Beannachtaí Na Nollag Christmas Blessings by Mary Mcsweeney

Beannachtaí na Nollag Christmas Blessings by Mary McSweeney

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By Bill Forry immigrant parents from historic center of civic, and Cummins Highway, Contributing Editor Galway’s rocky region religious, and political where Walsh cashed in It was a long time who’ll be Boston’s first life in this town-turned- on a spike in the city’s coming. Many skeptics mayor of Irish extraction neighborhood – showing second-most competitive thought it would never since Raymond L. Flynn— Walsh, surrounded by district council race of happen. And, yes, it could did better in “white” Felix Arroyo, John Barros, the day. Walsh clearly prove fleeting. But for one neighborhoods than he and Charlotte Golar Rich- won the larger share of day in November 2013, did in “majority-minority” ie, in full stride, walking to the Haitian-American residents of the city’s precincts. His seaside meet the camera array set electorate that fueled largest neighborhood put State representative dis- up to capture Richie’s dra- Jean-Claude Sanon’s very aside long-standing differ- trict was always going to matic endorsement of her respectable 7,879 tally in ences to elect one of their be his Fort Knox. But who Dorchester neighbor. By his campaign against Tim own to the most powerful would have guessed that election day, this “Team McCarthy for the District job in Boston and, argu- Marty Walsh – who until of Rivals” image had been 5 City Council seat. While ably, the state. six weeks ago had never hung on fence posts from that total was only good Marty Walsh didn’t appeared on a ballot west Dudley to Cleary Square – for second place for Sanon, win white Dorchester. He of Washington Street – Exhibit A in the tough-sell it helped to propel Walsh didn’t win black Dorches- would score decisive wins argument that a 46-year- into a more comfortable ter. He won Dorchester. in Four Corners, Grove old Irishman labor boss three-point lead citywide. Mayor Tom Menino and Mayor-elect Marty Walsh Period. And he did it in Hall, Lower Mills, and from Savin Hill could pass Notching marginal wins spoke to reporters after the two met in Menino’s convincing fashion, carry- Mattapan Square. the sniff test and clear the in East Boston, Allston- City Hall office. Photo by Isabel Leon ing more than 60 percent Dorchester has always color line. It worked. Brighton, and Charles- of the vote in his home had this potential, but If you think that the town helped the Walsh cancelled out Connolly’s for Marty Walsh, the neighborhood. time and again, it has endorsements from Ar- cause, no doubt, but Hyde West Roxbury base vote Dorchester guy, 60-40. Walsh bested crosstown stumbled as consecutive royo, Richie, and Barros Park – which forms the tally. The Keystone pre- It was true in Codman rival John Connolly in waves traipsed through (and yes, other, elected bulk of Super-Ward 18 – cinct – Florian Hall’s Square, where Marty is the first open mayor’s the underbrush of a by- officials of color, includ- was the biggest prize of the 16-12 – turned the nozzle a known quantity, but it race in 20 years on Nov. gone Boston. A knotted ing the state senator from day. Stunningly, Walsh to full blast, hammering also carried through into 5. The four point mar- root-system of racial, Dorchester) didn’t swing ran the table there, a clean home Walsh’s best per- the heart of Mattapan, the gin (52-48 percent) was ethnic, and geographic this election, ask Marty sweep of all 23 precincts. centage win of the day: an Blue Hill Corridor, and hardly a runaway win, roadblocks has trumped Walsh or John Connolly. Walsh won the mayor’s Obama-esque 87 percent deep into Dudley. but Walsh’s Dorchester- neighborhood time and They mattered: Walsh chair on the margins, but that deposited a cool 790 Marty Walsh will be South Boston base — com- time again. won every precinct in his victory was anchored ballots into his kitty. Con- the next mayor of Boston bined with decisive wins This time it was differ- the city’s communities in his House district, nolly’s best percentage because he managed to across the city’s interior, ent. The iconic image of of color. which churned out lop- precinct of the day was convince enough voters, predominantly minority this election will be the The knock-out blow sided totals for Galway’s in Beacon Hill’s Ward many of whom probably precincts— proved to be one shot taken outside of came in the single-family favorite grandson. Port 5, precinct 5 where he had never heard of him the difference. First Parish Church on side streets sandwiched Norfolk (16-10) and Wards posted an 89 percent win until last spring, that he Yes, Walsh— the son of Meetinghouse Hill — the between River Street 13, 15, and 16 effectively by capturing 289 ovals. was a better choice than Clearly, Connolly would a man they had seen on have been pleased to swap their ballots a half-dozen those superlatives. times already. He mined With his Dot base out- the support of their trust- pacing Connolly’s West ed leaders and parlayed Roxbury base, Walsh that vouchsafe into elec- continued to dominate tion day gold. South Boston, cancelling Marty Walsh – the out Connolly’s advan- individual, the politician tages in the Back Bay and – gets full credit. It’s his South End. East Boston win because people like was nearly a draw, with him, trust him, want him Walsh edging Connolly in to succeed. Ultimately, the end. He won Jamaica he was able to build this Plain and even picked remarkable coalition be- off a couple of Roslindale cause he treated people precincts. He performed well over many years better in Connolly’s base and, even when he had to than expected as well, disappoint, he did so with winning more than 40 respect. percent in West Roxbury, But make no mistake: a remarkable feat. This is a victory for his And so it all came back home neighborhood, too. to the communities of Much maligned, often dis- color, the ultimate arbi- missed, Dorchester finally ters of the city’s mayoral figured it out. It’s a force future since Sept. 24 at to be reckoned with and 9 p.m. With some varia- it’s now beyond dispute. Members of the Walsh Clan from Ireland celebrate their relative’s win on election night. tion, voters of color broke Now, what to do with it? Sean Folan photo BPL event to salute Heaney Irish Film Festival in ‘Call for Entries’ The Consulate General Local academics, poets, The Irish Film Festival, irishfilmfestival.com. Inspiring Short/Anima- of Ireland in association and musicians will gather Boston, has announced The IFF awards, inaugu- tion, and Global Vision with Irish Network Bos- at the BPL on Wed., Dec. its “Call for Entries” for rated in 2003, honor those Documentary. ton will remember the 11, at 6 p.m. Participants the 14th annual festival, filmmakers whose work Winners in each cat- poetry and life of Seamus include Seamus Connolly, which will take place next constitutes celebrating egory will receive flight Heaney at an event this National Heritage Fel- March. Entries are accept- the very best of Ireland and accommodation to month at the Boston Pub- low, the Boston Globe’s ed through withoutabox. and the Irish on screen attend the event. lic Library. Kevin Cullen, Dr. Kelly com and the submission – past, present, and fu- The festival will take Heaney who won the Mathews, and Dr. Cath- deadline is Dec. 30. ture. Submissions will be place at the Somerville Nobel Prize for Literature erine Shannon. Discounts for IFTN received in the following Theater, Davis Square, in 1995, died in August. members are available. categories: Best Break- from Thurs., March 20, to Full details can be found at through Feature, Most Sun., March 23. Mary McSweeney’s “Beannachtaí na Nollag” To order, please make checks payable to Ideal Christmas Gift! Boston Irish Reporter and send this order form to: Boston Irish Reporter, 150 Mt. Vernon St., Ste 120, Dorchester MA 02125 The full color print is numbered and q Send ___ copies of Beannachtaí na Nollag @ $85.00 each to: signed by the artist for just $85.00, including shipping and handling. To Name______order, just fill out this coupon. Hurry Address______- New England orders must be placed City______State______Zip______by December 16 to assure delivery __Visa __MC Expire______before Christmas. Card Number______Page 4 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Publisher’s Notebook Commentary Boston and Ireland: When Northern Ireland was at war The ties that bind Remembering can help prevent future horror By Joe Leary The outrage was instantaneous. Protestant anger are strong and deep Special to the BIR swept every part of Northern Ireland, and world leaders The tragedy of the people of Northern Ireland kill- condemned the atrocity with great passion. And over the By Ed Forry ing each other was memorialized this past October by next several days, six Catholics were indiscriminately The ancestral bonds that will forever link the town the families and friends of the 18 victims who died 20 shot and killed in and around Belfast. Security forces of Boston with the Emerald Isle were in great evidence years ago in two of the most tragic atrocities in the were sent to guard all Catholic churches. last month as Ireland’s citizenry and its media were North’s difficult history. Then, on the following Saturday, Oct. 30, four UFF riveted with two huge stories from our city’s Demo- Today, as American observers sometimes become Protestant paramilitaries attacked the Rising Sun cratic politics. frustrated by the sporadic rioting and slow progress on Bar in the small village of Greysteel, a Catholic town The first, of course, was the anniversary of President agreement on nearly everything in Northern Ireland, nine miles east of Derry on the other side of Northern Kennedy’s assassination, an event that even today oc- we should recognize that going Ireland. The men used machine guns to spray auto- casions spasms of tears from the Irish. In New Ross, back to the old days is not an matic fire toward patrons sitting at the tables and where JFK had greeted his cousins option. Interested Irish Ameri- the bar. There were twenty-seven people were shot just months before his death, a cans should have patience and that evening, and eight of them died – six Catholics special commemoration was held always focus on improving the and two Protestants. Since Greysteel was 96 percent on Nov. 22. hard-won peace. Catholic, the UFF gunmen had assumed they would Back in Washington, it was It is always worth remember- only kill Catholics. Like so many assumptions in this reported that an elite group of 26 ing just how brutal things were terrible war, it proved incorrect. soldiers from the Irish Defence just a short 20 years ago. The Belfast Telegraph newspaper reported the Forces had performed a silent First, there was the bomb- names of the four men who did the killings. Stephen three-minute drill, known as ing on the Protestant Shankill Irwin led Torrens Knight, Geoffrey Deeney, and Bram the Funeral Drill, at the burial Road in Belfast that incited a McNeill, all fellow UFF members, into the Rising Sun site at the request of Jacqueline machine gun attack in a bar in Bar. Despite the cold-blooded horror they committed Kennedy. And late last month, another group of Irish the Catholic town of Greysteel against their own countrymen, all of them, along with soldiers joined Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson at Joe Leary outside of Derry a week later. Sean Kelly, the IRA bomber in Belfast, were released JFK’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery, a story Both were retaliatory strikes from jail as a result of the Good Friday Agreement that prominently reported both in the US and in Ireland. that produced many dead and many injured, most of was ratified by the Irish people throughout Ireland five The other Boston political story that continues to whom were innocent bystanders. years later, in 1998. capture attention in Ireland is the Nov. 5 mayoral In the early 1990’s, as the peace talks were repeat- In Northern Ireland during those seven days of ex- election of Dorchester’s Marty Walsh, an eight-term edly stalled, many innocent Catholics were killed treme violence, 24 citizens died and 69 were injured. state Rep from Dorchester who as a young man spent while walking the streets by newly active UDA-UFF The men who did this are free, and their leaders, who many summers living in Connemara, Co. Galway. Irish protestant paramilitaries. either told them to do it or condoned what they did, television, RTE, had news crews in Boston before and Under attack, Catholic paramilitaries felt they had are still living their lives, having dinner with their after the election and the Irish newspapers have been to respond. families, and making speeches, with some probably treating Boston’s mayor- elect almost like a native son. On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 23, 1993, the provisional serving in the Northern Ireland government. An in-depth profile of Walsh in theIrish Times told IRA, believing that the leaders of the UDA-UFF were Today, much of Northern Ireland life seems quite readers that his late father John was born and raised meeting upstairs, bombed Frizzell’s fish shop in a normal and business is thriving, but beneath the in Callowfeenish in Carna. Mary, his mother, “comes Protestant neighborhood on Shankill Road. With the surface, especially in the neighborhoods where the from a few parishes farther away, in Ros Cide, Ros shop and the streets outside crowded with women 70 or so 12-foot-high “peace walls” are still deemed Muc,” the newspaper reported. “The couple emigrated and children, two IRA members, Thomas Begley and necessary, people are very wary, looking back over to Boston in the 1950s and settled in Dorchester, an Sean Kelly, took the bomb into the shop shortly after their shoulders every day. The police will tell you that Irish stronghold outside the city. 1 p.m., but the UDA-UFF bosses had left their office there are frequent rallies and troublesome marches, “Boston’s mayor-elect used to visit Connemara every upstairs. The bomb went off prematurely, killing 10 with violent eruptions not uncommon. year,” the Times related. “On each trip back, he visits people, including Begley, John Frizzell, the owner of Irish-American support is important to both sides the grave of his grandparents at the Atlantic-sprayed the shop, four women, two children, and two men. as we see delegation after delegation coming to Bos- cemetery on Mweenish, the island a few miles out by Kelly was severely wounded, and more than 50 were ton from Northern Ireland to raise money, promote road from Carna. ‘It has been a couple of years since injured. The IRA then and now claims the explosion business, or simply gain support for their cause. The I have been back but I plan on going back after the was supposed to be delayed so that civilians could be struggle for productive healthy lives there for everyone new year,’ ” he says. warned to leave the building. is not over. Of course, even as Walsh’s upbringing in Dorchester prepared him for a life in politics, in many ways his Dot years parallel a truly Irish experience in Galway. Off the Bench Brian Donnelly, the Dorchester Lower Mills man who served 14 years in the US Congress and authored the so-called “Donnelly Visas” program that led to US citizenship for scores of Irish in the 1980s, once explained Loyalty is not always approval to me the similarities between the Dorchester and Ireland’s counties. By James W. Dolan I traveled with him to Galway on my first trip to Special to the Reporter Ireland in 1992, and he prepared me for the experi- It is hard to find anything uplifting in the long and ence: “You’re going to see faces that look familiar,” tragic era of James “Whitey” Bulger. At last now, there he said on the plane to Shannon. “It seems like half is closure. He is best forgotten, which is easy for the the people from our neighborhood are from Galway, curious and uninvolved but far more difficult for the and you’re sure to recognize them,” he said. “A lot of families of victims and his own relatives. people spend parts of the summer over in Ireland, so I recall sitting in the Drug Court session at Roxbury you will see people you think you recognize. But if it’s District Court many years ago and seeing a man much not them, it’s most likely their first cousins.” older than the drug-dependent defendants who ap- If Savin Hill’s Marty Walsh was over there that sum- peared in the session weekly so that probation could mer, I don’t remember seeing him in Galway city; he report on their progress, or lack thereof. The purpose likely was out with his family in Ros Muc. But Donnelly of Drug Court was to involve the judge on a continuing had it right – walking along the prom in Salthill, I did basis in the rehabilitation of defendants convicted of run into a young Boston priest, Father Vin Dailey, who The brothers Bulger: Jackie and Whitey then was serving in his first assignment at St. Gregory’s drug-related cases. in Lower Mills, where he now is pastor. At the weekly session, What has that got to do with the Bulger case? I read The Irish Times story included the news that Walsh each defendant was called that at the sentencing hearing the only family member speaks Irish, a trait he shares with his mother, and before the judge and a pro- present was his brother John “Jackie” Bulger and quoted him on how he views his connection with the bation officer described his that he was there every day during the trial. While old sod: “I look at the story of my father and mother or her performance during it is likely the entire Bulger family suffered through growing up on a farm in Ireland and working hard the previous week. The the trial at the sordid crimes attributed to the oldest and never getting anything handed to them. … That is program required weekly brother, John, the youngest, suffered most. very much part of my Irish heritage. I am very proud urine screenings, detox, in The well-regarded retired clerk-magistrate of Boston of my Irish heritage.” and out-patient counseling, Juvenile Court, John was sent to jail for perjury, for and the imposition of jail James W. Dolan denying any contact with his brother when he was on sentences on those not in the run. He also lost his pension. Rumor and allegations Boston Irish compliance of guilt by association also damaged the reputation of I inquired of a court officer about the older man William Bulger, the former state legislator and Uni- who was sitting among the defendants and was told versity of Massachusetts president. The press would REPORTER he was the father of one of them. He said the man had have been all over the former senate president had he The Boston Irish Reporter is published monthly by: accompanied his son week after week, month after attended the trial, adding to the circus atmosphere. Boston Neighborhood News, Inc., month. to the Drug Court sessions. Perhaps family members were in denial. Until the 150 Mt. Vernon St., Suite 120, Dorchester, MA 02125 He remained seated as his son was called to the [email protected] www.bostonirish.com trial, they lived the legend of James rather than the bench and I received a report of another life ravaged reality of “Whitey” – misguided but understandable, Mary C. Forry, President (1983-2004) by drugs. The young man had been in jail, in and out Edward W. Forry, Publisher given their fierce South Boston loyalty. of drug programs, and once again was being closely Should they have abandoned this most prodigal of Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr., Managing Editor monitored to see if there was any way the cycle of drug William P. Forry, Contributing Editor sons? God loves sinners; should we expect less of the use and despair could be broken. family. Love and loyalty do not necessarily mean ap- Peter F. Stevens, Contributing Editor I could only imagine the pain and disappointment News Room: (617) 436-1222 proval. There remains some hope that the condemned that his parents had suffered over the years at his man will seek redemption. Without the love of family, Ads : (617) 436-1222 repeated failure to get clean. Yet there was his father that chance is diminished. Fax: (617) 825-5516 [email protected] once again trying to be helpful, demonstrating by his The victims and their families deserve love, compas- On The Web at www.bostonirish.com presence his love for his son. sion, and understanding. Should there be a little left Date of Next Issue: January, 2014 I called the father up to the bench and in front of over, if not for the perpetrator, at least for his family. Deadline for Next Issue: Friday, December 20 at 2 p.m. his son told him how much I admired him. He refused, Like the father at Roxbury Court, John would not despite the pain and previous failures, to abandon his Published monthly in the first week of each month. abandon his brother. There is good in that. The Boston Irish Reporter is not liable for errors appearing in advertisements beyond son. His love was constant, his loyalty undiminished James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Court the cost of the space occupied by the error. The right is reserved by The Boston Irish regardless of what his son had done. Parental love is judge who now practices law. Reporter to edit, reject, or cut any copy without notice. not earned by children; it is wired into the relationship. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 5 Point of View SALUTING A SCHOLAR FOR A JOB WELL DONE A fond adieu to Robert O’Neill, Director of Burns Library at BC

