org Email: [email protected] in Ireland. He has found a company in the US that is interested in hiring him. What does he have to do Happy Fourth of July to Upcoming Free Im- to get an employment visa from the US government?” all Readers of the Boston migration Legal Clin- A. The US laws and procedures that apply to the Irish Reporter! ics: July 9, 6:30 p.m., at employment of foreign nationals are complex and Jeannie Kain tapped The Green Briar Pub, 304 require the assistance of an experienced immigra- to Lead IIIC’s Legal Washington St., Brigh- tion lawyer to handle the application process. Here Services as Managing ton; July 17 at IIIC, 100 is a very brief overview for general orientation: Attorney: Franklin St. LL-1, Boston; The H-1B employment visa category is the one most Jeannie Kain is IIIC’s July 25, St. Mark’s Parish commonly used by foreign graduates, whether they new Managing Attorney. (Church Basement) 1725 studied abroad or in the US. Foreign nationals who She is a graduate of the Dorchester Ave., Dorches- are admitted in H-1B status are allowed to work for American University and ter. All clinics are first- a sponsoring US employer in the US for up to three Northeastern University come, first-served. For years, with possible extensions up to six years. There School of Law. Prior to complete details, please are provisions that allow an applicant to change her work at the IIIC, she call 617-542-7654. employers in the US if certain conditions are met. worked as an associate President Obama’s The basic requirement is that a US employer must at the immigration law “Deferred Action” An- use the services of the foreign national in the US in firm of Kaplan, O’Sullivan nouncement Offers a professional capacity in a specialty occupation. A and Friedman, and as an Hope for Immigrant professional is defined generally as someone with a Immigration Law Special- Children: President John Curran with IIIC Executive Director, Sister bachelor’s or higher degree from a US university or a ist at the Committee for Obama recently an- Lena Deevy. foreign equivalent. A specialty occupation is defined Public Counsel Services nounced that immigrants internships in communi- ries… the Irish American as one that requires the theoretical and practical ap- (the Massachusetts public who came to the US as ty-based organizations. Club in Malden and the plication of a body of highly specialized knowledge. defender’s office). She is children would be eligible The experience provides Irish International Im- The number of H-1B visas available annually is set currently the Vice-Chair of for deferred action for two a great opportunity for migrant Center will be by Congress. Currently the total is 65,000. The visas the New England chapter years. Deferred action is personal and professional hosting a great night of become available at the start of each fiscal year, that of the American Immigra- a temporary immigration growth for these young music, dance, and party- is, on October 1. US Citizenship and Immigration tion Lawyers Association. status that prevents un- adults. They provide a ing as a fundraiser for the Services (USCIS) opens up the application process Jeannie lives in Quincy documented immigrants tremendous contribution IIIC. Put on your dancing six months before that date, however, so applications with her husband and two from being deported dur- to the local Boston com- shoes and join the IIIC and for the next available new batch of visas will be due children. ing the period of time munity with over 1,000 Rod Stewart imperson- starting on April 1, 2013. that it is in effect. During hours of service to local ator Rick Larrimore for Meanwhile the current batch has not been exhausted that period of time, im- organizations in 2011 and an evening of fun! If you as of now. The latest tally published by USCIS in- migrants are eligible for return to Ireland with love Rod Stewart, please dicates that 48,400 applications have been received, work authorization. The new skills and confidence plan to come along. Please so there is still time to file for a visa that will become policy will go into effect which allows many to see our website for more available on October 1 of this year. in approximately 60 days, become future community information. The application process is complex and involves and is based on very strict leaders, youth workers, Our Condolences - John several stages, beginning with a submission by the US criteria. Please contact care providers, and more. Curran: It was with much employer to the US Department of Labor, followed by a the IIIC at 617-542-7654 Please consider support- sadness that we received petition by the employer to USCIS, and ending with a with any questions. ing this program by open- the news of the passing visa application by the foreign national. Normally the Host Families Need- ing your home to one or two of John Curran. It was a sponsoring employer retains an immigration lawyer ed for Wider Horizons of these young adults for great friend of the Irish in to take care of the entire process. IIIC can provide Program: The Wider their six week stay! Massachusetts and will be referrals to experienced business immigration lawyers Horizons program brings Save the Date: Oct 4th missed by all his family for this purpose. IIIC’s New Managing young Irish men and wom- Dance Party in Malden: and his many listeners to THE J-1 IRISH WORK & TRAVEL PROGRAM Attorney, Jeannie Kain en to Boston for six-week This is one for your dia- “The Sound of Erin.” (J-1 IWT) If your nephew graduated from university within the past twelve months, he might consider applying for the J-1 IWT program that allows recent graduates Matters Of Substance (or current students enrolled in a degree course) to undertake a paid internship related to their academic field of study with a US employer for up to 12 months. Building Trust “One day at a time” The start date for this program must be within 12 months of the date of graduation. The Irish Interna- By Danielle Owen much, but we just can’t go It might be helpful to tional Immigrant Center is a sponsoring organization Special to the BIR back to what it was like chat with your AA friend for this type of visa and can assist with the application Q. “Bobby, my partner of before. What can I do?” for suggestions, based on process. For more information on this J-1 visa, visit nine years and I recently A. I can’t imagine how his own experience in the the IIIC website using the following link iicenter. split up over his use of hard it was to ask Bobby to program. Family mem- org/services/J1-iwt.html or contact our Learning pot. I couldn’t take liv- leave, knowing how tough bers also find Al-Anon Exchange Programs Department at 617-542-7654, ing with a stranger and it would be emotionally meetings a great source Ext. 38 or send an e-mail to [email protected]. our kids’ lives were being and financially. It is per- of support when making Disclaimer: These articles are published to inform, really affected. His mood fectly normal and natural these difficult decisions. not to advise. The US Citizenship and Immigration swings were horrible; he to have these fears about Sometimes exploring Services and US Department of State regularly amend was so depressed and him returning home. It’s these and other options regulations and alter processing and filing procedures. mean to me and the kids great that your friend with a counselor can also For a free, confidential consultation on employment when he had no pot and is familiar with the AA be helpful. Recovery is not visas or any other aspect of immigration law, visit he drank more. I hated program and can guide just about stopping the Danielle Owen one of our legal clinics as noted in the BIR or on our Bobby with his new sober to see the concern on our use of drugs and alcohol; Immigrant Center to ex- website (iiicenter.org). life. It takes a long time daughter’s face when he it’s about building trust plore your options. Phone: for a drug and alcohol would come in the door, with each other one day 617-542-7654 ext: 14 or problem to develop but waiting to see what mood at a time. send an e-mail to dowen@ learning to live without he was in. Even though Recovery is possible. iiicenter.org. Also check drugs takes just as much we struggled financially, Let us help you live the out al-anon.alateen.org. time. We don’t have a I asked him to move out. life you dreamed of when Danielle Owen is the crystal ball to see into the I was heartbroken, as we you moved to the United IIIC’s Director of Wellness moved here from Ireland future; Bobby could indeed States. Call Danielle at and Education Services. together eight years ago use again, but he may not! the Irish International FOLEY LAW OFFICES, P.C. and had already been Two months is a huge through so much. I was achievement but it does Attorney John Philip Foley surprised when he left not guarantee a “problem- free” life together. Bobby Permanent Residency & Citizenship • Family & Business without a fight. Immigration • Labor Certification & Temporary Visas I was even more sur- will have to learn how IMMIGRATION LEGAL SERVICES prised when a close friend to manage financial and ALL Nationalities & AILA Members family stresses without Free Immigration Legal Clinics of ours told me that Bobby July 9 at 6:30PM at The Green Briar Pub had stopped drinking and alcohol and drugs. This 304 Washington St., Brighton using pot. He had been is why AA is so helpful as July 17 at IIIC, 100 Franklin St., Boston going to AA meetings with it guides those wanting to July 25 St. Mark’s Parish (Church Basement) live a sober life, “one day 1725 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester our friend who has been in AA for 10 years. Appar- at a time.” All clinics are first-come, first-served. For complete details, please call (617) 542-7654. ently Bobby has been so- Family members can ber for nearly two months, find this slogan helpful, Free Computer Class—Starting September 2012 and even though I’ve seen too. Go for coffee, hear Interested in building your computer skills for today’s job market? him when he came to visit what he has to say but the kids, he has asked me don’t feel pressured into The IIIC in collaboration with the Timothy Smith Network will host a free computer doing something you do literacy course this fall at the center. Large Format Printing to meet him for coffee next For more information, please contact Ann Marie Cugno (617) 542-7654 ext. 42 week. I know he will ask not feel ready for. Maybe Billboards • Banners to move back home but I you need to see where am so scared that this is things are after he is 1022 Morrissey Boulevard, Dorchester just a phase and that the sober for 