Checking out Westport, winner of Ireland’s best place to live - Exploring why Mayo town won The Irish Times' coveted award

The Mayo town of Westport lies hard by the Atlantic Ocean almost as far westward as you can go, next stop America.

It was recently voted Ireland’s best place to live after a fierce competition in which Irish Times judges visited hundreds of spots around Ireland to compare to each other.

What is fascinating is how little dispute there was that Westport had won.

Beauty spots like Killarney and Dingle, hip urban enclaves like Rathmines in Dublin and many other long revered locations never seemed to come close.

I had never been to Westport, though my brother-in-law hails from there, as you almost have to be going there specifically, as against a spot you may pass through.

On a recent visit I decided to check out what all the fuss was about. The Irish Times criteria was not just beauty, but also community spirit and drive, affordability, good dining, cleanliness etc.

What I saw in Westport was lots of all those features.

At first glance the town has a San Francisco feel, with the houses and businesses located among several fairly steep and picturesque hills.

The riot of color and different paint hues is immediately apparent. Far too many Irish towns are dull and grey with little attempt to spice them up.

Westport is the very opposite, a kaleidoscope of different hues of colors that set off against the summer sky and give the impression of a little Shangri-la.

One of my immediate tests of how good any town is to check out the number of bookstores, which I believe sends its own message about culture and access in a town.

Westport certainly measures up, and books focused on local knowledge and topics certainly abound.

In one small store we found old editions of the works of Dylan Thomas and Jonathan Swift, both incredibly well-priced. It was a good omen.

The main streets might remind American visitors of The Hamptons in New York with lots of upscale little stores selling baubles and antiques of all descriptions -- a browser’s delight.

The people staffing the stores were universally friendly and keen to chat, giving that west of Ireland propensity to accept the proverb that when God made time he made plenty of it.

An old town clock, a winding river, a feeling of a close-knit community going about its business makes Westport feel special.

Matt Molloy’s pub in the centre of Westport is a well-known landmark. Owned by the famed Chieftains musician, it has a wonderful old feel to it, an authentic Irish pub in a world full of poor imitations. Though we visited during the day there were several present and a music session was promised for that night.

We stopped in a local bar/ restaurant where the seafood chowder had just won an international award and the smoked salmon and brown bread was to die for. If it is seafood you want, Westport certainly has it.

We took a drive out the coast road toward Louisburg with the mighty Atlantic to our right and the small villages that dot this part of Mayo to our left. In the distance the small islands that dot the coastline were visible on a clear summer day. It was an uplifting and scenic drive.

Two points of negative note. The traffic jam in the town on the way back in was of epic proportions, and looking at the price of property it is clear that living in this little paradise doesn’t come cheap even with Ireland’s property collapse.

After a day spent there it looked to me like the Irish Times jury picked wisely. Well worth a visit if you get the opportunity.

Chief Justice John Roberts votes his Catholic conscience on Health Care bill -- One of six Catholics on court and a true lover of Ireland

Chief Justice John Roberts with President Obama

Chief Justice John Roberts has become the hero, or villain, of the hour depending on your politics on the Supreme Court decision.

Roberts voted with the liberal side, throwing the left and right into chaos as they pondered this new reality in a case where most believed a 5-4 majority was dependent on Judge Kennedy not Roberts.

I am not totally surprised. I met Roberts when he came to our inaugural Legal 100 event for Irish America Magazine, held at the Irish Embassy a few years back. I found him far form being the right wing ideologue so many have painted him.

He and his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, are frequent visitors to Ireland where they have a holiday home in the Shannon area.

They are a very pleasant couple, very little airs or graces and clearly not overly impressed with their own importance.

Jane Sullivan is a major powerhouse in her own right, a daughter of Irish immigrants who long before her husband had gained his prominent position had been on of DC’s top attorneys.

Roberts is very fond of Ireland and has taught courses there. Indeed, much of my conversation with him was about finding a thatcher for the roof in the Irish cottage, which was in need of repair.

Roberts is one of six Catholics on the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alioto and Sonia Sotamayor are the others.

How much his Catholic fate influences him or indeed how it affects all the other Supreme Court Catholics will never be known.

There was a time when the idea of six Catholics on the Supreme Court was a pipe dream and a complete fantasy.

No more. The most important laws in the land are now being shaped by leading Catholics from liberals like Sotamayor to conservatives like Scalia.

It is quite a turn in terms of history and Roberts decision to side with the four liberal justices will be analyzed form pillar to post.

