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IRISH AMERICA THE WALL STREET
50 Celebrating the Irish in the Finance Industry
Brendan McDonagh CEO HSBC North America Holdings Inc., represents the new “Global Irish” who are joining the ranks of corporate America in increasing numbers.
IRELAND’S NEW LEADER CANADA’S IRISH HERITAGE CHICAGO’S IRISH ROOTS
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IRISH AMERICA August / September 2008
Vol. 23 No. 4
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74 FEATURES
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34 THE GLOBAL IRISHMAN Brendan McDonagh tells Niall O’Dowd about how he went from being the son of a butcher to becoming the CEO of HSBC Bank North America. 39 THE WALL STREET 50 Our annual recognition of 50 of the “Best and Brightest” Irish in the world of finance.
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61 HANNAH AND HER DESCENDANTS John Kernaghan looks at the trials faced by Irish immigrants to Canada and the tragedy that befell the immigrant ship, the Hannah, in the icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 66 CHICAGO AND THE IRISH The “City on the Prairie” has long been a haven for Irish immigrants and their families. Tom Deignan explores how the Irish have influenced the dynamics of Chicago, from the building of the canals to the rich history of gang culture. 70 A FLYING FINN JAVELIN Former Olympian Marjorie Larney – the youngest javelin thrower in Olympic history – recalls her experiences at the 1952 summer games. 74 IN THE NAME OF THE FADA The Irish language has found an unlikely advocate and hero in Des Bishop. Sharon Ní Chonchúir conducts a bilingual interview with the Irish-American comedian about this accidental love affair that has changed his life. 81 STRONG ECHOES OF IRELAND AT BOOK FAIR Mary Pat Kelly visits BookExpo America and finds a wealth of Irish in attendance. Alphie McCourt was there to launch his memoir, A Long Stone’s Throw. 94 IRELAND’S NEW LEADER. On May 7, Brian Cowen was elected by Dáil Eireann to become Ireland’s twelfth Taoiseach. Niall O’Dowd went to Dublin to meet him. 4 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
66 DEPARTMENTS 6 8 10 12 16 78 84 88 90 92 96 98
Contributors First Word Readers Forum News from Ireland Hibernia Music Books Roots Sláinte Crossword Last Word Photo Album Cover Photo: Kit De Fever
66 SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Ireland – Inspiration for Both Business and Pleasure.
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IRISH AMERICA
{contributors}
875 SIXTH AVENUE, SUITE 2100, N.Y., NY 10001 TEL: 212-725-2993 FAX: 212-244-3344 E-MAIL: irishamag @ aol.com WEB: http://www.irishamerica.com
Mortas Cine Pride In Our Heritage
Sharon Ní Chonchúir is a regular contributor to Irish America. In this issue she interviews Irish-American comedian Des Bishop and reports in the News from Ireland section. Sharon lives and works in West Kerry, Ireland, and much of her writing is concerned with the changing face of modern Irish culture.
Founding Publisher: Niall O’Dowd Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief: Patricia Harty Vice President of Marketing: Turlough McConnell Art Director: Marian Fairweather Assistant Editor: Declan O’Kelly Copy Editor: John Anderson Advertising & Events Coordinator: Kathleen Overbeck Financial Controller: Kevin M. Mangan Editorial Assistants: Bridget English Tara Dougherty Elizabeth Reilly Marketing Interns: Maeve Cummings JoAnna Kelly
Irish America Magazine ISSN 0884-4240) © by Irish America Inc. Published bi-monthly. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1277, Bellmawr, NJ 080995277. Editorial office: 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10001. Telephone: 212 725-2993. Fax: 212-244-3344 E-mail: Irishamag@aol.com. Subscription rate is $21.95 for one year. Subscription orders: 1-800-5826642. Subscription queries: 1-800-582-6642, (212) 725-2993, ext. 16. Periodicals postage paid at New York and additional mailing offices. Postmaster please send address changes to Irish America Magazine, P.O. Box 1277, Bellmawr, NJ 08099-5277. IRISH AMERICA IS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
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Marjorie Larney was the youngest ever javelin thrower to compete in the Olympics. In this issue she recounts her experiences at the Helsinki Games of 1952. Marjorie served in the U.S. Peace Corps from 1962-66 and returned to study and teach in Thailand in 2003. At 70, she was the oldest person to receive an MA in Human Rights and Social Development at Mahidol University in Thailand. Marjorie, whose grandmother Elizabeth emigrated to the U.S. in 1865, is proud of her Irish roots.
Mary Pat Kelly, a long-time contributor to Irish America magazine, reports from the Los Angeles Book Expo in this issue. She wrote and directed the feature film Proud, which played in theaters last spring and is now available on DVD. Her novel, Galway Bay, an epic story based on the life of her greatgreat-grandmother Honora Kelly, a fisherman’s daughter born on the shores of Galway Bay, will be published by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette USA) in February 2009.
John Kernaghan, who writes about the Irish who emigrated to Canada in this issue, is a sports, travel and food writer. He began his career in journalism in Ireland with The Armagh Guardian and The Portadown News. He has covered three Olympics, four World Series, one National Basketball Association final and two Stanley Cup finals as a reporter and columnist for Canadian newspapers. He lives in Oakville, Ontario.
Niall O’Dowd is the Founding Publisher of Irish America. In this issue he interviews Brendan McDonagh, CEO of HSBC North America. He also visited Ireland in May to meet the country’s new leader, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, and writes about it on page 94. Niall is also founding publisher of the Irish Voice newspaper, and Chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform group.
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The Global Irish s more and more talk turns to globalization, the Irish are in a unique position – in terms of the global context, we are already there. Whether it is running the world’s top rated hotel in Dubai, in the operating room of Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, or running a telecom business in the Carribean – no matter where you turn you will find the Irish. We have spread all over the globe. In proportion to population, Ireland has dispersed more emigrés than any other country in Europe. Today an estimated 70 million people of Irish descent are living around the world. The largest portion, some 40 million, are in the United States, but there are pockets of Irish in Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Canada, and increasingly in Asia. We are global by virtue of a history that has flung us far and wide – but there is something else too, something migratory in our make-up. Our ancient ancestors traveled from afar to inhabit our small island – some say they came from Sicily by way of Greece, Cappadocia, Gothia and Spain – so perhaps there is something in the blood that makes our island people want to see the rest of the world. While the present economic situation in Ireland means that the Irish are not forced to emigrate in the same numbers as before, there are still those who want to leave – perhaps not forever, but leaving the homeland for a few years after college is becoming a rite of passage for some, and the first step on a career path for others. At Irish America’s Silicon Valley dinner honoring the Irish in technology last March, I met several young Irish men and women in the industry who had emigrated to Asia before ending up in California. Which brings us to our cover story on Brendan McDonagh. Brendan didn’t take the emigrant route
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as mapped out by earlier generations. He left Ireland in 1979, when the economy was still in the doldrums. (Many of the Irish who went to the States at that time ended up as undocumented workers; though educated, they were confined to the sidelines in terms of jobs. Few managed to make it into corporate America.) Instead of looking West as so many others did, McDonagh chose to look East. He went to work for the Hong Kong bank HSBC in Asia. His move to the East still resulted in his eventual move to America. Today he is the CEO of HSBC North America. McDonagh, who lived in Japan, Hong Kong and Guam, as he ascended the corporate ladder, represents a new (or, perhaps in terms of our history not new but one rooted in tradition) phenomenon: the global Irish. The Irish have an uncanny ability to get on wherever they go – perhaps it’s a skill honed over centuries of diaspora. Perhaps it’s some historic memory of oppression and poverty that allows us to identify with others, and to succeed, even in cultures that are traditionally suspicious of Westerners. Meanwhile, the fact that more and more of our Wall Street 50 are Irish-born (33 percent of this year’s honorees) seems to indicate that American companies are realizing that they gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace by enlisting more foreigners into their management ranks (note to Presidential candidates, it’s time to reopen the immigration debate), and the Irish with their ability to cross cultural divides are increasingly moving up the corporate ladder. The connections that the Irish have made abroad are also important in terms of Ireland’s next stage of economic development. Irish universities have forged links with American universities, including the renowned Georgia Tech,
PHOTO: KIT DE FEVER
“Ireland is increasingly known as a world leader in innovation and for embracing technology. As Georgia Tech expands its global horizons, we seek partners who share our values and goals.Thus, we are especially pleased to celebrate the formation of this forward-looking collaboration with Ireland and our Georgia Tech Research Institute.” – Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.
which has placed its first applied research facility outside the United States in Ireland. The development of these special links is helping to position Ireland in its fight to lead the world in the area of technology convergence, and already many of the world’s most innovative companies in the life sciences and ICT sectors have located to Ireland. Ireland has other advantages too. Following in the tradition of the emigrants helping those back home, many Irish-born CEOs on our list are on the advisory boards of Enterprise Ireland, and are helping Irish start-up companies reach the American market. But perhaps our greatest strength comes from our “social networking” abilities. For, much as they like to leave home, the Irish like to keep in touch. And with the increasing emphasis on globalization, what the Irish already have in place, thanks to the tradition of emigration, is a worldwide network. Brendan McDonagh in an interview in this issue tells Niall O’Dowd about starting an Irish network in Japan. (What especially appealed to me about the story was how he and a group of young Irish turned a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Kobe into a fundraising event for a local orphanage.) The Irish are also skilled in using the latest technology to keep in touch with each other. On April 2, BioConnect Ireland linked its members in Ireland to their network colleagues in the U.S. (Biolink USA-Ireland) and the UK (Techlink UK-Ireland), via video and weblink to create a network of networks – from Chicago to Cork to Cambridge, the meeting charted the way of the future. And so, as emerging markets – the crucial economic battleground of the coming decade – become more important, the Irish, with their global connections and understanding of other cultures, are eager and ready to play their part. IA
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IRISH AMERICA
open for an immigrant working I was disappointed in reading class population? your June/July issue to see how I would like to make an appeal diverse Ireland is becoming. From for financial support for a small your liberal philosophy I guess you Catholic high school in people at Irish America magazine Manhattan – Saint Michael’s and many of your readers will be Academy on West 33rd Street. IRELAND’S MANY celebrating the day when the Irish My philosophy has always been – NEW CULTURES AND RELIGIONS officially become “people of go to the top and if necessary work A report by Columbia School of Journalism color,” but I believe that will be a my way down. I figured the best sad day. Despite the bogus claims, and the brightest, and financially diversity hasn’t worked very well successful, are within the readerin America. People should respect ship of Irish America. A THOUSAND WELCOMES? one another, but they will always Sister Kathleen Cusack (Top IRELAND’S prefer the company of their own. 100/1999) now retired as princiREFUGEES What was especially disturbing pal, and myself represent the class THE QUEENS OF MYSTERY: was learning that there are 40,000 of 1954, and we are trying to raise MARY & CAROL Muslims in Ireland and that numa little bit of money to meet the HIGGINS CLARK ber is growing rapidly. Try opening needs of running a top notch FINDING HOME: a Catholic or Protestant church in preparatory school. In my own A FATHER & SON TRAVEL STORY any Muslim country – it isn’t going case, my mother made an appeal, DECLARATION to happen. Muslims have not inteunbeknown to me, to Msgr. OF INTENT: grated well in any other European Aloysius C. Dineen, who paid IRISH TROOPS IN KOSOVO country, what makes you think my $11.00 per month tuition. they will in Ireland? Hopefully the Does anyone remember the other immigrants will become Msgr. pastor of St. Agnes on East truly Irish. The Muslims never 43rd? Now that man knew how Montana’s capitol building. To us, he is will, and Ireland will live to regret this to put on a show and raise a buck with “Meagher of the Sword.” This statue is a policy [of immigration]. his “Dollar a Sunday Club.” But I digress Jim Lundrigan symbol of the dreams of all free people down memory lane. Back to 2008, and a New Haven, Connecticut who would pursue their own “great and very serious concern – the changing glorious deeds.” Portrayed as a striking streetscapes of New York City where SEEK THE FAIR LAND soldier on horseback with raised sword; small low-rise buildings and shops are I just got this month’s edition of Irish he was the first Secretary of Montana being replaced by luxury co-ops and America magazine and read the editor’s Territory, Montana’s first Acting hotels. To the east of Saint Michael’s a First Word column which mentioned the Governor and founder of the Montana 68 year-old diner is being replaced by a Walter Macken book Seek The Fair Militia now known as the Montana high rise, and to the west, I understand a Land. It made me think of the book, National Guard. He was an Irish freedom hotel is being built. (Are the cranes comwhich was given to me last year by my fighter and exile, a great orator, a Civil ing for us next?) In light of these develson Bryan’s high school English teacher War hero and the founder of New York’s opments, my appeal is for the Top 100 to as a gift. I had not heard of Walter famous Fighting 69th Regiment. please think back to the nun enveloped in Macken or the book, but I read it with As Governor of the State of Montana yards of black surge, who put your great interest. I found it very moving. and a member of the Thomas Francis young foot confidently on the first rung My grandmother, Rose Vallely Murray Meagher Division of the Ancient Order of the ladder to your future success. We from Co. Tyrone had no love for the of Hibernians, we thank you for giving need your help in ensuring that Saint British. Someday I may even be sucour brother a symbolic resting place. He Michael’s is financially stable so that it cessful in getting my son Bryan to read it earned his place in history. He earned his may continue to be a strong thread in the as well. Keep up the good work. place in hearts across America and tapestry of the city and remain open and James J. Houlihan around the world. We are honored to flourishing on West 33rd. White Plains, New York Joan Lengyel claim him as our hero. St. Michael’s Academy Thank you, Thomas Francis Meagher. June/ July 2008
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Miles away from Montana, you gathered in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, to honor the memory and the great and glorious deeds of a brave Irishman, Thomas Francis Meagher. For 103 years, the statue of Thomas Francis Meagher has graced the front of 10 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2008
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A NUN’S APPEAL I realize times are difficult for more and more of the middle class, so can you imagine the stress of keeping a school
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425 W 33rd St. New York, New York 10001 Send letters to: Irish America, 875 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2100, NY NY 10001. Or E-mail irishamag@aol.com. Please include name, address, and phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
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By Sharon Ní Chonchúir
Ireland Says No to Lisbon Treaty
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une 12 proved to be a definitive day in the history of the European Union. Ireland, a long-time beneficiary of EU grant aid, voted against the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty, which was meant to shape Europe in the 21st century and was expected to come into force in January 2008, needed the ratification of all 27 EU member states. Ireland was the only state obliged to hold a referendum on the issue. Despite the fact that Ireland has enjoyed a net gain of 40 billion euros from its membership of the EU since it joined in 1973, the Irish rejected the document by 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent, a difference of 109,164 voters. For the Irish government, steered by its new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, it was an embarrassing defeat. All three of Ireland’s main parties -– Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour -– had called for a yes vote. However, their voices were drowned out by the no campaign, mounted by a motley crew of free market advocates, the ultra-
Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald, whose party strongly opposed the Lisbon Treaty, shows her delight with the referendum result. Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin leader, is in the background.
Though Taoiseach Brian Cowen toiled hard for the “Yes” campaign, the Irish people rejected the Lisbon Treaty.
Catholic right, Sinn Féin and the far left. The no campaign played upon the voters’ fears about the loss of sovereignty, possible tax harmonization and a perceived threat to Ireland’s neutrality. Voters were also confused by the obscurity of the treaty. Joan Burton of the Labour Party said, “This was one of the biggest problems of this campaign –- thousands and thousands of people couldn’t even understand what the treaty was about.” EU leaders and Taoiseach Brian Cowen in particular are now in the process of deciding on a way forward, following this setback for the
European project. Some leaders have called for the establishment of a two-tier Europe with Ireland in the slow lane; others have demanded another referendum, just as they did in the wake of Ireland rejecting the Nice Treaty; and still more have suggested a complete overhaul of the current Lisbon Treaty. Brian Cowen has been given until the next EU summit in October to formulate a plan. In the meantime, he has stated that Ireland “does not wish to halt the progress of Europe . . . We have to absorb what has happened. There is no quick fix . . . but the government will respect the wishes of the Irish people.” On a more hopeful note, he said, “We must not rush to conclusions. The union has been in this situation before.” This opinion was shared by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso. “I believe the treaty is not dead and we should now try to find a solution,” he said, emphasizing that 18 of the EU’s 27 nation states have already endorsed the treaty.
Early Houses Will Remain
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reland’s early houses – pubs with a special license allowing them to open early in the morning – have been saved from closure due to pressure from publicans. There are approximately 40 such pubs in the country, including 12 in Dublin. During his campaign to shut them down as part of the new Intoxicating Bill, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern had cited “anecdotal evidence” that they were being used by problem drinkers. However, he has now gone back on that claim and says that he will allow them to retain their early opening hours. This has been welcomed by the bar owners, by the Vintners Federation of Ireland and by the Licensed Vintners Association -– all of whom had lobbied the 12 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
government. “We understand there’s a serious drink problem out there but we weren’t contributing to that,” said Páraic O’Regan, owner of the Welcome Inn early house in Cork. “The bill is about the increasing availability of alcohol but we’ve been there for 80 years.” Many people, including the opposition’s spokesman on justice, Charlie Flanagan of Fine Gael, would agree. “I’m glad the minister has seen sense because the early houses are part of traditional Dublin life and there are a number throughout the country,” he said. However, the minister has modified the bill to ensure that no new early houses can be opened and he has added an amendment forbidding the sale of takeout alcohol from these early houses in the morning.
Irish drinkers will still be able to get pints at the early bars.
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Ireland to Recognize Same-Sex Couples ame-sex couples in Ireland are one step closer to equality. They will have the right to legal recognition of their relationships through civil partnerships by this time next year. These partnerships will allow gay and lesbian couples legal rights in relation to taxation, maintenance, sharing their home and pensions. However, the partnerships stop short of allowing gay marriage or child adoption for same-sex couples. This would have been contrary to Article 41 of the Irish Constitution, which protects the sanctity of marriage, and would have required a referendum to amend. “We are going as far as we can without… affecting the Constitution,” said the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern. Similar to the marriage process, these civil partnerships will be open to couples who are over 18 and who give three months’ notice of their wish to register the union. This move has received a lukewarm reception from gay rights activists who maintain that only full marriage rights will give same-sex couples complete equality. Well-known gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris is one such activist. “It seems to me to be a meanminded, begrudging, minimal proposal,” he said. “I certainly won’t be accepting it.” Ireland’s biggest gay representative group, Glen, has taken a more measured approach, welcoming the move with reservations. “Comprehensive civil partnership is a major milestone towards equality,” said spokesman Kieran Rose. “The provisions outlined will resolve many pressing issues faced by lesbian and gay couples and will also provide a platform for further progress. “The proposals, however, do not provide for legal recognition of the many same-sex couples, particularly women, who are parenting children together, leaving these parents and their children outside the protection of the State.” The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has welcomed the bill, but director Mark Kelly said: “Only the introduction of civil marriage for same-sex couples will achieve full equality of status with opposite-sex couples.”
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Asylum Numbers Down The number of people seeking asylum status in Ireland has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, according to the latest annual report from the Refugee Applications Commissioner. A total of 3,984 people applied for refugee status in Ireland in 2007, a seven perAsylum seekers cent reduction in in Mosney holiday camp, applications comCounty Meath. pared to 2006 and the lowest number of applications since 1997. The top six applicant countries were Nigeria, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Georgia and Sudan. PHOTO: DEREK SPIERS
Senator David Norris at a gay pride parade in Dublin.
Lunch Times Ireland has finally graduated into the upper echelons of the fast-paced world of modern business. A survey by the Peninsula recruitment agency has revealed that the average lunchtime has been sliced from 45 minutes in 2005 to 20 minutes. Although Irish workers are legally entitled to an hourlong break in an 8-hour working day, most workers are no longer taking a full hour. What’s more, the survey also found that almost three in four employees are now choosing to spend their breaks at their desks. So much for the traditional pub lunch.
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Penny’s Sweat Shop Labor One of Ireland’s leading clothing retailers has been exposed for using child labor to manufacture its lowprice clothes. The BBC Panorama documentary program found that T-shirts sold in the Penny’s chain of stores (known as Primark outside of Ireland) were finished by child workers in India paid just 76c a day. Penny’s, which has built up a business valued at 6.3 billion euros based on fashionable clothes sold at low prices, has responded by refusing to do business with the companies concerned in future.
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Hibernian Insurance In one of the most recent high-profile blows to Irish employment figures, insurance company Hibernian are moving 580 of their Irish-based jobs to Bangalore in India. This restructuring will begin early next year and will be completely phased in before 2012. Hibernian is one of Ireland’s largest insurers with approximately 1.2 million customers in the country. It reported a group operating profit of more than 352 million euros last year.
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Eucharistic Congress
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ope Benedict XVI has announced that Dublin will host the 50th Eucharistic Congress in 2012. This decision has been enthusiastically welcomed by the church in Ireland. 2012 will be a symbolic year for both the Irish and the Catholic Church. Internationally, it marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and on an Irish level, it is the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. The 1932 congress commemorated the 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick’s arrival in Ireland, and is widely believed to have been the largest public event held in Ireland in the 20th century. Welcoming the announcement on behalf of the Catholic faithful, the Irish Bishops’ Conference has said they are “honored and humbled” that Dublin has been chosen. “The hosting of the congress in Dublin will be an international event. The celebration will attract thousands of pilgrims and will enable Catholics at home and abroad to meet, pray together and discuss issues of faith.”
“We live in different times now,” they said. They hope the congress will encourage Irish people to look at their faith anew. “It will be an opportunity for the Catholic church in Ireland to both reflect on the centrality of the Eucharist at the heart of our increasingly diverse community and to give renewed impetus to the living of faith.” The first International Eucharistic Congress was held in France in 1881. Since then, it has evolved to include weeklong celebrations, adorations, catechesis, cultural events, fraternal gatherings and commitments to aid the poor. Planning for the Dublin congress has started already. Parishes all over the country have been invited to make suggestions as to how best to celebrate the event. “In all our preparations we shall continue to promote renewal of Pope Benedict XVI, who announced that Dublin will host the 50th Eucharistic Congress in 2012. faith; bear witness for the Gospel; and communicate the principle that the However, the bishops have also noted Eucharist represents the community prothat there will be significant differences fessing itself as belonging to the Lord,” between the 1932 and 2012 congresses. said the Irish Bishops’ Conference.
Robert McCartney Trial Ongoing
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he murder trial of Robert McCartney, which ended in an acquittal in the Belfast Crown Court on June 27, exposed many underlying tensions in the city. McCartney, 33, was beaten and stabbed to death outside a Belfast bar on January 30, 2005. One of his best friends, Edward Gowdy, who had been drinking with him, gave evidence at the trial. During cross-examination, Gowdy admitted lying to police because of a perceived paramilitary involvement in the murder. Speaking from behind a curtain, he said that because of where he lived, he “didn’t know the situation at the time, what I could say or what I couldn’t say.” Gowdy testified to witnessing a fight break out inside the bar. He said the next thing he remembered was standing outside the bar with Robert McCartney and Brendan Devine, another friend who was covered in blood. The three of them then walked down a side street and Gowdy noticed a group of men following them, some carrying bottles, others sticks. Gowdy went to talk to them, was hit with a stick and told to leave the area. Asked why he left and returned to the bar, Gowdy replied:“The
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IRA doesn’t usually kill people on the street.They would do it the next day.” On that night, Gowdy finished his drink in the bar and later received a text from his wife telling him that McCartney was “in a bad way.” Gowdy went to the Royal Victoria Hospital where McCartney later died. At the time of writing,Terence Davison had just been acquitted of the murder charge and two further counts of affray. Coaccused James McCormick and Joseph Fitzpatrick were also found not guilty of affray, with Fitzpatrick acquitted on a further charge of assault. The judge, Justice John Gillen, said,“I recognize that the family of McCartney and others who held him dear will be frustrated and disappointed that whoever it was who cut this young man down in the prime of his life has not been brought to justice. However, the memory of McCartney and the rule of law itself would be illserved by this court failing to observe the high standards of criminal justice and the burden of proof which prevail in courts in Northern Ireland.” The judge warned the three acquitted men that they could be brought back to court if more evidence emerged.