6 or 12 months. old Bobby will come back. I Perhaps you need to agree 617-282-2100 want to be supportive, and that if he does relapse, he (617) 542-7654 - www.iiicenter.org - Facebook - Twitter carrolladvertising.com the kids and I miss him so will have to leave again. Page 10 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com OBITUARIES Thomas Mannion: contractor, and St. Ann’s stalwart A funeral Mass was said on Tuesday morning, June 26, for Thomas J. Mannion, owner for 30 years of the T.J. Mannion Construction Co. and a devoted member of St. Ann’s Parish in Dorchester. Mr. Mannion, formerly of Kilbricken, Rosmuc, , leaves his wife, Julia E. (Lakes) and sons Patrick and his wife Monica, Thomas Jr. and his wife Linda, Michael and his wife Maire, Gerald and his wife Laurie, and John and his wife Colleen. Son of the late Patrick and Teresa (McGrath) Man- nion, Mr. Mannion also leaves his siblings Barbara Sullivan, Josie Mellett, Ann Cloherty, Eileen Greal- ish, Noreen Lee, Paddy, Bricken and John Mannion. He was pre-deceased by his sister Mary and brothers Michael and Colm. Managing Care the Right Way Remembrances may be made in memory of Thomas to the Kenney-Quinn-Ford Brain Tumor Research Fund, Commonwealth Care Alliance 55 Hallet St., Dorchester, MA 02124. Senior Care Options Program John M. Curran, 1938-2012 Program Benefits Who is Eligible? John Curran, the longtime host of the “Sound of • Speak to a nurse 24 hours, 7 days a week Our program is for people who: Erin” radio program and travel agent, passed away on June 21. The Belmont resident, a native of Co. • 100% coverage for doctor visits, • Are aged 65 years or older Kerry, was married for 52 years to his beloved wife hospitalization, prescriptions, home • Are a Massachusetts resident living in Essex, Kitty (Ryan) Curran. John was the loving father of Sean Curran of New care, dental, eye glasses, hearing aids, Hampden*, Middlesex*, Norfolk*, Plymouth* transportation York, Patricia Loomis and her husband Fred of Win- or Suffolk county throp, Deirdre Tobin and her husband Sean of Sudbury • $0 premium and $0 out-of-pocket if eligible • Have MassHealth Standard and Maura Lally and her husband Sean of Belmont. for MassHealth Standard The former owner of Round Tower Travel, Curran was also a founding member of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri • Care plans that meet your specific care needs Erin and former account executive of Morris Alper and Sons. Donations in John’s memory may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society 101A First Ave * Denotes partial county, please call us for more information. Commonwealth Care Alliance 05102012 Approved MHPA7 Waltham MA 02454 or the American Heart Asso- Senior Care Options Program has a contract with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts/EOHHS. ciation, 20 Speen Street Framingham, MA 01701. Enrollment is voluntary. John was also the Papa of Brendan and Catherine Loomis, Ryan, Fiona and Catrina Tobin and Ciara and Keelin Lally. Brother of Donal Curran, Eileen Murphy and Marion O’Riordan all of Crosshaven, 1-866-610-2273 (TTY 1-866-322-7357) www.commonwealthcare.org County , Ireland and the late Mary Curran and We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Christopher O’Brien. Mortgage Loans that feel right at home

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TOURISM IRELAND DIMENSIONS Supplied by: Tengo Two, S.L. Publication: Boston Irish Reporter Page Trim: 10" x 16” Barcelona, Spain Publish Date: June 2012 Bleed: 10.25" x 16.25” Tel: 011 [34] 652 081 624 Materials Date: June 31st, 2012 Live Area: 9" x 15” eMail: [email protected] Page 12 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Boston irish Boston Irish Arts, Entertainment, Reporter Travel & More Becoming A Legend Fleadh means Kathy satisfaction, St. George as Judy friendships, Garland connections

By R. J. Donovan By Sean Smith Special to The BIR Special to the BIR Actress-singer Kathy The Boston/Eastern Massachusetts Irish community St. George knows a little had every reason to take satisfaction from this year’s something about legends. Mid Atlantic Fleadh competition, which was held May As readers of the Reporter 18-20 in New Jersey. will recall, she is a de- It wasn’t just the fact that so many did so well scendant of the folks who – area entrants qualified in nine categories for the owned historic Tyrone All-Ireland Fleadh in Cavan next month – but that House in Galway. She can the achievements represented a good cross-section of also trace her roots back age and experience. to the owners of the St. Satisfaction is not simply measured in competition George Hotel (originally results or other numbers, however, as fleadh par- the Conarchy Hotel) in ticipants relate: Satisfaction also is a young musician Dublin’s Parnell Square. following a parent’s simple piece of advice to success; This month, fresh from or a mother and her teenage daughter sharing the chal- winning a Norton Award lenge, and joy, of competing together in the fleadh; or for Outstanding Perfor- lending your friend one of your instruments – and, in mance by an Actress, so doing, enabling her to win the event in which you she takes on a legend of were competing. another sort in presenting “If anything, I think the most important things I’ve a very personal tribute taken away from participating in the fleadh are the to Judy Garland in her friendships and connections I’ve formed,” says Armand one-woman show, “Dear Aromin, who took first place in the Miscellaneous Miss Garland,” playing Instrument and Duos (with Uilleann piper Patrick at Stoneham Theatre Hutchinson) categories, and second in Newly Com- through July 22. posed Tune. “The moment it starts to feel like work, Award-winning Scott then something needs to change. Just go out there and Edmiston, who helped her do your best, meet new people, learn new tunes, and write the show, directs the enjoy yourself.” production, which con- Flute and whistle player Lisa Coyne had several tains all of Garland’s hits vantage points of the fleadh: as a competitor herself in from “The Man That Got Over-18 Duos and Trios (taking second place in both), Away” and “You Made Me and as the parent of a competitor – her 12-year-old Love You” to “Get Happy” daughter Josie took second in the 12 to 15-year-old and “Over the Rainbow.” Kathy St. George lights up the stage with “Get Happy” in “Dear Miss Duos, and also competed in Solo and Trios. Like so many others, Garland,” her one-woman tribute to Judy Garland, at Stoneham The- But Coyne has a wider perspective, as director of Kathy fell in love with atre through July 22. Boston’s Hanafin-Cooley Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Garland while watching School of Traditional Irish Music and, in general, as “The Wizard of Oz.” As parody of Garland that be- as well as some intimate Jive” – at Club Cafe that someone out to inculcate a love of Irish music among a performer, she has be- came one of the highlights confessions. had moved to Martha’s young people. She is gratified at the increase in numbers come indelibly linked with of the show. We spoke about “Dear Vineyard. And one night of Boston Comhaltas School students who opt to par- Garland in doing a spot-on “Dear Miss Garland” is Miss Garland” last month on the Vineyard, one of the ticipate in the fleadh, and sees this trend as validating impression of the iconic what Kathy describes as during a break in rehears- actresses lost her voice. efforts to broaden their engagement with the music. singer in her cabaret act. a love letter in song. “I als. Here’s an edited look And the director said, “Hanafin-Cooley has spent a lot of time and energy In 2007, she starred in never got to write Judy a at our conversation. “Filler! Filler! We need to show kids different facets of the music,” she says. the somewhat dark “And fan letter, so this show is Q. I know you’ve been filler!” And I said, “I can “We’ve tried to create more contexts in which they Now Ladies & Gentlemen, my letter to her,” she says. a Garland fan for a long do the whole movie of ‘The can play, other than in their classes or practicing at Miss Judy Garland” in Part theater and part con- time, but when did you Wizard of Oz.’ “ And he home – playing for dancers, for example, or having Boston. And in “Ruthless” cert, the evening brings first do her music on stage? said, “Okay, go ahead!” sessions – so they see there is a social element to it. at SpeakEasy Stage, she Garland to life through A. We were doing a And that was how I started “Rather than keeping to themselves, we’re seeing channeled a very funny some of her biggest hits show – “1940s Radio (Continued on page 17) (Continued on page 15) Trad music from all over on tap at Worcester Centre on July 7 Traditional music from Blancke also contributes olds), and Henry, second with Donegal fiddler Brid Ireland, as well as France, pristine vocals to her in Concertina (12-15 year- Harper, a former senior Canada, and a few other renditions of songs from olds). All-Ireland champion and places, will be the order traditional and contem- A traditional Irish mu- Fiddler of Dooney winner. of the evening on July 7 porary sources. sic session will follow the Opening for them will be when Donegal accordi- Reviewing the duo’s concert, and all musi- the duo of Padraig Rynne, onist Dermot Byrne and first CD, Irish Times cians, singers, dancers, a concertina player in French harpist Flori- writer Siobhan Long and listeners are invited. the classic County Clare ane Blancke perform at said, “Byrne and Blancke The Worcester Hiber- tradition, and guitarist Worcester’s Hibernian manage to cleanse pal- nian Cultural Centre is lo- Ryan McGiver, who also Cultural Centre. ates long jaded by the cated at 19 Temple Street. is a noted singer of Irish Opening the concert, overdrive of ensembles Tickets for the event are and American traditional which begins at 8 p.m., on full throttle.” $20 at the door, $15 in songs. will be Skylark, a quartet Skylark is comprised of advance; for reservations, And on August 1, the of teen-aged fiddlers from Fiona Henry, Gabriella send e-mail to aisling- “Backroom” series will the Greater Boston area. Barham, Ciara McGil- [email protected]. More welcome Lúnasa, one of Byrne, familiar to many livray, and Natalya Kay information is available the most celebrated bands Irish music fans through Trudeau, all of whom at mymusicvisions.com. to emerge from Ireland his work with the band have studied under noted * * * in the past two decades. Altan, and Parisian na- Boston-area fiddler and Byrne and Blancke The group has toured tive Blancke are known teacher Laurel Martin. also will be featured extensively around the for their spare, “bare- Two in the quartet are as part of the continu- world and released eight bones” arrangements and coming off successful ing “Burren Backroom acclaimed . a repertoire that includes outings in the 2012 Mid Series” held at The Bur- For information, see Dermot Byrne and Floriane Blancke perform July 7 not only , , Atlantic Fleadh competi- ren pub in Somerville’s burren.com. at the Hibernian Cultural Centre in Worcester, and and reels but musettes, tion: Trudeau, second in Davis Square. They will – SEAN SMITH July 25 as part of the “Burren Backroom Series” waltzes, and slow airs. Solo Fiddle (15-18 year- perform on July 25 along in Davis Square, Somerville. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 13 He zeroes in on economic crisis woes by doing what he loves – making music