By Peter F. Stevens BIR: What achievements for the library rank high BIR Staff on your personal list? For the last 26 years, Robert O’Neill has been the O’Neill: Collection development has been the most director of the John J. Burns Library at Boston College. important. We have been able to acquire the second Now, as he prepares to retire this month and head for largest collection of W.B. Yeats in the world. Only the the warmer clime of Arizona, he leaves a deep legacy. National Library of Dublin has a larger one. We also The library, under his and his staff’s tutelage, stands have one of the finest and most voluminous Samuel as one of the finest university research institutions Beckett collections. That’s true now of our George anywhere. Its rich Irish collections have garnered Bernard Shaw collection, too – over 3,400 items. worldwide acclaim, due in no small measure to the Along with these collections of great Irish writers, we foresight of Robert O’Neill. also have such items as the papers of Thomas Clarke, Scholar, librarian, author, manager, and adjunct hero and architect of the 1916 Easter Rising. Our political science professor – these are but a few of the Bobby Hanvey photographic archives have the work of hats O’Neill has worn so well at BC, but they barely this award-winning photographer living and working hint at the imprint he has left for anyone who writes, in Northern Ireland. His body of work is one of the studies, and researches about Ireland, Irish America, the finest photographic collections of The Troubles from diaspora, Irish art, culture, and, especially, literature. the 1970s though 2007, everything from the violence He arrived at The Heights in September 1987 after to daily life in those decades. serving as director of the library at the Indiana His- BIR: What has been your most memorable moment torical Society and as head of special collections and at the library? Robert O’Neill: Recalls a “sting.” associate professor of library science at Indiana State O’Neill: The 1990 FBI sting operation we became involved in when a “dealer” in Irish antiquities offered then-director of the FBI, William Sessions, gave me a University. A trained and notable historian, O’Neill framed plaque of thanks for my help. earned his BA in history at Merrimack College, his MA us a collection that included rare Irish gravestones. He claimed that the collection had been handed down BIR: What will you miss the most about the Burns in European history at the University of Arizona, and and Boston? his PhD in philosophy, European history, and MALS through his family and claimed the artifacts were worth $7 million. I was suspicious from the start and con- O’Neill: It’s been so much fun. I’ve met so many in library science at the University of Chicago. He has people – visiting scholars, students, faculty and such brought that blend of historian and archivist to the tacted the Irish consul and other experts both here and in Ireland, and they confirmed my suspicions. When I incredible figures as Seamus Heaney. Too many great Burns Library for nearly three decades. Recently, Dr. people and times to even begin to list, and Boston Col- O’Neill , a Holliston resident, sat down for an interview got in touch with the National Museum in Dublin, they sent stories on how some of these items were stolen. lege and Boston are such unique and terrific places. with the BIR to discuss his time at the Burns Library BIR: As you leave BC, what would you most like and in and around Boston. By this time, the guy was asking a “mere” $500,000. He brought the stones to the US as ballast and docked people to remember about your tenure at the Burns BIR: When you took the post at the Burns Library, Library? what were both your immediate and long-term goals? at Miami. At this point the FBI would only have been able to charge him with customs violations at port of O’Neill: That I had a hand in building one of the O’Neill: When I came into the job, it was at a difficult finest research libraries in the country today. BC time for the library and the university. My predecessor entry, which was a misdemeanor. The FBI asked me to persuade him to transport the stones from Miami achieved a prestigious Associate of Research Librar- had been convicted of the theft of rare books, artifacts, ies membership, thanks in no small part to the Burns and materials from the library. My immediate con- to Boston and also bug my office when I met with him. We did it, he was subsequently arrested, along with Library Special Collections. cern was to restore the staff’s morale and confidence. BIR: What comes next for you? My long-term goal was to build upon and expand the three associates – including a police officer in the Midlands. Because the dealer claimed a connection O’Neill: To start, the third edition of my book on Irish library’s already outstanding collections. I wanted to libraries. I plan to research, write, and hopefully teach help build on the strength of the collections, such as to NORAID, the British press became interested in the story, and a reporter who talked to me – I tried to a little. I’m also looking forward to spending time with those of Boston, the Irish, and the Jesuitical, as well my grandchildren and playing a lot of golf. Actually, as others. Ulitmately, what we wanted to do was to explain that there was no concrete NORAID or IRA connection – still wrote a London Times story entitled, one of the things I’m most looking forward to is going build our collections into one of the leading research to Ireland as a tourist – not on business – with my wife. libraries in the country. “O’Neill Lured Kenny [the dealer] to Boston.” The

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109 HIGH STREET, BOSTON MA 02110 Page 6 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com A Q & A with Mary McAleese Belfast-born Mary McAleese served two terms as otherwise. In a world that often seems jaded, cynical president of Ireland during 1997-2011, the first native of and dubious about good intentions, how do you make Northern Ireland to hold that office. McAleese’s presiden- these words real and substantive? cy was marked by her advocacy for peace and reconcili- I can understand the cynicism, because too many ation through regular trips to Northern Ireland and by things that have looked like peace and reconciliation hosting visitors from the North at her official residence. wind up being photo opportunities. The words sound This fall, McAleese is serving as the Burns Visiting twee if you’ve never been put in a situation where they Scholar in Irish Studies, accompanied by her husband are the difference between life and death. I don’t regard Martin. She recently spoke with Sean Smith of the Boston peace and reconciliation as nice, soft, soapy words – to College Chronicle.Excerpts from that interview follow: me, they are damned hard disciplines. My husband and I both lost our homes and friends in Q. I understand you have quite a lot on your plate The Troubles, and knew many others who had similar this fall, in addition to being Burns Scholar. experiences of suffering. Out of that, you have to decide, Well, I’m also studying for my doctoral degree in “How do I react?” Do I get angry? And if I do, do I just canon law at Gregorian University in Rome, and become another conduit for history’s toxic spores of doing some work for the European Commission hatred? Or do I, someway or another, try to stop this? on modernization of the European Union’s higher My view was, God put me here for a purpose: to education sector. So I’ve spent these past several stand my ground and make genuine peace with those months going from Dublin to Rome to Brussels from whom we were estranged. You have to invest in and now to Boston. This is called “retirement.” building, and maintaining, friendships because we are all neighbors — Loyalist, Republican, Protestant, Q. So, what with the studies at Gregorian and the Catholic — and we aren’t going anywhere. The Good work for the European Commission, why take the ap- Friday Agreement gave us the political framework pointment at Boston College? for peace and reconciliation, but on a day-to-day basis Boston College has a phenomenal reputation in there is still much work to be done in building up that Ireland as a university that has made, and is mak- trust. We build to fill the centuries’ arrears, as the poet ing, important contributions to Irish life. BC also is John Hewitt said. a remarkable story of success, going through tough As president, I couldn’t be involved in the political times but then managing to become one of the best part — that’s the prime minister’s job — but I felt I universities in the United States. could take on a pastoral mission. So we worked our And I thought the leitmotif of that is where I see way through all the onion layers, and talked with the Catholic Church. And maybe there’s something in those who had been our enemies, who tried to turn us The former president of Ireland is the Burns Visiting the air here that I could breathe, perhaps that eternal out of our homes, to really listen to them so we could Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College. American optimism. learn what makes them tick. We made it something Photo by Lee Pellegrini for Boston College Chronicle I have so much respect for BC’s Irish programs, personal, rather than just a photo opportunity, and because they have helped Ireland to understand itself built up a connectedness between the office of the Presi- the Jacobite/Catholic traditions, because we saw it as better; not just its literature and arts, but its politics, dent of Ireland and a constituency that never thought an opportunity to help people living cheek by jowl see the whole panoply. The faculty members are deeply it would have any connection at all with that office. that we are all successors to those traditions, and as versed in Ireland. You think you know every nook neighbors must build a discourse that allows us to live and cranny, but then you talk with someone like Tom Q. What was an example of how you sought to ac- today in a humanly decent and mutually respectful, Hachey, Bob O’Neill, Bob Mauro or Robert Savage, complish this? peaceful way. and they’ll tell you things you never knew. We focused on two very important historical dates. The other was 11/11 — Nov. 11 — which is the date And this is what’s missing in our Church: discourse. One was July 12, on which Protestants celebrate Wil- the armistice was signed to end World War I. Now, Listening to people who are doing the work, doing the liam of Orange’s victory in 1690 over King James. there is a myth that only Unionists and Protestants research, who are seeing other aspects of the situation. We decided we would show respect for that day, even fought in the Great War, and that the Catholics and though it was a battle in which Catholics got clob- Nationalists did not. Q. It seems fair to say that “peace and reconciliation” bered. Each year we held a formal, official event to I grew up hearing how heroic the Protestant 36th has been a continual theme for your career, political or commemorate both the Williamite/Protestant and Ulster was, and they were, but I did not hear about the Dubliners who fought alongside them. In all, some 250,000 volunteers from Ireland — mostly National- ist and Catholic — served in the war, and 50,000 of them never came home. It suited the Irish Nationalist narrative to suppress the idea that Irish were fighting on the side of the British, so their contribution was marginalized or forgotten, and that allowed the Loyal- ist/Protestant narrative — which said no Catholics or Nationalists were involved – to take root. So we joined forces with those who had been seeking to change these narratives, to get the truth out there. And we were able to create a space whereby Northern Loyalist paramilitaries could stand at the World War IRISH INTERNATIONAL IMMIGRANT CENTER I memorial at Islandbridge in Dublin or at the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Belgium in memory of their relatives who had served, or been killed during the Great War. These things took effort, and they took consistency, Solas Awards Celebration and sometimes courage, because people might not understand why you were doing them. Being from Belfast helped and having grown up as Catholics in Protestant communities helped. We had many Protes- tant friends who were willing to work with us to effect Shaping a future, as bright as our past. the reconciliation that had eluded past generations.

Join us as we launch the IIIC’s 25th year of service, and as Q. Your appointment at BC has coincided with a particularly bitter period of partisanship in US poli- we celebrate the leadership of these true beacons of light and goodwill: tics, culminating in the federal government shutdown. Do you see any parallels or lessons in comparing the discord you saw in Northern Ireland with what’s going JOYCE & BILL CUMMINGS, Cummings Foundation Founders on in the US? To be perfectly frank, although it was horrendous for the people who lived through it — the people who JOHN (JACK) JOYCE, Managing Director at didn’t get paid, and others who were worried about America’s place in the global economy — I may have Deutsche Bank Securities been one of the few in the country who took some mea- ger crumb of comfort from this whole episode because it showed us in Ireland that fraught politics are not RAJ SHARMA, Managing Director-Wealth Management and peculiar to Northern Ireland. There was a lot of tension Head of The Sharma Group of Merrill Lynch in Northern Ireland this past summer, and the temper of discussion was generally crabby and contemptuous. Private Banking & Investment Group So quite a lot of people got very fraught about the situation: “Things are terrible. Maybe the Good Friday JOHN HAILER, President & Chief Executive Officer- Agreement isn’t working?” My response was, “This is nothing abnormal – look The Americas and Asia for Natixis Global Asset Management what’s happening in America! And next week, next year, the Americans will find a way through it. Why? Because they have to.” Politics can get ugly and mean, but in the end politics are about getting through the Friday, December 6th things you need to get through. So please don’t jump up and down every time people have a spat — look 6:00 pm at what’s been happening in Germany, when Angela Merkel was trying to form a government, or in Italy. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum This is the normalization of political discourse. Yes, we would wish politicians were able to cope with disagree- ments; yes, we would wish that they wouldn’t fall out over tawdry and stupid things; and yes, we would wish they could handle things differently, and better. But this For further details regarding the event, sponsorships, happens everywhere. It’s a very human phenomenon. or seat reservations please contact Mary Kerr at The full interview orginally appeared in the Nov. 14, 617.695.1554 or [email protected]. 2013, edition of Boston College Chronicle, published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 7 BRETT’S BOSTON By Margaret Brett Hastings Exclusive photos of Boston Irish people & events The Mass. Memories Road Show at UMass Boston visited the Irish Cultural Centre of New England on Sat., Nov. 16, and Boston’s Irish were invited to celebrate their family histories by sharing their stories of their 1. immigrant ancestors. The program is an event-based public history project that digitizes personal photos and memories shared by the people of Massachusetts. The Mass. Memories Road Show collection is now part of UMB’s open archives, which are online at openarchives. umb.edu.

1.) Teresa Tapper, Stoughton; 2.) Mary McTigue, ex. director ICC; 3.) Carolyn Goldstein, event 3. coordinator; Thomas Gallagher, Needham; Mary 2. Spiers, Waltham; 4.) Erin Doherty with the image of her grandmother who sang with the Emerald Isle Band (grandmother was Rita Fitzmaurice Doherty); 5.) Kathy Roscoe, Brockton; 6.) Denise Peterson, Stoughton; Joanne Callanan, Stoughton; Patricia Dwyer, Brockton; 7.) Carol McElmoyle, Readville, Matt Person, Falmouth; 8.) Patricia Flaherty, Boston; Brian Reynolds, Dedham; 9.) Peggy Monahan, Rockland; 10.) Peg McCobb, Weymouth; 11.) Connie Koutoujian, Waltham; 12.) Thomas Gallagher, Needham; 4. Jilian O’Keeffe, NE Irish Vice Council; 13.) Nora Walsh, Canton; Joe Deery, W. Roxbury; 14.) Ellen Kelly Leonard, Canton; Ann Kelly Contini, Arlington; Sally Kelly, Cambridge; 15.) Mary Alice Moran, Canton; Jerry Burke, Norton, Connie Koutoujian.

5. 6.