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PEOPLE
| HERITAGE | EVENTS | ARTS | ENTERTAINMENT PHOTO: DECLAN O’KELLY
St. Brigid’s Spared by $20 Million Gift “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we don't see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8:24,25)
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he patience and prayers of the parishioners of St. Brigid’s Church on the Lower East Side of New York were answered on May 21, when it was announced that an anonymous donor had given $20 million to ensure that the 160year-old church would not be demolished and turned into condos. The secret Samaritan specified $10 million for repairs, $2 million for St. Brigid’s School and the remaining $8 million as an endowment to the parish. One of the few links left to the famine generation, the Gothic-style church was designed by Patrick Keely. A Tipperary man, Keely moved to New York when he was 25 and went on to have a long and distinguished career as an architect. The cornerstone was laid in September 1848 and the church was completed 15 months later, the work carried out by Irish craftsmen who had fled the great hunger in Ireland. St. Brigid’s became a haven for the Irish-American community, and later for all nationalities that have called the parish home. However, in recent years Mass attendance went down and in 2001 the church was closed after a crack was discovered in a wall, rendering the structure unsafe. In 2004 the parish was closed and the Archdiocese of New York started making moves to destroy the church to raise funds. The Archdiocese’s actions provoked outrage in the local community and a committee to save St. Brigid’s Church was formed. In July 2006 demolition workers made a huge hole in the east wall, dragged pews out onto the street, 16 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
and shattered some of the irreplaceable stained-glass windows. Numerous legal challenges and appeals were made, but despite the committee’s best efforts, the final appeal ruled in favor of the Archdiocese. The committee was working on an appeal at the Court of Appeals in Albany, when on May 21 the $20 million gift was announced. One man’s generosity changed everything. “This magnificent gift will make it possible for Saint Brigid’s Church to be fittingly restored with its significant structural problems properly addressed,” said Edward Cardinal Egan, who had been much criticized for abandoning his flock in St. Brigid's, in a statement. “The two additional gifts, to create an endowment for the parish and to support the parish school, are a powerful testament to the donor’s goodness and understanding. He has my heartfelt gratitude, as I recently told him at a meeting in my residence.” Since the incredible act of charity, the joy felt about the church’s salvation has been matched by curiosity as to who “he” is. A spokesman for the Cardinal ruled out actor Matt Dillon, who was an active supporter for the church to be saved. Philanthropist Chuck Feeney’s foundation Atlantic Philanthropies also confirmed it was not Feeney who made this extraordinary gesture. Though the identity of the donor may
Left: One parishioner could not help himself (or herself) and stuck this Daily News article about the church’s salvation on the construction boarding outside St. Brigid’s.
never be revealed, the impact of his actions will be felt deeply by those who worship in the church for many years to come. “The age of miracles has not passed. St. Brigid’s has been saved,” said Ed Torres, chairman of the Save St. Brigid’s committee, at the Bard for St. Brigid’s II fundraiser at Connolly’s Bar in Times Square on June 18. As well as thanking all the artists, committee members past and present, and parishioners who helped in one way or another, Torres had this to say to the “anonymous angel” who saved St. Brigid’s: “I wish that person was here tonight, not just because I would like to ask for a loan of my own! The amount offered to restore the spiritual and historical landmark is 20 million dollars, but the chance to return to this sacred place to worship God and honor His presence in the holy sacrifice of Mass is priceless. There are no words adequate to thank a person for such a – Declan O’Kelly gift.”
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cclaimed author Peter Quinn participated in the Bard for St. Brigid’s II, and puts in perspective the role and place of St. Brigid’s in the history of the Irish in New York. Here are some excerpts from his speech: “Here we arrive at last, as James Joyce put it by ‘a commodius vicus of recirculation’ to this incredibly happy occasion filled with music, song, dance, and rejoicing. This is what the Spanish culture calls a fiesta. In Irish culture we call it a wake. Tonight, however, instead of sitting Shiva for a person, we are waking a certain idea that St. Brigid’s was doomed and that only a fool could believe otherwise. In the wonderful words of St. Paul in the First Corinthians, ‘It is the fools who have turned out to be wise, it is the weak who have turned out to be strong, it is the despised who have turned out to have honor.’ Last week at the opening of the Irish apartment at Tenement Museum, Consul General of Ireland, Niall Burgess, reminded the audience that besides that apartment there was only one physical link that directly connected us with the immense and transforming human deluge that poured into this fort in the aftermath of the Great Hunger; one million people in 10 years. That other link he said was St. Brigid’s. The fight to preserve that link often seemed the mother of all lost causes. But, no matter how lost or hopeless it seemed, we had what nobody else had. We had St. Brigid on our side. And it was St. Brigid, she, who made a difference, for who else could have inspired a $20 million miracle?” COURTESY EDDIE TORRES.
Quinn went on to describe his own personal links to the church: “The Quinns have been parishioners of St. Brigid’s for over half a century. My grandfather was married at St. Brigid’s in 1897. He liked it so much that when his first Peter Quinn, poet Christy Kelly and Ed Torres, Chairman of the wife died he returned in 1898 committee to Save St. Brigid's, at to do it again. My grandmoththe Bard for St. Brigid’s II. er put to rest any inkling he might have to return to St. Brigid’s to make matrimony a third time by outliving him, as Irish women usually do, by thirteen years. My father was baptized in St. Brigid’s in 1904. He received his first communion, first confession, and confirmation there. And so did his brother and sister, my aunt and uncle. I, on the other hand, had the good taste to receive all those sacraments in the Bronx. And since it doesn’t look like I’m going to be ordained, the only other religious rite of passage that I can now look forward to having at St. Brigid’s is my funeral!” - Peter Quinn is the author of many books including Looking for Jimmy, Hour of the Cat and Banished Children of Eve, which has just been republished in paperback by The Overlook Press.
A LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF AN
Irish-American Immigrant Family
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small coffin in a cramped room re-creates a sad day in the life of the Moore family, Irish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard St. in 1869. The re-creation of the Moores’ apartment, , which opened on June 17, is New York’s Tenement Museum’s first new exhibition in six years. During the hour-long tour you can catch a glimpse of the struggles faced by Irish immigrants in the late 19th century, with emphasis on the lack of knowledge about disease at the time. Though actual details of the child’s death are unknown, through educated guesses and speculation, the curators of the Tenement Museum have pieced together a likely scenario of the day that Agnes Moore, the infant daughter of Irish immigrants Joseph and Bridget, died of malnutrition. With the mortality rate for the children of Irish immigrants at a staggering 25%, only four of the Moores’ eight children made it to The parlor in the Moore adulthood. apartment exhibit at the Despite the hardTenement Museum ships faced by the family, the apartment is infused with cheerful decorations: a mantle covered by a bright green runner, topped with ornaments, a man’s top hat placed carefully alongside a cross. Steve Long, the museum’s Vice President of Collections and Education, said in a recent article, “We wanted to emphasize the human urge to decorate.” The museum is at 108 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Tours of the apartment are available Tuesday through Friday at 12, 1:30, 3, and 4:30 and on Saturdays and Sundays at 11, 12:30, 2, 3:30 with the last tour starting at 5. All tours are guided and tickets can be pre-ordered on the museum’s website at www.tenement.org – Elizabeth Reilly AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 17
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Irish Actor Wins Tony
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ublin-born Jim Norton was honored at this year’s Tony Awards with the Best Featured Actor in a Play award for his performance in Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer. The play is set in Baldoyle, County Dublin, during a Christmas Eve poker game, when four friends get a visit from a mysterious character that turns out to be the devil. Norton played blind, aging “Richard Harkin” whose alcoholic brother “Sharky,” played by David Morse, has returned to live with him. “To be nominated in the company of such wonderful actors and to speak Conor McPherson’s beautiful words night after night and to experience the warmth and generosity of spirit of the Broadway audiences and to win this, this is the icing on the cake. And I share this happily with my fellow actors in The Seafarer – a terrific team of guys,” said Norton as he accepted his first Tony award. The 70-year-old had previously won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance as Richard Harkin in the play in London. The play received four Tony nominations including two Best Featured Actor nods, for Norton and County Antrim native Conleth Hill, as well as for Best Play and Best Director. Conor McPherson called Norton’s performance “absolutely brilliant” and said of his play, “If you tried to write a Broadway hit, or if I tried I wouldn’t be able to. Whereas if you just write a play set in a house in Baldoyle, that can do it. It’s the same as a movie like Once, or that kind of thing. It’s the little ones that come out of nowhere that can often make the noise.” The cast of The Norton, who played Bishop Brennan in the Irish cult Seafarer: Conleth Hill (who was TV comedy Father Ted, is currently starring in Port also nominated), Authority, another McPherson play, at the off-Broadway Jim Norton, Atlantic Theater Company. The Seafarer is currently on David Morse, Ciarán Hinds and tour in Ireland. -Tara Dougherty Sean Mahon.
Jimmy Fallon Steps Into Conan’s Slot
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n 2009, NBC’s late-night talk shows will be in the comedic hands of two familiar Irish-American jesters. Conan O’Brien will be replacing Jay Leno on The Tonight Show, and filling his shoes on Late Night will be IrishAmerican comedian, actor and musician Jimmy Fallon.Voted “Most Likely to Replace David Letterman” in elementary school, Fallon will have to settle for O’Brien’s late-night spot Jimmy Fallon at starting next year. the Tribeca Film Fallon is best known Festival. for his years on Saturday Night Live where he was noted for his impressions as well as his frequent outbursts of laughter during sketches. He played a variety of memorable characters and hosted the long-running spoof “Weekend Update” along with head writer and actress Tina Fey. Fey, SNL alum and now star of NBC hit 30 Rock, told Broadcasting & Cable of Fallon’s new hosting gig, “I think it’s a great idea. He’s really funny and loves to talk to people; it must be that Irish charm. Hosting a talk show is hard, having to do the comedy and the interview skills, but I actually think he’s really well suited for it.” Born James Thomas Fallon in Brooklyn to parents Jim and Gloria, the actor-comedian was raised in upstate New York town Saugerties with his older sister Gloria. Fallon attended St. Mary of the Snow, a Catholic school, and graduated from Saugerties High School in 1992. He then attended the College of Saint Rose in Albany, majoring in history. Fallon dropped out of Saint Rose just 15 credits shy of a degree. He has performed stand-up comedy and impressions in various cities at some of the most famous comedy clubs in the country including New York’s Caroline’s Comedy Club and the Improv in Los Angeles. - Tara Dougherty
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{ irish eye on hollywood} By Tom Deignan Amidst the popcorn blockbusters of the summer, keep an eye out for veterans as well as up-and-coming Irish talent in Hollywood. First up, Pierce Brosnan stars alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, based on the musical, which itself was based on the songs of Swedish supergroup Abba. Mamma Mia!, scheduled for a July 18 release, is about a bride-to-be who is searching for her father. The musical was such a hit that superstar Tom Hanks (along with his wife Rita Wilson) snatched up the film rights and produced the movie. Along with Streep and Brosnan, Mamma Mia! also stars Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard. Brosnan is also set to star in the next film by Irish director Terry Loane, the 2009 release Vanilla Gorilla.
Speaking of young Irish directors, John Crowley impressed many with his star-studded 2003 movie Intermission, which featured Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney, Cillian Murphy and a slew of other Irish actors. Crowley, who established his reputation as a brilliant theater director, is returning to film again this summer with the controversial Boy A. The film, slated for a July release, takes a close look at a juvenile criminal, and what happens when the guilty boy is released back into society with a new identity. He struggles to put the past behind him, but can never put his heinous crime completely out of his mind. Boy A is based on a novel 20 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
COURTESY: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Pierce Brosnan will star with Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!.
by Jonathan Trigell, and, in part, seems to have been influenced by the infamous Liverpool murder of threeyear-old James Patrick Bulger at the hands of two ten-year-old boys. Boy A stars Andrew Garfield as well as Scotsman Peter Mullan, familiar to many Irish film fans for directing the explosive film The Magdalene Sisters, about abusive priests and nuns. One Irishman you will not be seeing this summer Peter Mullan will star in John is Brian F. O’Byrne. True, Crowley’s Boy A. he is starring in the political thriller The International, alongside Naomi Watts and Clive Owen. The film is about an agent seeking to bring down a prestigious financial firm which has taken to smuggling arms. The International was initially slated for a summer 2008 release. The latest word is that the film has been pushed back to February 2009. It’s not surprising that the director of the Irish political prison film Hunger went into film. His name is Steve McQueen, after all. McQueen, however, does not make suave action films like the 1970s American icon did. Instead, McQueen made one of the most unforgettable films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Hunger, in fact, won the Camera d’Or prize for best first film. Hunger was co-written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and chronicles the infamous 1981 hunger strikes in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. The film features what has widely been described as a star-making turn by Michael Fassbender, who plays Bobby Sands, who became an international symbol of injustice when he died in the Maze while on hunger strike at the age of 27. “Within the prison, there were prison officers who I identify with and protestors with whom I identify,” McQueen said after winning the award. “The film is about people in a situation and what these people do.” Interestingly, neither of the two driving forces behind Steve McQueen poses with Hunger are Irish-born. the Camera d’Or prize he McQueen is British while won for best first film at the Fassbender was born in Cannes International Film Festival for Hunger. Heidelburg, Germany, though
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his family moved to Killarney, Ireland, when he was young. Fassbender appeared in the swords-and-sandals comic book film 300 and Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream, alongside Colin Farrell. Fassbender has also been seen in numerous British and American TV shows, including Band of Brothers. He is next slated to appear in the upcoming Joel Schumacher movie Town Creek. It’s worth noting that Colin Farrell’s big breakthrough was Tigerland, also directed by Joel Schumacher. Perhaps the director can do the same for Fassbender. Hunger was funded, in part, by the Northern Ireland Screen and The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. It is expected to be distributed in the U.S. by IFC films, though no release date has been announced. Another highly anticipated Irish movie is Mineville, directed by Dublin native Jason Barry. Barry, thus far, is best known for his supporting role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, playing Tommy Ryan. Barry is moving behind the camera for Mineville, which tells the story of Irish immigrants working in the iron ore camps of upstate New York. Set around 1910, Mineville explores the workers in the camp, as well as a man seen initially as a savior for the laborers, who actually becomes their worst nightmare. Mineville, which begins shooting in September, is being made by a production company owned by Barry and his wife Nicola Charles. “Jason and I are really excited about the film,” Charles was recently quoted as saying. “It’s a great script, and a story that hasn’t been told before.” Giovanni Ribisi, William Sadler, Anthony Lapaglia, Ian Hart and Tony Curran are among the actors expected to appear in Mineville.
Cable giant HBO is producing a new drama series called The Anatomy of Hope, which will explore patients battling cancer and other terminal ailments. Among the stars will be Irish actress Kerry Condon, who previously appeared in HBO’s mini-series Rome. Chris Messina (Six Feet Under) and Simon Callow will also star in Anatomy of Hope, which will be produced by Lost wunderkind J.J. Abrams. In September, the troubled biopic of boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward is supposed to begin shooting. Star Mark Wahlberg says he’s still behind the film, but even he cannot guarantee the film will get made.“I’ll be disappointed (if it doesn’t happen), because it’s been a dream of mine,” he told Men’s Health magazine recently. Also in September, Taken – Liam Neeson’s next film – is slated to hit theaters. The film sounds a bit like a remake of the 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot-em-up Commando. In both films, the daughter of a former soldier is kidnapped, then (presumably) heroically rescued. Cillian Murphy has joined the stellar cast of Peacock, a drama to be directed by Michael Lander. Set for a 2009 release, Peacock also features Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman and the young star of Juno Ellen Page. In
Meanwhile, Irish actor Colm Meaney has been busy shooting British films which should either be available on DVD in the U.S., or may yet make it to theaters over here. Earlier this year, Meaney appeared in Three and Out, a comedy about a bus driver who hits two people in one Colm Meaney will star in The Damned United. month. The driver finds out that if he hits Peacock, Murphy plays a small town clerk who discovers a third anytime soon, he will lose his job – a prospect which that a homeless woman has been secretly living in his back actually appeals to him. Now all he has to do is find a person yard. to hit with his bus, or willing to be hit. Finally, Irish beauty queen Gemma Garret is branching Next up for Meaney is a soccer flick called The Damned out into movies – at her peril. The onetime Miss Belfast and United. Directed by Tom Hooper (who recently directed the Miss Great Britain is teaming up with 80s action star Dolph heralded John Adams mini-series for HBO), The Damned Lundgren to shoot Direct Contact in Bulgaria and is planUnited tells the story of former soccer player and coach Brian ning to shoot another film with the muscular leading man. Clough, who coached Leeds United for just 44 days one misGarret was Sienna Miller’s body double in Layer Cake and erable season in the 1970s before he was fired. No word yet has also been seen in the movies Johnny Was and Buy on whether or not The Damned United will be released in the Borrow Steal. U.S. It is slated for release in the U.K. some time next year. IA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 21
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Superhero Thanks Dad I
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who-we-are-or-what-to-do. It was a time when being self-destructive seemed in. And we weren’t quite sure what we were rebelling against, but we took a pretty heavy fall and we lost a lot of people. So I remember when I was at my very lowest, my dad, who had put down all that dumb stuff twenty years before, said, ‘Hey, kid, stick around. It’s not so bad. Just stay on the planet.’”
ter and hugging his dad and exclaiming, “You son of a bitch! You just let me get all f--ing emotional,” he said. Downey Sr. is, of course, rightly proud of his boy. “I’m happy and proud of him,” he told Irish America (father and son were named to our Top 100 list this year). “He is an iron man in real life to go through what he went through and be where he is today.” Downey Sr. said he enjoyed Iron Man. “This is a good one. It raised the genre of action movie because of the great acting – it will be around forever.” He also reported that Jr. has “a great film coming in August called Tropic Thunder – a great one – he and the director [Ben Stiller] really worked well together.” Downey Sr. also took the opportunity to clear up a point in his bio as it appeared in our Top 100 issue: the claim that he struck out Yogi Berra. “I was in the Army in Okinawa – in fact, I was in the stockade [for some infraction] and they took me out to pitch against the Yankees who were touring the Far East. I did alright for a couple of innings and walked a few guys and then Yogi Berra hit a triple and I was right back in the stockade,” he said. Downey Sr. was writer and director of Greaser’s Palace, ranked by Time as one of the top 10 films of 1972, and of the aforementioned Putney Above: Robert Downey Jr. in a scene from Iron Man. Swope (1969), which is being Inset: Downey Jr., with his reissued with a commentary by father, Robert Downey Sr. Downey Sr. He is currently workJr. turned to his ing on a documentary on the music of dad, but his voice broke and German-American composer Kurt Weill. he couldn’t quite get out his sentence. Meantime, it’s just been announced “And so tonight [long pause] I just want that Downey Jr., whose Tropic Thunder, to honor my dad for being every inch the with Jack Black and Ben Stiller, will preman I remember him to be and thank miere on August 15, and whose sequel to him.” Iron Man will hit theaters in 2010, will As the audience applauded, Downey be among the next batch of celebrities to Jr. turned the mike over to Sr., who deadreceive stars on the Hollywood Walk of panned, “I’m not your father.” Fame – truly confirming his return to the Jr. stood there, mouth open for a Hollywood A list. IA moment, before doubling over in laugh– Patricia Harty PHOTO: ZADE ROSENTHAL
ron Man started the summer block busting season with a $100.7 million opening at the box office, and marked a tremendous comeback for 43-year-old actor Robert Downey Jr., who in recent years has waged a public battle against drug addiction, which included a stint in jail. Jr., who plays a billionaire industrialist who invents a hi-tech suit of armor that transforms him into a superhero, used the opportunity of the Time 100 gala at Lincoln Center to pay a moving tribute to his dad, Robert Downey Sr., who helped him through the worst of times. “I remember seeing Greenwich Village from seven feet up in the air [Downey Sr. is 6’ 5”] growing up as a kid, because he’d have me on his shoulders and we’d be tripping around. And at a time before underground and independent film became a hot idea, then a dirty word, then a hot idea again as it is nowadays, my dad was making films that influenced a generation of filmmakers – films like Putney Swope. Here’s just one of the lines from it. [Sings] ‘I have a malignancy in my prostate / but when you’re in my arms, it’s benign.’ “Growing up in Downey Sr.’s house, the commodity was wit, the commodity was political commentary, the commodity was innovation, and that’s what I grew up feeling very inspired by,” Downey Jr. continued. “And I wound up getting recruited … I had the dubious honor – hey Lorne [waves to producer Michaels] – of being on probably the worst season of Saturday Night Live. And I still had a great time and it was a great experience. Thanks for not kicking me off the show – I was up to some pretty nefarious acts in the dressing room. Unless I need mention the obvious, it was a period of time when being a Gen X guy . . . If I’m influencing anything, it’s about survival, surviving a time of that post-sixties, we-don’t-know-
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Debut Novel Wins IMPAC Award
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awi Hage’s first novel, De Niro’s Game has won this year’s IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Hage’s novel was chosen by a five international judges from a list of eight works of fiction published in the past year. De Niro’s Game focuses on the journey of two young men, Bassum and George, as they approach adulthood in the war-torn city of Beirut, Lebanon. One of the judges on the panel, Eibhlín Evans, remarked: “Rawi Hage’s De Niro’s Game is an eloquent, forthright and at times beautifully written first novel…It’s a wonderful debut and a deserving winner.” The IMPAC (funded by Irish-American James Irwin who is the chairman of Integrated Control Systems, Inc., a worldwide productivity firm, and chairman of IMPAC University in Florida) is a unique award in that libraries from around the world nominate entrants. Presented annually, the award is an attempt to promote excellence in world literature, and is open to all novels that have been either written or translated into English. At 100,000 euros, it is the richest literary prize in the world. According to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Paddy Bourke: “IMPAC, Dublin City Council and Dublin City Libraries are extremely proud that the event has grown into one of the highlights not only of the Irish, but also the international, literary calendar.” The Public Library of Winnipeg, the Canadian city to which Hage emigrated after living through civil war in Beirut for nine years, nominated De Niro’s Game. “I am a fortunate man. After a long journey of war, displacement and separation, I feel that I am one of the few wanderers who is privileged enough to have been rewarded, and for that I am very grateful. . . . and to all those men and women who have chosen the painful and costly portrayal of truth over tribal self-righteousness, I am grateful. We should all be grateful,” Hage said. – Elizabeth Reilly
Rawi Hage, winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2008.
Above left: Rawi Hage with his partner, Madelaine Thien and publisher Lynne Henry. Top right: International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2008. Above: Rawi Hage with Miro Palas, Chairman, IMPAC, Europe.