By Sean Smith Special to the BIR It’s late in the afternoon of a mid-June day, and downtown Boston is positively basking in gorgeous, sun-dazzled weather – except for a metaphorical dark cloud over the Four Green Fields pub. Only a little while ago, Spain completed its demoli- tion of Ireland in the European Championship soccer tournament, and disappointed fans sporting Irish athletic jerseys are slowly trickling out of the Four Green Fields, whose TV sets were all tuned to the game. Needless to say, there’ll be no grand victory toasts tonight. Into the midst of this somewhat somber setting strolls Dublin native Colm O’Brien, guitar case strapped on his back, ready for his weekly early-evening gig. O’Brien greets a member of the pub staff, and the two commis- erate about the Irish team’s debacle for a few minutes. “Ah well, in an hour we’ll have forgotten all about it,” says the staffer, “and Colm, you’ll be the man to help us.” Win, lose or draw, good times or bad, sun or rain, O’Brien is always keen to do his job, which is to play guitar and sing songs, whether from Irish tradition or contemporary songwriters – especially including him- self – in a voice often raspy and gritty, yet passionate and powerful. It doesn’t much matter how big, or how noisy, the audience may be, he’s out to show them a good time, even if they may not always be aware of it. “When you’re playing in a pub, you have to remember the audience is there, primarily, to drink and talk. You go in with the understanding that you’re an accompani- ment to their evening, and so you have to work a little harder to win them over than if you were in a concert hall. I’m absolutely fine with that. You just have to see how the evening’s going, and take it from there. “In the end, I’m doing what I love, which is making music.” Colm O’Brien says of his new CD, “Back to Work?”: “I’d had a lot of songs in me for a while, but there Music wasn’t always his job, at least not a full-time also was a motivating force in terms of what had been happening around us -- the whole economic crisis one; in fact, once upon a time a little more than 15 and what that’s been doing to people, hence the name of the .” Sean Smith photo years ago he was working at a computer company, until a revelation-and-departure scene worthy of a sound and feel of something from the ballad-group era, – has a universal, if somewhat complicated, message songwriter’s touch: “I’d been outside having a smoke, but its focus is quite immediate and topical, explains to it. O’Brien originally wrote the song 25 years ago and when I came back in I saw the rows upon rows of O’Brien: the need for a fairer immigration policy toward with his friend Stephen McGrogan out of sympathy to desks – not even any cubicles – and it all just reminded the Irish. “If you hear the phrase ‘illegal immigrant,’ the plight of women facing very limited choices in the me of battery chickens. I sat down, typed out a letter of chances are that you won’t think of somebody from wake of dire circumstances. resignation, handed it to my boss, and said, ‘I’m going to Ireland. A lot of Americans don’t understand that “You saw stories of young girls giving birth in fields put my guitar on my back and see where it takes me.’” this is a big issue affecting the Irish community; the because of the stigma attached to being single, preg- Since then, O’Brien has performed far and wide, in assumption is, ‘Oh, the Irish, surely they’re all legal.’ nant, and poor. And then, of course, there was the ‘X pubs, coffeehouses and festivals, with bands – includ- But it’s not that simple.” Case’ [in 1992, concerning a 14-year-old Irish girl’s ing a stint as a member of the Irish rock group The Two other O’Brien songs are companion pieces to attempt to have an abortion after being raped and Prodigals – and, for most of the last several years, as a one another, he says: “The Ballad of Little John” is impregnated by a neighbor], which brought world- solo act. He has just released his second solo CD, “Back about the pain a family man suffers over losing his wide attention. The song really has to do with how to Work?” O’Brien was assisted on the album by Mark job because of the financial crisis, while “Big Banker we treat each other, and reaching out to those who Freedman, who, in addition to serving as producer and Man” touches on the all-too-common after-effect of the are in need instead of sitting in judgment; this time, engineer, played lead guitar on one track and contrib- downturn, foreclosure of a family home. it’s a girl who’s in trouble, tomorrow it might be you uted backing vocals on five others; other contributions “These songs were a way of registering my anger at or someone you know who’s in trouble. Sadly, things came from Martin Butler (bodhran, backing vocals), the whole economic mess,” says O’Brien. “’Little John’ haven’t changed that much in 25 years, so the song is Sean Connor (fiddle, backing vocals), Leeanne Randall is specifically about being made redundant, and the as valid now as then.” (vocals), and Eliot Jekowosky (flute). shock to the system that causes. Where that song ends, But when it came to finally recording “A Tale of Indif- “It had been so long since the last CD [‘It Is What It basically, is where ‘Big Banker Man’ comes in, and the ference,” O’Brien felt something special was needed. Is,’ released in 2005], I felt it was time for another,” awful situation in which the house you’ve worked so “It’s easy for men to talk about issues facing women, says O’Brien, who also appeared on a 2008 recording hard for now isn’t yours anymore, even though you’ve but to validate the song I really needed to have a fe- as a member of the now-defunct band Rud Eile, whose done all the right things. It’s just incredible the way male voice, one that could capture the despairing and members included Connor and Butler. “I’d had a lot of so many families and hard-working people have been atmospheric tone of the song. When I described what songs in me for a while, but there also was a motivat- treated – unfortunately, the mindset we seem to have I was looking for, Mark thought of Leeanne, and she ing force in terms of what had been happening around is ‘profits before people.’ “ absolutely fit the bill.” us – the whole economic crisis and what that’s been The sedate but haunting “A Tale of Indifference” O’Brien is glad to have “Deep In Canadian Woods” doing to people, hence the name of the album. – with O’Brien and Leeanne Randall sharing vocals on the album, since it carries a personal/familial “The biggest criteria for me was that it had to have significance: The song, which describes the attempt a ‘live’ sound. I don’t really like recording, and I’m in 1866 by Irish Fenians to seize Canada, was his the kind of guy who, if I haven’t got it in three takes, grandfather’s favorite. I probably won’t get it. But I was very fortunate to “During the recording, I read that a memorial to have Mark, who knows his stuff inside-out and how the events described in the song had been unveiled to make you sound like you want to sound. He ‘got it,’ in Niagara,” he adds. “Canadians apparently look on and all the accompanists on the album ‘got it’ as well, that incident as a kind of precursor to their eventual so I really tip my hat to all of them.” independence, so there’s definitely a bit of serendipity “Back to Work?” is essentially a Colm O’Brien show at work there.” from a studio rather than a stage: classic pub favorites, While music has a big place in O’Brien’s heart, these traditional songs, original/contemporary compositions. days something else shares the space: his wife, Mary, The songs are sometimes humorous (“Quare Bungle and eight-year-old son, Cormac. As in most any career Rye”), often boisterous (“The Hot Asphalt,” “Paddy or occupation, balancing family and work demands a lot Lie Back”), while others relate to Irish history (“Deep of attention, communication, and patience, and O’Brien In Canadian Woods,” “Dublin 1913,” “The Wind That is fulsome in his praise of Mary: “We understand what Shakes the Barley”) – but many, especially his own we both have to do, and she is rock-solid behind me. I compositions, are concerned with social and economic wouldn’t be at the point where I am without the sup- justice on both a collective and individual scale. port she and Cormac give me.” O’Brien came from a family that had strong roots With Cormac getting older, O’Brien is feeling encour- in the music tradition – his father a piper, his mother aged to consider touring a bit more, and a bit farther, a singer – but found numerous influences across the than in the past several years, when he tailored his spectrum, from “Motorhead to Mozart,” as he puts it. commitments so as to spend as much time as possible Still, his song “What Would You Do, Dear?” – the fourth with the boy. It’s exciting to contemplate, but O’Brien track on “Back to Work?” – was inspired by a recording knows he can’t dream too far ahead, certainly not with a of legendary traditional singer Joe Heaney, and the pub audience in front of him waiting to be entertained. connection to old songs like, for example, “Cunla,” is When O’Brien tunes up his guitar, adjusts his micro- apparent. The verses all follow a similar repetitive phone and prepares to start his set, Four Green Fields structure even as they push the narrative along. is sparsely populated and relatively quiet, awaiting the “It was all about simplicity – I think I wrote it in dinner hour crowd and the post-dinner arrivals after 15 minutes. The melody came into my head, and then them. A cluster of customers in business suits on the the words followed,” says O’Brien. He envisioned the other side of the room provides an ambient buzz of song as “a young working-class fella trying to attract a conversation, but O’Brien is unperturbed as he wel- high-class girl, and telling her what lengths he would comes the handful of people