We will never know why but clearly like a good Catholic he voted his conscience on this issue.

In search of "The Quiet Man" in wild and wonderful Connemara -- Hot on the trail of the most famous Irish movie ever made

Connemara, Co. Galway

You drive out of Galway, on the Connemara road, and soon you take a step back in time as the years fall away and a strange yet familiar landscape emerges.

Suddenly you are in Ireland circa the late 1940s and the scenes and shots from "The Quiet Man" loom large.

The first stop is the little bridge over the river where the famous fight between John Wayne and Victor McLaglen takes place. Although it is a dull, misty morning, already the cars are lined up and the photographers snapping.

The man in front of us is from Los Angeles and a confirmed John Ford fan.

“It has been a dream and ambition” he says as he snaps his wife and daughter leaning on the parapet where John Wayne delivered a famous hay-maker to McLaglen.

He is not Irish, but loves John Ford, real name Sean O’Feeney, whose idyllic vision of Ireland in the movie has shaped the perceptions of millions of Americans since.

Ford did the same for our sense of the Wild West, especially in movies like “Stagecoach”. He was a larger than life presence in Hollywood in his day, but by all accounts "The Quiet Man" which he had battled to have made for several years, was his favorite film.

It is easy to see why. The spectacular Connemara landscape, where his parents hailed from, stretches in front of us for miles in every direction. Rugged mountains, meadows, stone walls,  gorse, heather, and more lakes than you can count provide the perfect backdrop.

As we drive the rain eases off, but is still falling, and in the distance we see a patch of sun illuminating a small corner, a sun shower, a wonderfully Irish phenomenon.

The replica cottage is tucked away off a quiet  bothereen or small road. Sadly,  the real cottage where the film was shot is no longer accessible. A dispute between the owner and local authorities has led to a stand off that I hope can be resolved some day soon.

The two room cottage replica features  life size models of Wayne, Mclaglen, Maureen O’Hara, and Barry Fitzgerald frozen in a tableau around the kitchen table and a bedroom. We take our pictures and depart.

The centerpiece of "The Quiet Man" phenomenon remains Cong, the little Mayo village which hosts a Quiet Man festival every year. Maureen O’Hara, still hale and hearty, attended last year.

The gift shop there is packed with memorabilia and already, by mid morning, is bustling with American tourists.

We lunch at the wonderful  Ashford Castle where staff tell us quite frankly that "The Quiet Man" visitors, rather than waning with the passing years, are actually increasing.

Testament to the new popularity was a one-week retrospective on John Ford recently in Dublin with contributors from all over the world.

The new interest is a tribute to an icon of American film who captured a pastoral Ireland and the fond imaginations of Americans for that land.

Even if the movie is not your obsession if you need an excuse to see a remarkable and beautiful corner of Ireland, around Connemara and back in by Cong and Ashford look no more. John Ford, Mary Kate Danaher and Sean Thornton all beckon.

Here's the original trailer for the movie:

Queen Elizabeth has met bloody dictators and has blood on her own hands -- Alleging meeting Sinn Fein is dreadful for her is ridiculous

Queen Elizabeth will meet with Martin McGuinness later this week.

Queen Elizabeth once met with Idi Amin, the butcher of Africa, who is believed to have been responsible for 300,000 deaths in his native Uganda.

She said nary a word at this meeting about the alleged atrocities, stories of which were circulating at the time, in 1971.

Contrary to popular revisionism, Nelson Mandela was not leader of a peace loving organization called the ANC when he met Queen Elizabeth. Indeed the ANC had quite a reputation for ruthless violence at its height.

Those are just two of the leaders Queen Elizabeth has met who had blood on their hands.

Some would argue that Elizabeth herself, both historically and during her reign, had a fair amount of the red stuff spattered on her royal arms as well, given the many nasty colonial fights her country entered into in her name.

All of which is to debunk the shrieks of horror and awe in Britain and partly in Ireland now that the Queen will meet Martin McGuinness this week.

Even the Guardian that naturally Republican minded newspaper (in the British sense) newspaper had sympathy for the Queen’s plight.

The Sunday Times had its usual monarchical nonsense. Their editorial stated “Grit your Teeth Maam” and said that the queen “has to do so many unpalatable things for the good of her subjects”.

Don’t you love that word subjects? Not citizens? We in America fought a successful war to escape that designation.

The Martin McGuinness quarrel with the Queen was quite naturally that designation and that he and 500,000 other Irish were made unwilling subjects of the Queen by the utterly unjustified partition of Ireland in 1921.