PHOTOS BY JASON CLARKE; COURTESY DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL
Dickens Desk Sold to Irish Collector
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he mahogany desk and walnut chair where Charles of place at his home in County Wicklow. Dickens crafted his last literary masterpieces were sold The money raised from the sale will help to fund at Christie’s auction house in London to benefit the research as well as improve equipment and facilities at the Great Ormond Street Charity Trust for about $855,000. Both Great Ormond Street Hospital. It was the widow of mid 19th-century pieces have bronze plaques inscribed with Charles Dickens’ great-great-grandson, Jeanne-Marie, Dickens’ name, and the years they were in use at his Gad’s Countess of Wenckheim, who donated the items to the Hill home in Kent. It is believed children’s hospital, which is the largest research center for that Great Expectations children’s illness outside of the was one of the works United States. written at this desk. Dickens had been one of The buyer was 49Great Ormond Street’s first year-old private Irish supporters and a great champicollector,Tom Higgins. on for the needy in his lifetime. A former journalist, The desk and chair were Higgins described expected to fetch between himself as a “big $100,000 and $160,000, but Dickens fan” and told the intense bidding by sevthe BBC that the eral collectors drove the desk, “an important price to eight times the Dickens chair piece of literary histoestimated amount. and desk that ry,” would have pride – Tara Dougherty sold at Christie’s in June. COURTESY CH RISTIES
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A Wilde Hotel in London The Cadogan Hotel, a beautiful townhouse off London’s Sloane Square, weaves contemporary styling with classic Edwardian decadence – and has an Irish connection to boot.
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he Irish are travel birds. There’s probably not a spot on the globe where they haven’t touched down and built a nest or two. And finding corners of Ireland even in the most obscure places is always a fun travel thing to do. On a trip to London late last year, I stayed at the Cadogan Hotel, which proved the perfect spot for an Irishtinged weekend (I was in London to attend the premiere of Doubt by IrishAmerican writer John Patrick Shanley). Located at 75 Sloane Street, the Cadogan exudes Old World charm with a hint of Edwardian decadence, and it has an Irish connection to boot. It was here that Irish playwright and author Oscar Wilde was arrested in 1895. Wilde lived a couple of blocks away on Tite Street, and he was a frequent visitor to the hotel, where today a suite is named in his honor. (There is also an Edward VII Suite, named to celebrate the future King of England’s liaisons with Oscar’s close friend, the actress Lillie Langtry.) The Oscar Wilde Suite is an experience in sumptuous luxury. Large and airy, with a huge bed, velvet-covered duvet, padded headboard, marble bathroom, and a dressing area where the closet reveals a smoking jacket à la Oscar. It is in fact a replica of the one the writer is wearing in a photograph with Bosie (Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, the youthful lover who was Wilde’s downfall) that hangs in the room. The photograph of Oscar Wilde in the suite is the only one of him that I came across in the hotel. The celebrated beauty Lillie Langtry has more of a presence – the restaurant is named in her honor. (I had a wonderful dinner there – Fisherman’s Pie with bread pudding for dessert.) Langtry (Wilde helped launch her theatrical career) lived at the property from 1892 to 1897. She sold the house, in 1895, to the Cadogan Estate, but retained her bedroom and living quarters. 24 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
As Richard Ellman says in his biography of Wilde, “She welcomed [Wilde] as a friend. For him, her beauty was a ‘form of genius.’ He was engaged in the same storming of London by his Oscar Wilde wits that she was achieving by her looks. Then too, they were both weary, Wilde of being an over-age undergraduate, Mrs. Langtry of being the wife to a nondescript Irish yachtsman, and both eager to perform on a larger stage.” Langtry divorced her husband Edward, the son of an Irish landowning family from Belfast, and went on to great fame and fortune – she even owned a winery in California at one point. Wilde went to jail. Found guilty for “acts of gross indecency with other male persons,” he was sentenced to two years of hard labor. He emerged from prison in 1897 in poor health, and died three years later in Paris. The Cadogan is light on Wilde memorabilia. However, the lounge bar (now completely refurbished) has its resident historian and storyteller. John — one would hesitate to call him a server — he would be perfectly cast as an upper-class butler — regaled me with stories of the history of the hotel, Wilde, and his friendship with Lillie Langtry. Meanwhile, the staff of the hotel were most welcoming and helpful, particularly Richie at the front desk, whose mother is from Monaghan, and Fabio, the unflappable Italian manager. The Cadogan, which has 65 rooms and suites, tennis courts, private garden, conference and banqueting facilities, is the perfect place to stay in London – and if you are not seduced by the Old World charm and connection with Wilde and Langtry, perhaps you will be seduced by Gucci, Tiffany, Harrods and Harvey Nichols, by the 24-hour pulse of the West End and by the grand luxe of this most decadent of Edwardian hotels.
Top: The Oscar Wilde suite. Middle: The sitting room at the Cadogan. Above: John, who serves more than drinks at the hotel bar, with Patricia Harty wearing an “Oscar” smoking jacket.
– Patricia Harty For more information on the Cadogan visit www.cadogan.com Or telephone + 44 207 235 7141
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More Than Just a Round of Golf Kevin Mangan recounts a day spent on the Old Head of Kinsale.
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was fortunate to play the Old Head Golf Links on my most recent trip to Ireland. The Links is one of the most unique golf courses ever conceived. It is built on a 220-acre diamond of land, jutting out over two miles into the Atlantic Ocean. The links and practice area occupy 180 acres, and the remaining 40 acres of unspoilt cliff (rising in places to over 300 feet) frame the course. It is located seven miles beyond Kinsale, which is one of the most fashionable and scenic resort towns in Ireland, and only 30 minutes from Cork airport. As a Cork City native, I was particularly thrilled to be playing on this worldclass venue, just a short distance from my childhood home. I remember going there when it was a popular spot for a Sunday afternoon stroll and now I was back walking it again, this time chasing a small white ball. The Old Head region is steeped in history. It is one of the few landmarks in Northern Europe shown on a map by the Greek historian Ptolemy in 100 A.D. After the first Norman invasion in 1169, control of the headland passed to the de Courcey family. The ruins of the de Courcey tower house and medieval walls form the entrance to the golf course today. Over the centuries, primitive lighthouses were built to assist navigation and warn against invasion. The existing lighthouse was built in 1853 and is situated on the southern tip of the headland behind the 18th tee. The remains of two earlier lighthouses built in 1667 and 1814 can still be seen near the 7th tee. There have been countless shipwrecks in the vicinity of the Old Head over the centuries. The sinking of the Lusitania just over 40 miles away from the Old Head by a German U-boat in 1915, at the cost of
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1,200 lives, was instrumental in causing the United States to enter World War I. In the 19th and 20th centuries the headland was used by local farmers – mainly rough grazing for sheep. In 1989 the land was acquired by John and Patrick O’Connor, and the links opened for play in 1997. Over half a million shrubs, plants and bushes were planted at the Old Head, creating new wildlife habitats for pygmy shrews, bank voles, kestrels, foxes and hares. From the moment I entered through the impressive historic walled entrance, the
on all sides and commands the most spectacular and stunning views (which can at times be distracting to your golf game!) throughout your round. Nine holes are played along the clifftop with views that will take your breath away. At one point I caught myself admiring my misfired tee shot as it sailed over the cliffs, down into the crashing surf below! After our round, we headed to the clubhouse where we retired to the Lusitania Bar that also offers stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Old Head Lighthouse. We were treated to a tour of the 15 new luxurious suites which are beautifully furnished and offer magnificent views. An overnight stay will also grant you access to the fitness suite and the Old Head thermal spa, where they offer a range of beauty care and
The lightouse built in 1853 is situated behind the 18th tee on the Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale, one of the most unique golf courses ever conceived.
tone was set for a once-in-a-lifetime golfing experience. I was not disappointed. After a short warmup on the practice range, we set off to the first tee. Here we were greeted by the starter, who gave us a hearty Irish welcome and some useful tips on managing the task that lay ahead. Stretching over 7,200 yards, the par 72 course is comprised of five par 5’s, five par 3’s and eight par 4’s. With six tee positions per hole and an ever-changing sea breeze, the Old Head provides a stern test to the touring pro and high handicapper alike. It is surrounded by the ocean
therapeutic treatments for women and men, and a place for members and residents to unwind and restore. As our day came to a close I knew this was a day that I would remember as a truly one-of-a-kind golf experience. On a personal note, I would like to thank all the staff that made this day so memorable for us. IA For more information on the Old Head golf course go to www.oldhead.com or email info@oldheadgolf.ie.
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Those We Lost GEORGE CARLIN
him a place on Irish America’s Business 100 in 2000. Upon hearing of Flatley’s death, Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen praised him as “a wonderful leader and friend to many in the Irish community in Boston. He was an inspiration to countless Irish emigrants who followed this same route and who demonstrated similar courage and perseverance in the face of adversity and hardship.” Of Flatley’s work on the Irish Economic Advisory Board, Cowen noted that “As the Irish economy developed over recent years, we were fortunate to be able to reach out to very successful business people such as Tom Flatley to guide and advise us . . . for the mutual benefit of both Ireland and America.” Thomas Flatley is survived by his wife Charlotte, five children and eighteen grandchildren.
“In the history of American stand-up comedy, there has never been anyone like George Carlin. Controversial, iconoclastic, irreverent, obscene – all of these words have been used to describe Carlin’s act.” T.J English’s introduction to his Irish America June/ July 2006 cover story interview with Carlin beautifully captures the legendary comedian. Carlin, whose father was born in Donegal in 1888, died of heart failure on June 22. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Carlin served in the Air Force before embarking on his comedy career as a radio DJ, and later formed a comedy duo with Jack Burns that lasted two years. In the 1960s he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and subsequently was a regular on Johnny Carson and other talk shows. In the 70’s he was arrested in Milwaukee for his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine, which would lead to a Supreme Court decision on obscene language. Carlin was also the host of the first Saturday Night Live show in 1975. A master of language, Carlin was prolific in output, releasing 23 comedy albums. He is survived by his wife Sally Wade, daughter Kelly, son-in-law Bob McCall, brother Patrick, and sister-inlaw Marlene Carlin.
THOMAS FLATLEY 1931-2008 Thomas Flatley, who died on May 17,leaves a great legacy. The Mayo-born entrepreneur arrived in New York penniless and went on from his first job as a
Thomas Flatley
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1937-2008
George Carlin
deli clerk in the Bronx to become a billionaire. Flatley’s death comes after a year of suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive disease that attacks the nerves and muscles and usually results in death. A Massachusetts real estate icon and philanthropist, Flatley was the embodiment of the American dream. Accomplished in his own right, Flatley sought to share his dream with others. He served in the Korean War before moving to Boston and founding the Flatley Company, the largest sole-proprietor business in the U.S. at the time. Flatley raised $2 million to build Boston’s Irish Famine Memorial and to establish the Famine Institute to commemorate the Great Irish Famine’s 150th anniversary. He also played a key role in the creation of the Morrison and Donnelly visas in the late 1980s and gave huge donations to Irish charities such as GOAL, an organization dedicated to working with the poor in over 50 countries. Forbes magazine cited Flatley as one of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs on several occasions, most recently in 2006. Flatley’s achievements also gained
JIM MCKAY 1922-2008 Legendary TV sports journalist Jim McKay passed away on June 7 of natural causes at his horse farm in Monkton, Maryland, at age 86. During a long and distinguished career, McKay became the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. He was, as NBC’s Bob Costas said shortly after his death, “one of the finest broadcasters this medium has ever seen.” Born to an Irish-American family in Philadelphia, James McManus, better known by his professional name Jim McKay, grew up in the Overbrook section of Philly until he and his family moved to Baltimore when he was 14. After graduating from Loyola College in Maryland, McKay went on to a short career in print journalism, working for the Baltimore Evening Sun, before transitioning to television as WMAR-TV’s sports reporter, writer, director, and producer. In 1961, McKay became the host of ABC's Wide World of Sports, a program that would run for 35 years. He was also a staple of the network’s British
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the show’s longest serving moderator. In addition, Russert anchored Tim Russert, a weekly interview program on CNBC. He was a contributing anchor for MSNBC, a regular for NBC’s Nightly News and The Today Show, and served as NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief. Russert was born into a working-class family in Buffalo, New York on May 7, 1950. He was a graduate of Canisius High School, John Carroll University and graduated with honors from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. In 2004, Russert wrote the memoir Big Russ & Me, sharing the story of his WWII veteran father’s life and how it Sportscaster Jim McKay with his son, Sean McManus.
Open golf and Kentucky Derby coverage. During his time with ABC, McKay covered 12 Olympics, including the Games in Munich in 1972. It was there that McKay’s morning swim was interrupted by gunshots. After putting clothes on over his swimsuit, McKay was on air reporting on the events that comprised the Munich Massacre, when 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and later killed. McKay’s sensitive handling of the unfolding tragedy won him two Emmys and the admiration of his peers. Walter Cronkite sent him a telegram that read: “Dear Jim. Today you honored yourself, your network and your industry.” He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Margaret Dempsey McManus, daughter Mary Guba, son Sean McManus, current President of CBS Sports and News (and a former Top 100 honoree), and three grandchildren.
Story of Chicago May. In recent years, O’Faolain spent much of her time in New York, and was covering the presidential primaries when she was diagnosed with metatastic cancer. Returning to Ireland, she did an interview on RTE Radio with Marian Finucane and spoke candidly about her impending death. "I don’t want more time. As soon as I heard I was going to die, the goodness went from life,” she told Finucane. She was 68 when she died.
TIM RUSSERT 1950-2008 Tim Russert, one of America’s leading political journalists, died after he suffered a heart attack on June 13. He was 58. Russert began hosting NBC’s most watched Sunday morning interview program Meet the Press in 1991, and was
NUALA O’FAOLAIN 1940-2008 Irish journalist, author and broadcaster Nuala O’Faolain died on May 9. Daughter of journalist Terry O’Sullivan, O’Faolain studied at University College Dublin, University of Hull and Oxford University. For many years she worked as a TV producer and a journalist with The Irish Times. In 1996, O’Faolain wrote Are You Somebody?, her memoir which became an international bestseller. She penned three more books: My Dream of You, Almost There and The
impacted on his own. Russert was the subject of the cover story of Irish America’s Aug/Sep 2000 issue, and was proud of his Irish heritage. Six of his eight great-grandparents came from Ireland, the Gilhooleys and Rings among them; he was related to Irish hurling legend Christy Ring. He is survived by his wife Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, and his son Luke. IA
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Women of Concern
Left to right: Ed Kenney, Mutual of America. Fr. Aengus Finucane, honoree, President, Concern (U.S.). Mary O’Neill, (guest speaker), Concern Worldwide. Valerie Salembier, (honoree), Senior Vice President and Publisher, Harper’s Bazaar, Tom Moran, Chairman, Concern Worldwide U.S.
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oncern Worldwide U.S. honored Valerie Salembier, Senior Vice President and publisher of Harper’s Bazaar at its awards luncheon on June 24 celebrating the lives of women and girls worldwide. The annual event, which took place at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, featured Amy Robach, NBC Nightly News correspondent, as master of ceremonies. Fr. Aengus Finucane, the cofounder of Concern, an Irish relief organization, gave the invocation. Tom Moran, chairman of Concern Worldwide U.S.,
introduced Ms. Salembier who spoke of her mission to clamp down on faux handbags and manufacturers who use child labor. The highlight of the lunch, however, was Mary O’Neill, a teacher originally from Limerick, Ireland, who spoke movingly of her work with Concern. Mary joined Concern 15 years ago, working in Mozambique to help reopen schools after almost two decades of civil war, and has served Concern in Cambodia, Nairobi, Kenya and South Sudan. For more information on Concern see Concernusa.org.
The Irish Rep Turns 20 The Irish Repertory Theatre presented its 20th Anniversary Celebration Gala on Monday, June 9, at The Pierre Hotel in New York City. A host of luminaries from the theater and literary world and the broader Irish community, including Gabriel Byrne, Pete Hamill, Frank and Malachy McCourt, turned out to celebrate with the Rep’s co-founders, Charlotte Moore and Ciaran O’Reilly.
Above: Ciaran O’Reilly, Marie Burgess, Charlotte Moore and Consul General Niall Burgess. Top right: Actress Frances Sternhagen. Right: Melissa Errico and Gabriel Byrne
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Irish Theatre Festival for New York New York’s critically acclaimed Origin Theatre Company will host 1st Irish 2008 — a three-week theatre festival – from September 6 to 28, offering the best of contemporary Irish theatre from 13 of Ireland’s hottest award-winning playwrights, from nine theatre companies. Writers include Conor McPherson, Enda Walsh,Abbie Spallen, Gary Duggan, Pat Kinevane, Morna Regan, Ursula Rani Sarma, Fiona Walsh, Owen McCafferty, Daniel Reardon, Conal Creedon, Liam Heylin and Oscar Wilde.The children’s theatre portion is known as “Kids go wild for Wilde.” The festival will use six venues including both stages at 59E59 Theaters,The Players Theatre on MacDougal Street, Manhattan Theatre Source, NYU Glucksman Ireland House and The American Irish Historical Society. The festival will include five world premieres, three American premieres and three NY premieres with panel discussions taking place in association with NYU Glucksman Ireland House. For further information Tel. 212-253-2800 www.1stirish.org
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“Any day trip through the west of Ireland will lead to some new discovery, some new reflection for the steady departure from a twee past that was never quite as twee as tourists might imagine.”
Unquote “My genetic makeup is predisposed to longer distances, but I prefer to stay shorter a little longer.”
“Does the ‘Real’ Ireland Still Exist?” Dan Barry writing in The New York Times, May 18, concludes that in today’s Ireland, “You will find what you want as long as you don’t look for it.” PHOTO: ROSEMARIE O’MAHONY
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Shalane Flanagan, speaking after winning a 10,000–meter race, the event which she plans to enter in this summer’s United States Olympic track and field trials. Flanagan has broken the American record for 3,000 meters indoors and 5,000 outdoors, and the 4,000 was her Olympic target, but she won her first 10,000 in the American-record time of 30:34.49 in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto on May 4. Among the spectators were her parents, both onetime marathoners. – The New York Times
“The Irish seem instinctively inclined to listen to dissonant voices, to rebel against their own establishment and to scupper the best-laid plans of the Eurocrats.” Fintan O’Toole, assistant editor of The Irish Times, in an editorial in The Times of London, which was quoted in a New York Times article on the voting on the Lisbon Treaty, which would have given the European Union its first full-time president and created a new and powerful foreign policy chief. The Irish voted no. Chance encounter in Cork.
“He is the anchor. He is the pillar. He doesn’t change despite the political winds that keep changing. He is the one most of us want to tie our political fortunes to.” Tom Daschle, the former majority leader, on the news that Senator Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Daschle was one of many who spoke of their admiration for Kennedy, who has since been operated on and is recuperating at the family compound in Cape Cod. – The New York Times 32 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
“The U.S. sits firmly on top of the heap with 30.6 percent of its citizens clinically obese. . . . Meanwhile, formerly famished Ireland is fattening up, with 13 percent of the Irish coming across as extra ‘paddy.’ It appears they needn’t worry about the blight anymore, since now their Taytos come in Cheese and Onion flavor. And that’s not enough, nothing covers whiskey breath like a bag full of Scampi Fries.” Cristopher M. Halleron writing in Metro New York.
“I cannot think of a single person that has taught the children and the community more about citizenship and being contributing members of a community more than Father. It shames me that we can ask him to leave, when we allow many to live and work here, contributing very little to their community.” Shelly Osthus, parishioner of De Smet, Kingsbury County, South Dakota, writing on a blog in support of Donegal native Fr. Cathal Gallagher, who has served the Sioux Falls community for ten years. A series of unfortunate events in the priest’s green card application led to Gallagher overstaying his visa, but local community and political leaders are working with The Department of Homeland Security to resolve the issue. – The Irish Voice
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Padraig Harrington (second left) celebrates winning the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland. This year’s Ryder Cup will be held at the Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky from September 16-21.
“I think there are just more of us over here on a regular basis. Look at the field playing the big American events: it might be 50 percent internationals.That used to be something you’d only see at an American major.” Padraig Harrington, the 2007 British Open winner from Ireland, commenting to The New York Times on why more non-Americans might be at or near the top of the U.S. Open leader board at the Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego. Tiger Woods went on to win the tournament after an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate went to sudden death. Though playing with a knee injury that subsequently ended his season, Woods captured his 14th major by winning the first sudden death hole.
“It’s only crossed my ego. I feel like a public servant. I feel like a responsible citizen. But I couldn’t do it professionally. I don’t have the temperament. The only thing that I long for is to lead an honest life. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. Most of the time I just want to be left alone.” –Martin Sheen on running for political office. July/August issue of AARP The Magazine
“We live in a country that’s very forgiving if you come out and admit the mistake that you’ve made. In saying ‘I misinterpreted the rules,’ he [Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick] didn’t come across to me as being culpable for the actions he had taken. It seemed a little arrogant.” Former video assistant Matt Walsh, who spent seven seasons with the New England Patriots, saying the team knowingly broke the rules by videotaping opponents’ signals to gain advantage in future games. – The New York Times
“Black America and Scots-Irish America are like tortured siblings. They both have long history and they both missed the boat when it came to the larger benefits that a lot of other people were able to receive. There’s a saying in the Appalachian mountains: ‘If you’re poor and white, you’re out of sight.’” Senator Jim Webb appearing on Morning Joe on May 21, to discuss his book A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America.
“And now the president says he’s going to veto this bill. No president in history has vetoed a benefits bill for those who’ve served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, saying, ‘This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great.’ And then we see this president, he’s fine with sending these people over and over again where they’re spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He’s fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, ‘Give them the same benefits that the people in World War II have,’ and they say it’s too expensive. So I think the Republican Party is on the block here, to clearly demonstrate that they value military service or suffer the consequences of losing the support of people who've served.” Senator Jim Webb, who many are touting as a pick for Vice President, speaking on the G.I. Bill he introduced on his first day in office, speaking on MTP May 18. The Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous.
