“Philomena” a must-see movie that breaks your heart (VIDEO)

Dame Judi Dench and the real Philomena Lee photographed at a BFI event

Run, don’t walk, to see “Philomena,” the new movie about the true story of an Irish Magdalene laundry woman, the child she gave birth to and his subsequent adoption to America.

Judi Dench in the title role gives a performance I can only describe as breathtaking, and surely an Oscar winning one. Steve Coogan as journalist Martin Sixsmith who joins her on her quest for her son is also outstanding.

Philomena Lee’s baby was snatched from her at age 3 at the laundry where she worked and sold to America. All her life she sought him, only to find he was seeking her too, but the nuns in Roscrea, Tipperary, who sold him never told her.

He had risen to the top levels of the Reagan administration in America, but had always wanted to find the mother who gave birth to him.

She on the other hand had made a successful life as a nurse in Britain and had a new family, but never forgot the little boy she last saw through the bars of the prison-like laundry she was locked up in.

The incredible courage of Philomena, determined to seek her son despite being told by the nuns they had no idea where he was, is at the heart of the movie.

Somehow Philomena enlisted noted BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith in her quest and the interaction between the two, played by Dench and Coogan is wonderful.

Throughout I had to pinch myself that I was watching fact not fiction as the incredible tale unfolded, especially with the incredible twist at the end. What occurred was a microcosm of what happened during the blighted 1950s era in Ireland when church and state lorded over everyone and pushed a punishing God who deliberately punished the weak.

As a young girl Philomena fell in love and became pregnant. Punished for her sin, she was sent to the convent in Roscrea where she endured agony in a breech birth with the nuns saying she deserved it for having sex.

She was condemned to a dreadful life as effectively a slave laborer, but was allowed to see her young child an hour a day – until one day the child was gone, snatched by a wealthy American couple who paid the nuns handsomely for the privilege.

In an interview with the LA Times the real Philomena discussed her incredible quest.

(SPOILER ALERT)

“All I ever, ever, ever wanted to do was find him. And once I'd found him, I found out he was dead. That was an awful shock, but then again, as I say, that's how life is. But now I've got his whole life story. He had a wonderful life in America, a very good education, he was a very clever man and I was so sad when I heard he'd died, because he was only 43 at the time and I was very sad.

But at least he had his ashes brought home to Ireland. Living in England, I'm not far away from the grave, so I can go over and have a little prayer there. We tried to find him for so long over the years, we tried to find him ever so. But it wasn't meant to be.”

Here’s the trailer for the movie:

What JFK’s America was really like in November 1963 - Time capsule of New York Daily News paper of the day

New York Daily News edition from November 23, 1963

On Friday, the New York Daily News republished its entire edition from Saturday, November 23, 1963 the day after the Kennedy assassination.

It is a glimpse into a time capsule perfectly preserved.

We learn John F. Kennedy was not the only Kennedy whose death was mentioned in the Daily News edition on the day after the assassination.

James R. Kennedy, 70,  was laid to rest in the Bronx, a former police deputy commissioner. 1,000 people attended the funeral mass. One can only imagine the impact of the news from Dallas on the Catholic gathering.

The Irish names were everywhere at the burial. The Commissioner was Michael Murphy, his deputies were Murphy and Monaghan, the D.A. was Frank Hogan.

On a very different vein how far the country has come since November 23rd 1963 can be judged by this headline.

“Negroes? Bowl Ducks Issue” tops an article about whether “Negroes” would be invited to play in the annual football all-star game in January scheduled to take place in Alabama.

NBC announced they would not cover the game if Negroes were not invited.

Wonder what the people of that era would make of the first black president?

Meanwhile, from England came a story that all footballers in the First Division (now Premier League) would wear black armbands for JFK, an indication of how extraordinary the impact was worldwide.

At Aqueduct Racetrack in New York the crowd of 24,000 (amazing for a Friday) was stunned when the announcement was made. The horses on the track for the seventh race were led back and the program abandoned.

Among the horses down to race that day at Pimlico in Washington were Blue Bullet and Phantom Shot.

“News of Kennedy’s Death is TVs Saddest Moment” wrote Ben Gross the TV critic.

He noted that all channels went off the air presumably as a sign of grief at about midnight bar ABC which continued broadcasting.