That quarrel has been resolved and a fair-minded solution all around found for the present and most likely any future changes will be done peacefully.

So quite naturally, as representative of his people freely elected, Martin McGuinness should meet the queen. Both McGuinness and the Queen suffered grievous losses in the years of “The Troubles”.
It is a sure sign of the New Ireland that they can now meet as equals, both representing their people, though one is elected and one is not.

She should be happy to greet him as a symbol of the New Ireland where peace and equality will reign
It is nothing more dramatic or different than that – the British media notwithstanding.

American Ireland Fund considers new strategies to aid recovery

American Ireland Fund CEO Kieran McLoughlin

As the American Ireland Fund approaches the half billion dollars mark in total money raised, it is also re-examining its role in light of the growing crisis in Ireland.

Proposals put forward by CEO Kieran McLoughlin and Chairman Loretta Brennan Glucksman at their annual conference in Cork would mean major changes for an organization that has come to define the best in the Irish Diaspora.

McLoughlin briefed delegates on a new strategy that would see the Fund adding philanthropic programs to exiting portfolio of grants to small businesses starting up in Ireland in an attempt to stimulate economic activity in the devastated Irish economy.

Using philanthropy to stimulate economic activity is not a new phenomenon.

Koret Israel Economic Development Funds (KIEDF), managed in Israel by former attorney and investment banker Carl Kaplan, pioneered philanthropy for economic development by using a portion of the Koret Foundations endowment.

In the process, Koret has become a model for worldwide programs that help philanthropic organizations stimulate economic activity. In Israel, Koret has provided new small businesses with much needed start-up funds.

The American Ireland Fund move is a bold one but not unexpected for an organization that has come to play a much larger role in Irish philanthropy.

Under Glucksman and McLoughlin, the organization has swept away the old fuddy-duddy image, built a vibrant Young Leaders division and created a major new outreach to celebrities, business people and those keen to help Ireland.

The presence of former President Clinton and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney at the Cork dinner and a lavish reception at the home of Michael Flatley the night before the dinner was just another example of their ability to reach out and deliver major figures in the world of politics, entertainment, and the arts.

The latest step to move away from just strict philanthropy is an exciting one and one that can help small businesses in Ireland significantly.

Another development to come out of the Cork conference is that while the Fund is closing in on its $500 million mark since its inception in 1976 its future is as an endowed institution.

As the conference heard, it is no coincidence that universities represent the vast majority of institutions that make it from one century to the next because of alumni or other major endowments.

That is likely to be the Ireland Fund goal to secure its future.

It is also likely to speak out or have members speak out on Irish related issues. Many at the conference bemoaned the negative image of Ireland that has become prevalent in the American media since the economic crisis hit.

Counter viewpoints are poorly represented, and the Ireland Fund now sees as one of its priorities to provide that needed balance. A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by member David McCourt taking issue with Ireland’s depiction was just one example used.

All in all, new times and new opportunities for the Ireland Fund which will soon find itself as Ireland’s major philanthropic organization as Atlantic Philanthropies winds down.

Based on the evidence in Cork, it gives every indication of being ready to step up to the plate.

Bill Clinton invades a tiny Irish village and the locals go gaga - A serious message for Ireland amid all the fun and celebration

Bill Clinton came to a little village in East Cork last night and the locals loved it.

It was early evening when the tiny village of Shanagarry gathered to witness the arrival of the 42nd president.

Sleepy hamlets in East Cork do not get many days like this.

Clinton was guest speaker at the Worldwide Ireland Fund dinner attended by over 200 delegates from 12 countries.

It was held at Ballymaloe House, the epicenter of the slow food revolution in Ireland where  the Darina Allen family has established a worldwide reputation for fine cuisine.

The little meeting center where the event was held was more used I’m sure, to local parish functions and the occasional wedding.

Alongside the president was Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny making it a spectacular night for the East Cork speck on the map.

Throw in Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney who accepted a lifetime achievement award and dance legend Michael Flatley and you have a perfect alignment of stars.

The buzz all day at the Ireland Fund event was the decision by Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness  to meet with Queen Elizabeth in Belfast next week.

Bill Clinton called it a “terrific” moment in his speech and there is no question that we may witness the last great historic moment of the Irish peace process next week.

As Ireland Funds CE0 Kieran McLaughlin noted, the process that has become so mundane would never have happened without Clinton’s intervention.