“What a day for San Francisco, what a day for California, what a day for America, what a day for equality.” Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom on the May 15 decision by the California State Supreme Court to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage. – The New York Times
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The Global
Irishman
HSBC’s Brendan McDonagh is a new breed of international Irishman. BY NIALL O’DOWD
PHOTOGRAPH BY: KIT DE FEVER
J
ust six months after assuming his job as head of HSBC Finance in North America, Brendan McDonagh volunteered to appear before Congress, in March 2007, to address the growing subprime mortgage-lending crisis. It was a typical move by the 49-yearold Irishman who has become known throughout his career for a straightforward type of management, which addresses problems head on. Like many other banking leaders, McDonagh could have tried to duck and dive on the issue and refuse to appear at the televised hearings, but that was not his way. Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd was certainly appreciative. “We take the situation very seriously and we’re taking strong steps to correct problems,” McDonagh told the legislators, and his bank directly proceeded to do that, seeking to ensure above all that a way was found for homeowners to keep their properties. “Otherwise everyone loses,” McDonagh notes. HSBC had gotten caught up in the sub prime crisis after it purchased Household Finance in 2003, before McDonagh took the top job. Last year, the company wrote off $11.7
billion in bad debt as a result of the crisis, but under McDonagh’s management the worst of the crisis now seems over. The subprime segment is but a very small part of the global HSBC brand. Forbes magazine recently rated HSBC Holdings number one in its Global 200 ranking of companies worldwide. The banking behemoth earned the distinction by showing a phenomenal annual 26 percent growth in revenues, by having 10,000 offices worldwide in 83 countries, and by having $2.3 trillion in assets. HSBC is the little foreign bank that could. It started in Hong Kong in 1865 with just two branches, one in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai, capitalizing on the trade winds that were blowing strongly between the Chinese capital and the then crown colony. At a time when the world center of banking was London, HSBC’s incredible growth since their modest colonial beginnings has been staggering. As CEO of HSBC North America (the holding company for all of HSBC’s U.S. and Canadian businesses; the company serves nearly 68 million customers), McDonagh has no doubt that the bank has gone from strength to strength because of its global reach. In fact, the Dublin native embodies
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the global nature of a bank that has managed to bestride the world. McDonagh’s stellar career in banking was foreordained from an early age. Born in 1958 on Dublin’s Northside, as a kid he showed an aptitude for numbers, which came in handy in the family business. His father was a butcher who supplied meat to the Guinness Brewery and the Rotunda Hospital. “What we did in those days, because my father had a cash business, we would COURTESY HSBC
and business ties on several continents. “A lot of us at HSBC have worked in many countries, and that richness of experience means that you have a deeper understanding, a global understanding, how things work in, and between, different countries,” McDonagh explained in our interview, which took place at HSBC’s New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue. “The foundation for us [HSBC] is free trade. Globalization, at the end of the day, is good for everybody,” he says. McDonagh, who is now based at HSBC headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Mettawa, Illinois, worked with several developing nations LEFT: Fishing in Wisconsin with lifelong friend Padraic O’Beirn of Dublin. BELOW: April 30, 2008: Celebrating the opening of HSBC North America’s new headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Mettawa, Illinois, with Group Chairman Stephen Green and Group Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan of parent company HSBC Holdings plc.
his wife. The newlyweds set out for Oman, McDonagh’s next posting, where he had to adjust to the life style of the Middle East after the years in South Asia. His globetrotting pace increased when he was sent to Tokyo after Oman. He enjoyed his time in Tokyo enormously. It was the first of two postings in Japan – the second came a few years later, when he was sent to Kobe. In Kobe, McDonagh’s Irish roots and philanthropic leanings came into play. He helped set up the Irish Network of Japan which was an organization of younger Irish who were living in Japan. “Actually, three of us set up a St. Patrick’s Night function in Kobe,” he recalls. “We got various people to sponsor – to buy the Guinness and whatever. We were planning to run it on the fly, but people came from all over – we were surprised by the numbers. We made a handsome profit and found, through a local priest, a Korean orphanage that needed support. There’s a large Korean population in Japan and they, largely, are less well-off. The event became so successful that it became an annual affair. I
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PHOTO: JASMIN SHAH, COURTESY HSBC
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bring the cash home and I ran a ledger for him and then we would cash checks for our neighbors who were in the check business and needed to pay salaries and wages. So we ran a bank out of the dining room in the evening time,” McDonagh recalls. It was no surprise when McDonagh took the economics and accounting route and went to Trinity College Dublin to study business and finance. Once he qualified and anxious to see the world, he sent his résumé out to several international banks and waited. It was 1979 and jobs were not plentiful in Ireland in the pre-Celtic Tiger era. The best offer was from a vaguely exotic sounding company known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London. His parents were surprised. “They were a little shocked when they realized it was based in the Far East and I wasn’t just going over to London for a job,” McDonagh remembers with a smile. Thus began the journey from butcher’s boy to HSBC’s top job in America. McDonagh now oversees one of the top 10 financial services organizations in the United States, with assets totaling $557 billion and over 40,000 employees. The journey to the top was one that would include living in eight different countries and developing deep cultural
early in his career. “In those days we were headquartered in Asia and most of our operations were in the Far East and Middle East,” he explains. McDonagh was in Guam for six months. Then he was sent to Brunei, in Southeast Asia. His first managerial position followed, in Hong Kong. It was quite an experience. “We had a very large cash department. It was like mini Fort Knox, and I was the operations manager.” Soon after arriving in Brunei, McDonagh met Kenane, an English nurse and midwife, who would become
think the orphanage is still wondering who these crazy Irish people were who were dropping money off with them once a year.” In 1993, McDonagh, on an upward trajectory, was transferred to London, thus ending his Asia sojourn. He says that he learned “cultural sensitivity” during his time overseas. “You value diversity, you value, and you recognize, the richness that each people can bring.” Back in London, he was soon on the move again, taking over the company’s offshore operations in the Channel Islands before going back to London and joining the global headquarters staff.
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If you’ve “ got good ideas
coming from your team, try not to stop them.Your job is to manage the bright people around you and be comfortable and not be threatened by them.”
Brendan McDonagh at HSBC New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue.
economic times ahead, and McDonagh himself sees the U.S. economy as being at a critical crossroads. “I believe that parts of America are already in recession, but it won’t be that deep and it won’t be that long,” he says, adding reassuringly, “The American economy is very resilient.” Ireland, always close to McDonagh’s heart, has changed enormously since he left, and he is glad for that. “It has become far more multicultural, which is a good thing. For decades, the world took the Irish in, and perhaps it’s our turn to take other people in. We owe them that. We are a very wealthy nation now, and we have to start to help others,” he says. McDonagh does his part. He is involved with The American Ireland Fund, a philanthropic organization which supports cultural and educational groups in Ireland, and also, through Enterprise Ireland, he serves as an advisor for new Irish companies seeking to enter the U.S. market. His wife, Kenane, meantime, is involved in charitable organizations in the Chicago area, where their daughter
PHOTO: KIT DE FEVER
He made it to head of strategy there before the call to come to the U.S. came. He was sent over to run the retail and commercial banking side of the U.S. business, which was based in Buffalo, New York. Soon he was made COO of the banking operation. Then HSBC acquired Household Finance, one of the largest subprime mortgage lenders, but also one of America’s largest credit card companies. When the company began suffering under the subprime mortgage deluge, the search for a topnotch executive ended at McDonagh’s desk. McDonagh moved to Chicago to become CEO of HSBC Finance and to deal with the subprime crisis, which he has done successfully. In February this year, he was promoted to CEO of HSBC North America Holdings Inc., which oversees both HSBC Finance and HSBC Bank. By now the McDonagh management approach was tried and tested. He expresses it this way: “If you’ve got good ideas coming from your team, try not to stop them. Your job is to manage the bright people around you and to be comfortable and not be threatened by them. And if you can trust them, and you think they have a good idea, let them go for it.” He is an innovator too. He and the bank leadership have focused on green technology and making the bank a carbon neutral one globally. He speaks with pride of how all the office buildings in HSBC will eventually conform to the highest green standards. Their new headquarters outside Chicago was recently featured in the New York Times because of its green focus. It would seem counterintuitive for a bank chief executive to focus so intently on this issue, but McDonagh is a new breed of manager who realizes that green technology benefits everyone, as does good employee relations, another area he spends considerable time on. When the subprime mortgage crisis hit, McDonagh worked hard to reassure his work force and deal with the problem head on. “One of the first things I did was to go on the road. There are close to 3000 managers around the country, and I spent six weeks just talking to them. Explaining, ‘This is the problem, this is the size of it, this is what we’re going to do. You’re over here, look after our customers and meet our plan.’” Many observers are predicting hard
Alison is in school. The couple’s son, Rory, following in his father’s footsteps, is studying economics at Trinity College, Dublin. McDonagh, who sees the Irish economy as now going through a difficult phase after the heady days of the Celtic Tiger, believes a highly educated work force, preferably one that is flexible and multilingual, can help Ireland find that “sweet spot” in areas such as financial services, and keep the economy turning over. His own accomplishment embodies that very successful aspect of the new Ireland – its ability to compete globally. As one of the first generation of the new “Global Irishmen,” Brendan McDonagh is an example of how much has changed since the days when the Irish left on Famine ships and were rarely heard from again. He is living the dream of generations of Irish to better themselves abroad. Except in his case, he is proving it with one of the world’s truly global companies. With their combined global visions HSBC and McDonagh seem right for IA each other. AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 37
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WALL STREET 50 SPONSORS Irish America Magazine & FD extend a special thank you to all our sponsors for their support.
Mutual of America HSBC Waterford Crystal FTI Consulting PR Newswire Bank of Ireland DST Systems Prudential Wall Street Access UCD Michael Smurfit Business School 1-800-Flowers.com The American Ireland Fund The Merrion Dublin
Irish Government Agencies CIE Tours International Enterprise Ireland IDA Ireland Tourism Ireland
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his, our Eleventh Annual Wall Street 50, is a portrait of Irish America as seen through the lens of the financial industry.Traditionally a bastion of Irish-Americans, it’s a picture that’s changing as more and more Irish-born join the ranks, and more business is conducted outside of New York City. Our honorees hail from Boston,Texas, Kansas and Chicago as well as The Street. Indeed, we have quite a presence from the Windy City, where Brendan McDonagh, our cover story, reigns as CEO of HSBC America, and Irish-Americans Terrence Duffy and Charles Carey head up CME Group Inc., which was created last year when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade came together in one of the world’s biggest mergers. Duffy and Carey represent the embedded Irish-Americans whose ancestors came over in the 19th century, while McDonagh represents the Irish-born who are increasingly moving into corporate America in a step up the ladder that once took generations. What they have in common besides their heritage is an impressive display of business acumen. We congratulate all our honorees, and offer a special word of thanks to our sponsor and co-host of this year’s Wall Street 50 dinner, Financial Dynamics. -Mortas Cine
Ancestral Links:
4%
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50 Gerald Beeson Citadel Investment Group, L.L.C. Gerald A. Beeson is a Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Citadel Investment Group, L.L.C. He is responsible for several corporate functions as well as Citadel Alternative Asset Management (CAAM), Citadel’s fund of hedge funds business, Citadel Solutions L.L.C., Citadel’s hedge fund administration business, and Citadel's reinsurance investments. Beeson joined Citadel in 1993, and prior to his current position served as Citadel's Chief Financial Officer, a role he held since 2003. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and his B.S. in Commerce from DePaul University. In 2007, he was named on Crain's Business' Chicago Forty under Forty. Beeson is a third-generation Irish-American and can trace his father's family back to County Mayo and his mother's family to County Cork. On his Irish heritage he says: “The success of Irish-Americans is a testament to the work ethic and sacrifices of prior generations who overcame hardships, and is a powerful reminder of all that is possible in America.” He is married with four children.
Michael Brewster • Lehman Brothers Michael Brewster has worked for Lehman Brothers for 16 years, and currently serves as Managing Director. He analyzes, reviews, and invests for the MB Value and Growth, the MB Strategic Dividend & Income Portfolios. He also co-manages, with his partner, Mark Sullivan, the Small, Midcap and Special Situation Portfolio. Brewster, whose previous employment includes working in Ledger Accounting at Bally’s Park Place, and in Casino Credit at Trump Castle Hotel Casino, was born in Ireland. He earned his higher diploma in Management Finance from Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland, and later earned his BS in Business Administration from Thomas Edison State College. Brewster says his Irish heritage has taught him that “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” His family on his father’s side come from County Fermanagh; his mother’s family, the Hegartys, are from County Longford. A member of the Ireland U.S. Council, and the Enterprise Ireland advisory board, Brewster lives in New York with his wife, Margaret.
Counties of Origin:
Education:
Cork Mayo Kerry Dublin Donegal
MOST MENTIONED COLLEGES:
University College of Dublin St. John’s University Harvard University Fordham University New York University AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 41
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John Brown Merrill Lynch John J. Brown is Head of Global Markets & Investment Banking Services (GMIS), Americas. In this role, he manages all institutional operations for Merrill Lynch for the Americas. From 2001 to 2007, his responsibilities at Merrill Lynch included the Prime Broker and Swaps business, which during that time saw an increase from $75 billion in assets to $200 billion. Prior to his time at GMIS, Brown headed Convertible Securities at Merrill Lynch for five years. His over 25 years of experience in global markets has also included time as head of Convertible Securities for UBS and SG Cowen. Brown graduated from St. John’s University in New York and holds a Series 3, 7, 24, 55, 63. He finds time to serve as a board member for Tuesday’s Children, an organization which aims at providing programs designed to help family members of victims of 9/11. Brown is a firstgeneration Irish-American. His father hailed from County Mayo and his mother from County Wexford. Brown is married with five children.
Charles Carey CME Group Inc. Charles P. Carey is Vice Chairman of CME Group. Previously, he was Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) which merged with CME in July 2007, creating a new company, CME Group Inc., a CME/Chicago Board of Trade Company. Carey received a B.A. in business administration from Western Illinois University. He served on the CBOT board of directors in various roles, including Vice Chairman, First Vice Chairman and Full Member Director. An independent futures trader, Carey became a member of CBOT in 1978 and is a partner in the firm Henning and Carey. Carey has received a number of civic, industry and community service awards. Most recently, he was presented with the Western Illinois University Distinguished Alumni Award. Carey is also President of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, an organization that is very active in providing scholarships for underprivileged youths. Carey’s great-grandfather Simon Carey immigrated to Chicago from County Clare and married Roscommon-native Mary O’Brien. On his mother’s side, Carey traces his roots back to Monaghan. He is married with three sons.
Christopher Condron AXA Financial Christopher “Kip” Condron is President and CEO of AXA Financial, Inc., and a member of the AXA Group Management Board. He joined AXA in 2001, immediately following his roles as President and COO of the Mellon Financial Corporation and Chairman and CEO of the Dreyfus Corporation. Condron began his career at C.S. McKee and Co. before forming his own financial planning firm. In 1989, Condron joined The Boston Company, now Mellon Private Asset Management, where he was named executive vice president. In 1995, he took over responsibility for the Dreyfus Corporation. Condron received his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Scranton. He is Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable and serves on its board of directors. He is also the director and treasurer of The American Ireland Fund, and a trustee on the board of the University of Scranton. Married with three children, Condron is a third-generation Irish-American with roots in counties Donegal and Cork.
42 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
50 John Byrne
Erin Callan
Bank of America
Lehman Brothers
As the Regulatory Relations Executive for Bank of America, John J. Byrne coordinates relationships with federal regulators, analyzes regulatory proposals and identifies emerging regulatory risks. Byrne joined Bank of America in 2005 as senior vice president for AML Strategies. The company has an affiliate in Dublin called Banc of America Ireland Leasing Co., Ltd. Byrne, who received the American Bankers Association Distinguished Service Award in 2006, earned his BA from Marquette University and a law degree from George Mason. He is a member of the bar in both the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. A second-generation Irish-American, Byrne’s father’s family hailed from counties Galway and Carlow, while his mother’s family have roots in counties Sligo and Galway. He says that his appreciation for the importance of participating in the political process – a keystone of Irish culture in the U.S. – stems from several Irish role models, including his father.
Erin Callan is a powerhouse in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers where she served as CFO from September 2007 through June 2008. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Callan was an associate at the law firm of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett in New York, specializing in corporate taxation. For the past few years, Callan has been a member of the investment bank’s Senior Client Council. She is a multi-year recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Client Service and President’s Corporate Citizenship Award, a senior leader of WILL (the women’s network at Lehman Brothers) and has been honored by the Women’s Bond Club as its 2006 Merit Award Winner. Callan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1987, where she earned a BA. She also holds a JD from New York University School of Law, 1990. A third-generation IrishAmerican, Callan traces her father’s family to County Roscommon and her mother’s to County Donegal. A New York City native, she is married and owns three dogs.
Tom Connolly Goldman & Sachs Co. As Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tom Connolly heads the Leveraged Finance team as well as the High Yield and Bank Loan Capital markets businesses. He is a member of the firm’s Firmwide Capital Committee, Mezzanine Investment Committee and Allocation Committee. In 1989, Connolly received a BA from Union College. He worked for Bankers Trust Company for six years before joining Goldman Sachs in 1996. Prior to his current position, Connolly worked in High Yield Capital Markets in New York and was head of European High Yield business and co-head of European Leveraged Finance from 1998 to 2002. He was named Managing Director in 1999 and partner in 2004. Connolly is also a board member of Youth I.N.C., a group dedicated to guiding nonprofit groups for children. A Bronx native, Connolly is married with three children. He is firstgeneration Irish-American. His father John was born in County Monaghan and is the proprietor of the popular midtown pub and restaurant Connolly’s; his mother Mary hails from County Mayo.
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Anthony Conroy
Noreen Culhane
Hillary Cullen
The Bank of America
N Y Stock Exchange
UBS Private Wealth Management
Anthony Conroy is a Managing Director and Head Trader for BNY ConvergEx Execution Solutions LLC, a member of BNY ConvergEx Group. He oversees brokerassisted trading and is responsible for the coordination and deployment of customized trading solutions designed to meet clients’ investment strategies. A member of the senior management team of BNY ConvergEx Execution Solutions, Conroy, who has more than 20 years of direct investment and trading experience, began his career as a Vice President and Sales Trader at Shearson Lehman Brothers. Prior to joining BNY ConvergEx Group, Conroy served as a head trader and portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch Investment Management’s hedge fund unit. An active member in the securities industries’ Wall Street Committee for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Conroy is a third-generation Irish-American who traces his roots on his father’s side to County Clare, and is very proud of his Irish heritage. A graduate of St. John’s University, where he received his BS in Finance, he is married with five children.
As Executive Vice President for the New York Stock Exchange’s Global Corporate Group, Noreen Culhane manages Business Development, Client Service, Marketing, Sales Support, and the Initial Public Offering process and Structured Products for the Exchange’s business worldwide. A first-generation IrishAmerican with roots in County Kerry, Culhane believes that strong relationships founded on mutual trust and respect are essential to economic growth and peace and that Ireland and the U.S. should lead the way and be a model for others. A native New Yorker, Culhane obtained an undergraduate degree from the College of Mount St. Vincent, where she serves on the board, and a graduate degree in education from the College of New Rochelle. She also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard. She serves on the Operations Committee for the NYSE and the Fund Raising Board of the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is a board member of the Marco Polo Network, and a member of the Economic Club of New York.
David Dempsey Bentley Associates L.P. David Dempsey, who has over 28 years of experience as an international investment banker specializing in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, is a Managing Director at Bentley Associates L.P. in New York. Prior to joining Bentley, Dempsey worked with a number of banks in New York and London, on the merger and acquisition and corporate finance sides and also with a major management consulting firm. He began his career at the Chase Bank in London after completing his term as Secretary General of AIESEC International in Brussels, and also serves as the director of The New Ireland Fund, Inc., a closed-end diversified investment company with 80 percent of its assets in a portfolio of Irish securities. He is an Advisory Board member for the Pennell Venture Partners Marathon Fund L.P., a private equity fund, and is also the founder of the China Investment Group, LLC. Dempsey grew up in Dublin and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin and his MBA from Fordham University. He has served as a Visiting Professional at New York University, is a commercial pilot and Master Flight Instructor in his spare time, and lives in New York City with his wife Deborah and their daughter.
Hillary Cullen joined UBS Financial Services in 1998 through its predecessor firm Paine Webber and currently works as the Vice President of Investments at UBS. She is a member of the Sage/Swaser Group in the Private Wealth Management office at UBS and holds the Private Wealth Advisor designation. Cullen graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. in Mathematics. She is a former Associate Director of international sales for International Strategy & Investments (ISI), a leading macroeconomic research firm. She started her career as a portfolio assistant at Morris & McVeigh, LLP, a trust and estate law firm. Cullen then worked for the Archdiocese of New York with charitable fund-raising and development. She is member of the board of advisors for Cathedral High School in New York and is a member of The American Ireland Fund. Cullen is third-generation Irish-American. Her father’s family hails from Blackwater, County Wexford and her mother’s family from County Clare. Her Irish heritage gives her pride in where she comes from, in her family and her faith.
Noel B. Donohoe
Craig Donohue
Merrill Lynch
CME Group Inc.
In January 2008, Noel B. Donohoe was named co-chief risk officer of Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Donohoe, who has more than 20 years of risk management experience in the financial services industry, was chief operating officer and a partner of Dune Capital Management, working with risk management, finance, investor reporting and operations. Before Dune Capital Management, he was with Goldman Sachs, where he was head of Firmwide Risk and responsible for global market risk across all the trading and private equity businesses. Donohoe graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. Born in Monaghan, he makes a point to travel back to Ireland for at least two weeks each summer. Donohoe believes his Irish upbringing has played an important part in his life, allowing him to look on the brighter side of issues, and to use humor as a way of breaking down barriers.
Craig Donohue has served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of the board of CME Group since July 2007. Prior to his current position, Donohue served CME for years in a variety of roles, among them CEO of CME Holdings. In addition to serving on CME’s Board of Directors, Donohue is a Director of FXMarketSpace and the Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange S.A. (BM&F). After receiving a BA from Drake University in 1983, Donohue earned a Juris Doctor from John Marshall Law School in 1987, a Master of Laws degree in Financial Services Regulation from IIT Chicago-Kent College in 1989, and a Master of Management degree from Northwestern University in 1995. Donohue, who is Chairman of the Board of the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE), a nonprofit organization, is a third-generation Irish-American with roots in County Cork. He lives in Northbrook, Illinois, with his wife and their three children.
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John Duffy • KBW Inc
Terrence Duffy
Bryan T. Durkin
In 2001, John Duffy was named Chairman and CEO of Keefe, Bruyette &Woods, Inc., a firm that he has been with for more than 28 years. He had served as the President and Co-CEO since July 1999. In the nine years previous, Duffy was the executive vice-president of the Investment Banking Department within the firm. Duffy’s prior employment was with Standard & Poor’s Corporation as vice president. After attending the City College of New York, where he earned his BA in economics, Duffy received his MBA from Bernard Baruch College Graduate Program of the City University of New York. Duffy is active on the board of trustees of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College, Dublin. He also serves as the chairman of the Investment Committee of the Cardinal & Gold Fund of Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, New York. In 2006, Duffy gave the keynote address at Irish America’s Wall Street 50 dinner, and was honored by the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States. His mother is from NewTongore, County Leitrim and his father is from Culleens, County Sligo.
CME Group Inc.
CME Group Inc.
Terrence A. Duffy has served as Executive Chairman of CME Group since July 2007. He was Vice Chairman of the Board of CME Holdings Inc. from its formation in August 2001 and of the Board of CME from 1998 to April 2002. In 2002, Duffy was appointed by President Bush to serve on a National Saver Summit on Retirement Savings. The following year, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB). He serves on several boards including FXMarketSpace Limited and World Business Chicago. His involvement extends to the Economic Club of Chicago and the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Duffy is involved in the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls and Saint Xavier University. In 2007, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University. Duffy attended the University of WisconsinWhitewater. He calls his thirdgeneration Irish heritage a source of “great pride,” and traces his father’s family to Westport, County Mayo. He lives in Lemont, Illinois with his wife and twin sons.
Bryan T. Durkin has served as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of CME Group Inc. since July 2007. He previously held a variety of leadership roles with Chicago Board of Trade from 1982 to 2007, most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He also served as Chairman of the Joint Compliance Committee for all U.S. futures exchanges and represented CBOT on various industry panels concerning trading practices and trading operations. Durkin, who has also been an adjunct faculty member of Lewis University's MBA program, teaching courses in organizational behavior and management, is a second-generation IrishAmerican who traces his roots to County Mayo on both sides. He credits his Irish immigrant grandparents with “paving the way” for his “beautiful and productive life,” adding: “The Irish have proven to be a resilient and giving culture and I am most grateful to be a part of that legacy.” He has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and an MBA from Lewis University. Durkin lives in Chicago with his wife and four children.
Mary Callahan Erdoes
Michael Farrell
JP Morgan Private Bank
Michael K. Farrell is an executive vice president at MetLife and is responsible for the organization’s Independent Distribution Group and MetLife Resources which services the notfor-profit community. Prior to joining MetLife in 2001, Farrell held the positions of president, Mutual Benefit Pension Corporation and senior vice president, sales and marketing for Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. He has served as national sales director for ReliaStar Retirement Plans, member of the board of directors of Employee Benefit Plans, Inc., vice president of Mutual Benefit Investment Advisory Corp. and director of Essex Corporation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of NAVA. Farrell, who graduated from Fairleigh Dickenson University and went on to attend the Columbia University School of Management, is active in several community organizations including St. Vincent’s Home and School Association, Integrity House Drug Abuse Center, the Fordham Gridiron Club, and the Boys and Girls Club of Newark. A second-generation IrishAmerican, he traces his father’s family to Tuam, County Galway.