“Regular programs abandoned, schedules thrown overboard, all entertainment shows vanished,” Green noted. Extraordinary to notice how accurate the reporting was, especially in naming and getting key background information on Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin.

The fashion pages of the Daily News paid no attention to the tragedy “All White Is Season Favorite for Parties” ladies were told.

They were also warned about sweating and using deodorant under a headline “This Delicate Subject Shouldn’t Be Avoided.”

Meanwhile the dirty movie house in Times Square was showing “Traveling Light” with the tagline “Join nudists at play, see sun-kissed maidens frolic.” Covering nudist colonies passed for porn back then and was advertised in a family newspaper.

Meanwhile, as a long-suffering Long Island Railroad commuter the headline “Better LIRR Service Urged” certainly strikes a chord.

Some things don’t change folks.

An afternoon with Chuck Feeney, Irish America’s greatest hero

Chuck Feeney with fellow philanthropist Bill Gates

A crisp autumn afternoon with Chuck Feeney (82) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is a wonderful opportunity to sup with greatness.

Yesterday the talk was of family, grandchildren, his beloved Ireland and mutual friends such as Don Keough, former head of Coca Cola and like him, a great philanthropist.

He eagerly scanned the copy of Irish Voice I brought him with the tribute to JFK on the cover.

Feeney and I have been friends for over 25 years, since he called me up soon after I started Irish America magazine and Irish Voice and demanded to know if the Irish in America were ever going to hang together.

I never knew he was rich because he acted poor, meeting me in scrappy diners and leaving me with the check.

I put up with it because he was always worth the price of the coffee and the scraped-out onion bagel.
His insights were incredible.

Then Forbes magazine published that he was one of the richest men in the world.
He was mortified.

So was I, that he hadn’t picked up the breakfast checks.

He subsequently explained it was because he wasn’t that rich.

He had simply given away most of his $7.5 billion dollars, a fact ultimately revealed on the front page of The New York Times. His philosophy was “giving while living,”which he did through his Atlantic Philanthropies.

The working class Irish kid from Elizabeth New Jersey surpassed the Rockefellers and Andrew Carnegie when it came to charitable giving.

He invented “giving while living,” which is now all the rage. His example directly inspired Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to give it all away too.

One of his most important legacies is that he has convinced so many powerful people there are no pockets in a shroud and helping in the here and now is preferable to dribs and drabs over decades.
“Chuck has been an inspiration to both of us for many years and was living the Giving Pledge long before we launched this project," Bill and Melinda Gates said recently.

“He’s a true innovator and example to anyone who seeks to make the world a better place," Buffett said.

But there are no Chuck Feeney buildings or libraries or research centers or medical pavilions.
Everything was done anonymously. He jokes that it is very clever because he gets the praise for every anonymous donor these days.

Conor O’Clery’s brilliant biography “The Billionaire Who Wasn’t” captures the man so well. Buy it if you want an uplifting read.

When it all came out he was runner up for Time’s Man of the Year, the only man in history who got a joint honorary degree from all nine universities in Ireland, all together. There is deserved talk of the Nobel Prize.

There is simply no greater Irish American ever in terms of his incredible commitment to the underdog and those in need of an education.

Not to mention his role in peace in Northern Ireland,  where he was a huge player in the Irish American peace delegation that got President Clinton involved.

Back then we spent many hours on planes and cars together going back and forth to Belfast. We never talked money but he finally did spring for dinners.

Once he took me on a long walk to a public library in Connecticut so he could pick up magazines for free there. I met him once in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin sampling the free Sunday newspapers.A few weeks later he was up to the same trick in Fitzpatrick’s in Manhattan.

These days he has given away about $7.5 billion dollars with another billion or so to go. Irish charities and education institutions got about $1.5 billion of that. Fair to say he transformed Irish education.

After making his fortune as a founder of Duty Free Shops he resolved early on that he wanted nothing to do with wealth other than to make it work for others.

He gave a billion or so to Cornell because they let him come to their Ivy League college when he was rejected elsewhere.

He just seeded a new Silicon Valley type jobs scheme on Roosevelt Island in New York, creating a third level innovative campus with a $300 million grant. He has lavished huge grants in South Africa and Vietnam to name two countries.