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14. 15. Page 8 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Commentary Destiny has meaning on the Stonehill campus: Father John Denning is now holding the reins

By Greg O’Brien Special to the BIR Rev. John Denning, of the Congrega- tion of Holy Cross, the newly inaugu- rated head of Stonehill, the college his order founded in North Easton in 1948, hardly needed an introduction to the campus when he took office two months ago as the institution’s 10th president. Friends say his appointment was the completion of divine order for a priest who had spent the previous 13 years at Stonehill building spiritual and cultural bridges in positions ranging from Director of Campus Ministry, to Vice President for Mission, to Vice President of Student Affairs. A second-generation Irish American with paternal and maternal family roots in Cos. Louth and Westmeath, respec- tively, Fr. Denning has come full circle at the distinguished Catholic liberal arts college where he has come to be widely known as “the students’ president.” Re- ports Pauline Dobrowski, Stonehill’s vice president for student affairs, on the new president’s welcome: “People were just elated. “There was a celebratory feeling.” In a recent interview with the Boston Irish Reporter in his snug office overlook- ing a stately red-brick Georgian campus, Fr. Denning said that he seeks to rein- force Stonehill as “a place of learning where the lives of students are changed in positive ways, and where they become President Denning takes a stroll on campus with Danielle Berkman ’16. Photo by Kathy Tarantola agents of their own learning. I want to give our students the education they hill College should be. His protocol is words, opting instead to lead with actions was as a parochial vicar at Holy Cross deserve and the tools to survive. I want grounded in the confidence of everlasting that for him speak far louder. Church in Easton, not far from Stonehill. our students to ask the question, and faith, one of humility and quiet service Growing up in gritty East Providence, He then became director of Vocations for never stop seeking the truth of “where and welcome to others, as witnessed he learned the art of listening and serving the Congregation of Holy Cross, followed is God, and how does the Lord play a during his first days in the President’s from his parents. His late father Ed was by an assignment to teach, coach, and role in my life?” Office when he casually approached a church architect who blended the tra- serve a chaplain at Coyle and Cassidy “As president,” he added, “my primary a table in Roche Dining Commons to ditional with the modern to incorporate High School in Taunton, and, later, the responsibility is to ensure that we thrive greet a group of incoming students. “Of stunning windows of light. He designed position of campus minister of the Catho- as a community of scholarship and faith. course, they had no idea who I was,” he St. Brendan’s in Riverside, R.I., St. lic Center at Bridgewater State College. To succeed in doing so requires an open- later told Stonehill Alumni Magazine. Mary’s in Mansfield, and St. Barnabas in In 2000, he began his long career at ness to reaching out to others for sup- “But to me, it was important to extend Portsmouth, RI, among other churches. Stonehill. As Director of Campus Min- port, advice, fresh ideas, feedback, and a sense of welcome – and a hope that The father’s architectural style is much istry, he expanded local and interna- ongoing but civil debate.” these students flourish here academi- like the son’s pastoral style, a blend of tional service opportunities, including In imparting sound advice, his prede- cally, morally, and spiritually. … To be old and new that brings in light. Fr. a three-week international trip to work cessor, Rev. Mark Cregan, counseled him part of that is something I treasure.” Denning’s late mother Mary (Burns) with members of the Congregation or- to have fun always in what he did, and The 54-year-old Holy Cross father has was a homemaker, dutifully raising der in Peru, and provided pastoral care when making decisions to “go with your a populist role model in Francis I, the two boys and two girls in a middle class throughout the Stonehill community. As heart and gut.” Fr. Denning continues new pontiff whose namesake proclaimed Irish/Portuguese neighborhood outside Vice President for Missions, he developed to lead with his heart, as he has done generations ago in Assisi, “Preach the Providence. “My folks,” he says, “were orientation programs, managed budgets, throughout his priesthood in keeping Gospel at all times, and when necessary big on education, stretching the mind developed strategic plans, and estab- with his expansive vision of what Stone- use words.” Fr. Denning is a man of few and the body as far as they would go.” lished the Office of Community Service In high school, the young John Denning and Volunteerism. As Vice President for ran track and cross country at LaSalle Student Affairs, a post he held for about Academy in Providence. He was a good six years, and as a member of the Presi- student. In his early years, he played dent’s cabinet, he helped coordinate the neighborhood street hockey, and worked departments of Community Standards, hours scooping double cones at Scotty’s Counseling and Testing, Health Services, 2013 Ice Cream and manning the fryolators at Intercollegiate Athletics, Intercultural The Twenty Third Annual Chicken City. “I’m still trying to get the Affairs, Recreational and Sports Clubs, grease smell out of my hands,” he says. Residence Life, and Student Activities. Catholic Charities The priesthood at the time was not Given this full-circle progression to the Labouré Center on the radar screen, but the Lord, as president’s office, to say that Fr. Denning we know, works in mysterious ways. is from central casting is to say that Pope Fr. Denning’s come-to-Jesus moment Francis looks good in white. was slow, yet deliberate, in arriving. Aside to Stonehill trivia buffs, per He wasn’t knocked off a horse. “No one Stonehill Alumni Magazine: The last ever put pressure on me,” he adds. After book the eclectic Fr. Denning read was high school, he attended Tulane Uni- “A Generation Divided; the New Left, versity in New Orleans as a European the New Right, and the 1960s”; the last history major, ran some track casually, concert he attended was one of Bruce hristmas th ouse our and joined Zeta Psi fraternity, which Springsteen’s at the old Boston Garden; C DecemberH 7 , 4-6 p.m. T strives to be the premier international his favorite food is pasta with white sauce Saturday Twilight Tour men’s fraternal organization dedicated to and littleneck clams; and his favorite ice academic excellence and life-long bonds cream is black raspberry. The image of $60 of brotherhood. Fr. John Denning at a Bruce Springsteen During his senior year, when some of concert is not a stretch for those who th his colleagues might have been consid- know him. Clearly, now he’s “The Boss” December 8 , Noon to 4 p.m. ering a visit to church to seek redemp- at Stonehill. Sunday Day tour tion after four years of late nights, Fr. Still, he remains accommodating and Denning accepted an invitation to meet approachable. The walls of his office, with $25 purchased ahead, $30 day of with the Holy Cross Fathers who lived photos of teachers, students, parents, a block from campus. In short order, he and celebrity types, are testament to this. Call 617-268-9670 or order online www.ccab.org/events heard and accepted the larger call to the Asked about his favorite passage from priestly life. scripture, Fr. Denning doesn’t hesitate 2013 Christmas House Tour Event Sponsor “What appealed to me about the priest- in response. “Hebrews 13:3,” he said, CV Properties hood,” he says today, “was a sense of reciting from memory: “Do not neglect purpose and mission, a higher quest in to show hospitality to strangers, for by the Lord.” At first, he assumed a life in this, some have unwittingly entertained the church of pastoral administration, angels.” but the pull of academia was tauntingly invigorating. Greg O’Brien, a regular Boston Irish After graduating from Tulane in 1981 Reporter contributor, is president of Stony with a bachelor of arts degree, he stud- Brook Group, a publishing/communica- ied theology at the University of Notre tions strategy company. He writes for Dame, another Holy Cross Fathers insti- national and regional publications, and tution, then earned a masters of divinity is author/editor of several books. He cur- at University of St. Michael’s College in rently is at work on a book entitled: “On the University of Toronto. Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s.” His first assignment after ordination Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 9 Jack Shaughnessy, at 87 Mayor-elect Walsh opens up Generous about immigration issues to Catholic By Matt Murphy removed dangerous people the topic of immigration State House from the country. is a focal point. Califor- News Service The program was first nia Gov. Jerry Brown in causes Hoping to meet in the presented to states as op- October signed a version John J. “Jack” Shaugh- next few weeks with other tional, and Boston was one of the Trust Act for his nessy of Milton, retired new mayors from around of the cities that piloted state, which was seen at president of Shaugh- the country to discuss im- it. Gov. Deval Patrick the time as an expression nessy and Ahern Co. and migration, Boston Mayor- resisted implementation of the frustration at the Shaughnessy Crane Ser- elect Marty Walsh last of Secure Communities state level with Congress’s vice, Inc., and a leading month said if he could in Massachusetts, but inability to address immi- Catholic philanthropist, “get around” enforcing the in May 2012 the federal gration laws. died last Wednesday, Nov. Secure Communities Act government announced “I can remember in my 27, 2013. he would. it would be mandatory in house where people who Predeceased by his wife Walsh attended the every state. were here, family mem- of 53 years, Mary E. Massachusetts Immigrant Sen. Jamie Eldridge bers who were here, they (Lagace) Shaughnessy, and Refugee Advocacy (D-Acton) and Rep. Carl couldn’t go back to Ireland he was the father of Ste- Coalition’s annual free Sciortino (D-Medford) for a funeral or a wake phen and his wife Hazel of Thanksgiving luncheon have filed legislation (S because they weren’t here Cheshire, England, Jack and spent some time 1135/H 1613) known as properly, and I think that Jr. and his wife Barbara Jack Shaughnessy, right, with Rev. Dan Finn, pastor serving mashed potatoes the “Trust Act” that is de- one of the things I promise of St. Mark and St. Ambrose parishes. of Hingham, James and before dishing on how signed to scale back Mas- to do as mayor of the city his wife Joan of Hanover, leading Catholic philan- Blessed John XXIII Semi- immigrants would have a sachusetts law enforce- of Boston is to go down Michael and his wife Carol thropist in and around nary, Boston College High “friend” in City Hall. ment’s participation in to Washington and work of Hingham, Susan Har- the Boston area for more School, Thomas More “People that get pulled the Secure Communities with Congress, work with rison and her husband Ian than fifty years, has lav- College, Nativity Prepa- over, I don’t think that program. The bill would the Senate so we do get of Hanover, Linda LeRoy ished his time, talent, and ratory School of Boston, necessarily we have to limit state enforcement some immigration reform and her husband Peter of treasure performing the Fontbonne Academy, the bring in immigration for of ICE detainers, provide legislation passed in this Braintree, and Elizabeth Corporal and Spiritual Catholic Schools Founda- that,” Walsh told reporters attorney privileges to country. It’s very, very “Lisa” Whalen and her Works of Mercy for count- tion of Boston, and many before the event. Asked individuals before they important,” Walsh said. husband Mark of Quincy. less others. Through his others. if he would “continue are interviewed by ICE, Speaking to members of Jack, who was born and abundant gifts for those A Mass of Christian implementing” Secure and require reimburse- the MIRA coalition in the brought up in Quincy, at- most in need, Jack has Burial was celebrated in Communities in Boston, ment for the expense of Great Hall, Walsh tried tended BC High and Tufts earned the Lord’s accla- Saint Elizabeth Church Walsh said, “If we can get participation. to connect by sharing his University, and served mation: ‘Truly I tell you, Milton on Saturday, Nov. around it, we won’t.” “I’m looking at that. I own family’s immigration in the US Navy, leaves whatever you did for one of 30, and interment was Secure Communities is haven’t had a chance to story, which brought both seventeen grandchildren the least of these brothers in Milton Cemetery. In a program that gathers see it yet. I know Mayor his mother and his father and seven great-grand- and sisters of mine, you lieu of flowers, dona- data submitted by local Menino was leaning that to the United States from children. did for me.’ ” tions in Jack’s memory and state law enforcement way and it’s something I’m Ireland in the 1950s. He Just three weeks before Mr. Shaughnessy was may be made to The La- for the FBI to perform going to make a decision said his mother only be- his death, on Nov. 6, Mr. well-known for his philan- boure Center, 275 West identity verification and on very soon,” said Walsh, came a citizen about 25 Shaughnessy was honored throphy of such charitable Broadway, South Boston, immigration checks on who later in the interview years ago. by the Congregation of institutions as Catholic MA 02127; My Brother’s arrestees. Though many said he was “very strong in Once in City Hall, Walsh St. Joseph as recipient Charities, the Laboure Keeper, PO Box 338, immigrant activists argue favor” of the Trust Act, but said he hopes to imple- of the “Making a Differ- Center, the Congregation Easton, MA 02356-0338; the program has eroded deferred to Menino, who ment a “Boston Integra- ence” award at a dinner of the Sisters of St. Joseph St. John’s Seminary, 127 the relationship between still occupies City Hall. tion Agenda” that will at Boston’s Seaport Hotel. of Boston, the Society of Lake Street, Brighton, police and immigrants Walsh plans in the next weave the needs of im- The citation composed by Jesus, the Oblates of the MA 02135; or Blessed afraid to report crimes, couple of weeks to travel to migrant communities and the sisters read: “Jack Virgin Mary, the Center John XXIII Seminary, 558 Immigration and Customs Washington to meet with immigrant business own- J. Shaughnessy, Sr., a for Delayed Vocations at South Street, Weston, MA. Enforcement says the federal officials and new ers into the city’s business program has effectively mayors where he hopes development plans. Happy holidays!

From our house to yours.

JAMES E. ROONEY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

/MassConvention @MassConvention massconvention.com Page 10 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Boston Irish Reporter’s Here & There