Mary Callahan Erdoes is Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Private Bank and Chairman of Global Wealth Management. As a member of the JPMorgan Chase Executive Committee, her responsibilities include working with the firm’s ultra high net worth clients. Since joining J.P. Morgan in 1996, Callahan Erdoes has served in a variety of roles including head of Investment Management and Alternative Solutions for the Private Bank and CEO of JPMorgan Private Bank. An Illinois native, Callahan Erdoes is fourth-generation IrishAmerican. Her great-grandparents emigrated from Counties Cork on her father’s side and Tipperary on her mother’s. She received her B.S. from Georgetown University and her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. A member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, she serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Callahan Erdoes lives with her husband and three daughters in New York City.
MetLife
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Robert Charles Golden Prudential Financial Bob Golden joined Prudential in 1976 and is now Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial. Under his leadership, Prudential founded a technology and call center in County Donegal, which now employs 700 people. Golden, who earned his BS and MBA from Fordham University, serves as first vice chair and director of HeartShare Human Services of New York, a nonprofit organization for children in need. In 2000, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. In 2001, he was named Man of the Year by Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and by the New York Aquarium. In 2002, Golden was named Man of the Year by Catholic Big Brothers, and in 2006 was named a Distinguished Irish-American by New York City Comptroller, William Thompson. Golden is a Knight of Malta and a Knight Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre. A third-generation IrishAmerican with roots in County Mayo, he is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the St. Patrick Society of Brooklyn. He and his wife Maureen live in Staten Island with their two children, Katie and Bobby.
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Michael Grealy
Michael Higgins
James Hogan
Bank of Ireland Group
CIBC
HSBC
Michael Higgins is Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance at CIBC World Markets. CIBC is a leading financial institution and one of the largest in North America, with total assets exceeding $200 billion and offices around the world. Higgins is one of the most active and respected real estate finance executives in the U.S. He has experience in all aspects of the real estate industry and has been involved in the financing and advisory of over $50 billion of commercial real estate transactions. A native of County Mayo, Higgins earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from National University of Ireland, Galway, where he serves on the foundation board. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University. Higgins, who is married and has four children, is a member of The American Ireland Fund. An avid golfer, he served as chairman of the AIF’s golf outing at Baltusrol, New Jersey in 2004.
As Executive Vice President of HSBC Holdings PLC/HSBC Bank USA, James Hogan is responsible for Trade and Supply Chain and Global Transaction Banking at HSBC. He joined HSBC in 1987 and has served in a variety of positions across a number of disciplines within the HSBC Group. Hogan oversees the Trade and Supply Chain business, which provides advisory services, financing, and support for companies in North America, carrying out cross-border trade with the rest of the world. With HSBC’s history of servicing the international trade needs of companies worldwide, he plays an integral role in the continuation of HSBC’s commitment to support international networks across emerging and developed markets. Hogan was born and raised in Dublin, and graduated from the University of Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce. He serves on Goal USA’s advisory board, and says being Irish “provides a firm foundation to live and work anywhere in the world, which is based on a combination of pride, dynamism, resilience and good humor.” He is married to Josie, and is an avid golfer and long distance runner.
Michael Grealy is CEO for Alternative Investments and International Distribution in the Capital Markets Division of the Bank of Ireland Group. As CEO, Grealy oversees the Group’s interests in international and alternative investments, including being the Chairman of both Iridian Asset Management and Guggenheim Advisors, and board member of Paul Capital Investment. He is also responsible for the distribution of investment products through the group’s international sales and client service platform in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK, and Europe. Prior to joining the Bank of Ireland Group, he worked with Boston Scientific, Baxter Healthcare, Digital Equipment Corp. and Seagate Technology. He is the President and Director of the Board of the New Ireland Fund in New York. Grealy is a co-founder and director of Coláiste Lurgan, an educational institution in the Connemara Gaeltacht dedicated to the promotion of Irish language and culture. Grealy received a B. Ed. from University College, Dublin and a M.Sc. Management from Trinity College, Dublin; he is also a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers.
Denis Kelleher
Sean Kelleher
Wall Street Access
Wall Street Access
Denis Kelleher is Founder and CEO of Wall Street Access, a diversified financial services organization with expertise in money management and trading for institutions and hedge funds. Billions of dollars are processed through Wall Street Access annually and it is a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Kelleher began his career in 1958 as a messenger with Merrill Lynch, where through dynamic financial talent, he rose dramatically through the company ranks until 1969 when he founded Ruane Cunniff and its Sequoia Fund. In 1981 he founded Wall Street Access. Kelleher, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, is a graduate of St. John’s University, where he served as Chairman of the Board for the last eight years. He is Director of The New Ireland Fund and member of the Staten Island Foundation. He was proud to be recognized with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1995. In 2005, Kelleher was Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. He is married with three children and seven grandchildren.
As managing director of Wall Street Access, the financial services organization founded by his father Denis Kelleher, Sean Kelleher has helped guide the firm through successful ventures in online brokerage, institutional research and trading and asset management. In 1992, Kelleher joined the firm as a clerk and now manages a team of more than 50 analysts, traders and salespeople. A graduate of Wagner College, Kelleher now serves on the college’s alumni board. He also serves as co-chairman of the Staten Island Film Festival and is the co-founder of the Gerry Red Wilson Foundation to support spinal meningitis research. Kelleher, who spent the summers of his youth in Ireland, working the bog, says the catalysts behind his love for Irish culture are his family and playing Gaelic Football in his father’s village in County Kerry. He lives on Staten Island, New York with his wife Wendy and their three children, Maggie, Jack and Denis.
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Donald Keough Allen & Company Donald Keough became Chairman of Allen & Company, Inc., in 1993 following his retirement as President, COO of the Coca-Cola Company. In 2004, Coca-Cola re-elected Keough to the post of director. Keough also serves on the boards of IAC/InterActive Corp., Global Yankee Holdings, Convera Corporation, and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. He has received various honors in his career, including honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater Creighton University, Emory University, Trinity College, Dublin, University College Dublin, and Clarke University. The University of Notre Dame’s highest honor, the Laetare Medal, was presented to Keough in 1993. In 1995, he established the Keough-Naughton Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Art & Sciences in 2002 and inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame in 2003. Keough received honorary Irish citizenship in June, 2007.
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Sean T. Kilduff
Catherine Kinney
Thomas Lynch
UBS
NYSE Euronext
Milkie/Ferguson Investments
As Senior Vice President of Investments at UBS Private Wealth Management, Sean T. Kilduff focuses on delivering customized solutions to high net worth individuals and families. He also serves as Senior Portfolio Manager in the Portfolio Management Program concentrated on developing customized investment strategies that utilize strategic and tactical asset allocation models. Born and raised in New York City, Kilduff is a graduate of St. John’s University with a B.S. in Finance. He began his career at Shearson Lehman Brothers and spent nine years at Morgan Stanley Global Wealth Management before moving his team and practice to UBS Private Wealth Management. A first-generation Irish-American, Kilduff’s mother was born and raised in Dublin and his father is from Westmeath. He notes, “Having visited my grandmother in Dublin often, Ireland became a big part of my life from an early age. As a result, I gained a true appreciation for the world famous warmth and incredible wit of the Irish people.” Kilduff lives in Rockville Centre, New York with his wife Jean and their four children.
Catherine R. Kinney is Group Executive Vice President and Head of Global Listings, NYSE Euronext, and a member of the NYSE Euronext Management Committee. Based in Paris, she is responsible for overseeing the company’s global listings and NYSE Euronext marketing and branding. Kinney joined the NYSE in 1974 and has held management positions in several divisions, including Technology Planning, Sales and Marketing, Operations and Regulation. In 1986, she became responsible for managing trading-floor operations and technology. Kinney graduated magna cum laude from Iona College and completed the Advanced Management Program, Harvard Graduate School of Business. She is a member of the boards of Georgetown University and Catholic Charities. A secondgeneration IrishAmerican, Kinney’s paternal grandfather was from County Mayo and her paternal grandmother was from Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan. Her maternal grandfather was from County Sligo and her maternal grandmother was from County Leitrim.
Joseph Manning Merrill Lynch & Co. Joseph R. Manning joined Merrill Lynch as an analyst on the Risk Arbitrage desk after completing an MBA in Finance from New York University. He then moved on to become a credit analyst and trader on the Convertible Desk and to earn his Chartered Financial Analyst designation. In 2003, Manning joined Merrill’s Prime Brokerage business and was promoted to the Head of U.S. PB Sales. Currently, he leads a sales and relationship management team in the Global Markets Financing & Services division. Manning’s financial efforts extend into the social sector. He was one of the founders of The Manhattan Society, an organization raising funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, is a supporter of the Wall Street Friends of St. Christopher, and is a charter member of the President’s Council for his alma mater, Assumption College. A member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Manning is a second-generation Irish-American, tracing his family to County Cork on his father’s side and Kerry on his mother’s side. He is married with three children.
As Vice-President/Investments and registered principal of Dallas-based Milkie/Ferguson Investments, Thomas Patrick Lynch works closely with clients assisting them with stock selection, asset allocation and risk management. Lynch not only works with clients but also manages MilkieFerguson advisors outside of the company’s central Dallas office. A graduate of University of Missouri-Kansas City, Lynch has over 20 years of experience as an investment adviser and stockbroker. As a specialist in stocks and IRA rollovers, he has been honored with Top Producer awards. A married father of two, Lynch honors the motto on the Lynch Family Coat of Arms, “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful). The second-generation Irish-American remains always faithful to his family’s roots in counties Roscommon and Cork. He and his wife have worked with Project Children, a program that brings Protestant and Catholic children to the U.S. from Northern Ireland each summer. Lynch’s pride in his heritage has led him to be an active member of the IrishAmerican society in Dallas, Texas where he currently resides.
Joseph McAlinden
Meg McCarthy
Catalpa Capital
As Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Senior Vice President of Procurement and Real Estate, Meg McCarthy is responsible for all information technology services, process and performance improvement, procurement and real estate at Aetna Inc. Prior to being named CIO in 2005, McCarthy was Vice President and Head of Business Solutions Delivery at Aetna. McCarthy received her Master’s of Public Health degree in Hospital Administration from Yale University and received her B.A. in Philosophy from Providence College. Before working for Aetna, she was Senior Vice President of Information Technology at CIGNA. McCarthy’s military experience includes U.S. Navy Medical Services Corps; Lieutenant at Bethesda Naval Hospital; and U.S. Navy Reserves, Lieutenant Commander. A third-generation Irish-American whose father’s family came from Kerry, McCarthy is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and calls her Irish heritage a source of “strong spirit, personal warmth, and perseverance.”
Aetna Inc.
Joseph McAlinden established Catalpa Capital LLC in March 2007 and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive. For 12 years prior to Catalpa, McAlinden worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Management as Chief Investment Officer. A native of Newark, New Jersey, McAlinden graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He began his career on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange over 30 years ago. A first-generation IrishAmerican, his father hails from County Down and his mother is a native of Scotland. McAlinden is married with five children. He serves on the Board of the Convent of the Sacred Heart and on the New York Board and Dinner Committee of The American Ireland Fund. Of his Gaelic roots he says: “My good fortune to have experienced a taste of the ‘American Dream’ may have defined for others the tapestry of what I am, but, for me, my Irish heritage defines the fabric of who I am.”
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Liam McGee Bank of America Liam E. McGee is President of Global Consumer and Small Business Banking for Bank of America, which serves nearly 56 million consumer and small business households in the U.S., Canada and Europe. McGee joined Bank of America in 1990 and has broad leadership experience in consumer and commercial banking, as well as technology and operations. In 2001, he was appointed president of the Bank of America Consumer Bank. Active in civic affairs and education, McGee is a member of the National Urban League Board of Trustees and the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, North Carolina. He recently served as chairman of the board of trustees of both the University of San Diego and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. A native of County Donegal, Ireland, McGee grew up in Southern California and speaks Spanish fluently. A graduate of the University of San Diego, he has a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University, and a law degree from Loyola Law School. McGee and his family live in Charlotte.
Anthony Murphy
Conor Murphy
HSBC
As vice president and head of investor relations for MetLife, Conor Murphy manages coordination and execution of presenting MetLife’s financial results and strategies to the analyst and investor community. Murphy was appointed to his current position in November 2007. He has been with MetLife since October 2000 after seven years with PWC LLP. Conor spent his early career with Grant Thornton LLP in Dublin. A past president of the Association of Chartered Accountants, Murphy is a certified public accountant and member of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. Murphy is known for telling people, “I’m a Donegal man, my home (and heart) has always been Donegal, where the third generation of Murphys still run the family store, ‘Murphy of Ireland.’ ” Murphy resides in Westchester County, NY with his wife Ani and sons Jack and Aidan but remains close to his family who still live in Donegal. His favorite quote, “We are our father’s sons,” comes from Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland, and reflects his great admiration for his father.
Anthony (Tony) Murphy is senior executive vice president of strategy implementation at HSBC North America Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HBC). In previous roles with HSBC, Murphy was Head of Portfolio Management for HSBC North America and President and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. Before joining HSBC in 1990, he held positions at Towers, Perrin, Forster and Crosby, HSBC James Capel & Co. and Nomura International, based in London. Throughout his career, Murphy has been a consistent advocate for enhancing workplace diversity and a promoter of community outreach initiatives in the education field. Born in Dublin, he earned his degree in Mathematics and Physics from Trinity College, Dublin. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Oxford University, and is a Fellow of the UK Institute of Actuaries. Married with two children, aged 19 and 13, Murphy counts trekking and photography among his many interests.
MetLife
48 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
50 Thomas McInerney
Seamus McMahon
ING
Booz & Company
Thomas J. McInerney is the Chairman & CEO of ING Insurance Americas and also serves on the ING Group Executive Board. He is responsible for all United States Financial Services (USFS) businesses, which includes retirement, investment, mutual funds, insurance, employee benefits, reinsurance and asset management products and services across the United States. McInerney was president of Aetna Financial Services and joined ING after they acquired Aetna Financial in December 2000. After graduating with honors from Colgate University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, McInerney received a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in Finance and Investments, from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1982. A fourth-generation IrishAmerican with roots in Counties Clare and Cork, McInerney’s great-grandparents, both maternal and paternal, came to the United States in the 1840’s and 50’s.
Seamus McMahon is the Vice President of Financial Services at Booz & Company, based in New York. A partner in Booz from 1991-1995, he went to HSBC Bank USA and then rejoined the firm in October 2006. In his current position McMahon leads the commercial banking practice in the United States. Prior to rejoining the firm McMahon held leadership positions at other consulting firms and had line responsibilities at Toronto Dominion Bank and HSBC Group. McMahon, whose roots are in counties Monaghan and Tipperary, attended Trinity College, Dublin where he graduated with a BA in Economics. Asked what his Irish heritage means to him, McMahon answers, “My Irish heritage anchors me and secures my sense of community – especially important in fast-moving New York.” McMahon currently serves on the board of the National Council on Economic Education and on the Advisory Board of Enterprise Ireland. He has two children and lives in New York.
Kathleen Murphy ING Kathleen Murphy is Chief Executive Officer of ING U.S. Wealth Management. Her responsibilities include leading the Retirement Services and Retail Annuity businesses of ING, which had pretax earning in 2007 of over $1 billion, as well as ING’s Broker Dealer network, one of the largest independent broker dealer systems in the country. As CEO, Murphy is charged with leading thousands of employees and well over 150,000 distribution partners to drive growth and value creation while continually enhancing the company’s competitive positioning. Murphy joined ING in 2000, after ING’s acquisition of Aetna Financial Services. Prior to this acquisition, she served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Aetna. Murphy holds a Juris Doctorate degree with highest honors from the University of Connecticut, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Economics and Political Science from Fairfield University. She is third-generation Irish-American – her father Charles Murphy’s family hailed from Cork, while her mother, Christine Connor’s family were from Kerry. Murphy is married to George Hornyak and they have a son, Jack.
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John O’Donoghue
Ciaran O’Kelly
John T. O’Neal
Bank of America
DST Systems, Inc.
SG Cowen & Co. LLC
Ciaran O’Kelly is Head of Global Equities at Bank of America, with responsibility for cash and derivatives sales and trading, institutional sales, electronic trading, NYSE Specialist, prime brokerage and equity capital markets. O’Kelly joined Bank of America in 2002 as Head of Equity Trading, with a mandate to significantly grow the firm’s Global Equities business. During his tenure at the firm, he has held leadership roles across Markets and Banking, including Head of U.S. Equities and Head of Equity Capital Markets. Prior to joining Bank of America, he worked at Citigroup /Smith Barney for 11 years, most recently as Head of Equity Trading from 2000 to 2002. O’Kelly, who received a Bachelor of Business Studies from Dublin City University in 1989, is a member of New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House and The American Ireland Fund (AIF). He has served on the chairman’s committee for the annual AIF New York gala for seven years. O’Kelly lives in Manhattan with his wife Lisa and their three sons.
John F. O’Donoghue is the Head of Equities at Cowen & Company LLC and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As such, O’Donoghue oversees the firm’s research sales, sales trading, and all trading areas of the firm, along with strategic planning and expansion of the firm’s franchise. Prior to joining Cowen in 2005, O’Donoghue was Managing Director and CoHead of Trading at Credit Suisse First Boston and was a member of that firm’s Global Equity Operating Committee. Prior to that, he was a partner at Schroders PLC and spent 24 years working with Schroders, including six years as Managing Director. A native of County Down, O’Donoghue received an honors B.Sc. degree in Economics from Queen’s University in Belfast. He moved to the United States in 1980 and has been active in the American Ireland Fund, serving on the last seven chairman’s committees for the annual New York Gala. O’Donoghue also serves on the QUB Advisory Board (US) and is married with two sons.
Brian A. Ruane The Bank of New York Mellon Brian Ruane is Executive Vice President and Head of Financial Institutions at The Bank of New York Mellon. He is responsible for relationships and business development for Broker/Dealers, Banks and Hedge Funds globally. Ruane also sits on the Board of Pershing LLC, the bank’s NYSE Broker/Dealer and BNY Mellon Financial Services PLC, the bank’s Irish domiciled bank. Ruane graduated from Colaiste Eanna in Dublin in 1982. In 1989, he graduated from The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in the U.K. and Ireland. In 1995, he received his MBA from The Zarb School of Business, New York, and in 2004, he was asked to sit on The Federal Reserve’s Working Committee on the Future of the U.S. Treasury Market. His father comes from Crossmolina, County Mayo and his mother is from Drumhaldry, County Longford. He and wife Anna Lynch, who is from Dublin, live in New York with their four children. Ruane sits on the advisory boards of the UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business, Dublin, and the Zarb School of Business, New York.
As vice president of DST Systems, Inc., and president of DST Securities, Inc., John O’Neal developed the most widely used mutual fund accounting system in the country, the DST Portfolio Accounting System (PAS). And after 30 years with DST, he continues to work in business development and special projects. O’Neal, who holds a BA in Economics and an MBA from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and retired from the Missouri Army National Guard in 1992 as a Lt. Colonel, continues to research his Irish ancestors who emigrated in the 1790s. He supports various Irish organizations including the Irish Museum and Cultural Center of Kansas City, and the Celtic Fringe of Kansas City. In 2006, O’Neal was honored with the Greater Kansas City Irish Unification Award by the AOH of Kansas City for his work improving communications between various Irish organizations. O’Neal currently resides in Overland Park, Kansas with his wife. He is dedicated to ensuring that his two children and three grandchildren know and celebrate their Irish heritage.
Arthur Ryan
Thomas Ryan
Prudential Financial
ING Capital
After 14 years as Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc., one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world, Arthur F. Ryan retired in May 2008. When Ryan took the position in 1994, he became the first Chairman and CEO in the company’s history to be elected from outside the company. Prior to joining Prudential Financial, Ryan was President and COO of Chase Manhattan Bank. Ryan was named chairman of the American Council of Life Insurers in October 2003. He is also co-chair of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Ryan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the board of trustees of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He serves as co-chair of the board of Achieve, Inc., an organization created by U.S. governors and business leaders to promote high academic standards for public schools in the U.S. Ryan, who graduated from Providence College with a degree in mathematics, is a second-generation Irish-American whose family hails from County Tipperary. He is married with four children.
Thomas Ryan is Managing Director and Regional Head of the Americas for the Financial Engineering Group at ING Capital based in New York. He is the youngest managing director in ING Capital and under his leadership the group has grown to be the largest revenue-generator for ING Capital in the region. Ryan joined ING 14 years ago after a short period at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin. He moved to New York in November of 2001 to help develop the Financial Engineering business for ING in the U.S. and was made regional head of the group in 2003. Ryan has a degree in Business Studies from the University of Limerick and received a master’s of science in Economics from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Since coming to New York as a student many years ago, Ryan is fulfilling a dream by working in the finance sector with ING. A member of The American Ireland Fund, Ryan is also on the advisory committees of the SDLP USA and the University of Limerick Foundation. He lives in New York with his wife Dawn and their daughter Alice, born in March 2008.
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Sharon Sager
Brian Sweeney
James Sweeney
UBS Private Wealth Management
Marco Polo Network
MFS
Brian Sweeney is one of the founding members of Marco Polo Network, which was established in New York City in 2001. He currently serves as managing director of the financial services firm with a specialized focus on emerging markets. With offices across the major emerging markets, Marco Polo Network is one of the fastest growing platforms capitalizing on global demand for emerging market investments and the growth of new marketplaces across the globe. Sweeney, who has over 15 years experience in trading and operations, is responsible for client strategy and sales of equities, futures and fixed income to Quant Funds and Proprietary Trading Desks in Europe and the USA. He began his career at Citigroup before becoming an options specialist on the NYSE floor, and developed his emerging markets expertise while at the Standard Bank of South Africa. A Dublin native, Sweeney was educated at Terenure College and University College of Dublin, where he received a B.A. in Economics and English. He resides in New York City with his wife, Fabienne and two children Liam and Xavier.
James Sweeney is the Vice President of the Broker/Dealer Division of MFS Fund Distributors, Inc. Sweeney joined MFS in 1997 from Smith Barney, Inc., where he had held positions as Divisional Sales Director and Senior Sales Director of Mutual Funds since 1991. Prior to that he held sales management positions in the Direct Investments Department of Shearson Lehman Brothers, and from 1981 to 1986 he worked for Prudential-Bache Securities in the Direct Investment and Legal Departments. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and New York University School of Law. A second-generation Irish-American, Sweeney said: “The history of the Irish teaches us that adversity can be overcome with a positive attitude, hard work and a sense of humor.” His father’s family is from County Mayo, his mother’s from County Clare. A native of Queens, Sweeney works in New York City and is married with two children.
Sharon Sager, Senior Vice President, Investments, is a Private Wealth Advisor at UBS Financial Services Inc. A 25-year veteran of the financial securities industry, Sharon previously worked in the textile industry. She graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, New York, with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Later, she obtained the Certified Investment Analyst (CIMA) degree from the Investment Management Consultants Association. In 1983, she began her financial career at Kidder Peabody & Co., which merged with Paine Webber in 1995 and UBS in 2000. Sager is a member of the board of directors of C-CAP (Careers Through Culinary Arts Program), former co-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Venture Fund, a not-for-profit micro lender, and served in the President’s Circle of the James Beard Foundation. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 Sager was named one of Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors. Sager is a second-generation Irish-American and, true to her roots, she holds membership in the Irish Georgian Society and the New York Irish History Roundtable. Her father’s family the O’Tooles are from County Galway, while her mother’s, the Carrolls, hail from County Cork.