Then there’s the incredible state-of-the-art hospital he is building in San Francisco that he took me around last spring.

Yesterday, I could see he is still powered by a fierce vision. He is the lion in winter, still driven to succeed.

When I parted from him and his wonderful wife Helga he asked me to come again and bring bagels the next time.

Still cheap, I’m still paying for breakfast it seems.

How the Gaelic Players Association has saved lives in Ireland

Dessie Farrell, Niall O'Dowd, Ciaran Murray CEO of ICON, and Donal Og Cusack
at the NYC gala dinner

PHOTOS - The Gaelic Players Association Awards and Gala Dinner in New York 2013, in pictures

It was an exceptional night at the Gaelic Players Association awards at the New York Athletic Club on Thursday last.

The GPA has quickly become a major force both in Ireland and America and the 500 who attended the organization's second annual dinner was adequate proof of that.

There were Wall Street titans, construction magnates, community leaders, top sportsmen and a star-studded delegation from Ireland, including leading members from this year's All-Ireland winners from Dublin and Clare.

The GPA has transformed the lives of many young men and women in Ireland. It offers a sounding board and outreach for players and young men and women in trouble.

In an era where suicide and depression and such issues have become major problems in the Emerald Isle their work is desperately important.

Much of their work is with elite former players who find it very hard to adjust when the cheering stops. Unlike in America, where retired sports stars have massive nest eggs thanks to the huge contracts they got as players, Irish players are amateurs and face into uncertain futures after giving their lives to Gaelic games.

On the day of the dinner there were two stories in the Irish newspapers, one involving a player recovering from a desperate gambling addiction with the help of the GPA, the other about a former top player who discovered during a heart scan, first introduced for all players thanks to GPA pressure, that he needed immediate major bypass surgery.

Such stories are merely the tip of the iceberg for the GPA and its top team is led by Cork hurling legend Donal Og Cusack and former Dublin star Dessie Farrell.

Here in America the GPA first made an impression last year when they volunteered teams of workers in the Rockaways to help with the recovery from Superstorm Sandy.

Their work was widely praised, including an extraordinary mention by President Obama during his speech at the White House during the St. Patrick’s period.

The honorees on the night were Ciaran Murray CEO of ICON, a major Irish drug company that has helped out GPA enormously and myself.

I told my story of how the GAA helped me start my life in America. When I came here in the late '70s I had no immediate relatives to go to.

But when I got off the plane I had a job, a bed and group of friends thanks to the St. Mel’s Club in Chicago and its chairman, Kerry man Joe Gleeson.

The same thing happened when I moved to San Francisco, where the San Francisco Gaels helped set up my life there for six wonderful years.

Without the GAA I would never have been able to put together the Irish network that eventually helped me start my career in publishing.

My story is a very common one concerning Irish lads coming to America looking for that first, and most vital, leg-ups.

Today the very same thing is happening every summer. Wherever the young Irish go they still find in the GAA a welcome home and a chance at a new experience.

The GPA is the Delta Force of the GAA, reaching out and extending its boundaries and informing its decision-making in key and important ways.

It was great to attend their event, even better to be an honoree this year. The GPA is simply the best new organization out of Ireland in a very long time.

PHOTOS - The Gaelic Players Association Awards and Gala Dinner in New York 2013, in pictures

Ray Kelly is right, politicians who attacked him are full of it

Ray Kelly let rip in a frank interview with "Playboy"

Hooray for Ray Kelly, who says politicians are "full of sh**" for the way they abandoned him during the recent mayoral election. He was speaking in a frank Playboy interview.

He has kept New York safer than any police commissioner in history, has an approval rating of 75 percent and is beloved by millions of New Yorkers

We had the pleasure of hosting Kelly at our Wall Street 50 event this summer and the reaction to him was incredible.

People see a straight shooter, a man of integrity doing an incredibly difficult job for a very modest salary. One can only imagine the stresses and strains he faced on a daily basis in this dangerous world, yet on the evening of our event he was as always, courteous to a fault, and spoke about his fierce commitment to his city and its safety.

It was at a time when he was coming under scrutiny for "stop and frisk" in crime-ridden neighborhoods and there was something deeply unfair about the way he was being targeted, especially by the incoming mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio rode stop and frisk all the way to City Hall, bitterly condemning Kelly for the policy, despite the fact, as Kelly noted, de Blasio and others had frequently called him looking for advice.