By Bill O’Donnell Democrats refer to as a “path to citizenship.” 27 nations, a job similar to president of Europe. My Storm Clouds Gathering For Gerry Adams Obviously, the 11 million undocumented people in guess is he will be staying put, but might very much –Sinn Fein Party Leader and Dail Deputy from the US constitute the elephant in the room, but the like to be asked later on, if the position were still be County Louth, Gerry Adams has led a relatively GOP leaders, as fractured as they are, continue in open. But that seems unlikely. charmed life as prisoner, negotiator with the British, their fantasy moments to talk about somehow sending Big Demand For Police Openings – In a recent Good Friday peacemaker, and immensely successful millions of undocumented back to their homes. Or recruiting drive by the Police Service of Northern politician with stakeholds in a persistently divided maybe they will, as Mitt the Romney used to say, Ireland (PSNI) to fill some 100 jobs, 7,500 applicants Ireland. However, that charmed life may be about “self deport.” Yes, indeed, watch those piggies fly. applied. It may be the stagnant Northern economy, to be interrupted by British The Senate has passed an expansive legislative the pensionable police jobs, or simply a desire for government and loyalists proposal, but Boehner and his mainstream GOP stable, long-term employment with the security forces in the North who finally colleagues are singing the Tea Party tune these forces, but the openings are attracting young people have the scent of a weakened days and a compromise or negotiated agreement is in the North with clean records. Also, this was the Irish republican in their sight. not about to happen, this year, or God knows when. first recruiting outreach in three years. The most tenacious charges The hope of folks like myself is that given the cha- Catholics made up nearly one-third of the appli- that bedevil Adams are the otic Republican Party, next fall’s midterm elections cants. Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie said widely publicized allegations might see Democrats gaining control of the House the PSNI was” particularly keen to draw applications that as an IRA war council while retaining at least their slim majority in the from Catholics and women. The average age of almost member he ordered the mur- US Senate. But then again, they may not. half of the recent applicants was between 18 and 24. der and burial of many victims, It is what it is, as someone once opined, but after The starting salary is $37,000 a year – after 21 weeks with the most notorious charge Boehner’s stonewalling statement and next year’s of intensive training. Plans are to have the new police involving the disappearance of elections, the prospect of real immigration legislation, on the streets in March of 2014. shamefully, appears dead until maybe late 2014 or Bill O’Donnell Jean McConville, a Belfast The volatile flag protests that filled the streets of mother of ten. Her body was into 2015. urban Northern Ireland earlier this year convinced found in 2003 and at least two Justice Minister Says “No Guards For Bertie” police officials that the PSNI today is understaffed. now-deceased republican colleagues have implicated – One of the Dublin punters earlier this year said The 50/50 recruiting drive by the PSNI to increase Adams in the McConville execution. aloud what many in Ireland feel: He called former the number of Catholic police officers ended in 2011. Despite accusations by former IRA members that Fianna Fail leader and Taoiseach Before the drive, only 8 percent of the force was Adams was a highly placed provo leader, he has Bertie Ahern “the most despised man in Ireland.” Catholic; today the number is 30 percent of the PSNI. steadfastly denied ever belonging to the IRA. The I hope that’s not true. Incompetence, relentless self- Obama’s ACA Rollout Flaws are puzzling –The Sinn Fein leader, in a move redolent of OJ Simp- absorption, and more than a few flights of fancy with failure of the Obamacare rollout enrollment is baf- son’s widely ridiculed call for help in finding his the truth shouldn’t be a hanging offense. fling to this observer. But what can you expect from wife’s killer, has made appeals for information about But a recent minor pub scuffle between a disgruntled one of the faithful! It is also exasperating when we McConville and other disappeared. They followed an voter and the former Irish leader and some verbal take a closer look at the president’s 2012 get-out-the- RTE documentary about the victims and drew heavy hate attacks along the way suggest that Ahern is not vote computer technology that has been described criticism of Adams for his remarks. all that popular at home. In any event, Minister of by experts as “extraordinarily sophisticated, state Further threatening Adams’s image and his lofty Justice Alan Shatter has announced that former of the art Plus” – and, by the way, hugely successful. political position are the fresh allegations that he PMs like Ahern earn enough money from the Irish Called Narwhal, and involving digital, technologic, withheld information on his niece’s serial abuse by state to pay for their own security. The minister said and analytic operations, it far outstripped the Rom- his brother Liam. Liam Adams was recently found he believes they are in a position to arrange that ney campaign GOTV capability. The Obama GOTV guilt in a Northern court of long-term sexual abuse themselves. Currently, after cutting back on former campaign had 1,979 employees and a list of 16 mil- of his daughter. Gerry Adams has admitted that it politicians perks, the only people in government that lion addresses. It added redundancy to the system, was nine years after he learned of his niece’s abuse have Garda and personal cars assigned for security tested and retested the computer technology, and well that he reported what he knew to the police. reasons are the sitting Taoiseach, the Tanaiste, and before election day put the technology through what Howard Baker, the senator of Watergate Com- the justice minister. the geeks call live-action role-playing to determine mittee fame, first and famously asked ofPresident Shatter is probably right. Bertie Ahern has a life- how the computer system would perform under every Richard Nixon: “What did he know, and when did he time Irish government pension of $182,000 a year, possible disaster situation. Say that again: “under know it?” Those same words could mean a relegating or $3,500 a week. every possible disaster situation.” of Gerry Adams to some form of political exile, even JFK Wanted To Return To Wexford – The If you were scoring computer success on election if the McConville charges go unproven in any court coverage of the 50th anniversary of President John day, Romney’s technology crashed that afternoon proceedings. Time will tell. F. Kennedy’s death in television, magazines, and and Obama’s worked superbly and was described The Northern unionist newspaper the Belfast Tele- newspapers was wall-to-wall throughout the days as the ninth wonder of the world by one impressed graph suggests that Adams is an ongoing liability of November. For a young generation that has only computer expert. to Sinn Fein and its election hopes and that having newsreel memories and grainy tape recall, and for Contacting people to vote or putting an interactive Adams lead his party into the 2016 national election myself and a declining population who sat in sorrow computer system online and enrolling medical plan is clearly “problematic.” He certainly is wounded. and numbness through the three days of a long good- subscribers is not the same, by any means, but it Make of that what you will. bye, the American media did their job plus some. I seems to this recovering Luddite that the genius of Exorcism Rites Still Happen in Ireland – They confess that I did not seek out nor want film replays Obama’s Narwhal could have and should have been are not done often and are most prevalent in the of the gunshots from the Dallas book depository, hired by the ACA to do the enrollment. It could hardly west and midlands, the Connacht Tribune reports in but several times they popped up, as haunting and be worse than what we have seen in the opening days noting that exorcisms do occur and that the Catholic unforgettable as ever. of the system. Church has procedures for dealing with the requests A poignant sidebar of the young president’s visit RANDOM CLIPPINGS they receive. When people contact their parish to his cousins in Dungantown are the memories of First things first: Congratulations to Boston’s priests claiming to be troubled by demons, they are Patrick Grennan, a direct descendant of the origi- mayor-elect, Marty Walsh. I thought either man assessed for psychiatric problems before being sent nal family emigrant, Patrick Kennedy. Grennan, was up to the job, but Marty’s Connemara roots and to priests who handle such matters. There are now who today runs the Kennedy farm, said that while his down-to-earth Galway approach is a gift to the three priests who are specially trained to carry out the president and cousin Mary Ryan were sitting city of my birth. … An Irish legal case was set for a exorcisms. They include a Jesuit in Galway city, a together having a fireside drink in one of their rare five-hour court session but finished a couple of hours Franciscan in Carlow, and a priest based in the quiet moments, JFK turned to Mary and asked if he early. The lawyer’s fee: $72,000 (no kidding). … SDLP Killaloe Diocese. could come back privately. It seems that Kennedy, Leader and friend Dr. Alasdair McDonnell had it Before taking a troubled church member through aware of how his personal entourage and security right about Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley’s old DUP – the exorcism rite, the local priest or the regional officials were ubiquitous and overwhelming, kept “the parties of disappointment, false promise, poor bishop would come to their homes, say prayers, and apologizing for bringing the big crowd. Years later, government, bad politics and no results.” … Great to bless the house with holy water. the late friend and aide to JFK, Dave Powers, see the statue of the biggest winner in team sports, Irish President Will Make History – Michael repeatedly talked to me in our sessions in his JFK Bill Russell, standing tall on Boston’s City Hall D. Higgins will become the first Irish head of state Library office, about how much the president enjoyed Plaza. … There’s Dick Cheney on TV and out with to make an official visit to the UK. Higgins and his his trip to Ireland and his ancestral homestead. a book on his heart troubles. Couldn’t this warmon- wife Sabina will be guests of the royal family during His “happiest time ever,” Powers said. JFK’s wife ger and war criminal and certified liar do his thing a state visit scheduled for next April. The three-day Jacqueline fulfilled her husband’s wish to return from a cell at the Hague? … A monumental traffic call at Windsor Castle follows the Queen Elizabeth’s by visiting the Wexford homestead with Caroline jam in Galway City popped up when thousands of successful trip to Ireland in the spring of 2011. and John in 1967. the faithful without warning came to the cathedral It was thought by many that Michael D., because Good Times, Bad Times for Taoiseach – One of to see relics of St. Anthony of Padua. … The Irish of his age, generation, and lengthy tenure as a La- Irish leader Enda Kenny’s resolutions this year was Minister of Finance, Michael Noonan, says that a bour TD might be a caretaker Irish president, but, his determination to abolish the Irish Seanad Eire- more favorable tax regime north of the border would like Pope John XXIII, Higgins has turned out to be ann (Irish Senate). Kenny and many others strongly benefit both regions and attract overseas invest- an outspoken leader in wading in on political issues believe that the Senate serves no constructive purpose ment, Good man, Michael. … Ian Paisley, now Lord and being heard on controversial matters of state, a and is merely a holding room for failed candidates Bannside, has softened on Sinn Fein, saying that traditional, if unserious, breach of presidential power. seeking election to Dail Eireann (Parliament), the Martin McGuinness and Co. are not the party of The Higgins visit is, of course, not the first trip to real source of legislative power. old. … Martha Coakley is a gangbusters AG but the UK by an Irish president. Both Mary McAleese Well, the Irish people (or at least 39 percent of can’t she find a bookkeeper who knows how to do her and her predecessor, Mary Robinson, attended them did) voted and Kenny and the government went books? … Richard Haass, a well-worn diplomat, functions in Britain but those were not official visits. down to defeat, 51-48, an uncomfortable result for has his hands full in NI, but he insists he’ll wrap it There is a full agenda set up for the Higgins visit the elected head of Ireland. Yet the affable Kenny, up by New Year’s. … Congratulations to the Irish and the scope of it, with a state dinner and formal a veteran Fine Gael TD for many years prior to be- Pastoral Centre on 25 compassionate and productive time with the mayor of London, the prime minister, et coming Taoiseach, took the loss well, saying “You’ve years helping young immigrants make a go of it. … al., strongly suggests that the queen and the British given your verdict and decision and I accept it fully.” Ireland has just received the welcome news that the government are enthusiastic about building an ever- While his national constituency was handing Kenny country will exit the EU-IMF bailout without the more substantial post-peace relationship between a defeat, the European Union was making a poor se- usual credit line, a big boost to the people of Ireland Ireland and the UK. The visit has the warm support cret of wanting to induce the Taoiseach to take a very who have been picking up the tab for bad banks and of Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Irish government. senior post with the European Union. Kenny is well poor politics. … A favorite scheme in Galway and Immigration Bill Dead, Says House Speaker thought of by the British prime minister and similar elsewhere has the Inland Revenue tax people roust- – Signaling an unequivocal end to any attempt to well-placed Europeans in the EU. The early line on ing flash companies who close shop, skip their taxes, move immigration reform legislation through the Kenny’s possible jump to the EU has Kenny and the and open under a new name. Time’s up for most of Republican-controlled House this session, Finnish prime minister tapped as solid frontrunners them. … The Irish love their holidays. It’s now official Speaker John Boehner, in a few words, killed as the next European Union President. that Nov. 14 kicked off the 2013 Christmas season any hopes that that would happen this year, saying, It is unknown if the Taoiseach would even consider there. … The EU’s director of economic affairs has “I’ll make clear we have no intention of ever going to leaving his Irish leadership post, but it is known that told Irish leaders that drug prices in Ireland are too conference on the Senate bill.” The deal breaker is he is a Euro-friendly advocate of the EU and might high and “not sustainable” Right on! something the Republicans call “amnesty” and the like to be the leader of its To one and all: Beannachtai Nollag! Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 11 Irish International Immigrant Center Immigration Q & A An agency accredited by US Department of Justice Be very wary of 100 Franklin Street, Boston, MA 02110 Telephone (617) 542-7654 Fax (617) 542-7655 immigration scams Website:iiicenter.org Email: [email protected] Q. I hear that there are a number of scams being practiced on immigrants in the US. How can they protect themselves? 2013 Solas Awards celebration A. There are indeed many immigration scams, with new ones appearing all the time. One that came to our attention involves a telephone call to an immigrant marks launch of IIIC’s 25th Year from someone claiming to be from US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The caller claims that there is some discrepancy in the agency’s information on the immigrant, and that there is a penalty that must be paid to clear it up. Next – you guessed it – the caller instructs the immigrant to wire money to an address provided. Real US immigration officers will never ask for money over the telephone, nor will they seek personal financial information such as bank account or Social Security numbers, which can be used in identity theft. The general principle to remember with regard to telephone scams is that one never should give out sensitive information or send money to anyone. This applies, by the way, to all unsolicited telephone calls, emails, and other communications, whether they relate to immigration, sales offers, investment opportunities, claims that relatives need money in an emergency, Bill and Joy Cummings Jack Joyce John Hailer and so on. On Dec. 6, you’re in- 25th year of serving im- support from our legal, It also is important for those seeking immigration vited to join the Irish migrants from Ireland and wellness, and education benefits to be very careful in dealing with anyone of- International Immigrant from around the world. services, are moving to- fering application support online. Aside from outright Center at our annual So- We’ll be celebrating the wards a brighter future. fraud, there also is a large risk that websites will las Awards Celebration many low income immi- We’ll also highlight the contain outdated or incorrect advice. And beware in as we launch the IIIC’s grant families who, with success of our Learning particular those sites that are dressed up to look like Exchange Programs that official government sites, using symbols such as the help young Irish men and seal of the United States, the US flag, photos of Presi- women learn new skills, dent Obama, etc. But it is easy to recognize authentic grow in confidence, and official websites: they always end in the suffix .gov, become the next genera- never .com, .net, etc. tion of leaders in Ireland. Note also that all government application forms Named from the Gaelic are free. USCIS forms can be downloaded from uscis. word for “light,” IIIC’s So- gov. Never pay anyone for copies of blank forms. And las Awards are presented never pay application fees to third parties; these fees are annually to those whose always paid directly to the government in accordance commitment to a better Raj Sharma with instructions on the application forms. world is an inspiration This year’s Solas The safest course for prospective applicants is to visit to others, and we are de- Awards recipients have one of our weekly legal clinics for a free, confidential lighted to be presenting all contributed in their consultation with an immigration lawyer concerning our 2013 awards to: own ways to creating a city any applications that you are planning to file. John (Jack) Joyce, – and a world – where all Disclaimer: These articles are published to inform Managing Director at people are welcomed and generally, not to advise in individual cases. Immigra- Deutsche Bank Secu- valued and enjoy equal option law is always subject to change. US Citizenship rities; Joyce and Bill portunities, protections, and Immigration Services and the US Department of Cummings, Cummings and respect. State frequently amend regulations and alter process- Foundation founders; To reserve your seats, or ing and filing procedures. For legal advice seek the Do you want to become a US citizen? The IIIC can Raj Sharma, head of The if you are unable to attend assistance of IIIC immigration legal staff. guide you through the naturalization process, Sharma Group of Merrill but would like to make a from completing the application to preparing for Lynch Private Banking contribution in support of IRISH INTERNATIONAL IMMIGRANT CENTER your citizenship interview. We offer free, weekly & Investment Group; and the IIIC’s programs, con- citizenship clinics on Thursday evenings. Come John Hailer, President tact Mary Kerr at mkerr@ LEGAL IMMIGRATION ASSISTANCE in for a confidential meeting with a Citizenship and Chief Executive Of- iiicenter.org (617-695- specialist about your individual situation. For ficer - The Americas and The Irish International Immigrant Center provides free legal 15540, or visit iiicenter. support and representation to the Irish immigrant community. Weekly further details call Beatriz at 617-542-7654, Ext. Asia for Natixis Global org/solas-awards-2013. 41. We hope to see you. legal clinics are held throughout the Greater Boston area, Asset Management. where you can receive a free and confidential consultation with our staff and volunteer pro bono attorneys. Matters Of Substance For support or information, call us at (617) 542-7654. Upcoming Clinic Schedule Tuesday, December 3rd The Gift of Grace in Recovery IIIC, 100 Franklin St., Downtown Boston Monday, December 9th at 6:30pm “It seems that all my gled, been vulnerable, and in Boston and across the The Green Briar Pub, 304 Washington St., Brighton bridges have been burnt found recovery shared USA have suffered losses Tuesday, December 17th But you say that’s exactly their story, would the to suicide recently. When IIIC, 100 Franklin St., Downtown Boston how this grace thing works. stigma that keeps people I meet people through It’s not the long walk home from getting help be re- our Suicide Prevention that will change this heart moved? Campaign, I am awed by But the welcome I receive All too often the media the stories of the hope Phone: 617.542.7654 | Fax: 617.542.7655 | www.iiicenter.org with every start” celebrate the failures, the they found in recovery. – Mumford & Sons messes, and the car acci- We don’t have to share AUTO BODY REPAIRS (617) 825-1760 “Roll Away your Stone” dents. People who make our story in a blog or on (617) 825-2594 headlines with public a late night talk show to FAX (617) 825-7937 Whether it’s depression, displays of their vul- be useful. It is as simple anxiety or addiction that nerability are ridiculed as sharing it with family you struggle with, it’s by late night talk show and friends, volunteering that you or a loved one hard to imagine anyone hosts and the message at mental health agencies, struggles with, reach out will understand. You feel is sent - your problem is or participating in a sup- to our Wellness team at that you are alone and the your problem because you port group. If you would the IIIC. You will receive Free Pick-Up & Delivery Service only option you have is are weak, immoral, and like to share your story, a warm welcome every release from the pain – in don’t deserve help. This we at the IIIC would love time. Call Danielle at more drugs, alcohol and is why Conor’s piece is so to hear from you. 617-542-7654, Ext.14, to 150 Centre Street for some people, suicide. welcome. He says “There Whether it’s depres- get the help that’s needed. Dorchester, MA 02124 Former Cork hurler Conor is no situation that is sion, anxiety or addiction IIIC - Together For Hope! Cusack wrote recently of without hope, there is no dealing with his depres- person that can’t overcome sion “It’s as if someone their present difficulties. placed a veil over your For those that are suf- soul and never returned fering silently, there is to remove it. This endless, help out there and you black, never ending tunnel are definitely not alone.” FOLEY LAW OFFICES, P.C. of darkness.” Mental health agencies Large Format Printing The abundance of sup- have always shared this Attorney John Philip Foley port from all corners of message but when some- Irish society in response one who has experienced Billboards • Banners Permanent Residency & Citizenship • Family & Business to Conor’s story is incred- it says it, those who are 1022 Morrissey Boulevard, Dorchester Immigration • Labor Certification & Temporary Visas ibly encouraging. Conor’s suffering will hear it much ALL Nationalities & AILA Members message gives us all hope more clearly. 617-282-2100 and raises the question: The Irish community in carrolladvertising.com If others who have strug- Ireland and its diaspora Page 12 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com