As he is wont to, Clinton’ s remarks weaved across many tapestries, his time in office, the upcoming election, but mostly the Irish economy and how to get out of the mess they are in.

“Creative cooperation” is Clinton’s buzzword these days and he points to the US states that are doing best as examples of it, where opposing parties get together for the good of the state.

Unspoken was the reality that there is no creative cooperation in Europe at the present over the Euro which has led to the mess to begin with.

Come to think of it it was exactly creative cooperation which got Queen Elizabeth and Martin McGuiness to agree to meet next week. As Clinton noted, Elizabeth is long enough on the throne to make her own decisions and obviously she wants it as part of her legacy.

Enda Kenny was also in rare form. Clinton gets every politician alive to up their game, though as Kenny remarked appearing after Clinton and before a
Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, is a tough business indeed.

Heaney was introduced by Ireland Fund chairman Loretta Brennan Glucksman who recited a wonderful poem Heaney had written for her after her husband’s passing.

Heaney got the largest ovation of the day and deservedly so. He is one of Ireland’s greatest national treasures, one of a handful who bestrides the world with no equal.

Once he wrote “no glass of mine was ever raised to toast a British queen.”
I’d bet he, like so many Irish these days, would say that is in the past now.

And indeed it is. As he flew out from Ireland last night, Bill Clinton knows that his work on Ireland is the gift that keeps on giving, as peace continues to break out and a former top IRA commander meets a British queen.

As a Shanagarry local has likely never said “Who wudda thunk it”?

Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance and now Lord of the Manor -- Dance king plays host to 200 from American Ireland Fund in Cork

Michael Flatley and wife Niamh at Castlehyde

It was a perfect Irish summer’s night, the longest of the year and the Castlehyde County Cork mansion of Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley never looked better.

Once upon a time the palatial mansion and grounds had been host to some very different occupants, the antecedents of Princess Diana, the Spencers of Fermoy, who lorded it over the locals.

Doubtless they would have exhaled in horror at the visitors to their old surroundings on this very special night. Flatley no doubt would get a kick out of that.

Flatley, the Chicago-born dance genius, played host to 200 top Ireland Fund members from all over the world.

Driving through the lush Irish countryside en route to Castlehyde, which borders the Blackwater river, you could be forgiven for thinking that this part of earth is God’s acre.

Then came the thunderous rains of course, and you might indeed have second thoughts about how wonderful the visit really was.

At the mansion however, fate was restored and good work was afoot. The Ireland Fund has soared past its stated target of $100 million raised since Ireland’s downturn and will easily surpass that record.

Present to mark the occasion was co-founder US Ambassador Dan Rooney, who pronounced how moved and proud he was at the incredible progress of the organization he and Tony O’Reilly started back in 1974 with high hopes.

Michael Flatley accepted a Pittsburgh Steelers football from Rooney and made as if to launch it into outer space. Asked to speak, he was the master of brevity, merely intoning the immortal words that the bar was open and good time was being lost.

He could not have been a greater host. Like with his dance creations, the emphasis is on perfection, and the mansion, with its beautiful foyer, soaring ceilings, Irish bar - what did you expect - and exquisitely decorated rooms fitted the bill.

Michael and wife Niamh, herself a principal dancer, stood at the door and personally greeted everyone who entered. There was  no sign of little Michael, the son and heir, but his influence was obvious from his playground set to the many photos on display in the house.

Exhibits throughout the mansion frame Flatleys’career from the heights of Madison Square Garden sellouts and White House appearances to the early days when he mixed some boxing, some flute playing, some dancing and some construction work before he made it big.

And made it big he has. As he stares out over his manse, Flately must sometimes pinch himself as to how far the humble son of Irish emigrants has come.

And he has done it with class, as his mansion readily attests to. Flatley has given back to Ireland as well as Irish America.

Next year he will likely be one of the ambassadors for the Gathering, the effort to bring the worldwide Irish home. No one has greater star power or willingness to help than the Lord of the Dance. We are lucky to have him.

Shock as US ends funding for Mitchell Scholarship program -- Attacks on Irish American community by Mitchell director Trina Vargo backfire

Trina Vargo

The decision by the US State Department to end funding for the Mitchell Scholarships comes as a  great surprise. The scholarship, named after former Senator George Mitchell  sends 12 US students a year to Ireland and was modeled on the Rhodes scholars, but has become embroiled in continuing controversy.

The controversial statements of the Alliance president Trina Vargo hardly helped. She left Irish community leaders incensed on issues such as the Irish undocumented, comparing them to putting lipstick on pigs if they were legalised.