There is something out of whack in New York City when the most successful police commissioner in history, one who dragged homicide levels down to what they were fifty years ago, is targeted and vilified by the politicians.

Kelly kept New York safe in perhaps the most dangerous time in its history after 9/11. As thanks he gets dragged through the mud by pols not fit to tie his shoelaces

It is all part of an incredibly cynical game where vilifying a decent and honorable man becomes a political sport.

I’m glad Ray Kelly answered his detractors and I hope he continues to confront these newly minted critics.

Ray Kelly is not a man to mince words and he certainly did not in his Playboy exit interview. He is speaking the truth, no matter how inconvenient it is for the new mayor.

Former Irish president Mary McAleese would be the perfect pick for first female cardinal

Dr Mary McAleese pictured at a church in Lowell, MA (Credit: room50.wordpress)

Is former Irish president Mary McAleese in the frame to be appointed the first woman cardinal? In a just released interview in the Boston College Chronicle the former president makes clear the depth and range of her involvement in canon law and theology and her interest in playing a role in church politics.

There is serious talk of Pope Francis appointing a female cardinal, a task that is apparently in his purview unlike appointing a female  bishop or priest.

Catholic Online reports that while unlikely that “... the pope does have the authority to appoint women as cardinals. Cardinal is not a unique rank of Holy Orders. Rather, it denotes a role of service in the Church which is hypothetically open to the lay faithful.”

The story first appeared in Spanish paper El Pais which suggested that Pope Francis is planning to appoint a woman cardinal as a way of making clear his commitment to equality in the male dominated church..

The recently elected pontiff has said that he wants women to have a stronger presence in the church.

Such a move, advocates say, would greatly enhance the role of women in the church and lead to a greater understanding of their importance.

As far as I’m concerned there is only one real candidate. Former Irish President Mary McAleese is the obvious choice.

Here is a world-accomplished woman who was enormously popular as president. Since then she has studied canon law in Rome and is currently Burns Visiting Professor at Boston College.

Just read the excerpts below from a just-released interview with the Boston College Chronicle to understand why she is the entirely obvious choice.

This is a woman who thinks deeply about her faith and is committed to working within the church structure rather than railing from outside. She would be a perfect pick and do wonders for the church.

In the interview McAleese explains why she is studying for a doctorate in  canon law in Rome, saying it is an attempt to understand and change the fundamental attitude of the church as it related to abuse cases. She stated that canon law never helped the victims of abuse in any case she studied and she wondered why that was so.

She told the Boston  College magazine and reporter Sean Smith that, “My interest grew because of my concern about what has been happening in my church — the sexual abuse scandal, but other things, too. When I looked at the scandal, I was struck by what investigators said about canon law and canon lawyers. It was a scathing indictment: In not one single incidence of sexual abuse had canon law been able to do anything on the victim’s side, nothing useful or helpful."

As a lawyer she said she was alarmed by this. “I’m a civil lawyer by training, and that’s been a major part of my life. I grew up Catholic in Belfast with a civil war right outside the door, in a household with parents who believed that, rather than resort to violence, we should try to use the law, try to do things democratically, by discussion, by persuasion, by discourse. So that’s where I pitched my tent, and trained to be a lawyer and use not only democratic discourse but Christian discourse, and the great commandment to love one another."

She said the sex abuse scandals in her beloved church sparked her study. “I’ve been studying canon law privately for a number of years, and have a master’s degree and licentiate in it.

“So I decided to make it my business to study canon law, something very few laypeople have done. And what I’m most interested in is, how is it that we’ve arrived at a situation in the Church where the increasingly educated laity feels more and more excluded from the discourse that is necessary to run an organization this big and this advanced?

“And how can we now trust the judgment of the people we’ve learned, to our cost, cannot be trusted in matters of children and abusive priests? Why should they continue to make decisions for the 1.2 billion of us on the same terms as before?"

She said however she could never deny her faith, "...I can’t walk away from the Church, my spiritual home, just like I couldn’t walk away from Northern Ireland, my birthplace. I had to hang in there and see if I could make some sort of contribution. I don’t flatter myself that I’ll be able to do anything in my lifetime, but I also believe that if I don’t help plant the seed, then nothing new will grow.”