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FORGE wORldwidE AD SIZE triM 10”x8” 142 Berkeley Street publICATION BoSton reporter BoSton, MA 02116 COlOr FOrMAT CMyk 617.262.4800 JOb NuMbEr SBli CONTACT FrAn Sorrentino x 120 Page 14 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Boston irish Boston Irish Arts, Entertainment, Travel & More Reporter‘New sounds’ emphasis helps keep Celtic Sojourn a ‘fresh’ attraction

By Sean Smith Brian O’Donovan, will be sionist, Steve Holloway. be two singers: Maureen Special to the BIR on stage at the Cutler Ma- Also back in the line-up McMullan, a Scottish na- Boston-area musicians jestic Theatre in Boston is fiddler Steve Hickman, tive fluent in jazz, folk, Maeve Gilchrist and Mari- for a slate of performances whose brilliant demon- and contemporary genres el Vandersteel will be from Dec. 15 to Dec. 22, stration of “hambone” – a and featured on the PBS among the featured per- and also at venues in style of body percussion special “Highland Heart- formers as “A Christmas Worcester (Dec. 17) and rooted in folk tradition – beat”; and Moira Smiley, Celtic Sojourn” begins its Derry, NH (Dec. 14); the has entertained audiences an American singer whose second decade of flavoring Dec. 16 show at Rockport of all ages. work as a soloist and with the Christmas holiday is already sold out. Joining Gilchrist, a the band VOCO embraces season with music, song, Irish super-band So- Scottish-born harpist and not only Irish and Appala- dance, and storytelling las – including Seamus vocalist, and Vander- chian music but Eastern from Irish, Scottish and Egan, the show’s music steel – who in addition European traditions. other Celtic – even non- director – will mark an- to Celtic and American One of the most popular Celtic – traditions. other return to “Sojourn,” fiddle styles is an expert features of “Sojourn,” the The annual production, supplemented by longtime in Norwegian hardanger performances by children hosted as always by its collaborator Chico Huff on fiddle – in making their creator and guiding spirit, bass and a new percus- debuts on “Sojourn” will (Continued on page 15)

Carolynne Warren misses Dorchester’s sense of New CD and concert DVD in hand, neighborhood. Dot’s Warren Childsplay troupe is hitting the road By Sean Smith Special to the BIR It’s another landmark back home in year for the Boston-based all-star fiddle ensemble Childsplay, which heads ‘I Love Lucy’ out on its annual tour this month on the heels of By R. J. Donovan a new CD, “As the Crow Special To The BIR Flies,” and concert DVD, Christmas is coming a little early for Dorchester “Fiddlers, Fiddles and native Carolynne Warren, who has built a successful Fiddlemaker.” career as an actress and entrepreneur in Los Ange- The group comprises les. The actress will find herself onstage at Boston’s two dozen or so musicians Colonial Theatre from Dec. 3 to Dec. 22 as a member – many from Boston or of the national tour of “I Love Lucy: Live On Stage.” elsewhere in New Eng- When she was growing up on Geneva Avenue in land – performing fiddle Fields Corner, she says she never dared dream of such music mainly from Irish, a gig. Her Boston story includes local iconic highlights Scottish, Cape Breton, like the school dances at Florian Hall, Mass at St. Scandinavian, French Ca- Peter’s, dance classes at Fields Corner, high school at nadian, and American folk Boston Latin, and regular appearances “in my Nana’s traditions. All the fiddlers kitchen.” Along the way, she picked up a diploma from use violins created by Harvard University along the way. Cambridge resident Bob Warren has been a member of Second City in Chi- Childs, who also plays in cago, has appeared in several one-woman shows, and the ensemble and serves Childsplay will perform at Lexington’s National Heritage Museum as part of is the founder of Hey Dollface! Productions. She was as its artistic director. its annual tour. back in Boston previously to appear in “Menopause: Childsplay will be in The Musical” at the Stuart Street Playhouse and “The Sam Amidon, Joe and of maturity to the band. Childsplay family have concert at the National Graham DeZarn, Dave We don’t have exactly moved on to other projects, Light In The Piazza” at SpeakEasy Stage. Heritage Museum in “I Love Lucy,” of course, ranks as one of the most Langford, Amanda Ca- the same people year in interests or phases of life, Lexington on Dec. 5 and 8, vanaugh, Katie McNally, and year out, but there representatives from a popular TV shows of all time. In turn, Lucy, Ricky, with stops at the Zeiterion Fred, and Ethel stand as one of the sitcom world’s Kathleen Guilday, Mark is enough consistency new generation – like Theatre in New Bedford Roberts, Aoife O’Donovan, where we can adapt to McNally and Cavanaugh, most fabulous foursomes. on Dec. 6 and the Port- “I Love Lucy: Live On Stage” whisks theatergoers Shannon Heaton, Keith changes readily and all who were barely out of land, Me., High School Murphy, Ariel Friedman, the while keep building diapers when Childsplay back to 1952 to become members of the studio audi- Auditorium on Dec. 7. ence at Desilu Playhouse where everyone is anxiously Ralph Gordon, Pierre on what’s been done in the began – have come into the The ensemble’s his- Chartrand, Kieran Jor- past. For me, Childsplay’s fold. And those who have awaiting the filming of two episodes of “I Love Lucy.” tory stretches back more Meanwhile, a charming host enlightens the crowd to dan, and Nic Gareiss. signature sound is our ar- sustained their involve- than two decades, and Childsplay’s ranks rangements, and that has ment in the ensemble the behind-the-scenes process of the relatively new its roster of current and thing called “television.” Carolynne plays the role change a little every year, evolved in a remarkable have continued to hone past members – includ- as some members opt out and satisfying way.” their own musical de- of Eugenia in addition to understudying the role of ing not only fiddlers but Ethel Mertz. because of scheduling It’s become axiomatic to velopment, all the while also other instrumental- conflicts or other factors describe most any organi- experiencing those per- During the show’s stop in Toronto, we spoke by phone ists – is the essence of about “Lucy,” the World Series, and her old neighbor- and are replaced by new zational entity, musical, sonal milestones – such as quality musicianship, or returning members, business or otherwise, marriage and parenthood hood. Here’s an edited look at our conversation. including among others: BIR: Thinking back to your childhood in Dorchester, but over time the group as “a family,” but to hear – that shape one’s overall Laurel Martin, Hanneke has built up a durable Childs talk, the term life perspective. what do you miss? Cassel, Steve Hickman, CW: I think the thing I miss the most, especially cohesiveness, says Childs. seems very appropriate One of the most impor- Sheila Falls, Mary Lea, “What I see – and I think for Childsplay, especially tant recent changes for living in LA, is a sense of neighborhood . . . You ask Mark Simos, Lissa Sch- someone what parish they’re from and someone knows this is evident on the new given its longevity. As Childsplay has been the neckenburger, Naomi CD and DVD – is a kind some members of the (Continued on page 16) Morse, Pete Sutherland, (Continued on page 16)

which will provide opportunities to at Boston College as part of its Gaelic Club in Watertown, with a concert by December support the school — in particular, its Roots Music, Song, Dance, and Lecture Troy MacGillivray, Andrea Beaton, “exchange program” that will bring noted Series. The free concert takes place at and Nuala Kennedy plus special guest concertina player Mary MacNamara and 6:30 p.m. in Walsh Hall on BC’s Chestnut Jake Charron. A Down East Dance will goings-on students from the CCE Tulla to Boston Hill Campus. See bc.edu/gaelicroots. follow. The evening starts at 7:30 p.m., next June. A raffle will take place at the • Local husband-and-wife duo Matt and admission is $15. See canadiana- A look at some other Christmas and concert, and suggested donations will and Shannon Heaton will perform their mericanclub.com. holiday-related dance, music, and social be accepted. annual “Fine Winter’s Night” concert • Dec. 14 is also the date of the Irish events taking place this month in the For more information about the event on Dec. 14, welcoming to the festivities Cultural Centre of New England An- Boston area: and CCE Boston, see cceboston.org. another couple, Vermont-based Lissa nual Christmas Open House, from • The Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley • Accomplished singer, multi-in- Schneckenburger and Corey DiMario. 6-11 p.m. The event will include Irish Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann School strumentalist, and music scholar Mick The concert, featuring traditional and music, dancing, singing, refreshments, of Music will present a holiday concert Moloney teams with fiddler Athena original carols, takes place at 8 p.m. and a raffle featuring several large cash and fundraiser on Dec. 7 from 4-6 p.m. Tergis — who has played with artists at Club Passim in Harvard Square. prizes. Information on purchasing raffle at the First United Methodist Church, such as Sharon Shannon and Laura Risk Ticket information and other details at tickets, and other details about the 645 Main Street, Melrose. CCE Boston and toured with “Riverdance” — for a clubpassim.org. event, is available at the ICC website, Music School faculty and students will musical celebration of Christmas and • Also on December 14 will be “Nol- irishculture.org be the featured performers at the event, other midwinter traditions on Dec. 10 laig Shona” at the Canadian American Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 15 ‘Grace Bay,’ courtesy of The Burren’s Tommy and Louise