Her continued attacks on funding for the International Fund for Ireland, while she tried to grab their funding for herself, also deeply upset many.

She also ran into turbulence in Ireland where Senator Mark Daly had courageously called her to account for her outrageous statements aimed at the Irish American community and had arranged hearings before their foreign affairs committee that she inexplicably and arrogantly refused to attend.

Then there was her sneering attack on Irish leader Enda Kenny for presenting a certificate of Irish heritage to President Obama during the St.Patrick’s Day period, and attack which was completely without class or context given the occasion.

Now that the State Department have taken a very significant step there will be precious few defenders of the Alliance in the community that she seemed so determined to offend and denigrate and where she is now seeking help and writing frantic letters.
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Read more: 
Chinese Irish player racially abused by opponents in football game

Terrible weather, European Championship failure and ailing economy but 'You’ll Never Beat the Irish'
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The list of names supporting Vargo in the Irish community at present would be short indeed. There is not a significant organization in any state that supports her. Indeed, she has insulted the Irish government, including Kenny, at every opportunity it seems.

That is a shame in many ways because the idea behind the scholarships is a good one and the good name of George Mitchell deserves rescuing, even if he never seemed to question what Ms Vargo was actually up to and let her run riot.

The State Department however, clearly saw the lack of support for the direction of the Mitchell Scholarships and acted accordingly.

It is obvious that The Mitchell Scholars program needs new leadership and direction and that the Irish American community should certainly get behind the scholarship program with new leadership.

The downfall of the Mitchell Scholar program is an example of hubris where its president clearly felt there was no downside to slamming and denigrating every other Irish American organization in the US.

She is learning a tough lesson that that is just not the case.

So save the scholars, revamp the program, and hire someone that can add to the legend of George Mitchell, not subtract from it as Ms Vargo has been doing.

My search for the best Irish whiskey lands me in Kilbeggan -- Since 1757 Irish town is home to world’s oldest distillery

At Cooley Distillery

The surge in Irish whiskey sales all over the world, but especially in North America, have brought many big players into the arena.

The latest are Jim Beam, who took a controlling stake in Cooley Whiskey for $100 million or so in December and will put the marketing arm of one of America’s best-known liquor companies behind the fabled Irish brand.

In fact the Kilbeggan brand owned by Cooley is the oldest licensed whiskey in the world, first created in 1757. A lot has happened in that 250 years but it is fair to see that there have been few more exciting times than now.

Cooley’s founder is a genius called John Teeling who saw that Irish whiskey was one of the great native brands unique to the country and it needed to be nurtured and saved.

He created Cooley in 1987 from an old potato alcohol distillery used by the Irish government (don’t ask) in the Cooley Mountains in Louth near the border. It has been an outstanding success.

He also took over the venerable Kilbeggan brand which had fallen on hard times and rejuvenated it.

The other reason for my visit was the chance to meet up again with big, bluff Willie McCarter, one of Ireland’s great unofficial ambassadors in America who has done sterling work on the peace process, the International Fund for Ireland and many other projects.

In addition to his philanthropy, Willie has one of the sharpest business brains in Ireland and had been telling me for several years that Cooley was a company to watch out for.

When Jim Beam saw that too and paid $100 million I decided I’d take a look and it was a wonderful afternoon, weather aside.

Besides, Big Willie had threatened to beat me up if I didn’t pay a visit with him to Kilbeggan in Westmeath an hour west of Dublin on my next trip over, so what choice did I have?

Still, taking a visit to a grand old distillery  is not exactly the greatest burden put upon me as a writer.

Readers, if you have never been in a distillery I strongly suggest a visit. It is a fascinating opportunity to study the whiskey lore.

It far more complex task than just pouring in the barley on one end, mashing it all up with yeast and water and whiskey coming out the other.

It is an infinitely complex process and  Stephen Teeling, son of the founder, escorted me on his rounds showing exactly how the stuff is made.

The word authentic came to mind during my visit. The history, the old landmark building, the sense of the past and now a bright future.

First we sat in the snug of the visitors' center with a grand fire roaring and a fine lunch served – with of course, a snifter or two courtesy of the establishment. Tour buses are frequent.

The visitors' center traces the history of the brand and parallels the Irish history that was happening at the time both nationally and locally. It is a unique insight into the making of a brand that stretches back to 1757.

The distillery itself is in the center of town, with a huge water wheel which makes one take a step back to a different century and a gentler time.