looking on – “There’ll be go to to be her lover” – a timeless story, simultaneously no mention of soccer here tonight,” he quips – and then modern and ancient. Colm O’Brien singing at the Four Green Fields: “In launches into “The Good Ship Kangaroo.” The evening By contrast, “Illegal in America,” with its jaunty the end, I’m doing what I love, which is making is just under way, and he has plenty of songs to sing. 6/8 rhythm and made-for-singalong chorus, has the music.” Seam Smith photo Page 14 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com to alert your fellow musicians that you’re about to A frequent concern in Irish music communities is go into a different tune) is a sterling introduction to nourishing and cultivating the 20-something “bridge CD Roundup a young musician who clearly has a lot of respect for generation” and thereby ensuring a healthy mix of the tradition in which he’s been schooled – and even generations in passing along the tradition. Wouldn’t better, enjoys it immensely. What particularly recom- seem to be a problem here in the northeastern US, By Sean Smith mends “Hup!” is that Foley doesn’t hurry you along to what with Boston’s The Ivy Leaf as well as Foley and the end, although there’s no reason to doubt that he another New Yorker, accordionist Dan Gurney. “Hup!” Dylan Foley, “Hup!” – Twenty-year-old fiddler could. His playing comes across as relaxed and loose, sounds like someone who’s intent on playing this stuff Dylan Foley comes from the wellspring of Irish tradi- especially on jigs, better enabling you to savor a tune’s for a long, long time. tional music that lies just north of New York City, home characteristics and intricacies (as opposed to prompting to the likes of Brian Conway, Rose Conway Flanagan, you to think, “Wow, listen to how fast he plays that!”). The Fretless, “Waterbound” – and the members of the young all-female band Girsa, to The 14 tracks presented by Foley, with the able Berklee College of Music grad and occasional Boston name a few. A three-time All-Ireland champion, Foley assistance of pianist Brendan Dolan and guitarist/bou- resident Ivonne Hernandez has been one of the more has been a student with the aforementioned Conway zouki player Joshua Dukes, also display his knack for active practitioners of “chambergrass,” which combines and Flanagan, and been influenced as well by other New crafting sets – marrying tunes that follow one another Celtic, old-timey and other folk/traditional styles with York area denizens such as Joanie Madden and Mon- well, and taken together, provide contrasts in mood and chamber s i g n o r tone or build to a satisfying climax. The third track, music in- C h a r l e s for instance, is a set that is a fascinating feast of strumen- Coen. modes and key signatures: Beginning with Daruch de tation and H i s Brun’s E-dorian “Maple Leaf,” it winds through the d y n a m - d e b u t G-mixolydian tension of “Tommy Coen’s” and then ics. After a l b u m , finishes up with the exultant D-major “Crosses of An- h a v i n g “ H u p ! ” nagh” (sometimes known as “Bobby Casey’s”) – Dolan’s co-found- ( w h i c h , piano chords the last time through are exquisite. e d t h e for those Other standouts include a mellow rendering of the Folk Arts less expe- O’Carolan tune “Charles O’Connor,” plus a couple of Q u a r t e t r i e n c e d hornpipes, “The Kilrush ” (that’s what it says, but (now sad- in Irish no, it’s not a polka), which sounds French-Canadian in ly defunct) sessions, spots, and the more familiar “Cronin’s,” Dukes lending with other is a code some gentle touches on guitar. Foley goes into E-flat Berklee- word fre- for two reels, “The Watchmaker/Primrose Lass,” and, ites several years ago, fiddler/violinist/violist Her- q u e n t l y in a slip set, pairs the sinuous “Cathal McConnell’s” nandez – who also plays occasionally with another employed and an elegant “Come Under My Dimity.” impressive, more straightforward Celtic band, The Outside Track – is back with a new ensemble, which has refined chambergrass to what they call “rad trad.” But whatever name their music goes by, The Fretless, which also includes Karrnel Sawitsky (violin, viola) and two more of Hernandez’s Berklee acquaintances, Trent Freeman (violin, viola, foot percussion) and cel- list Eric Wright, is masterful at playing it. More to the point, they adeptly toe that fine line between musical genres, capturing the precision, tone, and virtuosity of chamber while bringing forth the simple emotive qualities and spontaneity associated with folk and trad. “Waterbound” is full of swooping, darting melody lines, ambitious harmonies and counterpoint, and chugging, even funky rhythms, usually courtesy of Wright. The source material covers a commendably wide, diverse territory: On the first track, for instance, The Fretless have a go at the Liz Carroll jig “Box Man,” peppering it with both sweetness and slyness, before letting fly with the late Cape Breton master fiddler Jerry Holland’s “Iggy and Squiggy”; another imagina- tive pairing has the band careening through the barely contained frenzy of “Pressed for Time” (one of many great compositions by the late Scottish piper Gordon Duncan), then abruptly shifting down and gradually rebuilding tempo for the traditional Irish reel “Bunch of Keys”; the final track, distinctively French-Canadian, begins with a pairing of and Freeman’s Quebe- cois foot percussion – buttressed by an appropriately ominous cello drone – on the traditional tune, “Growl- ing Old Man and Woman,” segues into the Sawitsky original “Growling Cousin,” and ends with Calvin Vollrath’s “Teepee Creeping,” which is punctuated by a riff encompassing a rapid-fire succession of harmonic notes from each player. Guest vocalists Ruth Moody of The Wailing Jennys and Ruth Rendell from The Outside Track further enliven the proceedings on the CD’s two songs. Moody lends a suitably high, lonesome sound to the bleak landscape of Dirk Powell’s “Waterbound,” while Ren- dell and the band turn “Harder to Walk These Days Than Run” – Scottish songwriter Karine Polwart at her characteristic dark cloud/silver lining best – into a jig-by-the-graveyard romp. Listening to the CD answers categorically any ques- tion as to whether The Fretless is a chamber music group trespassing in the folk/trad world – they are, in fact, a collection of talented, creative musicians whose exposure to classical/chamber has enhanced rather than diluted their folk and trad essence. Actually, listening to “Waterbound,” you’re liable to be enjoying yourself so much the question won’t occur to you at all.

“Serving Greater Boston since 1971” 1060 N. MaiN St., RaNdolph, Ma 02368 phone: 781-963-3660 fax: 781-986-8004 www.miltonmonuments.com email: [email protected] Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 15

Applications deadline almost here: Just a few Cara Frankowicz and Patrick Hutchinson, and the days left before performer applications for BCMFest Hanafin-Cooley Ceili Band, all were in top form, and 2013 are due. If you have an idea for an act for the the audience was supportive and engaged, to say the festival, which takes place January 11-12, 2013, please least. What’s more, the event raised $650 in support go to bcmfest.com/performers.html, download an ap- of the school. plication, fill it out and send it in as soon as possible. This month’s event at Club Passim, on July 9 at 7 Celtic Music Monday/BCMFest Session sched- p.m., will be the BCMFest Session. It’s free of charge, ule: Thanks to all who turned out at Club Passim for and open to all. Bring an instrument, share a song or the June 11 Celtic Music Monday concert featuring story, even get up and give us a dance. For directions A column of news and updates of the Boston Celtic faculty and friends of Boston’s Comhaltas Ceoltoírí or other information, go to passim.org. Music Fest (BCMFest), which celebrates the Boston Éireann Hanafin-Cooley School of Traditional Irish The August 13 BCMFest Celtic Music Monday will area’s rich heritage of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton mu- Music. The performers, who included Tommy Sheridan, be a “Singers Showcase,” with songs from across the sic and dance with a grassroots, musician-run winter Tina Lech and Ted Davis, Bridget Fitzgerald, Flynn Celtic spectrum. More details to come in next month’s music festival and other events during the year. Cohen and Matt Heaton, Josie and John Coyne, Matt update. – Sean Smith and Shannon Heaton, Joey and Danny Noveck, Fleadh means satisfaction, friendships, connections (Continued from page 12) students form ‘posses’ that gather and play tunes, and showing more and more curiosity and interest about the music. And now, more of them are taking the op- portunity to deepen their involvement and challenge themselves by competing in the fleadh. There’s more work to do, but it’s very promising to see this happen.” Coyne doesn’t need to look very far to see a moti- vated young Irish musician. Josie, who turns 13 next month, began playing at age 8 and has become almost as much a session regular as Lisa and her husband John, who plays bouzouki; she’s even had a reel named for her, by Aromin (his entry in the Newly Composed Tune competition). In conversation, she’ll extol the virtues of fiddler Willie Kelly, concertina player Mary MacNamara, and the Clare traditional music style. This year was Josie’s third fleadh, and for the Duos event she chose to play with her aunt, Mariel Wamsley. Going into the competition, Josie says she and Mariel “were pretty confident” and felt their performances – of a set dance and a reel – went well, except for a couple of little miscues here and there. When they found out they had placed second, thereby punching their ticket to the All-Ireland Fleadh, “We were so happy, we were screaming and crying.” Josie (whose earnings from gigs and baby-sitting jobs will fund her trip to Cavan) believes that participating in fleadhs has aided her musical development: It has helped her not to be nervous about playing in public, and to get focused on “practicing really hard.” She’s also grateful for all the support she’s gotten from friends – like fellow fiddler Sean Clohessy, who coached her – and family, especially her mother. Lisa, she notes, made “a big sacrifice” by driving her down and back several times to where Mariel lives in the New York City area so they could get in some live practice. Her mother also gave her some good advice about playing at the fleadh, Josie adds. It wasn’t anything technical, only basic words of wisdom: “She said, ‘Play from the heart and just love the tune.’ “ A mother-daughter dynamic also figured in the suc- The Boston Comhaltas School’s Hanafin-Cooley Ceili Band, under the direction of Danny Noveck (first cess story of the Boston Comhaltas School’s Hanafin- row, second from left), at a recent concert. The band placed second in the Mid Atlantic Fleadh. Cooley Ceili Band and their second-place finish in the Sean Smith photo Mid Atlantic Fleadh. Donegal native Sophie Kirby had been playing fiddle for several years, and took part in being a 16-year-old “city girl” ceili band drummer. would help her, then there was no question of lending in the school’s non-competitive ceili class for a few “I love doing what I am doing,” she says, “and I will it to her. semesters before switching to the competition class always carry on the tradition.” “Really, what are we all there for? It’s to play music directed by Danny Noveck. Two other young musicians from the Greater Boston/ and enjoy ourselves.” Joining Sophie in the class was her daughter Roisin, Eastern Massachusetts area had satisfying experiences now 16, who had started off playing fiddle at age 12 at their first fleadh: Natalya Kay Trudeau won second but two years later decided to take up drums and then place in Fiddle (15 to 18-year-old) as did Fiona Henry bodhran. “At the beginning I just wanted to pick up in Concertina (12 to 15). Celtic Day Care an instrument and learn some music,” she says. “After “It was lovely hearing other musicians at the fleadh. playing the fiddle for a while, I thought it wasn’t for There is so much young talent out there,” says Trudeau, me and I was never really that good at it. I felt like I who after having savored the achievement (“I didn’t would be better with the beat than the melody. With think this would happen until I was 25”) is now con- the drums, I thought I would learn more by working centrating on the All-Ireland Fleadh. “And preparing and playing with other musicians. I hoped that while musically for this level of competition is so beneficial playing with others I could create more sounds and in becoming a stronger musician.” make a noise that was my own.” 106 Houghton Street Henry, who has chosen not to go to the All-Ireland Dorchester, Neponset Sophie, for her part, was pleasantly surprised by this time, agrees with Trudeau: “Practicing those two Roisin’s willingness to be in the same class with her, tunes over and over again made me focus on some of 617-449-8391 even though Roisin was by far the youngest member. the finer aspects I normally wouldn’t think about, and [email protected] “I was willing to leave if it made her uncomfortable. I now I can apply what I have learned to other tunes. “ played it by ear for a few weeks and tried not to ‘mammy’ Also qualifying for, but electing not to compete in, her. She was so involved in her own progression, she the All-Ireland Fleadh was Boston’s Lindsay Straw, hardly noticed me. The others all took a shine to her who took second in Over-18 Ladies Singing. Adam Cole- and I left it at that.” Mullen, a Greater Boston native now attending college In any event, Sophie and Roisin were caught up in the in New York, won the Over-18 Whistling competition Burials in ceili band’s efforts to become fleadh-capable. Compet- and came in second in Over-18 Slow Airs (Fiddle). Massachusetts ing by yourself is one thing; being part of a ceili band As the participants are quick to point out, the fleadh – where tight playing, starts, stops, and transitions also is a time to renew and reaffirm friendships, some- or Ireland are a priority – is another. They both credit Noveck times in unexpected ways. Lisa Coyne, for example, for recognizing and integrating the different learning was set to compete in the Seniors Trio; a trophy named styles among the band members, and nudging them after the late Mike Rafferty — a major influence for along at just the right pace to the goal of competing at Coyne and many other Irish musicians — had been the Mid Atlantic. “We talked about it more as a joke so established for the winners in that category. it didn’t look so scary to us mediocre musicians,” quips Gormley Then she got a last-minute call from a member of Roisin. “We are a pretty modest group.” the other trio, asking Coyne if she would lend her C- Sophie enjoyed this special bond with Roisin, where flute to their flute player, Siobhan Kelly, for the tune Funeral Home car rides to and from class became an opportunity to they wanted to play. She didn’t hesitate to lend the talk about the band’s progress as well as their own instrument to Kelly. individual development. Roisin, for her part, saw the “I wanted her to do it,” says Coyne. “Siobhan was a 617-323-8600 ceili band experience as more of an extension of the little hesitant about the whole thing, but I just said, music they shared in their family life. Although a lot ‘Siobhan, do it for Mike.’” of their conversation, according to Roisin, centered In the end, Kelly and her trio came out ahead of around “me complaining about my ornamentation,” Coyne’s. The fleadh secretary, Terry Rafferty — Mike they also would talk about how fun it would be “to Rafferty’s widow — was so moved by the event, she have more gigs and cool places to play.” had tears in her eyes when she recounted it later that 2055 Centre Street If Sophie had hopes her daughter would grow to weekend. West Roxbury, MA love playing music as much as she did, then mission “It was the right thing to do,” says Coyne. “I wasn’t accomplished: Roisin talks of “the joy I get from playing trying to be heroic or anything. I just wanted Siobhan or the feeling of me playing with someone else and we to be able to do her best — and if borrowing my flute www.Gormleyfuneral.com get into a groove.” She also clearly relishes the rarity Page 16 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Kathy St. George as Judy Garland (Continued from page 12) Boy Next Door,” “Be A Clown” . . . How she fell in love doing “The Wizard of Oz” and Judy songs. And since with Vincent Minnelli. She did have five husbands then I’ve always done Judy songs in my cabaret show. altogether. How she was always searching for the Q. And then came “Ruthless.” right man – but he always got away. A. That was such a joy. [Director] Larry Cohen said Q. And the second act? that at the end of Act One my character goes from a A. I come out with my seven-piece band (for a concert) meek and mild hausfrau into a diva. So one night, . . . the great thing is we have the entire band back. in rehearsal, just to make him laugh, I started doing Every musician came back from three years ago. They my Judy impersonation. And he loved it. He loved all wanted to do it again. it so much he said, “Let’s keep it, let’s keep it!” But Q. Is there one moment that you really connect with I was doing her way over the top, and slightly drunk personally? and slightly slurring her words. A. “It Never Was You” from her movie “I Could Go Q. And then there was “Ladies & Gentlemen...” On Singing.” It’s the longing. I can identify with that which used Garland’s own words for the off-stage so deeply. The longing that she had for someone – for section and then moved into a concert. the right person. And to be always searching and A. [Producer] Deb Poppel said to me, “You always never finding. The other day, I started crying as I talk about doing a Judy show. Why don’t we write one started singing the song because I found that person. together. I’ll help you and I’ll produce it. And I said In my husband. great. And then she said that Tony McLean was a Q. Judy Garland was one of those rare artists, who, huge Judy fan and was interested in coming on board. like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, remain true Q. But your own creation, “Dear Miss Garland,” has icons. She was really one-of-a-kind, wasn’t she? A. She came alive on stage. The way she just provoked a very different tone. Kathy St. George lights up the stage with A. [In 2009], Weylin Symes [Producing Artistic this frenzy! When you watch the clips it’s extraordinary “Get Happy” in “Dear Miss Garland,” her one- . . . She poured her heart out on stage. She let it out Director at Stoneham Theater] said he’d love me to woman tribute to Judy Garland, at Stoneham bring a Judy show to Stoneham, but I didn’t want to Theatre through July 22. and you just embraced her more for that. The more do the same one. I wanted to make it a little more pain, the more love, the more joy. She was phenomenal. audience-friendly and a little more musical and a my first audition [at Salem State College], and then R. J. Donovan is publisher of OnStageBoston.com. little more upbeat for the first act . . . And we added Judy’s first audition [at MGM]. We’ve added a song, ------a seven-piece band. It did so well that Weylin asked “How About You,” so I do a duet with Jim encapsulat- “Dear Miss Garland,” through July 22 at Stoneham me to bring it back this summer. ing a Mickey & Judy Moment. The first act I’d say is Theatre, 395 Main Street, Stoneham. Tickets: 781-279- Q. What kind of research did you do? more about her movies . . . “The Trolley Song,” “The 2200; stonehamtheatre.org. A. It was exhausting. Watching all the movies. Reading everything I could get my hands on. Of course, I watched Judy clips over and over on YouTube to get the right feel. Boston Irish Reporter Book Briefs Q. People tend to remember the hardships in her Reviews of books recently published in Ireland life, but she had a very sharp sense of humor. A. In the show, I have a quote from when she per- On Canaan’s Side stories sing in the unfor- to deal with a cast of senior are breathing down their formed on Boston Common. [In Judy’s voice] -- There By Sebastian Barry gettable voice of an Irish civil servants and politi- necks, and their mar- were an awful lot of bugs involved with that outdoor Narrated by Lilly Bere, master who inspired, and cians whose bubble has yet riage is far from perfect, concert, and a bug flew into my mouth. If you’re singing On Canaan’s Side opens as will continue to inspire, to burst. Chief among them Anita had believed she “Get Happy,” you can go [spit] but not during “Over she mourns the loss of her generations of readers is Dermot Mulhearn, head and Frank would pull The Rainbow.” So I tucked him in my cheek with my grandson, Bill. The story and writers alike. These honcho at the Department through. After all, they tongue. He fluttered about for a chorus and a half. I then goes back to the mo- stories have a great deal of Finance. He presided came from nothing. That had the finest vibrato ever that night! ment she was forced to flee taken from Ben’s own over the boom and he’s in was until she heard news Q. What can audiences expect when they come to Dublin, at the end of the experiences both abroad no humor to give up his that shook both her mar- see “Dear Miss Garland” in