Articulate, considered , brilliant, McAleese would transform the College of Cardinals. Pope Francis should really take a chance.

GOP doomed if they don’t listen to Chris Christie on immigration

Chris Christie answers during a debate with Barbara Buono on Oct. 15, 2013 (Credit:AP)

The statement by GOP senior Congressman Kevin McCarthy that immigration reform is on the back burner until early next year is a grave disappointment.

McCarthy made the comments to a group of interested pro-reform activists in his home state of California.

As a senior figure in the Republican House leadership, there is little doubt that McCarthy is calling it as it is.

This do-nothing Congress has once again covered itself in a blaze of inglorious inaction.

The reports are that the House will meet for about six days in November and probably seven days in December.

We should all be so lucky with our jobs as this bunch is with the nation’s business.

The GOP must surely be aware that the oft-hoisted flag of convenience that inaction represents is no longer good to fly.

If there was one thing Irish American Governor Chris Christie proved in New Jersey it was that reaching out to Hispanics and not treating them like sewage waste to be hosed down and dispatched at the nearest point of entry pays dividends.

As the Asbury Park Press noted, “Christie won 51 percent of the Hispanic vote last week cruising to a second term, according to a survey of voters as they left their polling places. That was a 19-point increase from his showing in 2009.”

It came about after he committed $1 million in outreach and several staffers in real time to woo the Hispanic community.

It worked. Christie has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that Hispanic votes are there for the taking if the GOP drops their antipathy and arrogance towards that community.

Need more proof? Consider Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP's defeated candidate for governor of Virginia. He lost the Hispanic vote 66 percent to 29 percent after doing sweet Fanny Adams to accommodate them.

It was more than the margin of defeat against a weak Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe had ethical problems and is a lucky guy that he ran against a candidate who wanted “no mas” outreach to Hispanics.

So perhaps the GOP needs a visit to Specsavers so they can read the writing on the wall that as long as they slam, ignore and condemn immigrants, Hispanic voters will react in kind. When they reach out it is a very different story.

Clearly the message has not permeated the Elephant Men who run the GOP in the House. They seem determined to do as little as possible for as long as possible about just about everything, especially immigration reform.

McCarthy’s comments are just another cop out by a party that continues to confuse indolence and know-nothing sentiment with good governance.

Their Republican colleagues in the Senate pointed the way forward in April of this year by passing a comprehensive bill. Since then the House has refused to act.

It looks like they will continue their stonewalling in the New Year. If so then the midterm elections may become a lot more interesting than the pundits think.

Immigration is the GOP’s Obamacare whether they wish to recognize that or not, with the potential for even more massive long-term damage.

McCarthy’s response appears to be to continue to let the band play-on on board the good ship GOP as the icebergs approach.

They desperately need a Chris Christie or some new captain to grab the tiller and save them from doom.

Boston’s modest new mayor Marty Walsh wows Irish crowd in Faneuil Hall

VP Joe Biden pictured with new Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (Credit: @marty_walsh)

If there is a politician more comfortable in his skin than newly elected Boston mayor Marty Walsh I have yet to meet him.

He strolled into our Boston event at Faneuil Hall, where we were honoring the Irish heroes of both the Boston bombing and the Sandy Hook massacre, as just one of the crowd.

He entered by the back stairs, no security or advance men rushing ahead, no crowds held back to “make way for the mayor”.

IrishCentral and the Irish Emigrant newspaper, our print edition in Boston published by Connell Gallagher, had decided to honor Boston Marathon bombing and Sandy Hook heroes this year. The mayor-elect dropping in was a very welcome addition to our evening.

He soon made clear he would not have missed it. These were his people. He sat down for a brief interview with me, with no handers, no set topics, nor any agenda. Nobody brushed his hair or applied make-up as we were taping.

He has authenticity written all over him, the kid from Dorchester who put together an extraordinary coalition of Irish and minorities to win the election.

Case in point, when Joe Biden mistakenly called the wrong Marty Walsh after election night, Walsh’s response was to poke a little fun, tweeting a photo of him with the VP taken in Boston some time back. 'How could he forget me?' was the unspoken tease.