The canal, the water from which fuels the distillery, unfurls lazily around the town and  the entire scene is pastoral rather than industrial.

Unlike sausages, which they say you should never watch being made, whiskey is an entirely different barrel of mash as they might say.

Each process is painstaking, each step to mature and nurture the barley is a delicate one. Like wine, whiskey gets better with age but so many elements can militate against the perfect sip.

By the end of the tour I had tasted the latest shot just off the pipeline and the ten-year and twenty-year old stuff they keep in the casks out back they usually keep away from the likes of me.

I even got to taste the Kilbeggan 15 year-old which was selected as the Best Whiskey in the World in 2009.
Connemara, Greenore and Tyrconnell are two others major brands they ship.

Still sober (Yea, right says wife) but happy, I climbed into the back of Willie’s car for the return trip to Dublin, about an hour away.

I can now see why there are so many whiskey writers out there and so many aficionados. Friends, there are a lot worse things to be in life.

Willie is threatening to take me to Cooley Distillery in the Cooley Mountains in Louth next time I’m home to show me the other brand distilled there.

But he won’t have to threaten me this time.

In fact I’ll be waiting for the call.

Irish journalist who heckled President Obama should be fired - Cheap-shot journalism should have no place at the White House

The Irish-born journalist Neil Munro who heckled President Obama yesterday in the Rose Garden displayed not only bad manners but also a lack of professionalism that should get him fired.

Munro’s Twitter feed says he was “Born Irish, then became a Cold War bridegroom” – whatever that means.

Journalists have a job to do and the rules are pretty much defined, the White House press corps rules even more so, given the importance of every speech and the need for ground rules.

President Obama was making a major speech on immigration policy. Munro, educated at University College Dublin, was there for the micro-site the Daily Caller run by failed right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson.

The protocol could not be clearer, especially in the Rose Garden. The president speaks, the journalists listen and then there are usually a few questions.

Munro disdained all that protocol to put himself in the upper class twit category (Kings College old chap) by interrupting the president and heckling him on immigration.

Reading his resume with its right wing musings you know it was a very deliberate move by Munro who will enjoy a brief flicker of flame, especially on the far right with this move.

These are the same people who made a brief hero out of an obscure congressman who shouted ‘You lie’ at President Obama during the State of the Union address. The same people who no doubt educate their children to be respectful of adults and always remember to be polite — except when it comes to the president of the United States.

When it all dies away however, Munro will be back to well-deserved obscurity, and hopefully his editors, who are unlikely to fire him, will too.

If it were someone I employed I would certainly let him or her go or deliver a stern warning. There has to be a modicum of decency, a set of social rules that are followed in such circumstances, irrespective of who the president is, Republican or Democrat.

Munro didn’t know about them or decided to ignore them. His pathetic excuse that he was trying to be first to ask a question doesn’t wash – in fact it is an obvious lie.

President Obama’s finest day in the White House was today -- Showing true compassion for those brought to the US as children

US President Barack Obama

President Obama’s decision to legitimize up to 800,000 immigrants who came here with their parents and who will now be able to work legally is the greatest act of his presidency.

It shows a compassion and an understanding that is in the best interests of the people concerned and of the country they live in.

It reminds people why this country is so great, able to take bold steps, and react compassionately to what in the end of the day is a real crisis for millions of young immigrants.

These are people who have been brought here by their parents, crossing borders from Mexico to start a new life in America.

They are kids brought by parents from Ireland who will also fit into this category.

Most are too young to remember life anywhere else and the notion of returning them to the country of origin which they no longer know or recognize was always a completely cruel policy.

They are Americans in every meaningful sense of the word and have much to contribute to this country in the coming years. Now they will be able to, instead of living lives of real fear waiting for that midnight knock.

It is one thing to deport someone who came here willingly, knowing they were breaking the law to live illegally.

It is quite another to recognize that millions of children, who had no choice in the matter, are victims of an unfeeling and uncaring system.

The greatness of this country is not its military might or its over emphasis on its toughness in a fight.

It is the words on the Statue of Liberty written by Emma Lazarus that state:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

As an immigrant myself I have never been prouder of this country or this president than I am today. It is a huge achievement in the best and noblest traditions of America.

Thanks for the memories - 25-years of the Irish Voice

Where did the 25 years go? Is there a thief of time who has accordioned all the years together so that 25 years ago really seems like five?

Is it really 25 years ago that the pressmen at the Evergreen Printing plant in Belmar, New Jersey pressed the button and started the presses on Volume 1 Number 1 of the Irish Voice?