Husband and wife honorees help promote Irish culture in New York City Maureen White • IRC / Steven Rattner • Quadrangle Group LLC Maureen White takes her Irish heritage very seriously– she’s helping to build a new IrishAmerican Cultural Center in New York City. White, who is Chairman of the Board of Overseers of The International Rescue Committee (IRC), has been active with a number of organizations which focused on international humanitarian issues. But her Irish roots are very close to her heart, and so is her husband, financier Steven Rattner, who is supportive of her efforts. The couple recently opened their home on Fifth Avenue, New York City, for a fundraising event for the Irish-American Center with actor Gabriel Byrne, who is also on board on the project, serving as the special guest. White was also a guest speaker at the Irish-American Forum in New York last November – she spoke on philanthropy. A third-generation Irish-American with roots in Cork and Kilkenny, she served as National Finance Chair of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, and was the National Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee for five years. She also had a career in international economic research, working with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London and the Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo, and First Boston Corporation and Globe Finlay International. White, who received her BA from Mount Holyoke College and her MSc from the London School of Economics, is currently on the Board of the International Women’s Health Coalition and the Chatham House Foundation. She and husband Steven, have four children. 52 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
Steven Rattner is Managing Principal of Quadrangle Group LLC, a private investment firm with more than $6 billion of assets under management. Quadrangle invests in media and communications companies through separate private and public investment strategies and across all asset classes through its asset management business. Quadrangle has offices in New York, London and Silicon Valley and will be opening an office later this year in Hong Kong. Prior to the formation of Quadrangle in March 2000, Rattner served as Deputy Chairman and Deputy CEO of Lazard Frères & Co. In addition to his management responsibilities, Rattner founded the firm’s Media and Communications Group and was involved in many of the largest and most important transactions in the industry. Rattner received his BA in economics from Brown and was later awarded the Harvey Baker Fellowship. He is a former Chairman of thirteen.org and is also a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an Honorary Maureen White with Gabriel Byrne at a Trustee of the Brookings fundraiser in her Manhattan home for The Irish-American Cultural Center. Institution.
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Ireland Inspiration for Both Business and Pleasure A special supplement to Irish America Magazine produced by Turlough McConnell with the support of Tourism Ireland. Pictured at top: The Convention Center, Dublin. Bottom from left, Adare Manor, Co. Limerick. Giants Causeway, Co. Antrim. Belfast City Hall. Chatting with locals.
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Culloden Estate and Spa, Co. Antrim
Old Head at Kinsale Golf Course, Co. Cork
Falconry at Ashford Castle, Co. Mayo
Why Ireland is the perfect place for business and pleasure. By Turlough McConnell
Glenbeigh Beach, Co. Kerry
I
reland is now the destination of choice for many leading meeting and incentive professionals. From stunning landscapes and ancient castles to luxury hotels, spas, and breathtaking golf courses, Ireland boasts a world of options to motivate and reward clients and top performers. Previously planners only considered a confined resort as the ultimate business location. Not anymore. Today, the focus is authenticity, including interaction with the locals. “Ireland’s local meeting and conference professionals have all the skill and expertise necessary to create the best experience for every client,” says Joe Byrne, Executive Vice President, U.S. & Canada for Tourism Ireland, the international marketing agency responsible for promoting the island of Ireland. “The level of resources available to meeting planners means not just a detailed itinerary but a unique Irish experience every time.” Underlying Ireland’s global status as a meetings destination is the new Dublin Convention Center, due to open in September
2010. Located in Dublin’s thriving Dockland area, the facility will host association and corporate meetings for up to 8,000 delegates. The new venue is already generating international interest and stimulating advance bookings from conference organizers and corporate meeting planners. The British Orthopaedic Association has confirmed the new Convention Centre as the site of its 2011 conference. There is no better place to experience culture unfiltered than in Ireland, where history provides venues for every occasion. Dine at elegant restaurants, chic wine bars and award winning pubs throughout the country. Enjoy a dynamic food culture that focuses on local ingredients that inspires both traditional delicacies and innovative modern cuisine. Entertainment countrywide is first-rate, with performing art and theater to suit traditional as well as contemporary tastes. The hotel scene is exceedingly vibrant with familiar brands such as the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons joining a raft of new openings including the Hilton Dublin Kilmainham. These join a stable of well
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Ashford Castle, Co. Mayo
established traditional and chic urban properties such as the recently refurbished and legendary Shelbourne Hotel, the popular Westbury Hotel, the Fitzwilliam Hotel, designed by Terence Conran, the Merrion Hotel, birthplace of the First Duke of Wellington and the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Ireland offers a rich heritage and welcoming culture, easy access, state-of-the-art meeting facilities, quality accommodation and all the sophistication of a modern European country. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of companies make Ireland their destination of choice. Ireland’s legendary emphasis on professionalism and hospitality adds value and guarantees a unique experience at all events. Professional meetings companies create and deliver memorable programs that motivate and indulge participants. For example, a group of global financial service executives was treated recently to full baroque orchestra and chorus to celebrate the 1792 premier of Handel’s Messiah in Dublin Castle’s historic St. Patrick’s Hall. Belfast too has become a dynamic
meetings and incentives destination for U.S. companies. This past May, more than 100 U.S. senior executives attended the first U.S.Northern Ireland Investment Forum and witnessed first-hand the pro-business attitude across the region. As the choice of a destination Ireland is sure to satisfy with its availability of a wide variety of quality accommodations ranging from the traditional to the contemporary amid the splendor of castles, country estates and magnificent manors. Visitors can step back in time while enjoying ultimate comfort and great activities such as world-class golf, falconry, fly-fishing, spa and relaxation. The Republic of Ireland has set a goal of being among the top ten business tourism destinations by 2013 and to achieve a revenue target of €1 billion. Northern Ireland is also expanding its infrastructure with significant investment planned in the accommodations sector. So if you, your company or your organization plans to host a business or incentive meeting in the next year or so consider Ireland. A warm welcome is guaranteed.
“Our top priority is to deliver an outstanding, professional and quality experience that will exceed client expectations. We believe that the island of Ireland is well positioned to gain a greater share of the U.S. outbound incentive market.” Joe Byrne, Executive Vice President, Tourism Ireland U.S. and Canada
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IRELAND OFFERS EXTRAORDINARY GOLF EXPERIENCES, PLUS SO MUCH MORE… by Kathleen M. Mangan
T Portstewart Golf Course, Co. Londonderry
Druids Glen Golf Resort, Co. Wicklow
he top players in the world pit their skills against some of these courses, for example, Tiger Woods typically plays Waterville or Royal County Down before a British Open. These great courses can be enjoyed by all golfers so regardless of handicap, play your best game in some of the best courses in the world. There are many ways to enjoy Ireland off the greens too, including scenic drives, luxurious spas, traditional music festivals, intriguing ancient sites and professional sports. No matter where you choose to golf in Ireland, the experience is enhanced by the beauty and drama of the landscape, the lively craic (Irish for good times) in the pubs at night and the renowned Irish hospitality. A good day of golf in Ireland always ends on the “Irish 19th.” The chat in clubhouses tends to flow with a pint of Guinness and surge with a roar of laughter. Ireland’s motivational cachet is unsurpassed when it comes to golf. With more than 440 courses and boasting one-third of all the links courses in the world, sensational golf opportunities are just a chip shot away.
Northern Ireland With manicured greens and views of Belfast, the Royal Belfast Golf Club, founded in 1881, is Ireland’s oldest. Tom Watson referred to Royal County Down’s many blind spots as “a tremendous test for golf.” This beautiful course with its heather-lined fairways was modeled after St. Andrews. Founded in 1888, Royal Portrush is world renowned. Its curving greens supply views of sea cliffs, islands and Scotland. Nearby Portstewart Golf Club offers two options: the 1889 Old Course, and The Strand Course, said to have the game’s best opening shot, with Atlantic views from an elevated tee.
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Ballybunion Golf Club, Co. Kerry
Ireland’s Eastern Region The European Club in County Wicklow, a links course with views of the Irish Sea, is known for its natural setting and its seventh hole, considered a golfers dream. Druids Glen in County Wicklow, a parkland course designed by Irishman Pat Ruddy, is equally colorful. Visitors claim to have seen sea trout jumping and kingfishers divebombing. Established in 1894, Portmarnock Golf Club, located near Dublin, is typically rated as one of Ireland’s top links course. Ben Crenshaw described the 15th hole as the finest par three on earth. The K Club, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006, was designed by Arnold Palmer. Its American-style water features add an extra element of challenge.
The South/Southwest Located along the wild southwest coastline are two famous links courses, Ballybunion and Waterville Golf Links. Of Ballybunion, Tom Watson said: “You must play accurate iron shots onto the greens, usually to small targets with no margin for error.” Arnold Palmer designed the Tralee Golf Course, which sits right out on the Atlantic Ocean. Palmer said of the course “I never came across a piece of land so ideally suited for the building of a golf course.” Down the coast is Fota Island, a parkland course near Cork, and the Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale, on a promontory above the sea. A lighthouse warns when the mist rolls in off the ocean. The West Doonbeg Golf Club, designed by Greg Norman, occupies a mile of beach with 100-foot dunes. Recently refurbished,
Lahinch Old Course was established in 1892. Two holes, the Klondyke and the Dell, feature blind approach shots. Connemara Championship Links boasts unsurpassed view of the famed Connemara landscape. Carne Golf Links sits on the exposed edge of County Mayo. The 11th hole is a par-four around a giant dune. North/Northwest The remote north and northwest of Ireland reward golfers with hidden gems. High on the Inishowen Peninsula is Ballyliffin Golf Club. The championship Glashedy Links opened in 1995. Near Donegal’s Rosapenna Golf Resort, founded in 1891, is Sandy Hills Links, which opened in 1993. Rosses Point, overlooking the Atlantic near Sligo, was established in 1894. The 17th hole is considered one of the hardest par fours in the world.
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GREAT CULINARY DELIGHTS & CASTLES by Hugo Arnold
I “It has never been easier to
reland’s castles, surrounded by lakes and with lush green pastures, offer some of the most delicious food in Europe. No longer is the enchanting building itself the only attraction: today, there is considerable focus on providing good food—and to sourcing it locally. Ireland’s legendary hospitality and superb range of accommodations are ideal for rewarding incentive winners and inspiring savvy meeting delegates. Traditional or contemporary hotels and unique event venues complement the splendor of castles and country estates—ensuring that the highest expectations are exceeded. Adare Manor in County Limerick consistently wins awards for being a leading culinary establishment in what was once the family seat of the Earl of Dunraven. At Ashford Castle, the salad served at lunch contains cured meat from James McGeough in Galway and greens from Stephen Gough, who farms locally. At Glin Castle guests can enjoy a salad of garden greens and herbs,
get to the island of Ireland. With a range of unique experiences and products, combined with our rich cultural heritage and famous hospitality, Ireland is a winning choice for planners and clients alike.” Alison Metcalfe, Vice President Marketing, Tourism Ireland USA
Dromoland Castle, Co. Clare
picked from the garden. Originally a Bishops Palace, Belfast’s Culloden Estate and Spa overlooks Belfast Lough, and daily fresh produce awaits all guests. Opened in 2007 Capella Castlemarytr, a classic 17th-Century country manor house in East Cork, has just been listed by Conde Nast as one of the Top 65 Hotels Worldwide. While Lough Erne Golf Resort and Spa in Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh is a period style resort and its towers reflect the medieval monastic settlements of the region. Varied rural landscapes, the natural friendliness of the people, the tradition of hospitality and the unique quality of the food experience make Ireland a unique destination. From historic universities to unique museums, ancient castles to contemporary buildings, art galleries to stately homes, Ireland’s unique event venues never fail to impress. There is a wealth and variety of entertainment options available throughout the island which guarantee lasting memories.
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The Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
Molton Brown Spa, Killarney Plaza Hotel, Co. Kerry
Capella Castlemartyr, Co. Cork
In Ireland a varied and dynamic food culture tempts the palate. Quality, wholesome ingredients nurtured by the island’s green, fertile topography inspire outstanding traditional delicacies, as well as innovative new cuisine. From Sligo’s edible seaweeds carrageen and dillisk to the Burren’s distinctive florascented honey or dry cured black bacon from Enniskillen, there are lots of delicacies waiting to be discovered. Throughout the country elegant restaurants have a deservedly fine reputation for their cuisine, chiefs often source local produce, vegetables, fruit and herbs from their own gardens. Pubs traverse a spectrum of tastes: some have restaurants featuring full lunch and dinner menus; others offer simple, but wholesome food. Visit a coastal pub and be rewarded with house specialties such as succulent fresh seafood. Let Ireland inspire, reward and motivate you and your clients, a warm welcome is guaranteed.
G Hotel, Galway City
How Tourism Ireland can help you Tourism Ireland’s marketing team offers a one-stop resource for meeting and incentive planners considering Ireland. Valuable assistance is now fully available online. Tourism Ireland has launched a new dedicated website to assist in this regard. Visit www.irelandinspiresus.com and find out why the island of Ireland is ideal for your next conference, meeting or incentive program. Search online for hotels, unique events venues, Destination Management Companies, Professional Conference Organizers or view the online marketing toolkit available to planners including image library and sample itineraries. Planners can also sign up to receive Tourism Ireland’s Business tourism E-newsletter.
Visit us at www.irelandinspiresus.com or contact at mice@tourismireland.com or call 847 516 0038
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COURTESY PADDY MURPHY
Hannah’s
DESCENDANTS In April 1849, a ship carrying Irish immigrants hit an iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. John Kernaghan writes on the incident, and of plans for a documentary as Quebec celebrates its 400th anniversary. ABOVE: An artist’s Impression of the Hannah
he crew of the barque Nicarague could scarcely credit their eyes when they closed on the iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some 120 Irish immigrants clung to a bit of frozen salvation, desperately cold in their nightclothes after almost 18 hours on the ice that April night in 1849. The boat bringing them to the promise of a new life had sailed from Newry, County Down on April 2 and until April 17, according to newspaper accounts of the day, the passage had been fine. The 200 passengers were mostly from the Forkhill area of Co. Armagh. But the brig Hannah failed to skirt the pack ice on the harsh gulf. Its hull was crushed by an iceberg Passengers, jolted from their sleep, were bruised
T
and cut in the scramble off the ship. Others perished in the chilling waters, unable to gain the ice, or were lost in rescue attempts. Almost 160 years later, the Montreal documentary maker Gala Films is hoping to include this remarkable incident in its survey of the Irish famine migration to Canada. It is seeking descendants of those who survived the sinking of the Hannah. One of those descendants, Paddy Murphy, says the incident is laced with both cowardice and courage. He notes accounts of the day which reported that the Hannah crew and captain had departed in a lifeboat, leaving the boat’s passengers exposed to the elements. All would have died had Captain Marshall of the
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It was Barney’s son, Mike, who recounted the incident to Paddy on the occasion of Paddy’s marriage to his wife Jane, in the summer of 1962. “Grandfather Mike was delighted at the marriage because Jane’s maternal great-great-grandfather Michael Coburn came from the same area in Forkhill, County Armagh as the Murphys. He said we were two old Irish families uniting. Michael Coburn had left Ireland in 1848, a year before the Hannah disaster, and Grandfather Mike, whose mother, Ellen Bennett, was also from Forkhill, told us about John Murphy coming over on a ship that hit an iceberg, the many lives lost, and his father who was saved from the water.” Paddy, who grew up in the township of North Crosby, south of Ottawa, where many of the Hannah survivors settled to farm, went on to conduct his own research into the shipwreck, and his findings later became the basis of a book called A Famine Link: The Hannah, South Armagh to Ontario. The authors, Kevin Murphy and Una Walsh, are members of the Mullaghbawn Community Centre in Forkhill, South Armagh.
Nicarague not made his ship fast to the iceberg at great risk to himself and his crew. “‘No pen can describe the pitiable situation of the poor creatures,” Marshall reported to the Armagh Guardian on June 4, 1849. “They were all but naked, cut and bruised and frost-bitten. There were parents who had lost their children, children with loss of parents. Many, in fact, were perfectly insensible.” Three other ships also pitched in to bring survivors through the ice floes to Grosse Ile, the immigrant quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River. addy Murphy’s great-greatgrandparents John Murphy and his wife Bridget (McParland) had already endured tragedy before setting out for Quebec in April, 1849. In January of that year, their house had burned down and one of their children had died in the blaze. On the Hannah they had four of their children, and the two eldest were lost. “The children went into the water and John went in after them. The story in our
P
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ABOVE: The Celtic Cross on Grosse Ile which commemorated Irish immigrants buried in mass graves on the island. It was erected by the A.O.H. 90 years ago this year. RIGHT: Bernard “Barney” Murphy pictured with his wife Ellen Bennett. Barney was two years old when he was rescued from the sea. COURTESY PADDY MURPHY
family is that his hands were so badly frozen he couldn’t handle the rope he’d taken to try to pull them to safety. He held the rope in his mouth in the hope he’d find them and they could grab on. But he couldn’t save them. He lost all his teeth as a result,” Paddy recounts. “Rose, who was approximately three years old, fell in the water and was rescued but did not speak for years because of the shock. Bernard, ‘Barney,’ aged two, also fell in the water but was pulled to safety by the wife of Henry Grant who thought he was one of her own children.”
learly the story of the Hannah is a stirring tale that speaks to the times and to the Irish in Quebec. It is estimated up to 40 percent of the province’s citizens have Irish blood. Gala Films is seeking descendants of the survivors who settled in Quebec, Ontario and the United States, but particularly those who now live in Quebec. (See sidebar for family names). The story has a greater chance of coming to video life with a direct Quebec link, says Gala Films’ Hugh John
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al naming the poor newcomers who never made it off the island alive. Tour boats from Quebec City offer daily outings to Grosse Ile in spring and summer, a combination of bracing river voyage and sobering tour through reenactments of how authorities processed the masses. The numbers wrought by Ireland’s famine, often called The Great Hunger, were staggering. The famine hit its depths in 1847 when 100,000 people, six out of seven of them Irish, headed for Quebec. Some 5,000 died at sea or while waiting offshore of Grosse Ile as the overmatched facility verged on anarchy due to some 12,000 inhabitants, many badly ill. When the count was taken later, 5,424 died on the island and thousands more died in Quebec City, Montreal and Kingston. For those who survived, tragedy or travail often caught up with them later. COURTESY BYTOWN
Murray. “In order to get public funding from the Quebec government to make the documentary, we need to find Quebecbased descendants,” he explained. The documentary would explain the tragedy in the context of the famine-years migration to Canada through Quebec City. And with Quebec City celebrating its 400th birthday this year, its deep Irish roots in the city and province are part of that observance. Almost 100,000 Irish came to Canada in 1847 during the famine. And about 475,000 preceded them and spread across the province and through intermarriage produced that aforementioned 40 Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish patriot and Canadian federalist. percent estimate. Even if, as some suspect, that estimate is high, most historians O’Gallagher notes, moreover, that Irish agree about a third of the people in the names might have been made French over province have Irish blood. time. For instance, singer Celine Dion That is still remarkably high when might be the descendant of a Dillon. measured against the 15 percent of peoThere are also romantic and possibly ple who claim Irish heritage in the rest of solid theories about the earliest Irish Canada. presence in Quebec, notions that Irish And there’s a simple answer for it. The monks visited islands in the Gulf of St. Irish who survived harsh voyages across Lawrence around the time in the midthe Atlantic – the voyage often took up to 1500s when Irish fishermen were apparsix weeks and longer, depending on ently working seas off Newfoundland. weather conditions – and landed on The explosion of immigration to Quebec’s shores found it much easier to Canada from 1825 to 1850 shows 60 permarry into an existing society that was cent were Irish. There was more misery mostly Roman Catholic. And families in than glory in the passage and in the early Quebec were traditionally large. years in Quebec. That misery strained the While there were Irish Protestant ability of immigration and medical pockets in Quebec City and Montreal, authorities when the potato famine hit the Catholics tended to quickly meld into Ireland in the mid-1840s and desperate Quebec life and families. And in the farmers scratched together passage for most unique aspect of the haunting Irish families on overcrowded boats to North diaspora – the dispersal of millions from America. their homeland – some of these new They lived in wretched conditions and Quebecers became trilingual, mastering rode rocking seas. Diseases like cholera French on top of English and Gaelic. and typhus flourished. So Grosse Ile, a Even in cases where Irish orphans rocky outcrop downstream from Quebec were taken in by French-Canadian famiCity, became the first Canadian shoreline lies, the Irish names were often prefor four decades of Irish immigration. served either as surnames or Christian The quarantine station is now a Parks names. That’s why you’ll see names like Canada national historic site, a bucolic O’Neill Marois. Or Emile Nelligan, spot with the haunting counterpart of a famous as the ‘national’ poet of Quebec. Celtic cross commanding a cliff overQuebec Irish historian Marianna looking the river and a moving memori-
A partial list of Hannah survivors • William Tadford (wife and child) • Michael McGill (wife and 2 children) • Owen McCourt (wife) • Patrick McGuirk (wife and 2 children) • Joseph Kerr (wife and 2 children) • John Delany (wife and sister • William Henderson (wife and 4 children)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Henry Grant (wife) William Wood Eliza Blackstock Samuel Henderson Edward Nugent Edward McElhern (wife and child) Patrick McGrory (wife and 3 children) Eliza Perdue; Jane Thompson (sister) Mary Anne Brantford Peter Bennett James McKeough (wife) Patrick McGinn John Tuft (son) Andrew Kelly Joseph Murphy (sister and child) Catherine Hart
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COURTESY PADDY MURPHY
It was mainly Irish who dug cal movement. He was thrown the Lachine Canal at Montreal out of the St. Patrick’s Society and the Rideau Canal to of Montreal as a result and his Ottawa. And it was mostly life was threatened. Irish who died due to typhus Still, he prevailed, winning and malaria. Even so, as you re-election in 1867, Canada’s follow the often-tragic trail of Confederation year. But the Irishmen and Irishwomen founding father was dogged by down the St. Lawrence, you extremists and near midnight see the roots of Celtic culture April 7, 1868, just shy of his setting down in a new land. 43rd birthday, he was gunned The Irish reel fused into the down as he turned the key to work of Quebec musicians and his apartment. dancers and lives on still in the Historian Bill Davis wrote work of groups like Les “he made precious contribuCowboys Fringants. tions to his adopted country,” Also, there is a line of thinkeasing “the religious and racial ing in political science circles strife that had threatened to that it was Irishmen who protear the country apart.” vided an important bridge You can raise a glass to his between the French and English memory in the building where on the way to Canada’s he died, D’Arcy McGee’s Irish Confederation in 1867. Pub on Sparks Street in Ottawa, Concordia University’s Irish as well as retrace his killer’s Studies program in Montreal A Murphy family photo taken in 2005. Back row, left to right: steps to the gallows. Patrick examines this and other contri- Krystal Ann, Grandmother Jane Murphy (Coburn, Lock descenJames Whelan, a rabid critic of butions to Canada. Robert dant), Kate, Grandfather Paddy Murphy (Murphy, McPharland McGee, was hanged in the last descendant), Quinn. Front row: Dylan, Madden and Michael. Baldwin, son of an Ulsterman, public display of its kind in was able to forge a Liberal Ottawa, Feb. 11, 1869. alliance with Louis-Hippolyte The old Ottawa jail is now a La Fontaine to get French-Canadian supimprove the lot of his countrymen and hostel and some inhabitants have port for responsible government. And a moved to Canada, where he believed claimed to see his ghost over time. native of Cork, Francis Hinks, nurtured Irishmen would get a better deal. McGee McGee’s dream, offered in a stirring the partnership to take the national railwas soon elected to Parliament but his speech seven years before Canada’s way sea to sea. political career was marked by differing Confederation, was prescient.“I see in the But the most colorful Irish-Canadian results: success in fathering Confederation not remote distance one great nationality, was Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a brilliant but vicious opposition to his distaste for bound like the shield of Achilles by the orator and the only federal Canadian secret societies like the Fenians. blue rim of ocean. I see it quartered into politician ever assassinated. He had McGee believed that Canada repremany communities, each disposescaped Ireland with a price on his head sented the best chance for Irish peoing of its internal affairs, but all for fomenting rebellion and landed in ple of both religions to coexist bound together by free instituBoston to establish a newspaper panderpeacefully and argued that the tions, free intercourse, free ing to Irish sentiments. improving condition of his councommerce.” IA But he grew impatient with lack of trymen would be lost if they movement in government circles to backed an American-led radi-
Famous Irish Quebecers JEAN CHAREST — current Quebec Premier DANIEL JOHNSON SR. — former Premier DANIEL JOHNSON JR. — former Premier KATE AND ANNA MCGARRIGLE — musicians BRIAN MULRONEY — former Prime Minister of Canada PATRICK ROY — retired hockey star CLAUDE RYAN — journalist FRANK RYAN — gangster LOUIS ST. LAURENT — former Prime Minister of Canada
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The McCarrigle Sisters
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Chicago AND THE
B
efore he was the trailblazing Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama was an ambitious young politician who learned a valuable lesson thanks to the Chicago Irish. The year was 1999. Obama, a state senator, announced he was going to challenge Congressman Bobby L. Rush, a legend in the working-class AfricanAmerican wards of Chicago’s South Side. Decades earlier, the South Side was heavily Irish. It was the world that James T. Farrell recreated in his famous Studs Lonigan trilogy of novels from the 1930s. In fact, for all the changes in Chicago, the same rules have always applied when it comes to politics: you have to pay your dues before you challenge a veteran. Meanwhile, though it’s true that the district that Obama hoped to win was 65 percent black, it also had “several relatively affluent Irish-American neighborhoods,” as The New York Times noted recently. Obama (himself Irish on his mother’s side) was ultimately trounced in the South Side race, and learned that when it came to Windy City politics, he still had some dues to pay. Obama’s loss illustrates key facts about the Chicago Irish experience. First, the Irish have been playing a crucial political role in Chicago for over 150 years. Furthermore, the Irish have always had to build coalitions among other racial, ethnic and religious groups. Often, they did so successfully, though other times, the result was tension and violence. Either way, from Studs Lonigan, Michael Flatley and Mrs. O’Leary’s infamous cow to Comiskey Park and O’Hare International Airport, the Irish have left a deep impression upon Chicago.
