Choosing the Green
Everyone knows the story about Eamon de Valera supposedly being spared execution in 1916 because of his American birth. But...
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In This Issue
Interview: Gerry Adams
As we go to press, Northern Ireland is immersed in elections, the outcome of which could mean serious implications for the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin is expected to...
MoreFirst Word: The Way Forward
There is a sign on the wall at Gleason’s, Brooklyn’s storied boxing gym, posting an invitation from the poet Virgil: “Now whoever has courage, and a strong and collected spirit in...
MoreMayo Gas Terminal Provokes Concern
Residents in the west of Ireland have voiced concerns about planning authorities giving the go ahead to a proposed gas refinery on the Erris peninsula. The giant gas rig is being built by Royal Dutch...
MoreReport Highlights Change in Ireland’s Population
A new report produced by the Central Statistics Office in Dublin shows that Ireland is second only to Cyprus in the percentage increase of population within the EU between 1995 and 2004. The CSO...
MoreGAA Opens Up Croke Park
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) made an historic decision at the organization’s annual congress this year by opening up its Croke Park headquarters to non-GAA sporting events such as...
MoreJudge Questions “Colombia Three” Verdict
Although the whereabouts of the so-called `Colombia Three’ remain a mystery, a judge on the three-member appeal tribunal has publicly questioned the guilty verdict returned against them. The...
MoreBallymun Makeover Begins
Visitors to Dublin will notice a major change to the skyline on the next approach to the city’s airport. Demolition has begun on high-rise apartment blocks nearby in Ballymun. The first high...
MoreIrish Heroes of the Vietnam War
At a barber shop in Ringsend, Dublin, hangs a purple heart awarded to Lieutenant John Driver of the 101st Airborne, killed in action when his patrol was ambushed in Thua Thien, South Vietnam on April...
MoreTV’s Newest Bachelor
When the reality TV show “The Bachelor” first aired on ABC, millions of swooning women tuned in every Monday night to watch the dreamy Alex Michel, Harvard graduate and reader of The...
MoreThe Clones Colossus to Take on Iron Mike
On June 11, Irishman Kevin McBride will square off against two-time World Champion Mike Tyson. The bout is set to take place at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. It will be a comeback fight for...
MoreStanding Proud
Mary Pat Kelly, director, producer, screenwriter and contributor to Irish America magazine, doesn’t always pick topics that interest the mainstream media. In 1984, she was commissioned by...
MoreAn Icy Thaw for Belfast
In the town of Belfast, the word “Titanic” is still met with downcast eyes and a grimace. The Titanic was the world’s largest moving manmade object. It was the grandest and most...
MoreIrish Eye on Hollywood
There seems to be an odd trend spreading throughout Hollywood: Irish actors playing American presidents. First there was Northern Ireland native and respected thespian Kenneth Branagh playing...
MoreThe Irish Immigrant Experience
Tucked in a corner of southwest Baltimore, the grand dome of the country’s largest railroad museum looms over a run-down area that was once an Irish enclave. On the site of the once...
MoreThe Galway Arts Festival
Ireland’s changing. Fast. Where once the country stirred up images of threadbare tweed jackets, alcoholism and an omnipotent church, Ireland has become the new Land of Opportunity. Nowhere is...
MorePolitics and the Pulitzers
Politics always makes good fodder for art. This year, two Irish-American Pulitzer Prize winners — playwright John Patrick Shanley and San Francisco Chronicle photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice...
MoreThe View to Liberty
Unbeknownst to many, Lady Liberty has a girlfriend. Thanks to the Irish architect Charles Higgins, Liberty has gazed directly into the eyes of a statue of Minerva — who stands contentedly in...
MoreCo-Operation Ireland’s Annual Dinner
Co-Operation Ireland, a non-partisan charity dedicated to promoting peace throughout all of Northern Ireland and Ireland, held its annual dinner on March 14 at the New York Plaza. The evening...
MoreRemembering George F. Kennan
1904 – 2005 On March 17, the world lost one of the greatest diplomats of the 20th century, George Kennan, who died at the age of 101 at his New Jersey home. A descendant of Irish-Scotch settlers of...