By Sean Smith over I said “Hello.” We have been Special to the BIR playing together ever since. With all their various activi- Q. Talk about the musicians ties and accomplishments – like who appear with you on “Grace running one of the most popular Bay.” and storied Irish pubs in North A. Martin O’Malley, who plays America, hosting innumerable guitar, is from Dublin. We first sessions, or organizing perfor- met him at the Brendan Behan mances of leading Irish music Pub in Jamaica Plain in 1991, acts – there was something and started playing together husband-and-wife musicians then and there. Martin and his Tommy McCarthy and Louise wife Ann moved to Miltown Costello had never gotten around Malbay in 1993 and opened the to doing: recording an album of world famous recording studio their own music. Malbay Studios, which is where You can check that one off the we made the album. Martin list, too. made the whole recording pro- McCarthy and Costello, own- cess very easy and made us feel ers of The Burren in Somerville, very comfortable in his studio. are marking the release of their We first met Noel O’Grady, debut CD, “Grace Bay,” with a who hails from Swingford, Co. concert as part of the pub’s Back- Mayo, in London in 1993. He room series on Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. was a big hit on the London Irish All proceeds will go to benefit the music scene with his beautiful Somerville Homeless Coalition. bouzouki playing. Noel has been To say “Grace Bay” was worth living in Westport, in Mayo, the wait is putting it awfully and is a major presence at Matt mildly. McCarthy’s West Clare- Molloy’s pub. style fiddle (he also plays man- As for [bodhran player] John- dolin and ukulele) and Costello’s ny “Ringo” McDonagh, what we Galway-influenced banjo and can say about this legend of a accordion sail, caper and glide man? We’ve known Johnny a together through an assort- very long time from the early ment of venerable traditional days of De Dannan, and we play tunes like “The Broken Pledge,” at many sessions with him when “The Drunken Gauger,” “Strop we are home in Galway. the Razor,” “A Stór Mo Chroí” Our daughter, Rose McCar- and “McFadden’s Handsome thy, has been playing fiddle Daughter.” There are also some from the age of six, and we were intriguing McCarthy originals, Tommy McCarthy and Louise Costello, longtime musical partners as well as husband and wife. delighted to be able to have her including the title track, an air on the album. We’re very happy that Johnny with a contemplative, winsome Irish Reporter about “Grace Bay,” We have dedicated the CD to fin Waltz,” which refers to the McDonagh will join us for the feel to it, and “Grand Turk,” a and related topics. both our fathers, Dinny Costello island off the coast of Galway concert at The Burren. We’ll strikingly accented slow reel. Q. Tommy, your friends would and Tommy McCarthy. With- where we got married in 1993. also be asking some Boston-area The album carries a distinc- probably say that you and Louise out a doubt, we can only praise I wrote the tune for the people musicians to come along. tive hallmark of family pride took far too long to make a CD, them for all of their years of of the island, who made us feel You mentioned dedicating and tradition, since McCarthy so how did it come about? encouragement when we were so welcome. “The Blue Road” Q. “Grace Bay” to your fathers, who and Costello both grew up in A. There was a lot of talk children playing music in our and “The Trip to Miltown” also were big influences on Louise’s households with fathers greatly regarding making the CD. I sup- family homes. In fact, a lot of the are my compositions. and your musical development: respected for their musician- pose that because Louise and I tunes on the CD we would have Q. You obviously have strong Where else do you think they ship. “Grace Bay” achieves an spend so much time together, we heard from our fathers’ playing. ties to Ireland, but you got to- made an impact on your lives? enviable balance of embracing often put tunes together, even Q. And there are a few of your gether with Louise through the Well, one important thing the past while being very much while we are out walking. It just originals on the CD, too. Boston music scene, right? A. they taught both of us was how in the here and now, its creators came about very naturally. Once A. Yes, I wrote the title track, A. I first met Louise at a to treat musicians with respect. finding strength and inspiration we had the sets of tunes for the along with “Grand Turk” – those session in the Kinvara Pub in We believe that has gone a long in the tradition they’ve long album, we began to rehearse at are names of locations in the Allston in 1986. She was sitting way for us. championed. our home in Galway. The actual Turks and Caicos Islands, a in the session playing the banjo, McCarthy recently chatted recording itself only took about place very close to our hearts. and I sat down beside her and with Sean Smith of the Boston a week. I also composed “The Inishbo- joined in. After the tune was ‘New sounds’ helps keeps Celtic Sojourn a ‘fresh’ (Continued from page 14) the mounting anticipation from the Harney Academy of and joy that accompanied the Irish Dance in Walpole, will be surprising Red Sox champion- enhanced this year by appear- ship season; and, what with ances from their teacher and last month’s mayoral election, mentor, Liam Harney, whose contemplation of a new era of credits include two World leadership in the city. While Champion dance titles and a “Christmas Celtic Sojourn” has stint in “Riverdance.” never made direct reference to And to top it all off, the show events of the day, these certainly has enlisted local musician constitute a backdrop for the Dietrich Strause to assemble show, O’Donovan says, and that and arrange a few pieces for a will undoubtedly be the case brass band. this year. “I think one aspect of ‘Christ- “Everything we produce in mas Celtic Sojourn’ is, we’re regard to ‘Christmas Celtic So- always looking for new sounds, journ’ has an emotional aspect,” a few new things to throw into he explains, “because Christmas the mix,” says O’Donovan, who is a time for reflection of the year along with his wife Lindsay that has passed, and to pore over will contribute to the “Sojourn” memories good and bad. The songfests. “Sure, there are some Mariel Vandersteel and Irish band Solas will be part of the “Christmas Celtic Sojourn” line-up. bombings made us feel vulner- elements that stay pretty much able, and we were saddened by from year to year, and some music and the traditions of harmonies and arrangements past, and Liam also mentioned the deaths and injuries. We also performers appear regularly. Celtic lands, and she will ex- – it’s something we’ve never to me that Moira – in addition to felt keenly other losses within But we –Seamus Egan, our plore these in the show. She and really had before.” everything else – does body per- our community, of people like artistic director, Paula Plum, Maeve embody the youth of this Hickman may be the oldest cussion. So I think these three Seamus Heaney, during 2013. and others involved in the pro- great musical scene. of the featured performers, will probably cobble together And yes, it was definitely a treat duction – always try to keep the “And when Maeve and Mariel says O’Donovan, but his spirit some sort of hambone-body to see the Red Sox win the World show fresh.” play together,” he adds, “there’ll and sense of play is not far re- percussion collaboration, which Series – it seemed to mean that That “new sounds” dynamic be lots of fireworks.” moved from that of the Harney should be amazing to behold. much more this year. is embodied in the presence of The addition of McMullen and Academy kids, with whom he “And see, that’s what makes “We don’t address these Gilchrist and Vandersteel, says Smiley (who has appeared in the frolicked during his last “So- ‘Christmas Celtic Sojourn’ such things overtly in the show, but O’Donovan. “Maeve brings jazz “Celtic Sojourn” St. Patrick’s journ” appearance. “Steve is a pleasure to organize: You do clearly they are on all our minds and world-music influences to Day show) is another cause for just a real character, and he has all this planning, you figure out as we celebrate the season with her playing and singing, which anticipation, O’Donovan says. the perfect demeanor for a show who you want in the line-up, and our family and friends, and turn makes for a fascinating blend “Maureen has performed on our that celebrates Christmas: He’s what they’ll contribute – and to the traditions and rituals we with the Irish and Scottish ‘Celtic Sojourn’ live broadcasts, a ham, as well as a ‘hambonist.’” then something you didn’t an- observe at this time of year. harp traditions. In addition to and we’re looking forward to In fact, the confluence of Hick- ticipate just falls into your lap.” So we hope people will look at her solo work, Mariel has had having her in a whole different man, Smiley, and Harney for The past year has been a ‘Christmas Celtic Sojourn’ as experience in many kinds of context. As for Moira, we’d been this year’s show has produced particularly memorable one for an opportunity for this reflec- collaborations – including bands trying to get her for ‘Christmas an unexpected windfall. “Liam Boston and the region, which tion and celebration on a wider like Annalivia and Blue Moose Celtic Sojourn’ for several years, is, of course, an unbelievable has experienced the full range scale.” and the Unbuttoned Zippers, and now it’s finally worked out. dancer, and we’re so happy his of the emotional spectrum: the For ticket information and among others – but her skill on Not only is she an accomplished schedule finally allowed him to shock and horror of the Boston other details about “A Christ- the hardanger fiddle is really and adventurous singer, she’ll take part. As it turned out, Liam Marathon bombings, which seg- mas Celtic Sojourn,” see wgbh. extraordinary. There are a lot be in an added role of vocal and Steve have been together in ued into collective expressions of org/celtic. of links between Scandinavian director, and coming up with the Footworks ensemble in the hope, solidarity, and strength; Page 16 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Dorchester’s Warren back home in ‘I Love Lucy’ (Continued from page 14) CW: Anybody, and this is why. I’m not going to CW: All day today I’m rehearsing as Ethel. (In the right away what you’re talking about. What it looked reveal any secrets (laughing), but you really feel as show) I have a moment where all of that good mojo like and felt like. Being able to walk down the street if you have traveled back in time . . . Like you’re in from their friendship – I think it’s both Lucille Ball and and wave and talk to people and have them know Hollywood and it’s 1952 and you’ve walked onto the Vivian Vance and Lucy and Ethel – when it transcends you and your family. And all the things that happen soundstage and you are about to see the taping . . time and the women and their characters. That’s what throughout a year. Events through church or through . You’re getting a feel of what it’s like. Especially women all over the world connect to. That best friend. your school. I miss that a lot . . . There’s something for people who’ve never been to Hollywood. It’s an The one who’ll be there to help you get out of trouble. so grounded in being able to look people in the eye experience they probably wouldn’t have had in their The one who’ll help you get into trouble. Being able and talk about anything just because you shared this lifetime . . . Part of my job is to be out in the audience to be in Ethel’s shoes and have that connection with common neighborhood experience. for a while. And people are so excited to tell me, and someone who is Lucy, right next to you, is such a pow- BIR: When you were attending high school, you tell each other – strangers – about how much they love erful experience . . . it appeals to the little girl in me. were just down the street from Fenway Park. So were Lucy and what’s their favorite episode. BIR: It has to be pretty special for you to be coming you following the World Series while you were on tour. BIR: Do die-hard fans show up dressed as Lucy? home with such a major production. CW: A couple of my new friends (in the show) were CW: I loved that you asked me that. Yes! Especially CW: When I first got the job (on this tour) and they just amazed at how happy it was making me when here in Toronto. The other night, we had a night of said it was coming to Boston … I’ve just been over they won . . . How engaged I was. I said you don’t Lucy drag queens, which was hilarious. Some of them, the moon since that day . . . I can’t even tell you how understand, it’s a lifetime. It’s your grandparents’ really big men, full-on dressed as Lucy, with big black happy I am to be coming home . . . It’s so close now lifetime of watching them lose. Of loving them and mustaches. But then my favorite was a group of 12 . . . I keep telling my cast mates what a special treat having your heart broken . . . (During one of the games) women, dressed like Lucy – I mean head to toe, the they’re in for. someone was feeding me the scores during the show. whole shebang – they all came in carrying cocktails R. J. Donovan is editor and publisher of onstagebos- (Later) I ran to this sports bar and met someone from and smoking fake cigarettes . . . As the Lucys were go- ton.com. Hyde Park, someone from Danvers, and we were all ing to their seats, they got applause! It was so funny. *** screaming our heads off. BIR: In addition to playing a character, you also “I Love Lucy: Live On Stage,” Dec. 3 – Dec. 22, Citi BIR: Let’s talk about everybody’s favorite redhead. understudy the role of Ethel Mertz. It must be special Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Bos- Is this new stage show aimed at “Lucy” purists, or is when you actually get to go on as Lucy’s legendary ton. Tickets: 1-866-348-9738 or BroadwayInBoston. it for just about anybody? best pal. com. New CD and concert DVD in hand, Childsplay troupe is hitting the road (Continued from page 14) tion by Pierce Woodward other kind of music. It’s for someone else,” says departure of O’Donovan on the corrupting influ- an amazing accomplish- Childs. “What happens as lead vocalist, a position ence of money. ment.” is, that person becomes that has now been filled by Childs’s praise for the In fact, a substantial a big part of the process, Schneckenburger. It’s not group’s trademark ar- amount of Childsplay’s and that was definitely the exactly the biggest leap, rangements is borne out material is composed by case with Liz. She com- since she had backed up, by the evidence on “As the its members. Besides the mands such respect, as a and occasionally spelled, Crow Flies,” which con- “Child Suite,” Murphy musician and as a person, O’Donovan in the past. tains some of Childsplay’s contributes “The St. Croix and everyone responded to Still, the Childsplay rep- most ambitious work yet. Jig” and a triptych of her so well.” ertoire encompasses a va- And at the top of the list is Celtic-flavored fun, com- “As the Crow Flies” riety of styles and genres, the “Child Suite,” a Keith prising a Scottish-style stands on its own, but Bob Childs on the job. which requires a singer to Murphy masterpiece (he strathspey fused with a “Fiddlers, Fiddles and be equally versatile and wrote as well as arranged jig and two Irish-style Fiddlemaker” – filmed Bewick trade riffs and the out that the film had to convincing. the four tunes) that is full polkas. “As the Crow at their 2012 concert in rest of the ensemble adds be edited for length so it Schneckenburger is of countermelodies and Flies” also includes two the Zeiterion – makes for little flourishes to keep can be broadcast on TV. more than equal to the contrasting simultaneous Heaton tunes – the mys- an enlightening comple- stirring the pot. “The members who are task. Versed as she is in rhythmic patterns, with tical “Bow for Rama” and ment. You get to see the “’Turka’ is another ex- responsible for most of the folk and traditional music, the focus on Heaton’s the sweet-toned “Maybe I engagement and repar- ample of how Childsplay arrangements tend to be Schneckenburger – whose unfailingly superb flute Might” (which appears in tee among the ensemble has grown and matured more visible, but every- voice has a sharper defini- alongside the lead fiddles “Starry Lullaby”) – Sch- members, and the sound as a band,” says Childs. one’s role in Childsplay tion to it than O’Donovan’s of Graham DeZarn and neckenburger’s menac- is a little more diffuse so “We’re seeing more and is valued, and you can gauzier quality – can cross Sam Amidon. Gradually, ingly beautiful “Katrina” that it’s possible to discern more how people are will- get a sense of that when over to contemporary, Murphy’s piano and the (named for the hurricane), some subtleties you might ing to move outside their you watch how everyone even pop: She has, after rest of the band coalesce a bright slip jig by Sheila have missed on the CD comfort zone and push interacts together.” all, recorded one CD of folk behind the trio as the Falls drolly titled “Slips (although the tent revival- things, and each other, a Besides, Childs adds, songs from New England, set moves along to a con- and Falls,” and from style chorus on “Don’t You little. And they rise to the there’s always the op- and another of pop tunes cluding reel. All told, it’s Hanneke Cassel, a char- Get Weary, Children” occasion.” portunity for other mem- like “I Think I Need a New breathtaking, in concept acteristically spiritual doesn’t come across as Inevitably, the film bers to formulate and Heart,” “Crimson and Clo- and execution. waltz (“The Last Alle- well as it does on the CD). seems to focus more on share ideas – and that ver” and “You Don’t Mess “We take a few weeks to luia”) and a reel set that And watching the unique Murphy, Heaton, Cassel, includes McNally, who Around with Jim.” On “As get together and practice blends the gritty “Lianne footwork and joie de vivre Falls, Schneckenburger, has arranged her first the Crow Flies,” she es- in earnest before the tour,” MacLean’s Revenge” with of Nic Gareiss – surely one and Bewick, who along Childsplay piece for this says a sprightly Irish song, says Child, “but, obvi- the euphoric “Catchy Bug” of the happiest people on with Childs appear in year’s tour, one of five new “Hawk and Crow” (avian ously, there’s a certain (which at one point pauses the face of the planet – is interviews between the selections that will debut. commentary on the ways incubation period before for a bluegrass-like cello always a pleasure. musical selections. That’s “It’s been very excit- of love), the stately mourn- then, and I talk to vari- break). “Nic isn’t just a dancer, where some discerning ing to see how the group ful American traditional ous people about ideas for It’s also worth noting he’s a musician,” says viewing, and listening has been going into new classic “Dear Companion,” sets. Keith said that his that the title track is Childs. “He really uses his to the CD, is helpful, to territory,” says Childs. a rousing Uncle Dave inspiration for the suite supplied in the form of a feet as a percussive instru- appreciate the textures “This year, for example, Macon composition “Don’t came from the nature of reel penned by legendary ment, with a number of added by, for example, one of the new pieces is a You Get Weary Children,” dreams, though he really Irish fiddler Liz Carroll, different sounds.” Mark Roberts’s five-string tango. That may seem a Shannon Heaton’s sub- didn’t know where it was who produced the CD. There is also a set banjo, Ralph Gordon’s departure for Childsplay, lime “Starry Lullaby” and going at first – this was “For the Childsplay CDs unavailable on “As the string bass or Kathleen but really, when you step – perhaps most impres- something very new for [“As the Crow Flies” is Crow Flies”: “Turka,” a Guilday’s harp – and, back and look at the path sively – “Leave No Mil- him. But he found that the band’s sixth], I’ve re- Russian gypsy violin piece for that matter, the full- we’ve traveled, it makes lionaire Behind,” a vivid, unique space between cruited people who have by Oleg Ponomarev that bodied sound all the Child- perfect sense.” semi-journalistic medita- fiddle, folk, and a whole never produced an album is performed by Falls and splay fiddlers supply. For details on Child- Bonnie Bewick, both of “There is not a con- splay’s performances and whom have strong clas- scious effort to ‘feature’ other information, see sical backgrounds. It’s a individuals on the DVD,” childsplay.org. splendidly hyperbolic ex- says Childs, who points travaganza, as Falls and Kelsey Latham of Con- Emmanuel’s Stewart wins necticut took third. Stewart, who studies EIRE Ladies Under 20 title in Irish dance at the Scoil Rince Naomh Attracta in All Ireland competition Brighton, won the 2012 North American title for pub Boston-area college stu- rolled locally in Emmanu- her age group and com- dent Emily Stewart cap- el College, the 19-year-old peted in the World Irish tured the Ladies Under-20 Stewart was one of two Dancing Championships 795 Adams St. • Dorchester title at last month’s All New England regional that were held in Boston Ireland Dance Champion- finalists to place in the this past March. ship held in Belfast. top three of the Ladies – SEAN SMITH “President’s Choice” A California native en- Under-20 competition: Cat’s Melodeon on Cape sets Philippines benefit Serving Lunch & Dinner Members of the Cape Services assistance efforts mouth. Free-will dona- Cod “Cat’s Melodeon” in the Philippines. tions will be gratefully session group will present The all-acoustic event accepted. an evening of Irish tra- will take place beginning For further informa- Every day, ditional music and song at 7 p.m. at the Beach tion, contact Bill Black at on Dec. 7 to benefit Red House, 17 Nathan Ellis 508- 540-5324 or at bill@ 7 days a week Cross and Catholic Relief Highway, North Fal- capeirish.com. Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 17 CD Reviews