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Irish BY TOM DEIGNAN
“CITY ON THE PRAIRIE” Unlike Boston, New York or Philadelphia, Chicago was not settled until the 1800s. So the Chicago Irish did not face the worst kind of anti-Catholic, anti-Irish bigotry from established, native-born elites. This also allowed early Irish immigrants to, in a sense, get in on the ground floor of Chicago. “For the Irish, Chicago’s emergence as
by the canal’s construction. Bradford, a physician, was also one of Chicago’s earliest successful real estate speculators. Canal work brought hordes of additional laborers – as well as class tension and cries for unionization. It also meant that when the Great Hunger struck Ireland, some Chicago laborers were able to send money, food and other materials back to Ireland.
“DEPRAVED, DEBASED, WORTHLESS”
Barack Obama.
the nascent city on the prairie was timely,” writes John Gerard McLaughlin in his book Irish Chicago. “The construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which would connect the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, began in 1836, drawing Irish laborers. . . . The completion of the canal in 1848 coincided with the mass emigration from Ireland caused by the Great Famine.” Kerry native Dr. William Bradford was among the earliest boosters of Chicago and the opportunities presented
Although Chicago was spared the antiIrish violence of other large American cities, there was no lack of rabid antiIrish sentiment. The Chicago Tribune, edited by Joseph Medill (a descendant of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians), regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless. “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” the Tribune sneered. This came even as Irish laborers worked feverishly to complete Chicago’s stately St. Patrick’s church at Adams and Desplaines Streets in the mid-1850s. Besides Dr. Bradford, another example of Chicago’s Irish rising class was Cork native James Lane. In this city which would lead the nation in meat production, Lane is said to have opened Chicago’s first meat market in 1836. He marched in the city’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1843 – and was still doing so five decades later, in the 1890s. Meanwhile, decades before Jane Addams and Hull House became synonymous with Chicago charity, Carlow native Agatha O’Brien and nuns from the Mercy
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Above: The Great Fire at Chicago on October 9, 1871. Right: Mrs. O’Leary and her cow, who were unjustly accused of having started the inferno that destroyed the city.
Sisters worked in hospitals, schools and asylums caring for victims of cholera and other diseases. By the 1870s, the Irish-born population of Chicago was approaching 70,000 – over 25 percent of the people. Then came a calamity which transformed the city forever.
THE GREAT FIRE According to legend, the Great Chicago Fire was started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. The immigrant family was ultimately exonerated, but the O’Learys were subjected to awful harassment. The fire scorched large swaths of Chicago, including a dressmaking business owned by Cork native and future labor leader Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who entered the labor movement soon after the fire. The newly rebuilt city saw further upward mobility for the Irish. A priest at St. John’s parish on the South Side, Father Woldron, watched “in sorrow as hundreds of beloved families surrendered their humble homes and moved.” By the 1880s, 30 percent of Chicago’s police force and other civil service jobs
were held by Irish Americans. Many of Chicago’s Irish Americans now earned enough money to move to neighborhoods such as Englewood, where (much to the dismay of local Protestants) they laid foundations for working- or middleclass parishes such as St. Bernard’s.
POLITICS, LABOR AND RELIGION The Irish, as they did in many other cities, proved adept at politics, as well as parish life. Again, Chicago is unique in that, while the Irish were the largest immigrant minority group in other large cities, they were just one of many in Chicago. Germans, Poles, Jews and other Eastern Europeans flocked to Chicago in large numbers. “Second generation Chicago Irishmen assumed the role of buffers between the strange speaking newcomers and the native, older residents,” Paul M. Green
has written. Affairs in Ireland were also profoundly important to the Chicago Irish. The revolutionary group Clan na Gael had a strong presence in the city, where support was strong for controversial measures such as the London bombing campaign of the 1880s, meant to draw attention to the cause of freedom for Ireland. This became a tougher stance to defend, however, in the wake of the infamous Haymarket Square bombing of 1886, when Irish nationalists in Chicago struggled to draw distinctions between anti-British nationalism and homegrown American anarchism. Meanwhile, Irish pride in Chicago was not merely confined to the continued struggle against the British. According to Ellen Skerrit: “Since the 1890s, the city’s Irish have played a leading role in the cultural revival of traditional music and dance.” Cork native Francis O’Neill, a police chief, was one of the driving forces behind reviving traditional Irish music in the Chicago area. Meanwhile, as Charles Fanning has noted, Chicago writer Finley Peter Dunne created one of the great voices in American letters at the turn of the century: Mr. Dooley, the saloon keeper/philosopher with the exaggerated brogue who was beloved by millions in nationwide newspapers and books. Finally, early 1900s labor leaders included Margaret Haley, president of the Chicago Teachers Federation, and John Fitzpatrick, leader of Chicago’s Federation of Labor.
GANGSTERS AND “STUDS” There was also a dark side to Chicago Irish life, painted most memorably in the 1930s Studs Lonigan trilogy of novels by James T. Farrell. Particularly disturbing is the racism, violence and narrow-mindedness we see among Studs, his family and friends. It should be added, however, that Farrell also wrote another series of novels about a youth named Danny O’Neill, who escaped Chicago and AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 67
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Chicago wouldn’t be Chicago without a Daley in City Hall! Far Left: Mayor Richard J. Daley marches in the 1962 Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade accompanied by Lord Mayor of Dublin Robert Briscoe. Left: Daley in his office. Below: son Richard M. Daley, the present mayor who has been in office since 1989.
chased his dreams. Chicago groups such as the Catholic Interracial Council also showed that some Chicago Irish were promoters of racial justice. Meanwhile, by the 1920s, though many Chicago Irish moved into the American mainstream, another group chose a very different path. This was evident on the morning of February 14, 1929 – Valentine’s Day – when two men dressed as police officers ushered six gangsters into a garage on Chicago’s North Side. A hail of bullets followed. The famous massacre had been ordered by Al Capone. He was gunning for Bugs Moran, but the Irish crime boss had escaped. The St. Valentine’s Day massacre was the culmination of IrishItalian turf wars which dominated the 1920s. Prohibition, and competition over the sale of illegal booze, led to these gang wars, and Chicago was the center of Irish organized crime. (Jimmy Cagney’s electrifying film The Public Enemy, from 1931, was set in the Windy City.) Deanie O’Banion was the era’s most prominent Irish gangster. He grew up in a notorious neighborhood known as Little Hell. Even when he became a full-time murderer, O’Banion sported a rosary in his pocket and a carnation in his jacket. In fact, O’Banion so loved flowers that he opened a flower shop on North State Street, which was where he was killed in 1924, after he had swindled members of Capone’s crew.
THE DALEY DYNASTY All in all, Chicago has had a dozen Irish 68 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
mayors. Early city leaders include John Comiskey (father of White Sox baseball owner Charles Comiskey), John Coughlin, “Foxy” Ed Cullerton and Johnny Powers. Later, in 1979, IrishAmerican Jane Byrne was the first woman to serve as Chicago mayor. The most powerful Irish-American mayor ever was Richard J. Daley, who ran Chicago for over 20 years, beginning with his 1955 election. Daley was a humble, devout Catholic who raised his family not far from the South Side Irish enclave where he grew up. As a multiethnic town, Chicago required a mayor who knew how to reward all ethnic groups, a task which Daley mastered.
Chicago’s most famous Irish dancer, Michael Flatley.
Daley became such a key figure in the Democratic Party that he was known as a “president-maker,” whose support was needed to nominate any White House candidate. Daley’s image was tarnished by the violent events of the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention. But in the mayoral election of 1971, Daley received nearly 60 percent of the vote. He died while in office in 1976. Fittingly, his son, Richard M. Daley, was later elected Chicago mayor in 1989.
THE NEW CHICAGO IRISH By the 1980s, many Chicago Irish had been in the city three or four generations. But a whole new wave of immigrants then arrived, escaping an Ireland which was still struggling economically. These immigrants breathed new life into Chicago’s Irish-American life and culture. A daughter of immigrants, Liz Carroll is a Chicago native who is one of today’s top Irish fiddlers. Then, of course, there is Riverdance star Michael Flatley. A native of the South Side, Flatley reinvented Irish dance and brought it to the international masses. Dance is not something we would expect to arise from the streets once stalked by Studs Lonigan and his band of roughs. But history shows us that, when it comes to the Chicago Irish, there is one thing you should expect: the unexpected. IA
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“Irish” Places to See in Chicago Old St. Patrick’s Church
The mere act of flying into Chicago is a reminder of the Irish impact upon the city. O’Hare International Airport is named after Lt. Commander Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare. The U.S. Navy’s first flying ace, O’Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the Pacific during World War II. On November 26, 1943, O’Hare participated in the first night attack on Japanese forces. The 29-year-old’s plane was shot down and never recovered. After the war, Chicago Tribune publisher Colonel Robert McCormick suggested changing the name of Chicago’s Orchard Depot Airport in honor of O’Hare.
3
Founded by Irish immigrants in 1846, the church survived the great fire of 1871, and still serves over 3,000 households. Designed by Architect Thomas O’Shaughnessy, the church features beautiful stained-glass windows (pictured left) which helped earn it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Old St. Patrick’s Church: 700 W.Adams St. Chicago.Tel: (312) 648-1021.
Irish-American Heritage Center
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The IAHC was opened officially by Irish president Mary Robinson in 1991.The complex features a library, museum and even the Fifth Province pub.The center regularly hosts talks, concerts and other events. Address: 4626 North Knox Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630.Tel. 773-282-7035.
Bridgeport
1
Take a ride through Bridgeport, the South Side neighborhood settled by 19th-century refugees from the Great Hunger who built the Illinois & MIchigan (I&M) Canal that connected Chicago to the world. Bridgeport also sent Edward J. Kelly and the father-and-son Richard J. and Richard M. Daley to City Hall to become the most powerful mayors in the country. Some of the old Canal-era houses are still visible.The novel Galway Bay coming out in February tells the story of the earliest Chicago Irish.
Gaelic Park
2
Opened in 1985, Gaelic Park is a venue for Irish sports, music and culture, as well as an annual festival.The park also hosts Chicago Gaelic Athletic Association events, including hurling and soccer. Gaelic Park, 6119 W. 147th St., Oak Forest, IL, 60452.Tel. 708-687-9323.
Chicago Irish Immigration Support
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Founded in 1998, CIIS continues the tradition of assisting newcomers to Chicago. Address: 640 North LaSalle Street, #390 Chicago, IL 60610.Tel: 312-337-8445.
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Annual noteworthy Irish events include the Chicago Irish Film Festival, the IAHC’s annual Fest and, of course, the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which marches north up Columbus Drive before concluding at Buckingham Fountain.
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A Flying Finn Javelin
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY MARJORIE LARNEY
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To celebrate this Olympic Year, Marjorie Larney writes about her experiences on and off the track during the 1952 summer games in Helsinki.
W
hen I competed for the U.S. in my first Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, I was only 15, the youngest javelin thrower ever and that record still stands today. But the most wonderful part about participating in the games was the reception from the Finnish people and a very special gift to me from a Finnish Olympic champion of the past, the first great “Flying Finn.” In Helsinki the week before the games, our track and field squad practiced every morning. Then, we would return to the Women’s Nursing College where we were housed, have lunch, and at the suggestion of our manager rest for the remainder of the afternoon. But my roommate Mabel Landry, long jumper from Chicago and I, javelin thrower from New York, just couldn’t follow our manager’s advice. We had too much energy, and we wanted to see the sights. It was our first time ever in a foreign country. So, we asked a nursing student to write the name and address of the nursing college on a piece of paper. After we practiced saying the name aloud and secured the paper in a safe pocket, we slipped out a side door, hopped a trolley and headed downtown. That whole week, Mabel and I had a great time exploring the Finnish capital. Yes, we were lost once or twice, but always an English-speaking Finn would turn up to steer us in the right direction. We were dressed in our navy blue jackets with the U.S. Olympic shield on the breast pocket, and everywhere people stared and eventually smiled at us. Most Finns were towheaded blonds and I with my dark curly hair and Mabel with her honey-brown complexion were an unusual sight for their eyes. One day, while strolling down a street of small shops, we came upon a sporting goods store. In the store’s front window, javelins and other track and field equipment were prominently
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TOP: Marjorie today. RIGHT: Marjorie as a 15-year-old. BELOW: The 1952 Olympic Team. Marjorie is top row second left and Mabel is next to her in the center.
displayed. No sporting goods store back home had javelins in the window. I had to go in and see those javelins for myself. The javelins were all sizes—women’s, men’s, and even a children’s size, and they were a dazzling creamy white birch, not dull grey metal like what I threw in New York. As I began to pick out a women’s spear from the rack, an elderly, bald, chunky man came to help me. He selected a women’s javelin that was birch, inlaid with four strips of a darker wood. He handed it to me and said, “Very special.” The javelin was per-
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fectly balanced, and its soft blue and white corded grip felt wonderful in my hand. The salesman smiled when he saw I held the javelin with the middle finger resting alongside the cord – the Finnish Grip. Then I stretched my arm back and walked through my five-step throwing position, and his smile widened, because I used the Finnish Front Cross Step. Most Americans used the American Back Cross that came more naturally from throwing baseballs in from the outfield, but my coach Sgt. John P. Brennan of the New York City Police Athletic League had studied a film of Finland’s Nikkanen, the men’s javelin world record holder for fourteen years, and Coach Brennan insisted I learn the Finnish style and only the Finnish style. He had coached sixteen-year-old sprinter Mae Faggs to a berth on the 1948 Olympics. When he saw me throwing a football with the boys before practice, John Brennan switched me from the sprints to the throws. “You’ve got some arm, Marjorie, and if you do everything I tell you, you’ll be on the next Olympic team just like Mae.” Coach Brennan had a firm and gentle way about him that inspired trust, and he won mine from the first day I met him when I was eleven years old. I obeyed every instruction he gave me and never doubted that
what he said would come true. The “very special” javelin was expensive, but I wanted it more than anything, more than the Jimmy Foxx Louisville slugger I got for Christmas when I was ten, more than the Gil Hodges first baseman mitt I got for confirmation when I was eleven and even more than the NFL real pigskin football my grandpa presented to my brother and me one fall day when I was twelve. My grandpa, Patrick Henry Larney, was ahead of his time in equalitarian thinking about women’s rights. A progressive politician, he represented Brooklyn’s Irishtown in the New York State Assembly. For my three weeks at the Olympics my
parents and relatives had chipped in thirty dollars for my spending money, but I had used most of it for souvenir presents. (When my dad, Leo F. Larney, passed away in 1968, I found in his suit pocket my souvenir gift of a leather billfold embossed with a color impression of the ’52 Olympic stadium. He had used it every day for 16 years. I still have it.) Mabel offered me the money she had with her, and we pooled it with mine, but it wasn’t enough for the “very special” javelin. It was enough, though, for another one, a plain wooden javelin, without the inlays and with only a white cord. Half the price of the beauty. I gripped the plain one and again walked through my steps. The javelin was OK, better than what I had ever used before, but my face flashed my feelings; I was really still just a kid. The salesman read my disappointment, took the ticket on the beautiful javelin and wrote a new price—the same as that of the plain one. I couldn’t believe it, what New Yorker could? The salesman said he was the owner of the store. He was beaming the whole while as he carefully wrapped the special javelin. It truly was a work of art. His giving me that “very special” javelin at half price made me feel very special, too. I sensed that this elderly Finnish man believed in me, that I was meant to have and throw the best javelin made. Before we left his store, he asked for our autographs, and we asked for his. I wondered if he was an old trackman himself, and he nodded and said “long distance” with a grin. He signed his name Hannes Kolehmainen. In the games, I didn’t get to throw that special javelin, as no competitors could use their own implements. I did, however, use a Finnish one just like it, and I threw my personal best performance for the year. Almost ten feet better. The Finnish champion, a woman of thirty-five, befriended me and quieted my nerves in the qualifying round as I finished eighth. In the final, I placed 13th; she placed one behind. I aimed to win a medal as everyone did, but I felt content with my result. I was the youngest person, male or female, ever to compete in the Olympic javelin throw, and that record stands today. Mabel had competed well the day before. She came 7th in the long jump and jumped further than the previous Olympic record for the event. Now, what touches me most is that the elderly Finnish man was no ordinary sporting goods storeTOP: Finnish Olympic legend Hannes Kolehmainen. ABOVE LEFT: The 1952 women’s team in uniform. LEFT: The scoreboard in the stadium in Helsinki reads: “Fire in the tower lit by Hannes Kolehmainen.”
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owner. We saw him one more time. As we marched into the Olympic stadium on opening day, July 19th, it was pouring rain. I was chilled to the bone, my jacket, hat and skirt soaked clear through. We weren’t issued raincoats and stood in the downpour for two hours before we marched. The U.S. team was the next to last contingent to enter the stadium. The parade of athletes took 56 minutes; the spectators endured the steady rain for as long as we did. But let me tell you, when our flag entered the stadium the roar that went up from the crowd was like a rolling wave of thunder. It followed us around the track to our place near the tower. Seventy thousand people were on their feet cheering the U.S. team. Later, I asked why and ABOVE: The torch is from the 2004 Workers Solidarity Olympics in Bangkok. As one of the torchbearers and medal presenters I lent my support to the efforts of the Asian clothing workers to have the IOC purchase garments from fair trade shops. The campaign is ongoing. LEFT: Despite the rain, the U.S. team parades proud and strong in the ’52 Olympics in Helsinki. BELOW: Coach John Brennan.
learned that the Finns wanted to show their appreciation for what we did to defeat the Nazis and that we were now standing up to the Stalinist Soviet Union. The Russians were their century-old subjugator who defeated tiny Finland in a war from 1939 to 1944. We received the loudest ovation next to the Finnish team who entered after us. We forgot all about the rain. One thrilling highlight was the entrance of the Olympic torch carried by the Finnish champion, 55-year-old Paavo Nurmi, winner of 5 golds in the 1924 Olympics. To the cheers of the crowd, he ran at a good clip to the tower. He touched the torch to a wide bowl on a high stanchion in the infield that immediately flamed up, and then he gave it to a Finnish teenager who ran with the torch up the steps of the tall tower to the top. The youth passed the torch to another athlete wearing the Finnish team’s singlet and shorts. When a burst of flames arose from the gigantic bowl that would stay burning until the end of the competition, there was another great roar from the crowd. The scoreboard flashed, “Fire in the tower lit by Hannes Kolehmainen.” “Mabel, Mabel,” I shouted, “that’s the man in the javelin store!” The next day I learned that in the 1912 Olympics 22year-old vegetarian Hannes Kolehmainen won the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races and the 12,000 meter cross-country run. He also earned a silver medal in the 12,000 meter team race. In the 1920 Olympics he won another gold in the marathon. As for the 1952 Olympics, 62-year-old Hannes Kolehmainen helped make the rain-soaked opening day bright and memorable for the Finnish people and everyone in the stadium. As for me, I’ve never forgotten a great and modest champion’s generous 72 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
gift of encouragement to a hopeful young athlete. As we marched out of the stadium the Olympic creed flashed on the scoreboard: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” Once home, the very special javelin became my “Flying Finn.” I threw it to win two National Championships and to earn spots on the ’56 Olympic team, the ’55 and ’59 Pan-American teams and the teams for the first and second U.S. versus USSR dual meets in ’58 and ’59. My throwing career culminated in being inducted in 1964 into the Helms Track and Field Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. That very special javelin really flew true. Sadly, Grandpa didn’t see me make the Olympic team; he passed away in the spring of 1952. Then, in the spring of 1956, John Brennan had a massive heart attack and died at the age of 49. For his vision and dedication in creating the Police Athletic League’s track and field program for underprivileged youth, the City of New York constructed Brennan Field in Middle Village, New York. An Irish immigrant, Brennan arrived in New York with his widowed mother and younger sister when he was ten years old. His stellar middle-distance running career began at Newtown High School and continued at Fordham University and with the Police Sports Club. In the mid-1940s the NYC Police Athletic League and the Chicago Catholic Youth Organization women’s track and field teams were the first and IA only teams in the U.S. to be racially integrated.
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IN TH OF T E NAM HE E How Irelan Irish-Am d and er the laican com nguag edian Des B e. By S i
od help the Irish language! Faced with insurmountable obstacles, it’s on the brink of extinction. You’ve heard such doom-laden predictions before, perhaps even in articles I’ve written. But I’ve tired of pessimism. Instead, I’m here to tell you about a new campaign to revitalize the language. It’s spearheaded by one of Ireland’s most prominent Irish-American personalities, comedian Des Bishop, or Deasún Mac an Easpaig as he might prefer to be known. Born in New York, Des moved to Ireland when he was 14. In recent years, he has built a comedy career based on his outsider’s view of a changing Ireland. His latest TV show is a case in point. In the Name of the Fada (fada being the Irish word for the accent placed on a vowel – such as á) chronicles the year he spent living in Connemara learning Irish and acquiring the love he developed for the language. I spoke to Des while he was touring Ireland with his stand-up show. We started our interview in Irish. Read on and be impressed by his fluency and passion.
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Dia dhuit, Des. Conas atá tú? Dia is Muire dhuit. Tá mé go h-an mhaith. Hello, Des. How are you? Hello. I’m great. Cad as duit agus caithin ar tháinig tú go hÉireann? Is as Flushing, Banríona mé agus tháinig mé anseo nuair a bhí mé ceithre bliana déag d’aois, i 1990. Where are you from and when did you come to Ireland? I’m from Flushing, Queens and I came here when I was 14 years old, in 1990. 74 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
haron
shop
Ní C
honc
is con
húir.