I remember my mother and brother were there, and my best friend Eddie Holt and a bottle of champagne and a very late night....

I remember the first issue with its bold headline "We’ll Never Return” based on a survey of young Irish undocumented who had washed up on America’s shores.

Some things never change, even after 25 years.

In that issue we featured little Kathleen Flannelly, daughter of a great friend, Adrian Flannelly, sitting in the Sam Maguire Cup, the trophy for the All-Ireland football champions.

Now she’s an accomplished lawyer, a woman of the world. Was that really 25 years ago?

There was John Spain and Cormac MacConnell, and they are still there all these years later charting the goings on in Ireland, urban and rural, and they too must feel that déjà vu moment with Ireland in bad shape again and the political class failing the people.

A strange memory, shortly before our first issue when a new fangled machine arrived in the office. It was a fax machine, and we all gaped in wonderment as the front page of The Irish Times came crackling over the wires. The Internet was still a pipedream.

Good and bad moments crowd in. The day Debbie McGoldrick, an Irish Echo refugee, took over as editor of Irish Voice and whipped the paper into shape for once and for all is among the best.

Among the worst, the suicide of a young Irish construction worker in the Bronx who hung himself after being mercilessly exploited by his own.

The best -- Merrifield Madness, when thousands of Irish descended on a Virginia post office in October of 1991 to mail their Morrison visa applications in a night to remember.

Best again -- sitting in the stands at Giants Stadium as Ireland beat Italy in a World Cup shocker in 1994.

Worst -- the news story that someone had placed an innocuous classified ad with us looking for a few strong men. It turned out he wanted them in order to murder his wife. Incredible but true.

Best -- waking up on a freezing morning one January to learn that the Clinton White House, over the objections of the British State Department, CIA, FBI, etc. had given a visa to the U.S. for Gerry Adams.

Best -- standing in the center of Belfast as hundreds of thousands chanted the name of Bill Clinton as the American president, unbelievably, visited the city.

Worst -- reading of the incredible tragedy of Phoebe Prince, a little Irish girl bullied to death when she moved to Massachusetts.  She took her own life in 2010.

Best -- President Clinton attending our event at the Plaza Hotel as Irish American of the Year. Standing at the traveling White House podium introducing him was a surreal experience. At times like that you really do feel you have made it in America.

Worst -- writing my toughest ever column on the tragic death of my beautiful nephew Rory Staunton, who died needlessly of a bacterial infection at age 12 in April. It does not come tougher than that.

Best -- getting to meet you, the Irish Voice readers in so many places over so many years and hearing your feedback, good and bad, on what we do.

And to all those advertisers who have supported us over the years – thanks again. You made this Irish emigrant’s dreams come true.

Irish worldwide flock to see the Boys in Green soccer team - Team draws massive support across the Irish Diaspora

20,000 Irish fans have swept overseas to Poland and the Ukraine to support their team in the European soccer championships.

By train, plane and car they flooded across Europe all week like the swallows of Capistrano returning to their natural habitat.

They have been joined by Irish from all over the Diaspora returning to cheer on their Boys in Green in Europe’s most important soccer tournament.

It is deja vu all over again for a new generation of Irish soccer fans in Ireland and abroad. Back in the 1980s, a previous Irish economic depression was lifted in part by a national outpouring of pride and joy in the success of the Irish soccer team, especially in a famous victory over England in those same European championships.

When Ireland defeated England 1-0 in 1988 in Germany, Ireland danced and so did their emigrant children all over the world. In that pre-Internet time I remember watching the game in an Irish pub in Astoria. After Ireland won, we poured out onto the streets on a Sunday morning, confusing the hell out of local residents who had no idea what was going on.

Ironically, the team was managed by an Englishman, Jack Charlton, who remains one of the most popular figures in Irish sporting history.

In 1994, the Irish overseas army marched on America and New York in particular, or should I say New Jersey.

That was when, on a white hot June day the Irish soccer team defeated the mighty Italians 1-0 at Giants Stadium in what may well be the most famous victory in Irish sport.

While Americans can tell you where they were when the ice hockey team defeated the Russians in 1980, the Irish sports fan can do the same for Giants Stadium.

Luckily, I was only a few hundred feet away in the stands, as Ray Houghton --again an Englishman of Irish origin---turned and scooped a long range lob over the Italian goalkeeper’s head to give Ireland a famous victory.

There has been a lull and a drought for many years but now the Boys in Green are back in this major tournament in Europe.