By Sean Smith that includes the Sharon Shannon-Mike Scott-Steve strumental from Mist Covered Mountains, “This Distant Shore” • Wickham creation “The Kings of Kerry.” Spain’s Celtic re- A most pleasant, if somewhat abbreviated (only eight- The band’s Texas persona is in joyful evidence on a gion by the Ala- plus tracks), debut from this Western Massachusetts- pair of songs, “Pretty Fair Maid” – Moran’s country- bama (!) band based trio, consisting of Donna Hébert – well-respected style fiddle evoking the Bill Monroe-Tim O’Brien Mithril; Heather fiddler in Celtic, offshoots of this centuries-old ballad, sung here by Dale’s infectious, French-Canadi- Lewis – and “When First Into This Country,” with sprightly ver- an and Ameri- bodhran player Robert Shaddox’s splendid tenor sion of “Hunt- can styles – her voice riding along on Lewis’ cantering guitar and ing the Wren”; daughter, lead Heartsill’s riffs, which eventually give way to the reel Jed Marum’s vocalist Molly “Christmas Eve.” Shaddox also takes the lead on the inspired “Ban- Hébert-Wilson, more sedate and wistful “Erin Gra Mo Chroi” and “I jos We Have and guitarist- Once Loved a Lass” (which finishes up with Moran, Heard on High”; vocalist Max on the Scandinavian hardanger fiddle, taking up the and “Christmas Cohen. There’s Shetland air “Da Slockit Light”); Lewis, meanwhile, in Pittsburgh a real homespun does a bluesy-jazzy turn on a lesser-known version of 1943,” a nostal- character to the “Wild Rover.” Be it songs or instrumentals, there is gic nod to the album, centered good attention to detail and arrangement, and plenty Greatest Generation by Boston Blackthorne. as it is on the of verve and liveliness. On the other side of the ledger, however, are rendi- sharing of music “A Celtic Christmas: Marc Gunn’s Irish & Celtic tions of chestnuts (musical, not roasting on the open between generations: Molly’s sources for most of the Music Podcast” • This is an uneven but not by any fire) like “Silent Night” and “I Saw Three Ships” that songs here were her mother, Cohen, and her Donegal- means disagreeable collection of tracks featuring so- are less than memorable, and songs that rely on the born NYU Irish language professor, Pádraig Ó Cearúil. called “indie Celtic bands,” assembled by Marc Gunn, all-too-familiar rowdy/drunken/loopy Irish persona. Hébert-Wilson’s incredibly polished and assured creator of the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast and other Not to mention a tiresome “Bog Down in the Valley” singing – in English and Gaelic – will justifiably draw ventures associated with Celtic music and culture. The reworked for Christmas. a lot of attention, notably on the traditional songs material is a mix of traditional and other well-known Still, if nothing else, “A Christmas Celtic” helps to “Caídé Sín Don Té Sín” (described as “the Irish lan- Christmas-associated tunes and songs with original put a spotlight on acts that perhaps warrant a second, guage equivalent of ‘mind your own business’”) and compositions that are (theoretically) in the holiday or third, listen among Celtic music aficionados. Pretty the Scottish “Fear An Bhata (The Boatman).” But spirit, with varying degrees of “Celticness.” Among good tidings. this is a trio, after all, so Hébert’s masterful fiddling the highlights are: “Galician Carol,” an energetic in- and string arrangements, along with Cohen’s equally capable accompaniment, merit notice as well. The opening track, the American folk song “Katie Cruel,” brings out all these qualities, from Cohen’s intricately rhythmic backing to Hébert’s expressive fiddle breaks. Things really click on Archie Fisher’s “Witch of the Westmerlands,” about the generosity and succor a wounded knight receives from a woman of strange and magical ways. Fisher’s original was mesmerizing and gentle, while Stan Rogers’ much-loved cover gave it folk-rock gusto, but Hébert-Wilson and Cohen find yet another dimension to the song, their sweet harmonies underscoring the unlikely but profound bond between knight and witch. In a similar yet contrasting vein is “The Gifts,” by Amherst-area songwriter Richard Berman, which recounts a departure from home and loved ones with a vague yet palpable foreshadowing — Hébert’s multi- tracked fiddle looms ominously in the background, like an approaching dark cloudbank. Its setting in an undefined past serves as a reminder that long journeys can mean wrenching and immutable life changes, and its timeless theme of choices and consequences — and the regrets that can follow — is conveyed with apt starkness by the trio. The other tracks offer a charming three-part har- mony a cappella version of “The Parting Glass” (with an extra verse supplied by Cohen), the rather melancholic Berman-Cohen composition “The Wedding Dance” and the sensitive but not maudlin “Let Them In, Peter,” Elma Dean’s World War II elegy for fallen soldiers that was set to music by songwriter John Gorka. (There’s also a bonus track, Cohen’s “Hamster Heav- en,” whisker-close to being overly cute but redeemed by an amusing twist at the end; sure to be appreciated by any parent who’s had to contend with the trauma of missing and presumed dead four-footed friends.) Mist Covered Mountains will make their way east on Feb. 27 to perform at Boston College’s Gaelic Roots series [bc.edu/gaelicroots], and “This Distant Shore” should build anticipation for hearing more of their repertoire. The Jig is Up! “On Yer Toes!” • Deep in the heart of Texas dwells The Jig Is Up! (exclamation mark included), a Houston quin- tet with a Lone Star State-sized sound, muster- ing accordion, flutes, whistles, fiddle, viola, banjo, guitar, and bodhran, among other in- struments, for their repertoire of mostly traditional Irish tunes and songs. There are plenty of familiar session favorites – “Maid Behind the Bar,” “Galway Rambler,” “Last Night’s Fun,” Hag with the Money,” “Maid of Mount Kisco,” “Bird in the Bush” – played with en- ergy and vigor, as well as other tunes that present a higher degree of difficulty: Check out their set pairing the Scottish “Tuamgraney Castle” with “The Belfast Hornpipe,” the latter distinguished by its ridiculously elaborate, triplet-heavy third part. At various junctures, The Jig Is Up! puts the full- band format to the side and showcases a few members’ talents. Flute/whistle player Larry Mallette gets his turn in the spotlight with a leisurely take on one of Clare fiddler Paddy Fahey’s numerous untitled compositions, and then fiddler Diehl Moran has a go at an American contra dance classic “The Bus Stop Reel” – throwing in some variations and improvisations along the way – while guitarist Matt Lewis does an estimable job backing both. Later, Lewis does a duet on E-flat flute with Mallette on those wonderful chestnuts “Maid Behind the Bar” and “Galway Rambler,” accompanied with zest by guest pianist Kendall Rogers. Accordi- onist Judson Heartsill spearheads a medley of slides Page 18 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Christmas Flavors of Ireland by Margaret M. Johnson

This tart is a real crowd-pleaser, full of interesting flavors and texture. Make it as one large tart or as tartlets. The recipe is adapted with permission from Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., and for authentic Irish flavor, substitute Cashel Blue, Ireland’s first farmhouse blue, for Roquefort.

• 1 refrigerated pie crust, at room temperature • 8 oz./225 g cream cheese, at room temperature • 1/2 cup/60 g crumbled Cashel Blue cheese, at room temperature • 2 tbsp. milk • 1 large egg, beaten • 3/4 cup/90 g sweetened dried cranberries • 2 tbsp. chopped chives • 2 tbsp. chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 450° F/230° C. Slowly unroll the pie crust and place in an ungreased 9 in./23 cm tart pan with removable bottom. Press firmly against the side and bottom. Fold excess crust under and press together to form thick crust edge; flute the edges. Prick bottom and side with fork and bake 9–11 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool ten minutes; reduce oven temperature to 375° F/190° C.

2. Beat the cream cheese and blue cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Beat in milk and egg until smooth. Stir in the cranberries and chives. Spread mixture into the prepared shell and sprinkle with pecans.

3. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the filling is set. Let stand thirty minutes before serving. Can be made one day ahead; cover and refrigerate. To serve, cut into wedges.

These savory scone-like biscuits are a terrific addition to a mid-day meal. Try them with spiced apple compote (page 62).

• 3 slices Irish breakfast bacon, chopped • 2 1/2 cups/300 g all-purpose flour • 2 tbsp. granulated sugar • 1 tbsp. baking powder • 3/4 tsp. cream of tartar • 1/2 tsp. salt • 8 tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces • 1 cup/225 g grated Kerrygold Cheddar cheese • 2 tbsp. minced fresh herbs, such as parsley, rosemary, and chives • 1 large egg • 1 1/4 cups/300 ml buttermilk

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon, turning frequently, for 7–9 minutes, or until crisp. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. 2. Preheat the oven to 400° F/200° C. Spray the cups of two 12-well muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray. 3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse 2–3 times to blend. Add the butter and process for 10–15 seconds, or until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 4. Add the cheese and herbs and pulse 2–3 times to blend. Add the egg and buttermilk and process for 10–20 seconds, or until soft dough forms. Add the bacon. 5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 23–25 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for ten minutes.

Just about any type of finger food made with prepared puff pastry—Pepperidge Farms brand in the US, or Jus-Rol brand in Ireland and the United Kingdom—is a no-brainer for a holiday party. These easy, but impressive rolled pastries are an absolute essential. You can fill them with grated Dubliner cheese and rosemary, or with any of your favorite cheeses and herbs. For an easier filling, (see Variation).

• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed • 3–4 tbsp. wholegrain mustard, such as Lakeshore brand • 1 1/2 cups/175 g grated Dubliner cheese • 2–3 tbsp. crushed rosemary

1. Place pastry on a lightly floured surface with one of the short sides closest to you. With a rolling pin, roll gently to smooth creases. 2. Spread each sheet with mustard and sprinkle with the cheese and rosemary. Starting from the short side at the bottom, roll up the pastry sheet just to the center; roll the other side toward the center; and lightly press rolled halves together. Repeat with second sheet. 3. Wrap in plastic and freeze for at least three hours (or up to one month). Just before baking, let stand at room temperature for about fifteen minutes. 4. Preheat the oven to 375º F/190º C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut each roll into 24 slices. Place slices 1/2 in./7 cm apart on sheet and bake for fifteen minutes, or until golden. Serve or at room temperature (Can be made ahead, wrapped in plastic and frozen. Reheat in 375º F/190º C oven for about five minutes.) Variations Cheese-Filled Stars: Follow directions for defrosting and rolling 2 pastry sheets as above. With a pastry cutter, cut out pairs of star shapes in various sizes. In the center of every other star, place a small cube of Dubliner. Wet the edges of the stars with milk, cover each star with the other star in the pair to make a sandwich, and press the edges together with your fingers or a small knife. In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg yolk. Brush over the stars and sprinkle with 1 tsp. sesame seeds. Bake as above. Makes about 30 stars

Maureen Fennessy has been the head chef at The Park Hotel in Dungarvan, County Waterford, for more than two decades. She can recite most of her recipes from memory, often adding an anecdote or cooking tip about a special ingredient, pan size, or favorite embel- lishment. For this cake, she strongly suggests you “sprinkle it with a little whiskey (Knappogue Castle Single Malt or Clontaf 1014 preferred)— more than a little if you want—as soon as it’s baked.” She also says it is a perfect cake to put an end to all those fruitcake jokes. • 2 1/4 cups/300 g all-purpose flour • 1 tsp. baking powder • 8 oz./225 g butter, at room temperature • 1 cup/225 g granulated sugar • 3 large eggs • 2 tsp. grated lemon rind • 1/4 tsp. vanilla • 3/4 cup/115 g sultanas (golden raisins) • 3/4 cup/115g currants • 1/3 cup/60 g candied cherries, quartered • 1/3 cup/60 g candied mixed peel • 1/3 cup/60 g sliced almonds for topping • Irish whiskey for sprinkling 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C. Butter a 9 in. x 5 in./23 cm x 12.5 cm loaf pan. Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium bowl. Set aside. 2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in thoroughly and adding some of the flour with each egg. Fold in the lemon rind, vanilla, remaining flour, sultanas, raisins, cherries, and mixed peel (batter will be thick). 3. Transfer to the prepared pan, sprinkle with the almonds, and bake for 75–80 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean (cover with aluminum foil after one hour if almonds brown too much). Remove from the oven, prick the top with a skewer, and drizzle with the whiskey while still warm. 4. Let the cake cool completely, wrap in wax paper, and then in foil. Cake will keep for ten days (can be frozen). Page 20 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com Traveling People Strong push is on to give Old Irish Goats rare breed status By Judy Enright Group.” The latter group, fered, accommodation and Special to the BIR working with the tourist meal specials, spectacular It would probably be fair office in Mulranny, offers views from her lovely to call me a stalker – in the films and guided walks of home and, of course, the nicest sense of the word, the area. goats. of course. With funding from the Her ten-bedroom home For at least a decade, Department of Agricul- is a short walk from the I have stalked Old Irish ture, stuffed goat heads beach and in a round Goats all around Mulran- – three from Westport tower building down the ny, Co. Mayo. I desperate- House alone – have been driveway there is a large, ly wanted to photograph collected so genetic typing bright studio where she them with their shaggy, could be done from DNA offers classes in making unruly coats and huge, al- to prove that ancient goats glass beads, landscape most other-worldly horns. that thrived on marginal photography, botanical Friends had advised land have the same DNA drawing, and more. Guest me to drive the curvy as today’s feral goats. workshops are also of- Belmullet road. “The goats One of the stuffed heads fered during the season are always there on the dated from 1895 and was and there are themed bio hillside,” they said. Yet, owned by a local farmer. weekends, one of which no goats, no matter how The goats have a long focuses on the Old Irish many times I drove the lineage, said to stretch Goats. Sounds like great route. past the Neolithic Age to fun. “They are always in the Ice Age. Cheryl also leads a the town (Mulranny),” Dr. Ruth A. Enright volunteer group, called friends said. I had never (no relation) was working “Gift of Hands.” The group seen them there until one with the Mulranny group works in the studio and evening when we went to last spring to study DNA makes functional items dinner at the Park Hotel and propel the effort for from textiles, glass, and and the most magnificent, Resident of The Donkey Sanctuary in Mallow, Co. Cork. rare breed status. She did other recycled materi- regal Billy Goat, sporting her PhD thesis on feral als. There are 20 regulars a long, grey beard, was goats, animal behavior, and visitors are welcome there, busily snacking group composition, and to join them in crafting or on the hotel’s specimen how herds work. just stop by to purchase plantings. Of course, I While there are many accessories to wear, items didn’t have my camera! goats roaming the hill- for the table, the wall and Every spring when I sides in Ireland, there are floor as well as handmade visit Mayo, I stalk these few that are pure Old Irish glass buttons and jew- amazing-looking crea- Goats, she said. In other elry. Scraps are donated tures. There are said to parts of the country, such to the group by nearby be about 70 inhabiting the as the Burren, goats have Foxford Woolen Mills and hills around Mulranny. bred with dairy and other are used to weave rugs, This May, friends vis- domestic goats so the hats, scarves, and gloves. ited from Co. Westmeath Mulranny herd is unique. Many of the items made and, because it was rain- In his wonderful Sat- there are also for sale ing, we decided to have urday column – “Another in the Mulranny Tourist lunch at The Beehive Life” – in The Irish Times, Office. on Achill Island. I asked Michael Viney writes: “We find a skill level for them to stop in Mulranny “This was not the best of everyone,” Cheryl said, en route so I could run into winters in which to be a adding that guests at the the Tourist Office (totally goat, at least not one of Park Hotel in town are manned by volunteers and the wilder sort that Robert invited to join the group as exceptionally helpful.) Lloyd Praeger described part of their Irish experi- As I exited the car in the in “The Way That I Went” ence. “The only pressure parking lot across from – ‘See them on some rocky here is that they have to the office, I spotted two place – a herd of them, of do the project right!” Old Irish Goats huddled all ages – led by a grand Several years ago, Cher- against a small yellow old patriarch with huge yl came up with the idea house seeking shelter curving horns! They fit to make wonderful, goofy from the storm. I grabbed in so naturally among Old Irish Goat hand pup- my camera and took as heather and gnarled rock, pets. Each one is hand- Feral goat in search of food along the Great Western Greenway in Co. Mayo. and mount a miniature many shots as I could Judy Enright photos made and has a comical before they hopped over Matterhorn with such a face, curly beard, and a hedge and disappeared this giving season. To date, the two groups donkey several years run- regal, king-of-the-castle the funniest boots. Sales down the hill. To me, the Old Irish have taken in more than ning for my young Pitts- air!’ benefit the Old Irish Goat Later that week, we Goat movement mirrors 12,500 donkeys in Eng- burgh granddaughter, “Praeger’s glimpse, get- project. spotted one of the goats the wonderful efforts land and Ireland. who seemed to enjoy the ting on for a century ago, See these websites for on the Great Western made down in Co. Cork Visitors are welcome at information and the gift. was of the ‘wild’ goats more: mulranny.ie and Greenway that runs from at The Donkey Sanctuary, the Liscarroll Sanctuary For more details, visit around Mulranny, tucked http://bit.ly/TheChanc- Westport to Achill Sound. where rescued donkeys and one of their fun proj- the website where you beneath the mountains eToSurvive. We pulled over and took from all over Ireland are ects at this time of year can see five donkeys from at the corner of Clew Bay CONCERT FOR pictures until a car roared taken in, fed, and cared is the “adopt-a-donkey” which to choose, includ- in Co. Mayo. They’re still KYLEMORE up behind us and we had for. There are currently program. Adopters re- ing Jacksie, who was there, browsing the bushy Back in the States, a to move on. more than 650 rescued ceive details of whichever brought to the sanctuary Mediterranean heather VIP reception and Winter RARE BREED donkeys at the sanctu- donkey they choose, with at two days old because his above the road or, on the Gala Concert, featuring STATUS ary (thedonkeysanctuary. a drawing and adoption mother’s milk had dried rawest days this winter, Julie Feeney, from Co. So, why would anyone ie) in Liscarroll outside certificate. They also get up. Jacksie was bottle fed even clattering into the Galway, will be held Dec. feature goats in a pre- Mallow. a bi-annual report on every two hours around village to sample garden 18 at the House of the holiday column? Well, be- Paddy Barrett and his their donkey. It’s a great the clock, thrived and shrubs across the walls. Redeemer, 7 East 95th cause the effort the people family started a donkey Christmas gift and hope- survived. What Praeger didn’t know St., New York City, to in Mulranny are making rescue many years ago fully heightens the sen- OLD IRISH GOATS (apart from the fact that benefit the new Education to save the Old Irish Goats that linked up in 1987 sitivity of the recipient There is a major under- it’s the oldest nanny goat Center at Kylemore Abbey is a “feel good” story about with The Donkey Sanctu- to the benefits of rescue taking now in the Mul- that is the leader) was in Connemara. volunteering and giving ary, based in Sidmouth, for these animals that ranny area to have the Old that Mulranny’s goats – Suggested donations back and rescue and about Devon, UK. Since the are too often neglected Irish Goats win rare breed some 50 or more – could start at $500. For more the Irish and their efforts effort started in Ireland, after having spent their status, which would hope- be descended from some information on the eve- to preserve heritage and more than 3,800 donkeys lives working hard on fully keep them from being of our oldest animals, at ning, please contact Mary wildlife. It all goes with have been cared for there. Irish farms. I “adopted” a destroyed by angry hom- least as native and Irish Reed at 914-420-3517 or eowners whose gardens as red deer or the Kerry send an e-mail to mreed@ they have destroyed. Even bog pony,” Viney wrote. friendsofkylemoreabbey. a small group of these ESSENCE OF com. To make a tax-free Phillips Candy House critters can devastate a MULRANNY gift, please contact friend- Cheryl Cobern-Browne sofkylemoreabbey.com. fine chocolates since 1925 garden overnight so they are not wildly popular is one of many devoted vol- All funds raised will go with Mulranny residents unteers working to save toward building the new who have spent effort and the goats. A rehabilitation Education Center for Col- money on greenery. area has been set up in an lege Studies. The goat project, ac- abandoned house on her The Benedictine Nuns cording to Sean Carolan, Mulranny property where plan to establish an Edu- chairman of the Mul- injured goats are treated cation Center at Kyle- ranny Environmental before being released back more, which they envision Group (cbiocentre.ie) was to the wild. will be utilized by many stimulated by the work Cobern-Browne also American colleges and of Dr. Ray Werner, a runs an arts retreat center church groups. noted authority on goats (EOM) for small groups HAPPY HOLIDAYS in England and Ireland, in Mulranny and hosts We wish all our readers and “is a collaborative groups of visitors “for very happy holidays with effort between the Old the Mulranny experi- the hope that the New Irish Goat Society and the ence.” On her website, Year brings them much Mulranny Environmental essenceofmulranny.com, health and happiness. you can see courses of- Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 21 Ireland Campaign to support nonprofit now, but to have the sustained help of American Ireland Fund cites organizations across the island of Ireland The American Ireland Fund is a neces- and around the world. The Boston Gala is sity – especially in these difficult times.” one of the largest of The Worldwide Ire- Other guests included Bob Reynolds Mary McAleese before 1,100 land Funds’ 100+ international events. of Putnam Investments; Robert Kraft of Mac Intyre offered this as testament the New England Patriots; Jay Hooley At its 32d Annual Boston Dinner Gala President McAleese. [See a separate to the purpose of the American Ireland of State Street Corporation; Mike Shee- at the Westin Boston Waterfront on Nov. interview with Dr. McAleese on Page 6 Fund: “As an Irish kid, I saw that The han of Hill Holliday, Loretta Brennan 21, The American Ireland Fund honored in this edition.] American Ireland Fund had an immea- Glucksman, Chairman of The American Dr. Mary McAleese, former President The gala, chaired by Des Mac Intyre, surable impact on the Irish people’s Ireland Fund; Mike Mahoney of Boston of Ireland, and currently a visiting pro- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer sense of self-worth, their sense of hope Scientific; Ron O’Hanley of Fidelity fessor at Boston College. In a special of Standish, a wholly-owned subsidiary and aspirations and above all the sense Investments; and Scott Powers of State Irish twist, Boston’s Mayor-elect and of BNY Mellon, raised $2.3 million for of connectivity to the US. 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Exp______Page 22 December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com The Irish Language by Philip Mac AnGhabhann Celtic Nollaig Shona Doibh! “Happy/Merry Christmas to you-all.” Cross Last month we discussed both gender and Words plural of some nouns. Although we touched on it, we primarily avoided the subject of Case – The Irish specifically theGenitive Case. crosswords are What is a Genitive Case? For new readers, a service of an it is the form of a noun when it is used as a descriptor – as an adjective. English examples Ireland-based might be … website which “roof of the house.” “seat of the chair” provides Irish “member of the committee” Family Coats of However, in English it is more common to Arms by email. “front” the second noun, giving us, “house roof”, “chair seat” and “committee member.” You are invited Irish cannot “front” the second noun but can to visit eliminate the little word “of” at times. This may seem awkward to English speakers but www. is normal to say in Irish, “Captain the boat”, Caiptin an báid /KAP-tuhn uh bahj/. Here bigwood.com/ the word for “boat” must be in the Genitive Case. heraldry

