How A Solitary Tombstone in Wisconsin Solved the Mystery of His Irish Origins As a professional genealogist of half-Irish heritage, I’ve long embraced the opportunity to underscore the ties between Ireland and the United States, and one of the most obvious ways to do this is to trace the roots of high profile Americans to their place of origin in Ireland. This is trickier than … [Read more...] about Tim Walz of the Tomhaggard Doyles
Politics Archives
Campaign for Justice 50 Years On
IA Newsletter, October 5, 2024
Guildford Pub Bombs Continue to Haunt Victims and the British Criminal Justice System 50 years later. Exactly 50 years ago, on Saturday night October 5, 1974, IRA bombs exploded in two pubs in the Surrey town of Guildford, south of London. But despite a series of trials, appeals, an official inquiry and a coroners inquest, the full story of the attacks is still not … [Read more...] about Campaign for Justice 50 Years On
A People’s President
Mary McAleese was elected president of Ireland in October of 1997. It was an astonishing outcome. Just a few months previously, the 46-year-old law professor at Queens University in Belfast was hardly known in the Irish Republic and the notion that a Northerner could be elected president of Ireland seemed a farfetched one. Then in one of the most stunning ascents to power in … [Read more...] about A People’s President
Mo’s Mission
Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam (1949-2005), was a British Labour Party politician who served as Northern Ireland Secretary from 1997-2001. She helped bring about the Good Friday Agreement, signed April 10 1998. Throughout her term as Secretary Mo proved a force to be reckoned with. All the while, she privately battled brain cancer, which was the cause of her death on August 19, 2005.Mo … [Read more...] about Mo’s Mission
The Good Friday Agreement and Beyond
Irish America Newsletter June 17, 2023
“I was worried about my cousins getting killed,” Kevin Sullivan, Project Director for the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement said. “My mother was born in Sixmilecross, County Tyrone. My father was a career Army officer, and we lived abroad quite a bit. I often went back to my mother’s home place. I saw when the violence began and felt my own family was at … [Read more...] about The Good Friday Agreement and Beyond