"History says, don't hope on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme."– Seamus Heaney from The Cure At Troy.For a brief time in August, hope and history rhymed in Northern Ireland. The IRA made a significant move towards putting their weapons beyond use and the hope of a permanent peace … [Read more...] about The First Word: No Rhyme What Reason?
Good Friday Agreement
Real IRA Informer in Protective Custody
A former leading figure in the Irish American dissident republican community is in protective custody after it was revealed that he had been working as a double agent for years. According to Irish and British news accounts, David Rupert, 49, a trucker from Illinois, infiltrated the Real IRA, the republican splinter group opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, gaining access to … [Read more...] about Real IRA Informer in Protective Custody
The Irish Arrive
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was in New York last December to present of a sculpture to the United Nations. Entitled Arrival, the bronze piece was created by John Behan, Ireland's foremost sculptor, and was installed on the north lawn of the UN headquarters. Situated only yards from the East River, and standing 23 feet high, it depicts a nineteenth-century emigrant ship … [Read more...] about The Irish Arrive
Trimble Wins Reprieve And Jeopardizes Good Friday Agreement
By Irish America Staff
December / January 2001
December / January 2001
Another political crisis in Northern Ireland was narrowly avoided and a new one born when at the end of October Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble won his party's confidence vote, defeating a challenge from anti-agreement MP Jeffrey Donaldson for the leadership of the UUP. This was the third challenge Trimble faced in his leadership of the UUP in the past year, and one … [Read more...] about Trimble Wins Reprieve And Jeopardizes Good Friday Agreement
The Acting President
Martin Sheen, the star of The West Wing, is a complicated, ebullient tangle of philosophy, Catholicism, politics, altruism, and homespun wisdom.It's a disconcerting sight: The leader of the free world is, uh, combing his eyelashes with a small mascara applicator... Okay, so it's the make-believe leader of the free world. And it's not such a far-fetched notion that Martin Sheen … [Read more...] about The Acting President