This is a man who survived childhood cancer, alcoholism, a minor bullet wound in a drive by shooting. This guy has perspective. This is Joe Friday, “just the facts” man as mayor.

On this night there was no security, no advance men, just a local boy who had done good mixing with a few hundred of his neighbors.

He is down to earth. He eats breakfast most days in McKenna’s cafe, in Savin Hill, near his home where the dinner special is $4.75. This is no fancy pants Bloomberg-type mayor.

As he pointed out it was his first event as mayor-elect and it was clear that the presence of so many Irish supporters buoyed him. “I recognize half of ye from the campaign trail,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way.”

I kidded him that he should run for mayor of Connemara as the Galway papers back home had headlined “Connemara man wins mayoral race…” after the election.

Maybe I was only half-kidding. There were posters for Marty Walsh, son of Mary and John, all over Connemara, some in Gaelic. He even answered a question from Irish radio in Gaelic.

He talked about his immigrant parents and the values they gave him, about the Irish who were there for him during his long struggles with cancer and alcoholism. He knows perfectly well whose shoulders he is standing on.

He also made clear he would be a champion of immigration reform at national and state level. As a state senator he had introduced legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to hold driver’s licenses. As a proud son of immigrants Marty Walsh knows how critical it is to allow immigrants to flourish.

There was one heroic family there to meet him on the night. Bill and Denise Richard made their first public outing since losing their beloved son Martin and seeing their darling daughter Jane cruelly lose a leg.

We were deeply honored by their presence. They came out, they told me, because they wanted to thank the first responders we were honoring. Their very presence made the night worthwhile.

Marty Walsh met with them and in a sign of the man’s priorities refused to have any photos taken in case it looked like exploitation.

I will write about the Heroes of New England we honored separately, but the Richard family are true American heroes.

And Marty Walsh will make a helluva mayor - and perhaps beyond!

Mary Lou McDonald as next Sinn Fein leader after Gerry Adams seen as likely

Mary Lou McDonald looks like the likely choice to replace Gerry Adams as head of Sinn Fein (Photo: PA)

A fascinating article by Harry McGee in Saturday’s Irish Times outlines the scenarios for the future after the era of the Gerry Adams/Martin McGuinness leadership for Sinn Fein passes.

The two have been giants in the Republican movement and indeed in Irish history and will be seen as such in historical terms.

However, they are both in their sixties and the inevitable question of succession raises its head.
Adams, McGee says, will stay to 2016 at least, for the centenary of the Rising by which time he will be 68. McGuinness, two years younger is likely to think about retirement at the same time.

McGee says the wish within Sinn Fein is for a Republic of Ireland leader next time around.

It is easy to see why. The chances of Sinn Fein being in government in both parts of the island are very real. The eclipse of Fianna Fail and the dreadful poll numbers of the Labor Party give Sinn Fein a massive future to look forward to.

McGee says Mary Lou McDonald, 44,the eloquent Dublin-based member of the Dail is the frontrunner, with Pearse Doherty of Donegal the other contender. If, for some reason, they decided to stick with a Northern leader John O’Dowd or Conor Murphy, ministers in the assembly but neither well known in the south, would be the obvious leaders.

I know and have met Mary Lou McDonald frequently and she is an astute, clever woman and very acceptable to middle class voters in an election.

I do not know Pearse Doherty but observers have admired his knowledge of financial issues, no easy
matter for Sinn Fein, and his clear growth as a politician from angry young man to considered leader.

Sinn Fein will be looking to attract middle class voters next time around (likely in 2016) and McDonald would be the obvious candidate if that were the key priority.

Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail may have enough votes between them to form the next government, a stunning thought, also considering that Sinn Fein have a shot at being the majority party of the two.

It is hard to see Sinn Fein in any other combination in power such as with Fine Gael but they will be deeply aware of the pitfalls of being a minority party in power.

The political oblivion of the Progressive Democrats, Green Party and now the fortunes of the fading Labor Party make clear it is a path to self-destruction.

McDonald would certainly seem to have the upper hand if it comes down to winning over the middle class voters, especially in Dublin, where she represents a constituency.

The fact is  she could some day emulate Margaret Thatcher as the first female leader of her country.

A long shot maybe but I wouldn’t bet against it.