Stoneham? First World War, and fol- and at home in Ireland. perks now that the Celtic riage, and the family she A. The first act is just me and Jim Rice on piano. lows her life through into Kiely captures various Tiger is dead and buried. thought happy and secure, It’s more about me being a fan. How it started for me. the new world of America, moments in Irish and Whether it’s dining out in to its foundations. As she We open with “Born in a Trunk” . . . I personalize it. a world filled with both American culture, many Michelin-star restaurants faces meltdown, Anita is I didn’t grow up in show business but I talk about hope and danger. At once heavily influenced by his or taking the government haunted. Why did she walk epic and intimate, Lilly’s time as a lecturer in Geor- jet to Rome for Bunga away from her one chance AUTO BODY REPAIRS (617) 825-1760 narrative unfurls as she gia, writer-in-residence in Bunga parties, Dermot to prove herself on her own (617) 825-2594 tries to make sense of the Virginia, and as a reporter still feels he deserves a terms? What happened to FAX (617) 825-7937 sorrows and troubles of her for . treat or ten. And he just got the love that was once so life and of the people whose another 85 billion euro to overwhelming? And how lives she has touched. The Eighty-Five play with. Everyone seems did she let herself get lost Spanning nearly seven Billion Euro Man to know that we are where in an empty, high-rolling decades, it is a novel of By Donal Conaty we are, but nobody has any lifestyle? Anita has to memory, war, family-ties The Eighty-five Billion idea how we got here. Will find herself again … but Free Pick-Up & Delivery Service and love, which once again Euro Man is here to save Taoiseach Enda stand up how do you do that when displays Sebastian Barry’s Ireland from the Irish! Can to Europe and demand a you’re just someone else’s 150 Centre Street exquisite prose and gift for he sort out our finances better bailout? Can Paddy, better half. Dorchester, MA 02124 storytelling. before it’s too late, or is Enda’s imaginary friend, his mission doomed before save the day before Enda The Empty Family: Selected Stories it even begins? When Ajai realizes he doesn’t exist? Stories by Colm Toibin of Benedict Kiely Chopra and his gang of Benedict Kiely’s Selected grey suits from the IMF The Better Half In the captivating stories DILLON PAINTING Stories gather together roll into town, questions By Sarah Harte that make up The Empty Interior & Exterior some of the best examples are asked at the Depart- Anita is a wife on the Family, Colm Tóibín de- Exterior Lifetime Guarantee of the work of this true ment of Finance. Why does edge. Thanks to her hus- lineates with a tender and and gifted man of letters. everyone do their sums in band Frank’s success in unique sensibility lives of FREE ESTIMATES Edited by Ben Forkner, their heads? Why is Mystic business she has lived a unspoken or unconscious Power Washing/Deck Staining Selected Stories has a Meg listed on the payroll lavish lifestyle at the heart longing, of individuals, cover quote from IMPAC as a consultant? And why of the city’s elite. However, often willingly, cast adrift Light Carpentry winner Colum McCann. does the country appear to now that the economy is in from their history. From From ‘Soldier, Red Soldier’ be down to its last fiver? freefall, it seems the days the young Pakistani im- 617-459-7093 and ‘A Ball of Malt and One unfortunate bean of boozy lunches with ‘the migrant who seeks some Madame Butterfly’ to ‘A counter is left behind to girls,’ glittering charity kind of permanence in www.dillonpainting.com Letter to Peachtree,’ these clean up the mess. As the balls, and competitive de- a strange town to the country edges ever closer signer shopping are over. Irish woman reluctantly to bankruptcy, he is forced Still, though the banks returning to Dublin and discovering a city that PUZZLE SOLUTION FROM PAGE 19 refuses to acknowledge her long absence, each of Tóibín’s stories manages to contain whole worlds: EIRE stories of fleeing the past and returning home, of family threads lost and ultimately regained. pub The Dream of a Beast By Neil Jordan This Neil Jordan novella 795 Adams St. • Dorchester won him acclaim from readers and reviewers alike. It is now reissued in paperback, ensuring “President’s Choice” that Jordan’s fiction is available in print. Fans of Jordan’s latest novel, Shade, will be inspired to Serving Lunch & Dinner seek out his early novels as a result. Full of extraordi- nary images, this reissued Every day, novella lingers in the mind 7 days a week long after its end. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 17 John Costello: quiet, resolute Irishman By Stephen M. Pingel Feb. 28, 1934 he took to the floor during a Dail debate and opposed the bill in answering a minister who had Following is the fifth in a series of retrospective articles asserted that he so-called Irish “Blueshirts” were of a on individuals who made notable contributions to civic piece with the fascists “Brownshirts” in Germany and life in Ireland during the 20th century. the “Blackshirts of Mussolini in Italy while noting that Because of an editing error, Mr. Pingel’s byline was other European nations had taken action against their missing from his article in June on Eamon de Valera. posturings in uniform. Said Costello: “The Minister gave extracts from vari- John A. Costello ous laws on the Continent, but he carefully refrained 1891-1976 from drawing attention to the fact that the Blackshirts were victorious in Italy and that the Hitler Shirts In Ireland, the middle years of the 20th century – from were victorious in Germany, as, assuredly, in spite of the late 1940s to the early 1960s – comprised a sort of this bill...the Blueshirts will be victorious in the Irish “down time” for the newly constituted Irish Republic Free State.” after decades of stormy political strife, depression, Costello apparently was making a point about the and wars. There was a singular event in 1949: the constitutionality of the bill in question, but these re- formal establishment of the Republic of Ireland, a final marks, seen by many as a defense of fascism rights, transition that removed the last traces of the island’s have remained associated with his name, given what volatile, long-term relationship with the British Com- happened in Europe in the decade following. monwealth; but otherwise things had quieted down. Other issues came to the fore for Costello and Fine Still, there was work to be done, and a country to be Gael. He complained about Powers Act run, and one of the men (it was always “men” during of 1939, particularly about the government’s overreach- this time) who stepped into the limelight and shared it ing of power, an echo of his earlier stance regarding from time to time with the legendary Eamon de Valera the far right’s place in Ireland. was John A. Costello. But it was in the 1948 election that Costello rose to Born on June 20, 1891, Costello receive his entire true national prominence as Fine Gael swept to vic- early education in Dublin, first from the St. Joseph’s tory and he was named taoiseach, or prime minister, Christian Brothers School, then at the O’Connell School. a nomination he wasn’t all that happy about; at one After completing his primary years, he enrolled at point, he said he would refuse to take the position. University College Dublin from which he graduated Seen by most Irish citizens as almost an innocent and moderate figure, despite his long life in public af- with degrees in law and languages. With law classes John Costello two times a prime minister. behind him, he was admitted to the bar in 1914. fairs from the time of the civil war, Costello looked to For the rest of his life, Costello made good use of his be a model taoiseach. Presiding over difficult votes, a failing economy, and early education in the law – in public affairs, in politics, It didn’t take long for him to make a bit of history the start of new cross- border issues with IRA activity and in private practice as a successful attorney. with the formal institution of the republic the next year in Northern Ireland, by 1957, Costello was on the way The year 1922 was an important one for John Costello: and to find himself enmeshed in another controversy. out as Fianna Fail was in the midst of a comeback. He joined the staff of the ’s attorney In 1951, the health minister was pushing for the In retirement, Costello returned to the bar as a general, and took but three years to become attorney Mother and Child Scheme, a socialization of medicine barrister, arguably his true joy in life and career, and general himself, a remarkable accom-plishment for a that would offer pregnant mothers and new mothers served as TD for Dublin-South until 1969 after which 34-year-old barrister at a time of great internal turmoil. free medical care and help. However, given that part he continued to practice law until 1975. Shortly after However, his success in the attorney general’s office of the proposal involved birth control, the Catholic his retirement from the bar in 1975, he passed away was short lived; with the elections of 1932 he was out Church and associations of doctors weighed in against in January 1976 at the age of 84. of office, and the Fianna Fail party was in. But Costello the idea. Facing this outcry, Costello made it clear that As to John Costello’s legacy, he was honored with a was hardly out of the picture; a year later he was elected he would not support the proposal, either, which ended stamp, and his name remains in Ireland’s institutional to Dáil Éireann (the Free State’s parliamentary body) the debate for the time being. memory bank as a man who served his country well as a member of Cumann na nGaedheal, later the Fine Ousted as taoiseach in late 1951, and succeeded by and in his own way by doing what he truly loved. Gael party. de Valera, Costello, following a frequent trend in Irish Stephen M. Pingel is a student at the University Not one to keep quiet about issues, Costello soon found politics, returned to the office in 1954, succeeding de of Massachusetts at Lowell, specializing in the socio- himself in the middle of a controversy over uniforms, Valera. During this turn as taoiseach, Costello found economic history of modern conflict areas as well as in particular a bill that would outlaw the wearing of himself leading a nation that was dealing with a poor 20th-century Irish history. He can be reached via e-mail them in public that was aimed at a rightist paramili- economy and a stagnant society that many saw as “the at [email protected]. tary group said to be associated with Fine Gael. On sick man’ of Europe.