Once again the emigrant clan from all over Europe have gathered while millions back home and around the world will be glued to TV screens when Ireland kicks off against Croatia today.

This time around there is an Italian manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, who is quickly achieving Charlton-like status all across Ireland.

Win or lose, the Irish team will do the country proud and lift spirits at a time when it has never been so badly needed.

So go on you Boys in Green and give us something to cheer for!

Why the queen who lost the British Empire is still revered -- Elizabeth II lucky she’s not locked in the Tower of London

Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her Jubilee

If the Queen of England were an elected position, Elizabeth II  would have been forced out long ago,
Her sixty-year reign has coincided with the total loss of the British Empire and a deeply reduced place for Britain in the world.

Just consider 1953, the year she came to the throne.

It was still the aftermath of the Second World War and Britain was first among all countries in Europe.

The detested Germans were defeated and partitioned and their economy and country seemingly in ruins.

Fast forward 60 years and the Germans are running Europe again and Britain is back to being sick man of Europe along with Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Ireland of course.

They hardly have a voice in European affairs which are now basically overseen by France and Germany.

Back in 1953 the new Queen oversaw an empire that governed vast tracts of land in Africa, Asia, Europe and elsewhere on the globe.

During her reign the British were reduced to fighting Argentina over an utterly nondescript island called Malvinas/Falklands and playing second fiddle to American forces just about everywhere.

The decline and fall of the British Empire under Elizabeth in another era would have resulted in a trial and the Tower of London for a goodly spell methinks.

Indeed, like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, there would have been cries of “Off with her head.”

(Many of her predecessors were topped for far less. See Anne Boleyn etc.)

Instead, she is becoming more beloved as she gets older; the sheer longevity of the woman and her ability to carry out her duties at the age of 86 is impressive even to the most avid Republican.

But she must wake up and wonder sometimes where it all went wrong, She came into office as a hugely significant figure on the world stage, with giants like Churchill in her government.

Now it’s the nondescript David Cameron she meets and now the monarchy may even lose Australia and Canada at some point in the near future – not to mention Northern Ireland given the shifting demographics there.

She has become a symbolic figure, which she always was to some extent, but she no longer wields true power.

Unlike the fall of the Roman Empire, it was not the Barbarians at the gate, rather it was the enemy within, as the British simply lost out to Germany in Europe and the US in the world in terms of the scope of their power and influence in the post industrial revolution age.

Rule Britannia, indeed, but nowadays only on a small sliver of the earth, unlike when Elizabeth came to reign in 1953.

Royalty’s new reality was summed up wonderfully by  the Guardian editorial writer describing the celebration on The Thames on Sunday as a flotilla of ships and boats honored the Queen;
“Sunday was a day for dressing up. But it was hard to watch the royal men in their sometimes preposterously over decorated uniforms — lord high admirals of ever-declining fleets, commanders of air forces whose future effectiveness hangs in the balance, fighters of wars about which middle Britain has deeply mixed feelings — and take any of it too seriously.”

Indeed.

Ireland’s “Yes” vote on Europe means Germany must act

"Yes" vote on Fiscal Treaty keeps Ireland in the game

A “Yes” vote  on the European treaty has kept Ireland in the game a senior Irish government official told me yesterday.

“This is as much about psychology as any reality about the treaty” he said, pointing out that a “No” vote would have slammed the door in several European capitals on Irish efforts to have the Anglo Irish bank debt renegotiated.

It is easy to see that reality. With Germany, in particular, assailed on all sides these days, a “No” vote in Ireland would have been a very unwelcome development in a very bad week for the Euro project.

Now Ireland can at least point to its success in passing a pro-European referendum despite a massive anti Europe mood across the country and indeed the continent.

It allows the Germans in particular more breathing space while they consider the overwhelming question that needs to be addressed.

Is the EU about full federal monetary union where like in the US the federal government bails out individual states if that is called for, or is it just a loose and increasingly unworkable arrangement between states with vastly different economic profiles?

It needs to be the former for the Euro to have any chance to survive, but whether Frau Merkel sees it that way remains the one overwhelming question.

Yesterday’s win in the Irish referendum shows that the Irish for one, continue to believe in the European project but the future still lies with the big boys of Europe, especially the Germans, who are failing to act decisively as Europe teeters on the brink.

The bad news on the American economy yesterday merely highlights the need for quick and decisive action in Europe. The last time Europe dithered like this the Second World War ensued as Hitler swept to power. We could be  looking at an economic equivalent if the Germans do not act soon.