A visit to Buckingham Palace and the home of the British royal family

Buckingham Palace

London: Occasionally you pinch yourself in life when you find yourself somewhere you never dreamed you would be.

I had that feeling when I found myself inside Buckingham Palace, home of the Queen and the royal family, and looking in on the room with the balcony where William and Kate had their first married kiss in public and the millions went wild.

If ever a room is steeped in history that is it, where generations of monarchs have made their public debut and young newly-married royals have waved their happy waves.

The crowds still gather outside Buckingham Palace in their thousands, the Beefeaters are still there, marching and standing and the security as you might expect, is very extensive.

Except I was looking down on all this, rather than looking up, pretty much sharing the view that Philip and William and Kate and Elizabeth had that day.

The British Empire was run from here, in name anyway, for centuries. The empire might be gone but the compelling power of the monarchy to attract and interest the world continues.

That is amply illustrated by the daily crowds and the continuing obsession with every aspect of royalty in the media, and not just the tabloids.

The idea of anointed ones sits easily these days in a celebrity-obsessed culture it seems.

So how did an Irishman from New York end up inside the British holy of holies?

Truth is a friend has business there and brought me in at the kind invitation of the member of the royal household he works with.

It is also rare when a place you visit conforms exactly to your idea of what it will look like.

It is opulent, historic, old fashioned, exciting and also dramatic. It is actually a series of inner palaces all built around the outer shell as it was explained to me over, what else? English tea and biscuits.

The corridors are sweeping and long and at any moment you could envisage the queen or members of her court appearing.

She was actually in the palace on the day presenting some knighthoods and other awards so that is as close as this Irish American will ever get to meeting royalty.

If by some perchance I had run into her I’d have thanked her for her gracious and dramatic visit to Ireland, especially when she spoke in Gaelic and visited the site of the Irish Republican war dead at the Garden of Remembrance. She also excelled during her meeting with Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness.

The old hurts between the two countries no longer seem so raw and rubbed since those actions. The Irish peace process has brought in many players from the great and good to the ordinary and Elizabeth has played her part.

It was a superb act of reconciliation and stage management still remembered fondly by millions of Irish, akin to Tony Blair’s apology for the Famine.

Time magazine features a cover story on Prince Charles this week saying he is getting ready to assume the top job sooner rather than later as the queen inevitably ages.

He will no doubt appear on that same balcony when he does in that room I glimpsed, replete with the Chinese ornamentation gifts from a long ago emperor

And I will think for a moment of the day I saw that space and what it represented to millions of British. And I hope he will too become a figure of reconciliation between the Irish and British, enemies for so long but now on the cusp of a new relationship.

Irish Post rises from the dead on Halloween at London’s Dorchester hotel

Michael Flatley with Niamh Flatley and Eamonn Holmes

500 Irish in Britain leaders, including Michael Flatley, showed up at the plush Dorchester Hotel in London on Thursday night and it felt to me like a community being reborn. I was delighted to be one of the speakers at the event.

The Dorchester is London’s finest hotel and it was a fitting location for the most extraordinary chapter in the death and revival of a great London Irish institution. It was fitting that it took place on Halloween when the dead are said to rise.

The near death of the Irish Post newspaper, the lifeblood of the Irish community in Britain, which stopped publishing for eight weeks after its corporate parent tossed it aside two years ago was a hammer blow to the Irish community here.

But this is the community that would not lie down. A committee was assembled which worked tirelessly to find a buyer for the  Post, even to the point where the British-Irish committee in parliament held hearings on the issue.

The Post was saved by Elgin Loane, a young businessman from Cork based in London, who had heard about its plight and decided enough was enough and the Irish were not going to lose their flagship.

In today’s publishing environment he performed miracles - getting the Post back on the street within eight weeks and restoring its former circulation numbers within weeks after that.

Since then the Post has re-established itself quickly as the heartbeat of the community.

So it was time to celebrate, but Loane did not want to do it in some inferior venue. He wanted the Irish to lay claim to the finest address in
London and to send a message that they belonged there.

Thus it was that a wonderful evening ensued, headed by the chief honoree the now London- domiciled Michael Flatley, who spoke forthrightly about the obligations to speak up and speak out  about the importance of Irish heritage wherever in the world we are.