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www.themu 00 • siccir 5-30 cus -74 .or 00 130 Sohier Street g 1-8 Off Route 3A • Cohasset groups: 781-383-9860 Page 18 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Traveling People Donegal in springtime: A traveler’s paradise

Bruckless House, an 18th century Classical house in Bruckless, Co. Donegal, is a wonderful place to enjoy Joan Evans’ warm hospitality and her beautiful Killybegs Harbour in Co. Donegal is Ireland’s leading port and a fun gardens that are included on the Donegal Garden Trail. Judy Enright photos place to walk around. By Judy Enright spring, a friend and I en- Joan at bruc@bruckless. Irish experience? How French Provincial, Indian, 7 on Achill Island in Co. Special to the BIR joyed several nights of bed com. about signing up for the and Middle Eastern influ- Mayo. The race is the cen- A trip to Donegal this and breakfast at beautiful SEAFOOD AND 4th International Percy ences into their meals. terpiece of a full weekend spring reminds me about Bruckless House, a classic CRAFTS French Summer School Buffets are also avail- of events and entertain- how lovely and lively that 18th century Georgian As an island, Ireland from July 10-13 at Cas- able on some nights as ment on the island. See county really is. Sadly, not house surrounded by gar- excels in having the fresh- tlecoote House in Co. are demonstration/dinner achillmarathon.com many Americans travel dens that are included in est of seafood offerings. Roscommon. French was combinations. • West Cork Festival so far north and that’s the 26 stops on the 2012 We particularly watch for one of Ireland’s foremost For more information, Literary Festival, July a great pity. Donegal is Donegal Garden Tour recommendations from songwriters and enter- visit their website at the- 8-14, is an extensive pro- visually stunning and of- (donegalgardentrail.com.) the Irish Sea Fisheries tainers in his day (1854- poshnoshclub.com or send gram of five-day work- fers so much to satisfy the Bruckless owner Joan Board, which has created 1920) and, in more recent an e-mail to theposhnosh- shops, led by writers, interests of any traveler, Evans is welcoming and so the BIM (Bord Iascaigh times, has been recognized [email protected] playwrights and journal- young or old. knowledgeable about local Mhara) Seafood Circle for his watercolors. VOLVO OCEAN RACE ists. Workshops include sights and great places (seafoodcircle.ie.) The BIM The school features Lucky you if you‘ll be novel writing, writing to eat – and her Corgis Circle recommends res- a program of lectures, in Galway at the begin- for the stage, freelance are funny little guys who taurants, supermarkets, recitals, poems, mono- ning of July for the finale journalism, crime writing, welcomed us, too. bars, specialists (like the logues, music, drama and of the Volvo Ocean Race song writing and more. We were heading out to Burren Smokehouse in paintings celebrating the and if you like music and, There will be seminars, visit lively Killybegs Har- Clare and Clarke’s Sea- life and times of French. of course, massive crowds! panel discussions, talks bor, so Joan recommended food stores in Ballina and Speakers will discuss Irish rockers Thin Lizzy and readings. Visit west- Kitty Kelly’s, a traditional Westport, both in Mayo.) the historical, cultural, so- and the American legend corkliteraryfestival.ie for farmhouse restaurant on While in Donegal, we cial, and political context The Family Stone are more. the Kilcar Road, and she always checked to make of his life and works. among the acts confirmed • Do you like opera, jazz, also recommended mak- sure a restaurant was a Visit percyfrench.ie for to headline eight nights of folk music, theatre, dance, ing a dinner reservation. BIM member and found more information on this free live music at the dock- drums? If so, the Carrick- If you are in that area Nancy’s on Front Street in year’s summer school or lands. The outdoor shows, on-Shannon Water Music and want to experience Ardara where we enjoyed send an e-mail to info@ from June 30 to July 7, Festival, July 3-8, in the splendid fare at Kitty an excellent seafood lunch. percyfrench.ie. also feature The Saw Doc- Carrick town center, Co. Kelly’s, be sure you also After eating, you prob- ADVERSITY tors, The Stunning, and Leitrim, has all those and make a reservation as the ably need to do some Don’t ever think that ad- Sharon Shannon. A large more. All events are in Beautiful blue poppies restaurant was packed shopping. If so, be sure versity is completely bad. stage was erected at the the town center with ven- are just one of many spe- when we arrived. to visit the Donegal Craft When Dave Pritchett’s site formerly occupied by ues including The Dock cies in the extensive and I had a delicious poached Village in Lurganboy (on furniture design business oil tanks near the docks, Arts Center, the Market beautifully maintained filet of the freshest salmon the Ballyshannon Road) dropped off in the faltering which were removed for Yard Center, the Festival gardens at Bruckless and my friend enjoyed just outside Donegal Town Irish economy, he and his the ocean race stopover Marquee and St. George’s House in Co. Donegal, black sole, served on the for unique and well-made wife Sue created a dining three years ago. Church. Visit carrickon- which is included on the bone. The restaurant is crafts. I was delighted to experience in their home, The Family Stone (with- shannonwatermusic.com Donegal Garden Trail. open daily from noon to find the McGonigle Glass Durhamstown Castle in out Sly) headline the main for details. Judy Enright photo 5 p.m. for bistro lunch studio there because I Bohermeen, Co. Meath. stage on Sun., July 1, with • Clonmel Junction and 5 to 9 p.m. for a la have long been a great fan Dave had workshops in a string of hits going back Festival, Clonmel, Co. Tip- Whatever your inter- carte dinner. There is a of the McGonigle sisters’ the yard and a showroom over four decades. Thin perary, is from July 6-15. est, Donegal surely has free shuttle service, too, wonderful glass jewelry, in the house, so windows, Lizzy, still touring exten- The festival includes inter- it. There are adventure because Ireland has a no- which I have bought over doors, chairs, and tables sively 26 years after the national theatre, emerg- sports, water sports, many nonsense attitude toward the years at O’Reilly & were all made to fit into death of star frontman ing theatre, children’s golf courses, horseback driving after drinking. Turpin gift shop in West- the spaces. When Irish Phil Lynott, will bring theatre, family enter- trekking tours, magnifi- Visit kittykellys.com for port. For more information property values collapsed, hard rock to the main stage tainment, circus, dance, cent gardens, hiking and more information. about the glass makers, the Pritchetts were in on July 2. The Saw Doctors rock, comedy and lots of biking opportunities, ar- Another night, we en- send an e-mail to Lyndsey London and talked about rock the main stage on free entertainment. Visit chaeological walks, na- joyed dinner, and the view, at lyndseymcgonigle@ starting a so-called “Pop Tues., July 3. www.junctionfestival.com tional parks, wonderful at Castle Murray House yahoo.co.uk. Up Restaurant.” They On July 4, a fireworks for more. crafts and dining venues (castlemurray.com) in Niall Bruton also has a returned to Meath and cre- show will light up the • The Ballina Salmon – in short, just about Dunkineely, which is near shop there where he sells ated the Posh Nosh Sup- docks to celebrate Ameri- Festival is scheduled for anything you could ever Bruckless. An American beautiful jewelry designs. per Club, a “closed door can Independence Day, Ballina, Co. Mayo, July want. Donegal also boasts diner told us she spent See niallbruton.com for restaurant” that serves and there will be per- 8-15. Visit ballinasalmon- Europe’s highest sea cliffs, one night at Castle Mur- details. And, if you’re dinners for 10-12 diners or formances including the festival.ie for more. Slieve League, which you ray and cancelled future hungry, the Aroma coffee caters private parties and West Coast Big Band, • The Bray Air Spec- can see from offshore reservations elsewhere to shop and mini-bakery in functions in their vaulted Vaudeville Vamps, Gal- tacular will be in Bray, Co. aboard a charter boat. extend her stay she loved the Village offers great castle kitchen or elegant way Swing Dance. Per- Wicklow, on July 22. See BRUCKLESS HOUSE it so much. That was quite made-to-order fare. Visit dining room. forming traditional music brayairdisplay.com I am a great fan of B&Bs a recommendation! donegalcraftvillage.com Delicious and different on Thurs., July 5, will be • The National Live- and have stayed at many For information on for more information. dinners are served every Altan and De Danann. The stock Show in Tullamore, all over Ireland. This Bruckless, visit bruckless. PERCY FRENCH Friday night for 29-euro Stunning performs on Fri., Co. Offaly, is set for August com or send an e-mail to Looking for a unique each. Overnight accom- July 6. 12. See tullamoreshow. modation in funky, fun Doesn’t it sound as com for details. bedrooms is also available though Galway is the place • Kinsale Arts Week is for 55-euro per person. to be in early July? scheduled from July 7-15 Phillips Candy House Has the concept caught EVENTS in Kinsale, Co. Cork. See fine chocolates since 1925 on? Indeed it has. The Ireland is bursting with more at kinsaleartsweek. Club has recently been events and activities in com averaging 16 to 25 diners the summer months, in- • The Galway Art Fes- on Friday nights and has cluding: tival is July 16-29, with rarely ever had to cancel • The 24th annual Ear- theatre, dance, visual arts. because there weren’t agail Arts Festival, a See galwayartsfestival. enough attending. bilingual (Irish and Eng- com A vast assortment of lish) multidisciplinary • Galway summer races wines is available and arts festival takes place are July 30 to Aug. 5. See every menu is different every July throughout Co. galwayraces.com and interesting. We had Donegal and this year runs Ireland is fun and in- dinner and spent the night from July 7-22. For details, teresting at every time of at Durhamstown Castle check the internet, visit a year. So enjoy your visit. and I can positively recom- Tourism Ireland office in For more information on mend the experience. Donegal or email: info@ Ireland, visit Tourism Ire- Sue and Dave are out- eaf.ie land’s constantly updated standing cooks who in- • The 7th annual Achill website: discoverireland. corporate Mediterranean, Half Marathon will be July com. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 19 The eltic by Philip Mac AnGhabhann C

Last month we learned that there is no Future Cross Tense of the verb Is as it can have a Future meaning. Is: Present & Future : The Interogative As is common in spoken speech. Words