MoreRemembering Frank Conroy
1936-2005 Irish-American author of the classic coming-of-age memoir Stop-Time, Frank Conroy died of colon cancer this April. He was 69 years old. Conroy, who was in charge of the Writer’s...
MoreEileen Collins
Eileen Collins doesn’t harp. She doesn’t fixate, but instead fixes. And though she may have high standards for herself and her work, she is not a believer in perfection. When asked about...
MoreThe Boxer
Looking out of a window of the famed Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, John Duddy’s fresh young face lights up with sheer delight at even the sight of a blinding blizzard in early March 2005....
MoreChoosing the Green
Everyone knows the story about Eamon de Valera supposedly being spared execution in 1916 because of his American birth. But de Valera was not the only 1916 figure who was second-generation Irish. His...
MoreThe Irish Wolfhound
In 1770, Oliver Goldsmith wrote: “The last variety, and the most wonderful of all that I shall mention, is the great Irish wolf-dog, that may be considered as the first of the canine...
MoreThe Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
In her new biography of Maeve Brennan, Angela Bourke includes two photographs taken around 1948. In one, Brennan, a delicate-looking young woman dressed in black, is sitting in front of the fire...
MorePaddy Whacked
T.J. English didn’t quite know what to expect when he went up to Boston earlier this year to promote his eye-opening new book, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American...
MoreOmagh
Gerard McSorley was traveling the day a bomb shook the foundations of Omagh — his hometown. He was returning to Dublin, where he was living at the time, and his sister, who was in London...
MoreReview of Books
Recommended MYSTERIES OF MY FATHER: An Irish-American Memoir Thomas Fleming Publisher’s Weekly is the bible of the book industry, and is read closely by everyone from writers and literary...
MoreHoly Cross, the Untold Story
“There were men and women, over their fences, shouting names and spitting and pulling people’s hair…and then a bomb flew over. Father Troy told us all to run. I thought everyone was...
MoreRoots: O’Flaherty
O’Flaherty (also Flaherty) ancestors have been documented since the time of Christ. One of the first Irish historians, Roderick O’Flaherty, recorded their history in Ogyia, published in...
MoreCeltic White Gold
Riddle: I am everywhere, but I am difficult to obtain. When I am wet, I am invisible. When I am dry, you can hold me in your hand. I can fertilize or sterilize. I preserve, and I destroy. I am found...
MoreFrom Sectarianism to Racism
The only sign that something happened here last night is the shower of shattered glass spread across the pavement. A few hours after a pregnant Pakistani woman and her brother-in-law moved in to this...
MoreThe Irish Scrubwoman
In the days when “No Irish Need Apply,” my maternal grandmother, Margaret McCabe Ackerson, was lucky to find work scrubbing office floors to support her five children. My aunt remembers...
MoreHibernia
Remembering Frank Conroy
1936-2005 Irish-American author of the classic coming-of-age memoir Stop-Time, Frank Conroy died...
An Icy Thaw for Belfast
In the town of Belfast, the word “Titanic” is still met with downcast eyes and a...
Standing Proud
Mary Pat Kelly, director, producer, screenwriter and contributor to Irish America magazine,...
Remembering George F. Kennan
1904 – 2005 On March 17, the world lost one of the greatest diplomats of the 20th century, George...
The Irish Immigrant Experience
Tucked in a corner of southwest Baltimore, the grand dome of the country’s largest...
The Galway Arts Festival
Ireland’s changing. Fast. Where once the country stirred up images of threadbare tweed...
The View to Liberty
Unbeknownst to many, Lady Liberty has a girlfriend. Thanks to the Irish architect Charles Higgins,...
Eileen Collins
Eileen Collins doesn’t harp. She doesn’t fixate, but instead fixes. And though she may...
Co-Operation Ireland’s Annual Dinner
Co-Operation Ireland, a non-partisan charity dedicated to promoting peace throughout all of...
Politics and the Pulitzers
Politics always makes good fodder for art. This year, two Irish-American Pulitzer Prize winners...