It was a lesson the Irish in Britain learned the most difficult  way. It was hard not to think of the forgotten generations of Irish in Britain, the ones to whom coming to the Dorchester would have been a pipedream, other than as a doorman or hotel worker.

The ordinary Irish in Britain endured and experienced the worst of times during 'The Troubles,' yet the audience at the Dorchester understood that their own success - whether first or second generation Irish - depended on what had been accomplished by those who came before. Everyone in the room I talked to said they were standing on the shoulders of that older generation. The Irish must never forget the “No Dogs, No Blacks, no Irish signs.”

Now many of that forgotten generation are in trouble - construction workers who took “the lump” for years, were often exploited and lived itinerant lives and home helpers and nannies who were never put on the books to mention just two categories. It has been many years since the Irish in America endured such hardships, I’d say.

What was wonderful about the evening was not just the celebration of business success, which was evident, but also the understanding that this generation of Irish in Britain needed to reach back and help those who had gone through so much.

The Irish Post is leading that fight, helping in that battle to ensure the forgotten generation are remembered.

If there was ever a reason for a paper to exist that alone would suffice, but the event at the Dorchester was indicative of a new found pride and commitment among the Irish in Britain to their heritage.
Long may it last.

Irish in Britain moving on and up from IRA bombings era

Police officers outside the Houses of Parliament, London 

House of Commons, London: The Irish in Britain are different. The scars of The Troubles weighed heavily on the relationship between the two countries in a way that is only now apparent.

A leader in the Irish community in Brighton explained to me how after the unsuccessful attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher happened in 1984 the British tabloids urged anyone with Irish neighbors to watch them closely and report them for anything suspicious.

There were some dreadful miscarriages of justice, the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four to mention two. Often it seemed ordinary Irish were just convenient targets.

He said it got so bad he knew some Irish who took elocution lessons to change their accent.

Unlike in America where being Irish was a badge to wear proudly, in Britain it was often a scarlet letter, especially during IRA bombing campaigns.

But the community has come bouncing back from those bad old days in amazing fashion.

On Wednesday I had the honor of addressing the parliamentary committee on Ireland at the House of Commons chaired by a very proud Welsh Irishman named Chris Ruane, who is an MP for the Rhyll  district in Wales. The Irish go-to man in British politics is Martin Collins a ball of energy when it comes to Irish issues.

Along with Irish Post publisher Elgin Loane we explained what the potential of the Irish Diaspora worldwide is in the new era.

Loane himself is a case in point. A young Irishman who emigrated at age 18 to Birmingham, he remembers hanging his head after the 1993 Warrington bombings, where two young children were killed by a misplaced IRA bomb.

Such experiences were very common for the Irish in Britain, but now they are over. There were 40 or so community leaders present at the hearing, one more impressive than the other, indicating the potential for growth in the Irish community across Britain.

There is a man building an Irish Diaspora center in Manchester. The Irish in Britain group forced a question on Irish ethnicity onto the British census form. The GAA is booming as young Irish stream in. The young business organizations have thousands of members, all intensely proud of their heritage where a generation earlier they avoided the topic.

Sure, there are problems as the emigrant centers will tell you. Emigrants are flooding in, not all successful and many fleeing poor prospects in Ireland. There is an aging Irish population, former construction workers who saved little and were often exploited sorely, in need of assistance.

The Irish Post itself is leading the charge for the community. On Thursday night they hosted a dinner at the swish Dorchester Hotel for business and community leaders. A few years back you would have been lucky to find an Irish doorman employed. All changed.

The Post is emblematic. The flagship for a generation of Irish which hit hard times, as newspapers these days do. It was delivered into bankruptcy and all seemed doomed.

But the Irish community, with the help of MP Ruane, who held hearings, and others, rallied round and found a buyer, the same Elgin Loane. He was once a fresh faced immigrant himself, unsure of his path, now a hugely successful businessman but most importantly, a proud Irishman.

 He has turned the paper’s fortunes around dramatically, as the sell-out Dorchester crowd made clear.

I am just happy to witness the revolution. Outside the House of Commons hearing room where the Irish were gathered was a massive portrait of Margaret Thatcher.  I’m sure her ghost was covering her ears as the Irish talked so proudly inside.

It was a good feeling.