Is Ní An?/As? Nach? The Irish The use of Is as a Future depends on the context. If you haven’t seen a friend in ten years and she asks crosswords are about your daughter, you can say, Is sí dochtúr í. “She’s a doctor.” a service of an If there is some doubt about her status you might add “now” for clarity – Is sí dochtúr í. “She Ireland-based is a doctor now.” However, if you just sent your daughter off to website which university to study medicine, you might say to a friend who knows that she has several years study provides Irish ahead of her: Is sí dochtúr í. “She will be a doctor.” Family Coats of There are differences in the Past of Is depending on various dialects. The “official Irish” is on the Arms by email. top row. You will hear variants in dialects as the language is simplified in every day speech to match You are invited other “regular” verb forms.. These are listed below “Official Irish” in italics: to visit

Past: “Official” Irish www. Ba Nior Ar? Nair? “Most spoken” bigwood.com/ Ní ba An mba? Nach mba? All form of Is in the Past Habitual lenite (“as- heraldry pirate”) the following Subject Nouns if they begin with a consonant other than l, n, or r. Ba Shorcha banaltra í. ©- “Sarah was (a) nurse.” bigwood.com but Ba Liam dochtúr é. IRELAND IN CROSSWORDS “Liam was (a) doctor.” ACROSS Bay under the mountains. (7) Ba becomes B’ when followed by a vowel sound: 1. Northern leader mixed up with fine sin in organi- 5. Churchman dismantles relic after a century. (6) B’ Árannach é. “He was (an) man from Arann.” sation founded by Arthur Griffith. (4,4) 6. Unruly child returns from the beginning of 19 All other forms add –bh when followed by a vowel: 5. A dresser of hair in small Down linen town with down. (4) NiorbhÁrannach é an old distillery near Newtownards. (5) 7. Ill herds recover in uplands of County Kildare “He is not an Arann man.” 8. “ —— and the Man.” 1898 play by Shaw. (4) north west of Kildare town. (3,5) Arbh Árannach é? 9. Was her entanglement with the ship’s rope? (6) 13. Irish politician in Glenade put you down. (6) “Is he an Arann man?” 10. “A man cannot be — careful in the choice of his 14. Ring 49 for the fuel. (3) Nárbh Árannach é? enemies.” Wilde. (3) 15. Bar ale spilled; it’s fit for tillage. (6) “Isn’t he an Arann man?” 11. Information Technology comes to the small 16. G.A.T.T. hall demolished in large Dublin southern Note that Nair is shortened to Nár when adding church, causing irritation. (4) suburb with a pyramidical shopping centre. (8) the –bh – and don’t forget when you speak or read 12. Troubled dynamic motion includes whirling 18. Born in Ballylehane early. (3) aloud to add the “unwritten” sound. It is impossible water. (4) 19. Bart gets mixed up with R.T.E. in Kerry town to go from an /r/ sound to /v/ sound without making 14. Torch is enough when he has his head under with a car ferry to the Limerick side of the Shannon. (7) that small /uh/ sound in between them. the sand. (7) 22. Lax win over Kerry village, with a ruined castle, Niorbh is pronounced /NEER-uhv/; 15. “What’s — the world to a man when his wife is once the seat of the Earls of Kerry, near Listowel. (6) Arbh is /AR-uhv/, and Nárbh /NAR-uhv/. a widow?” Old Irish Proverb. (3) 23. Joseph Dzhugashvili (1879-1953) in last mixup. Now, let’s go back to Tá. You have studied the 16. Hurtles around in Tipperary town where Strong- (6) Present and Past Habitual tenses of regular verbs. bow was defeated by O’Connor and O’Brien in 1174. (7) 24. N.Y. brat comes over to West Cork town across the Tá also has both of these tenses. 17. If Anne’s about recall those who organised the bay from Glengarriff, with Whiddy Island nearby. (6) Tá takes the following forms in the Habituals. abortive Irish rising of 1867. (7) 25. Little Benjamin comes to church to find a seat The Subject Pronouns in parentheses are redun- 20. Put down because one is not in church? (3) for the magistrates. (5) dant and not used except for emphasis as they are 21. See clan about being able to purify. (7) 27. “Better knowledge of —— than —— without incorporated directly into the verb form. This is true 25. Little Elizabeth takes article to Greek character. knowledge.” Old Irish Proverb (4) -something to live of said, “they”, only in the Habitual Past where (4) up to! (4) Bhídís is pronounced /VEE-jeesh/. 26. Getting on in Kimmage demesne. (4) 28. Public cutback, but working to a private agenda CROSSWORD SOLUTION ON PAGE 16 Bhídís ramhar ach bhídís siad tanaí anois. if one has it to grind. (3) /VEE-jeesh rohr ahk VEE-jeesh SHEE-uht tahn- 29. Run ale all over in a virtual sense. (6) ee uh-neesh/ 30. Make a home in Clones town. (4) “They used to be fat but they are thin now” 31. Wall to be demolished in Waterford town on the Irish Sayings Glenaboy where John Hogan the sculptor was born. (6) “You are not a fully fledged sailor unless you have Habitual Present Habitual Past: 32. Heal tiny troubles in Wicklow village in the valley sailed under full sail,” “and you have not built a wall (usually, normally) (used to) of the Derry River near Shillelagh. (8) unless you have rounded a corner.” (Mé) Bím Bhínn “There is no strength without unity.” (Tú) Bíonn tú Bhiteá DOWN “You must live with a person to know a person. If you Sé Bíonn sé Bhíodh sé 1. Les, any other way to Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford want to know me come and live with me.” Sí Bíonn sí Bhíodh sí river that joins the Clody in Bunclody? (6) “Praise the young and they will blossom” Muid Bíonn muid Bhíodh muid 2. “Do you know what a pessimist is? A man who “The raggy colt often made a powerful horse.” Sibh Bíonn sibh Bhíodh sibh thinks that everybody is as —— as himself, and hates “Age is honorable and youth is noble.” Siad Bíonn siad Bhídís (siad) them for it. “ Shaw. (5) “Youth does not mind where it sets its foot.” 3. Sound returns from the book and T.V. film by “Both your friend and your enemy think you will Recall from your study of the Habitual Past of Maeve Binchy, filmed in East. (6) never die.” “Regular” verbs that the ending 4. Row pent up in picturesque Mayo village on Clew “The well fed does not understand the lean.” -iodh is pronounced /eek/. Now let’s practice. See if you can translate the fol- ADVERTISEMENT lowing phrases and sentences from English to Irish.

They used to clean the kitchen” 2.) “She tied his shoes” 3.) “July is usually hot and dry.” 4.) “Nora usually cleans her room on Saturdays.” 5.) “What Photography by time is it?” 6.) “Sarah was a nurse in Derry.” 7.) “In the autumn I will go to Belfast.” 8.) “Do you speak Irish?” 9.) “I used to speak a little Irish.” 10.) “They used to pick up the books at school.” 11.). “Who is Image Photo Service there?” 12.) “It’s me.” 13.) “Wonderful! Come in!” 14.) “It’s a quarter to three.” 15.) “It is usually cold in February.” 16.) “Wasn’t she a teacher?” 17.) “I • Weddings • Anniversaries used to be fat.” 18.) “We were in Derry every day.” 19.) “Eílís used to be thin.” 20.) “It is hot in summer.” Answers: 1.) Ghlanadh siad an cistin. 2.) • Banquets • Portraits Cheanglaiodh í a bhroga. 3.) Bionn Iúil te agus tirim. 4.) Ghlanadh Nora a seomra Dè • Reunions Satarna. 5.) Cèn t-am è? 6.) Bhíodh Sorcha banaltra sa Doire. 7.) Tiocfaidh mé go Béal • Groups • Families Firste san Fhómhar. 8.) A bhfuil Gaelge agat? 9.) Bhínn beagan Gaelge agam. 10.) Bhailídís • Special Occasions na leabhairtha ag scoil. 11.) Cén atá ann? 12.) ‘S mise. 13.) Go hiontach! Tar istigh. 14.) Tá sé ceathrú chun a trí. 15.) Bíonn sé fuar san Feabhra. 16.) Nárbh í múinteair? 17.) Bhínn (617) 291-6609 ramhar. 18.) Bhíodh muid sa Doire gach lá. 19.) Bhíodh Eílís tanaí. 20.) Bíonn sé te san Samhradh. The official photographers of the Boston Irish Reporter Page 20 July 2012 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Government open to new Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus By Shawn Pogatchnik debt difficulties, Prime Wednesday to close at ruled that a Ryanair-Aer after the country was no action if they received Associated Press Minister Enda Kenny said (euro) 1.09 on the Irish Lingus merger would cre- forced to negotiate a (euro) an offer in the mail. In DUBLIN — The Irish on June 20. Stock Exchange. Ryanair ate an airline monopoly in 67.5 billion ($86 billion) a statement the airline government is keeping an Ryanair offered (euro) is Aer Lingus’ biggest Dublin, and Aer Lingus is international bailout, no- said Ryanair’s offer was open mind on Ryanair’s 1.30 ($1.65) per share shareholder with a nearly continuing legal action in tably did not rule out a sale too low. It noted that EU surprise new takeover bid for its main Irish rival 30 percent stake, the Britain against Ryanair in to Ryanair, Ireland’s most regulators rejected Ry- for the national airline Tuesday night, its third government second with hopes of forcing it to dump dynamic and successful anair’s first bid in 2007, Aer Lingus but won’t be bid since Aer Lingus’ 25 percent. its stake. business with surging while Ryanair abandoned “shoved into a fire sale” 2006 flotation. Aer Lingus European Union compe- But Kenny, who became cash reserves of (euro) 2.7 its second bid in 2008 af- because of the country’s shares jumped 15 percent tition authorities in 2007 Ireland’s leader last year billion ($3.4 billion). And ter too few shareholders he noted that the govern- took up the offer. ``Con- ment’s 25 percent stake no sequently there is sig- longer represents a block- nificant uncertainty that ing interest on any sale. any offer from Ryanair, if During previous bids, an made, would be capable of Aer Lingus employee trust completion,’’ it said. also opposed Ryanair, but Aer Lingus has strug- that trust was broken up gled in recent years to in 2010. slash costs sufficiently to “The government will compete with Ryanair, give consideration to this which is Europe’s fastest- bid. ... We don’t have any growing airline. It has suf- veto over this,” Kenny fered regular battles with told opposition lawmak- labor unions, whereas ers, who appealed to him Ryanair doesn’t recognize to rule out any deal with them. But it did post a Ryanair. modest profit last year Ireland is committed and has been expanding under terms of its Euro- its own European short- pean Union-International haul network. Monetary Fund loan deal Ryanair chief executive to sell potentially (euro) Michael O’Leary argues 2 billion in state assets, that the government must including power plants, sell Aer Lingus because it to drive its deficits back needs the cash, and would below EU limits by 2016. be far better off selling to Ryanair’s offer values Aer another Irish company. Lingus at nearly (euro) The other potential suitor, 694 million, meaning the Etihad Airways of the government would gain United Arab Emirates, (euro) 173.5 million. this year bought a 3 per- Kenny said his govern- cent stake in Aer Lingus ment would sell its Aer and has expressed inter- Lingus holding only if est in the government sufficient competition holding. on routes, fares and cus- Ryanair already has tomer service could be stressed that, should safeguarded. “We’re not another airline buy the going to get shoved into government’s shares, Ry- a fire sale here,” he said. anair would happily ne- Aer Lingus advised its gotiate a sale of its own non-Ryanair sharehold- holding to the winning ers Wednesday to take airline.

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