Fear an tí, “man (of) the house” refers to the Announcer of a Feis or Céile. IRELAND IN CROSSWORDS ©-bigwood.com ACROSS 6. Lied very badly about the birth. (8) Recent studies have shown that younger 1. I’d be Ginger Hill. (anag.) Carlow birthplace of sci- 7. Fit women live up here in small Tyrone plantation speakers are simplifying the Irish language entist John Tyndall in the Barrow valley. (14) town near the Fermanagh border. (12) and eliminating the Genitive – but “Official” 8. Vine about right for small Donegal fishing village 10. Her flag team wavers in Derry market town near Irish and older speakers still use the Genitive at the mouth of the Eaney River where Tom Nesbitt, Lough Neagh, and angling centre for Moyola River. (11) Case – and so will we. inventor of the whale harpoon was born. (5) 12. Ann shall by no other means go to the largest town 9. “Widgery didgery dok, the army ran ——. The judge in south Donegal on the banks of the Erne. (12) said ‘No, it wasn’t so; they didn’t run they wok’” Derry 15. Agree certainly to include 29 across’s country. (6) You have already had one use of the Geni- street rhyme following the Widgery Tribunal into 16. Speaks in truest fashion. (6) tive in the expression, “How much?” followed Bloody Sunday in 1971. (4) 17. Farm layer seen in Glenbeigh enclosure. (3) by a noun in the Genitive Case. Of course 11. Join one to use one, of course. (4) 18. “That passed the time. It would have passed in — you can fudge if you don’t know the name of 12. This produces moving air for the devotee. (3) case. Yes but not so rapidly.” Beckett. (3) 14. “Bernard Shaw hasn’t an —— in the world, and 19. Bail into disorder and produce a drink fit for the something by asking, “How much are these?”, none of his friends like him.” Oscar Wilde. (5) gods. (8) Cá mheád iad seo? or “How much are those?” 15. Lover gets disturbed after note and will plead in a 22. Settle the land and restrict its possession in tale Cá mheád iad sin? self-humiliating way. (6) of chaos. (6) 16. He will put her after us when showing where the 24. Fowl with its head covered? (5) seats are. (5) Fudging aside, how do you form the Geni- 25. Towards the centre in Dublin town. (4) 18. Mary got confused by the military. (4) 26. A thousand times in front metrically when 49 go tive? The Genitive singular is the same as 19. Kneel, try net. (anag.) Principal Donegal town near into knockout. (4) the plural of most nouns. You will learn the the head of Lough Swilly. (11) exceptions because I will explain new nouns by 20. Ireland of the poets and songwriters gets in after CROSSWORD SOLUTION ON PAGE 23 giving you the singular, plural, and Genitive Queen Elizabeth. (4) 21. Search recklessly and rob firearm coming back Singular forms. You will use the Singular from Listowel firing range. (5) form of the Genitive most often. 23. Speaks formally even though sore at mix-up in Irish Sayings … Kilfenora tests. (6) A narrow neck keeps the bottle from being emptied Also, there is the problem of dialect. You will 24. Can no letters be enough for the law of the church in one swig. come across many dialects. Some nouns that I in Lucan only? (5) Show the fatted calf but not the thing that fattened him. 25. Of that family in Spancil kinship. (3) gave you in the last lesson show dialect differ- Marry a woman from the mountain, and you’ll marry 27. Small metal spike fixing wood that’s lain up in the mountain. ences. These are shown on the following table: Ballina illness. (4) It’s better to solve the problem than to improve the law. 28. Christina comes around at last and is against it. (4) The thing that is closest to the heart, is closest to the Noun Singular Plural Genitive 29. Starting softly, alto goes to pieces for author of “The Republic”. (5) mouth. Singular Don’t bring your troubles to the person who hasn’t got “river” abhainn abhann abhann 30. Neil and colonel get ordered to see barrister who secured Catholic Emancipation for Ireland in 1829. (6,8) sympathy for your case. or aibhneacha A scholar’s ink lasts longer than a martyr’s blood. “woman” bean mrá mrá DOWN Take gifts with a sigh , most men give to be paid. “church” eaglais eaglaise eaglaise 2. Was jealous of the end I’ve contrived. (6) A country without a language is a country without a “ship” long loinge loinge 3. Nothing grey about north Wexford town near the soul. “mother” máthair máthar máthar Wicklow border with a 1798 Memorial Cross. (5) The person that isn’t strong, has to be clever. or máthaireache 4. Flea hops over the page in Rathkeale afterwards. (4) Youth sheds many a skin.The steed (horse) does not “fire” tine tinte tinte 5. Small number on at midday. (4) retain its speed forever. “night” oíche oícheannta ADVERTISEMENT “kitchen” cístin cístine cístine “boat” bád báid báid “cat” cat cait cait “door” doras doirse doisis “son” mac mic mic Photography by “house” teach tithe tí “fish” iasc éisc éisc “shop” síopa síopaí siopaí “man” fear fir fir Image Photo Service There is a tendency in modern spoken Irish • Weddings • Anniversaries to make nouns plural by suffixing (adding to the end) -(e)ache or –(e)annta. Some of these • Banquets • Portraits have become standard.. You will quickly learn these as you visit the Gaelteacht. • Reunions

Sometimes Genitive forms are marked in • Groups • Families Irish dictionaries as Gen. However, this form of a noun is often omitted in “pocket” dictionar- • Special Occasions ies. You will quickly learn these variants when you visit the Gaelteacht. Go with the plural if you know it. (617) 291-6609 The official photographers of the Boston Irish Reporter Worldwide at www.bostonirish.com December 2013 BOSTON IRISH Reporter Page 23 Ireland to exit bailout program without backstop By Shawn Pogatchnik Associated Press DUBLIN — Ireland will exit its international bailout agreement this month without the safety net of a precautionary credit line, Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced late last month in a sign that the Irish are confident they won’t suffer a beating in the bond markets. The decision means Ireland will be the first of the Eurozone’s four bailout recipients to wean itself off of emergency aid from the European Union and Inter- national Monetary Fund. The move comes three years after Ireland was forced to take 67.5 billion euros ($91 billion) in loans to avoid bankruptcy. “We will exit the bailout in a strong position,” Kenny told lawmakers in Dublin. Ireland sabotaged its own credit rating by deciding, in 2008, to insure the nation’s banks against losses incurred in a collapsing property market. That commitment ultimately cost taxpayers more than 65 billion euros, a bill the state couldn’t finance. But Ireland’s reputation has steadily recovered as, under EU-IMF scrutiny, the government has slashed spending, hiked taxes, and exceeded a series of deficit-reduction targets. Reflecting his cautious outlook, Finance Minister The Irish Emigrant hosted a November 7 event titled Irish Heroes of New England, recognizing heroic Michael Noonan initially had said he wanted Ireland actions at Sandy Hook school and in the wake of the BAA Marathon bombings. Among the recipients to take a precautionary credit line of potentially 10 were (l-r): Ken Casey, Dropkick Murphys; Lt. Sean O’Brien, Boston Fire Department; Lt. J. Paul Vance, billion euros to ensure the success of any bailout exit. Connecticut State Police; Michael Sheehan, Hill Holliday and Co-founder of One Fund Boston; Claire Both the European Central Bank and IMF had said O’Brien, co-founder of “Dance out for Jane;” MBTA police Officer Richard Donohue; Boston police Of- Ireland would be wise to secure one. ficer Richard Moriarty; and Alana O’Brien, co-founder of “Dance out for Jane.” Boston’s Irish Consul But Noonan told an emergency Cabinet meeting last General Breandán Ó Caollaí, (rear left) presented Irish Heritage certificates to the honorees on behalf month that such aid would come with unattractively of the Irish Government. (Sandie McDaid photo, courtesy Irish Central.) restrictive conditions, so Ireland should make do without it. He and other government leaders said taking out IRA car bomb targets EU-IMF insurance would create the impression that Lakefront Home Ireland was still subject to foreign aid. Belfast’s top shopping mall In Brussels, the EU’s Economic and Monetary Affairs with Marina for Sale in Ireland Commissioner, Olli Rehn, said Ireland’s decision would BELFAST – A suspected Irish Republican Army car “send a very clear signal to markets and international bomb targeting Belfast’s biggest shopping center failed lenders that the adjustment effort undertaken in Ire- to detonate on Mon., Nov. 25. Police say the driver, who land ... has paid off.” was ordered to deliver the bomb, was traumatized, and Kenny said would-be buyers of new Irish bonds should security in the Northern Ireland capital is being increased be reassured that the country has built up more than in the run-up to Christmas. 20 billion euros ($27 billion) in emergency reserves. He Police evacuated a cinema, restaurants, and apart- added that the government next month would unveil ments connected to the Victoria Square complex after the a medium-term plan to spur economic growth while car, containing about 130 pounds (60 kilograms) of home- continuing to rein in the national debt. made explosive, was abandoned Sunday night at the en- For people who appreciate our beautiful countryside, “It will be an economic plan based on enterprise, not trance to the shopping center’s underground parking lot. rivers and lakes, welcome to your private retreat; “Bruach speculation. Never again will our country’s fortunes be Loch Bó Finne” which is the Irish for “Shore of Lough sacrificed to speculation, greed and short-term gain,” Boffin” As the name suggests, the property adjoins Kenny said in reference to the previous Irish govern- Lough Boffin. It is truly a boating and fishing paradise. ment’s decade-long stoking of a runaway property market and weak regulation of banks. The large six bed, six bath house sits on six landscaped The Finance Department in a statement said the acres with oak trees, natural dry stone walls, extensive treasury’s reserves would be sufficient to fund Ireland lawns, lots of walkways, and a large sheltered modern through 2014 if, in a worst-case scenario, global inves- private marina with a slipway, floating jetties and a large tors again dumped Irish debt securities as happened storage area. The house is 290 Meters from the main in 2009 and 2010. road which adds to the peacefulness, there are two It said Ireland expected to post a 2013 deficit of 4.8 entrances and the main driveway is lined with oak trees. percent of economic output, better than the EU-IMF Contact Barry Hoey, a Roscommon native, who is the goal of 5.1 percent. Ireland posted an EU-record deficit Seller/Realtor at www.rivershannonhome.com. Business in 2010 of 34 percent, reflecting that year’s gargantuan for sale in Ireland also: www.rooskyengineering.com bank-rescue costs. The reserves mean Ireland’s treasury does not need Buying? Selling? Renting? Moving? Contact Barry to rush into the bond markets next month, but can at 251-504-5587 or [email protected]. sell securities gradually through 2014 and pause in the event of any new short-term crises of confidence in the eurozone. Ireland has already resumed limited auctions of bonds over the past year at relatively affordable prices. The yields on Irish bonds have even fallen below those of Spain and Italy. Economists said Ireland’s decision to forego EU-IMF insurance was better news for Ireland than for the Eu- rozone, whose 17 members still must find a way to guide Greece, Portugal and Cyprus back into the markets. “The region has missed the opportunity to establish a precedent for how (bailout) program exit is managed,” said Malcolm Barr, an analyst at JP Morgan Chase in London.

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