Cén aois tú anois? Tá mé tríocha dó. What age are you now? I’m 32. Níor fhoghlaim tú Gaeilge ar scoil. Cén fáth gur theastaigh uait í a fhoghlaim anois? Níor fhoghlaim, buíochas le Dia. Bhí suim agam sa teanga i gcónaí agus theastaigh uaim eolas a bheith agam faoi, tar éis dom freastal ar an ollscoil ach go h-áirithe. Lá amháin, cúig bliana ó shin, bhí mé ag labhairt le cara liom, stiúrthóir teilifíse, agus dúirt mé leis faoi mo smaoineamh clár a dhéanamh mar gheall ar dhuine cosúil liom féin gan aon Ghaeilge ag iarraidh an teanga a fhoghlaim. Thárla go leor rudaí idir an dá linn ach chuala bean in RTE mar gheall ar an smaoineamh agus bhí rud éigin mar sin in aigne aici ar aon nós agus is mar sin a thosaigh an clár. You didn’t learn Irish at school. Why did you decide to learn it now? I didn’t, thank God. I was always interested in the language and I wanted to find out more about it, especially after I attended university. One day, five years ago, I was talking to a friend of mine who is a TV director and I mentioned that I’d thought of making a TV series about somebody like me, somebody who couldn’t speak a word of Irish and was trying to learn it for the first time. A lot happened in the meantime but
queri
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a woman in RTE eventually heard about the idea and she had a similar idea in mind and the show started from there. Tar éis bliain amháin, tá leibhéal sách maith bainte amach agat sa teanga. An bhfuil tú sásta leis? Tá mé beagáinín sásta. Tá mé á fhoghlaim anois le bliain agus ceithre mhí ach níl aon ranganna á dhéanamh agam faoi láthair. Tá mé ag iarraidh mo Ghaeilge a choinneáil suas ach tá mé saghas “stuck”. Rachfaidh mé ar ais go Conamara i rith an tsamhraidh. Tá mo thuismitheoirí ag teacht agus rachfaimid ann ar laethanta saoire. After one year, you now have a reasonable level of fluency in the language. Are you pleased with that? I’m quite pleased. I’ve been learning Irish for a year and four months now but I’m not doing any classes at the moment. I’m trying to keep my level but I’m pretty much stuck where I am for now. I’m going to go to Connemara during the summer. My parents are coming over and we’ll go there on holidays. An raibh sé deacair an teanga a fhoghlaim? Ní raibh sé ró dheacair. Bhí go leor ama agam agus rinne mé é trí tumoideachas. Mar sin, bhí mé ag foghlaim an t-am ar fad, gach aon lá agus tar éis tamaill, thárla sé. Am fada is ea é bliain.
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he Irish language has a new and unexpected hero. His name is Des Bishop and he hails from the unlikeliest of locations – Queens, New York. His mother is Irish-American. His father is from Middleton in County Cork. Neither has a particular interest in the Irish language. “My mother doesn’t speak a word and Dad has a few words – a h-aon, dó, trí (one, two, three),” Des explains. Indeed, Des himself had very little knowledge of Ireland or Irish until the age of 14. At that stage, he was a troubled adolescent who had just been expelled from school in New York. “I wasn’t happy,” he remembers. “I’d never been to Ireland but my Irish cousin and I came up with the idea that I should go to boarding school in Wexford. Within a month, I was there.” This rash decision, taken in 1990, was to be a definitive one for Des. After high school, he enrolled in university in Cork and there discovered his comic talents. “My natural inclination had always been to be a performer,” he says. “That had gotten me into trouble in the past but it’s all worked out now.” It’s worked out so well that Des is currently regarded as one of Ireland’s top comedians. What has made him so popular is the use he makes of his status as an outsider to explore the margins of Irish society. For example, in his TV series, Joy in the Hood he tackled inner-city deprivation. Living in disadvantaged communities, he encouraged the teenagers to express themselves through comedy. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back to Des’ school days. Because he was 14 when he arrived in Ireland he was exempt from learning Irish in school, something he is grateful for. “The curriculum is s**t,” he says, never one to mince his words. “School is not a nurturing environment for the language and it would have killed my love for it.” Many people would have regarded this as the end of the matter but not Des. He has a boundless curiosity and as time went on, he started to think he had missed out by not learning the language. “All Irish people had the experience of learning or trying to learn the language and I’d been excluded from that rite of passage,” he explains. “I thought it would make for an interesting program if I were to try to learn it in the Gaeltacht. It was a final frontier in Irish life that I didn’t know anything about.”
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Des Bishop, the Irish-American comedian, pictured in Connemara where he spent a year learning Irish.
Was it difficult to learn the language? Not too difficult. I had enough time and I did it through total immersion. So, I was learning all the time, every day and after a while, it just happened. A year is a long time. Ar bhain tú taithneamh as bheith i do chónaí i gConamara? Cad iad na rudaí ba mhó a thaithin leat? Bhain mé an taithneamh as. Rachfainn ann arís. Chaithfinn mo shaol ar fad ann b’fhéidir. Is breá liom an pobal Did you enjoy living in Connemara? What were the aspects you enjoyed most? I really enjoyed it. I’d live there again. I might even spend my life there.
I love the sense of community. An dtéann tu ar ais go Conamara go minic? Bhí mé ann an tseachtain seo caite agus beidh mé ann arís sa tsamhradh. Do you go back to Connemara often? I was there last week and I’ll be there again this summer. Agus an bhfuil tú fós ag foghlaim na Gaeilge? Tá agus beidh. Is breá liom é. And are you still learning Irish? I am and I will be. I love it. Go raibh maith agat, a Dheasúin.
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So, just as he did when he was 14, Des took a leap of faith. He moved to Leitir Móir in Connemara where he lived with an Irish-speaking family and attended Irish classes for an entire year. Virtually everyone – from his Irish friends to the media – reacted with shock. Why would anyone voluntarily submit to the torture of learning what is widely regarded as an impossibly difficult language? Des had expected this reaction. After all, many Irish people harbor a sense of resentment towards the language from the way it’s taught in school. So, instead of worrying about it, he got on with the task of settling into a new community – something he is practiced at. “I’ve moved between cousins, friends and boarding school since I was fourteen,” he says. “Fitting in is what I do.” He joined the local Gaelic Athletic League team where he came to know some of the area’s many characters – including a man who made a point of always chewing some grass from the pitch before a game. He also learned Irish dancing. To some, learning the language and adapting to life in the Gaeltacht would have been challenge enough. But Des is an audacious character who sets himself ambitious goals. At the beginning of his term in Leitir Móir, he declared that he would perform a stand-up gig in Irish by the end of the year. Was he mad? There were times when he thought so. “I thought I mightn’t make it,” he admits. “I didn’t know if I could be funny in Irish. But as time went by, my confidence increased and I started to joke in Irish naturally.” The show, which took place in Dublin in March, was a sell-out success. Ever since, the reaction to Des’ adventures in the Gaeltacht has been extremely positive. “Everyone is saying the show is entertaining, meaningful and powerful,” he says. “And even better: Gaelcultúr – an organization that offers Irish language lessons – has reported a 600 percent increase in admission figures.” These are impressive results but they are nothing compared to the profound effect the experience has had on Des himself. “I thought the Gaeltacht would be an interesting place to explore, but living there proved momentous for me,” he 76 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
“I D BUT IDN’T K AS NO AND TIME WE W IF I C I STA NT BY OULD RTED , MY CON BE FUNN TO JO KE IN FIDEN Y IN I IRISH CE INC RISH. R NAT URA EASED says. “I feel more Irish now, without a L LY.” shadow of a doubt. In learning and living the language, I’ve become passionate about it. The whole thing raised questions of emotions, identity and a sense of belonging that I didn’t expect.” So affected was he that Des is now a zealous advocate for the language. Recently, he has lobbied the Department
of Education to change the school curriculum, which is often blamed for students leaving school after 14 years without being able to speak a word of Irish. “There is too much emphasis on grammar and spelling,” says Des. “That should come later. Students should learn to speak it first. Right now, Irish is seen as an endurance test, and that kills it. There is no love.” Thanks to the popularity of his TV show and the forthrightness of his manner, Des is having an impact. The Minister for Education, Batt O’Keefe, said, after a meeting with Des, “It is heartening to see someone like Des achieve great fluency in Irish in such a short period. Des has brought fun back
into mastering the language, and it shows that with a positive approach we can stimulate the interest of students in our native language once again.” This is what Des is trying to do and he hopes everyone will give it a go, not just students who have no choice but to learn the language. He has even developed an Internet course in Irish which can be accessed free of charge from his website www.desbishop.com. “Just start learning it,” he urges. “And if you’ve got any Irish at all, use it. You’ll be amazed how much you remember if you just use it.” Having had a life-changing experience in the Gaeltacht, Des is optimistic about the future of the language. “It’s on the way up,” he insists. “Twenty years ago, the majority had a disdain for the language, but now it’s the minority that think like that.” He attributes this change in attitude to the increase in immigration into Ireland and the march of globalization worldwide. “People are paying attention to what’s unique about their culture,” he says. “It’s changing how people think about the language.” Learning the language has certainly changed his own perceptions. So much so that this once hyperactive personality now claims to have no fixed plans for the future. “It’s been a long year,” he says. “I just want to let it all sink in and do as much as I can with what happened.” And while he’s absorbing the impact of his year in the Gaeltacht, he’ll also continue improving his Irish. “I just love it,” he says. IA Des Bishop visited Irish America/Irish Voice offices in February and practiced his Irish speaking skills on fellow Gaelgoir, publisher, Niall O’Dowd.While in New York, he performed at a fundraiser for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.
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{music} ASHLEY DAVIS
Finding Herself Through Her Past Ashley Davis has only released one CD so far, but it’s a gem, garnering her much attention in the Irish musical community. Ian Worpole caught up with her, via e-mail, in the fortuitous process of recording her second album: Ian: Ashley, you’re a resident of New York City, but right now you’re over in Ireland recording your new CD. Tell us all about it. Ashley: I dreamed for years about going back to Ireland to record an album. Even though I live in New York, I feel like one half of me is always in Ireland. So, to have the chance to do what I love most, in a place I hold so close to my heart, means that this album is going to be very special to me. My last album was a conglomerate of influences I had collected over the years of traveling and studying. With this album, I’m going back to my roots – five generations ago to those who sacrificed so much so that I can do what I do today. This album is for them.
Originally a native of Kansas, you began your music career as a bluegrass/country musician. What led you to Irish music, and indeed, to move to Ireland and study at the University of Limerick? Country and bluegrass music have their roots completely tangled up with Celtic music since that is its primary root. I often had people come up to me at country gigs and ask me where the Irish influence comes from. I had no idea what they were talking about. Investigating further, I discovered that my father’s side of the family originally immigrated from Ireland, and for some reason this part of our family history had been buried and sort of lost. Fast78 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
forward about five generations later and this Kansas gal comes out singing like she’s been around Irish music all her life. So I took it as a very clear sign that it was time for me to use my voice to uncover the layers of our Irish family history that had been buried on the long and unforgiving trek from the port in New York (in the 1800s) to the free land they were giving away out west. One aspect of Irish-American culture that I have found very fascinating in New York is realizing that the closer the family still is to where they docked, the stronger the connection to the homeland. Out in Kansas, I grew up with hundreds of kids with Irish last names, and looking back, I know that most of them did not know their family history. So it’s been a fascinating journey for me to come to the East Coast where cultural identity is at the forefront of everyone you talk to. I love it, and am so proud to be able to say (with now a good knowledge of our family’s journey from Ireland) that “I’m Irish-American!”
Your last CD, Closer to You, was very well received. It’s very sophisticated for a first album. How did you pull all that together? I think it was a lot of years of listening and really knowing what I wanted when I went into the studio to record Closer to You. I also took a painstaking year to record the album – because I didn’t want one note out of place. The two musicians I worked with on the album (who are not
Celtic music artists) were a huge factor in giving it the smooth and graceful sound that it ended up having. In short, I had a clear vision for it and I wasn’t leaving the studio until I heard it played back to me. Luckily, we got there!
You’ve said Loreena McKennitt was a big influence.Who are you listening to these days? Loreena has been a big influence – I think that her arrangements and the approach she takes to her songs is breathtaking. We both approach music from a highly literary perspective and then take that and see what worldmusic elements blend with the tale we’re telling. No one does it better than her. Now vocally, I would say that Moya Brennan has been my biggest influence. I think she has absolutely the most incredible voice I have ever heard. I get tears in my eyes every time I hear her sing. Her voice is otherworldly and I’ve learned so much listening to her and talking to her about her approach in the studio. So recording this album at Moya Brennan’s studio must be a really big deal for you. I believe you’re doing a duet together on the album. Yes! I am recording the album at her studio, which is located in the basement of her lovely home on the shore in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. I was downstairs working on a track
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and took a break to walk out into the garden to get some air, and Moya was playing her harp in the kitchen and the notes were floating around the back garden. I closed my eyes and gave thanks to the gods for guiding me to this moment in my life. I feel so blessed to be here with so many amazing musicians and to have Moya upstairs. Sometimes I pop up for tea and we just chat about the album and life in general. It’s still like a dream to me. Not only is she the most amazing singer I’ve ever heard, she happens to be one of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met. Watching her in her home would be inspiring to any wife or mother. She’s truly lovely. As for the duet, I am obviously quite excited about it. We are co-writing the piece around an idea that I had and have been researching. I wanted to write a song that was a series of letters between a mother and daughter. The daughter in the song has immigrated to New York, and the mother is still in Ireland wondering about the new world, while the daughter is wondering how things are back home. I can’t wait to finish it and go into the studio with Moya and sing it together. I think it has the potential of being a really special song for the genre.
At least one of your own songs seems to have entered the traditional canon back in Ireland. Is that a good feeling? It is an amazing feeling. To come back to Ireland and hear one of your songs being sung by a young girl at a pub – I feel like I am actually fulfilling what my Irish ancestors would have wanted me to do. Bring music back into our family, bring the Irish back into our family. After my family, Ireland and all that it encompasses has been the single greatest blessing in my life, truly. When I saw you perform at Joe’s Pub in New York, Philip Glass, was sitting
at the next table – how did the two of you cross paths? Philip met me as a young girl in Kansas when my mother was presenting him as a new and up-and-coming composer. She had commissioned a piece from him for the University of Kansas. When I moved to New York and recorded the first album, I asked Philip (having not spoken to him since I was about
Ashley Davis on the cover of her first album, Closer to You.
complimentary, I said, “Well, then put me on a soundtrack!” He laughed and said, “Why don’t you call me and we’ll go have coffee and talk.” Coffee hasn’t happened yet due to our schedules, but it is a dream of mine to collaborate with him.
Cathie Ryan, one of our favorite American-Irish singers, upped and moved to Ireland a couple of years ago; can you ever see yourself doing that, or is New York the place to be? I love Cathie Ryan. I think she’s fantastic. She’s actually someone I would like to write with and do a duet possibly someday. I will almost definitely end up in Ireland someday. I feel most at home here. The reason I moved to New York was that it was close to Ireland and there was a strong Irish community there. It’s the culture I am easily the most comfortable in. So what else are you doing with your time over there? Well, I’m actually studying the Irish language at Oideas Gael School in Donegal. I’m pleased to say, on a full scholarship.
eighteen) if I could send it to him for his opinion and he sent me a beautiful note about my music after listening to it. I was floored. Then when he showed up at my Joe’s Pub gig – I was double floored. I have so much respect for Philip as not only a composer, but also a person. He came backstage that night after the show and was openly excited about how I have grown vocally and musically – it was inspiring to listen to him talk, and then I realized that he was talking about me and I was overwhelmed with honor and emotion once again.
Do you have any plans for a tour back here in the States? The CD will come out in January of 2009. I will only have a gig here and there until next year, but I plan to tour as much as possible to get this new music out to the listeners. All tour dates will be posted on my website, so I recommend checking that every now and then, or signing up for my mailing list. As for buying my CD, it is best to buy it online, either through a digital retailer (such as iTunes) or an online distributor such as CD Baby. My website is www.daisyrings.com. I always love hearing from people who have come across my music.
Any chance of Philip writing something for you? When he came backstage and was very
Ashley, thanks so much for your time, and good luck with the new CD! Thanks, Ian! IA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 79
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Strong Echoes of Ireland at Book Fair Mary Pat Kelly takes in BookExpo America 2008 and finds a wealth of Irish in attendance.
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more impressive. Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes is a potent example of what can happen when readers fall in love with a book. Many other names come to mind: Malachy McCourt, Peter Quinn, Pete Hamill, Maeve Binchy, Mary Gordon, Anna Quinlan, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Nuala O’Faolain, Tom Kelly, Dennis
At the DK Publishing booth where juxtaposed posters advertised DC Comics Encyclopedia and The Vatican, I met Nancy Ellwood, Children’s Editor; Rachel Kempster, Associate Director of Publicity; Meghan O’Brien, Special Sales Manager and Jennifer Wendell, Marketing Manager. All had Irish ancestors. We began to wax a bit about the Irish as great readers, the cultural respect for storytellers. No wonder Irish-Americans were attracted to publishing and did well. “Of course,” Meghan spoke up, “most publishers are in New York and Boston, places where there are a lot of Irish people.” A good point. Still, Meghan Clery of Becker and Mayer in Bellevue, Washington; Gerard Kelly who started his successful imprint, Miles Kelly, in Glasgow and is now based in Essex, England; and the Kelley family – Gloria, Meghan, Jocelyn and Connor – whose book publicity and promotion firm is in Marblehead, (continued on page 83)
Alphie McCourt at the BookExpo in L.A. The youngest of the McCourt brothers has a new book, A Long Stone’s Throw, soon to be published.
Lehane, Joseph O’Neill – the list goes on and on. But a writer’s work has to be acquired, edited, published and skillfully promoted in order to live. My two days of interviews at BookExpo showed a substantial Irish-American presence in all phases of the book business.
COURTESY STERLING & ROSS PUBLISH ERS
hen I walked in this morning I was overwhelmed. I heard the siren call of books from every corner, and I didn’t know which one to answer. There’s an openness at the BookExpo, a kind of non-restrictive environment that lets you go wherever you like. No stops, no prohibitions. Maybe because it’s in L.A. Would it be the same in New York? Here everyone seems welcome and the variety is enormous.” That’s Alphie McCourt speaking about BookExpo America, the annual trade show of the publishing world, held this year in Los Angeles May 29th through June 1st. The youngest of the four McCourt brothers, Alphie was experiencing “my first hour as an author,” signing a limited-edition excerpt from his memoir, A Long Stone’s Throw, to be published in the fall by Sterling and Ross Publishers. “The book begins in New York with some of my adventures and then I go back to Limerick to my growing up. And while my book has the same basic background as Frank’s and Malachy’s, my story is different because my brothers and I have lived in different places and I’ve had a variety of work experiences. So it’s the same, but different,” Alphie McCourt said. We sat together at a small table surrounded by miles of booths displaying thousands of books. Authors, editors, publishers, sales staff, publicists, book buyers and sellers moved through the futuristic convention center where fourstory-high banners and every kind of poster and pavilion called to them. Sirens, no question. Astounding. The sheer number of books calling for attention makes the commercial and critical success achieved by contemporary Irish and Irish-American authors even
“
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Massachusetts, disproved the location theory. And Pat Kelly Rizzolo, Regional Sales Manager for McGraw-Hill, who’d been born and raised in New York, is now based in Stuart, Florida. Still, New York does draw book people, no matter where they begin. Robert Gleason, Executive Editor of Tom Doherty Associates, publishers of both Morgan Llywelyn and Father Andrew Greeley, grew up near Chicago in northern Indiana. A successful writer himself, Gleason does see a special connection between his Irish heritage and his literary vocation. He spoke of being struck on his first trip to Dublin by the many statues of writers. He quoted Yeats and Joyce as the Expo swirled around us. Words, I thought. It’s the words. “It’s because we Irish are readers,” Susan Donnelly, Director of Sales at Harvard University Press, said. She began in bookstores and found great satisfaction in recommending books and in the discoveries the readers made. For example, an elderly Irish-American woman looked at her father’s service in the British Army in World War I in a different light after reading Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme by Frank McGuinness. I didn’t stop the many bookstore owners and buyers from the large chains with Irish names on their tags. They were intent on the purpose of the Expo: ordering books. I did speak to the authors, however. “Variety” indeed. Where else would George Hamilton be signing books next to Salman Rushdie? “There’s another famous person,” I’d think. I’d never seen celebrities, with neither bodyguards nor entourage, seeking to give their autographs: Barbara Walters, Brooke Shields, Dionne Warwick, Magic Johnson, Ted Turner, Henry Winkler, Ernest Borgnine, Gary Hart, Robert Kennedy Jr., authors all. The glitzy bus taking Jackie Collins on a coast-to-coast tour of Harrah’s casinos to sign her new book, Married Lovers, was parked across from the booth for Hay House, publisher of metaphysical classics. Louise L. Hay, the teacher and lecturer, an influence on so many, was signing copies of her millionplus best seller, You Can Heal Your Own Life. I had to ask, “Irish?” She does have Irish ancestors, she said, and felt a deep connection to Ireland’s spirituality
Christopher Buckley has a new book, Supreme Courtship.
and mythical character. “The first time I went to Ireland, all I did was cry. It’s very special.” The woman ahead of me in the Louise Hay line saw my Irish America badge. “My mother is from Dungiven, near Derry,” said Alexandra Weis. “I visit her family there often.” A nurse, she turned to writing after she and her doctor husband lost their New Orleans clinics to Katrina. Her book, To My Senses, a romance novel (the biggest-selling genre), was published through Amazon’s Book Surge and selected from thousands for Expo after being a finalist for two awards. My badge also caught the eye of Delilah, the radio disc jockey whose nationwide program is devoted to “love songs and sympathetic listening.” Her book, Love Matters, combines stories from her listeners and her own life. “I come from McGowans and McPhersons,” Delilah said. Her father was a farmer in Oregon. “He hand-fed his cows. My devotion to animals comes from him.” At the Hachette Book Group USA pavilion, authors from the very top of the best-seller list were signing books - Brad Meltzer with The Book of Lies, James Patterson with Against Medical Advice and Michael Connelly with The Brass Verdict. “Irish America magazine,” Michael Connelly said. “I was one of the Top 100 and I have the Crystal Harp to prove it.” He was honored to be connected to the great tradition of Irish storytelling, he said. Christopher Buckley was signing
Supreme Courtship, the latest in his very successful comic novels set in Washington, D.C. The son of James F. Buckley, he spoke of his family. “My uncle, Reid Buckley, has written a history of the family and our Irish roots,” he said. His Buckley ancestor was a Protestant who, after marrying a Catholic, refused to allow a 12th of July parade to cross his land. He was arrested but escaped to Ontario, Canada in the 1840s and became a sheep farmer. “I’ve been to Ireland many times,” Christopher Buckley said. The staff at Hachette Book Group USA made the important and obvious point that it wasn’t necessary to be Irish to appreciate and promote Irish and IrishAmerican authors. In the interest of full disclosure, my novel Galway Bay is being published by Grand Central Publishing, part of Hachette. Acquired by Maureen Mahon Egen, who has since retired, it’s been well nurtured by publisher Jamie Raab and associate publisher Emi Battaglia, who were there in the booth and introduced me to their colleagues. “I’m Irish-by-marriage,” said Rick Cobban, V.P. of National Accounts. “My wife is a Dornan, and my daughter Tara’s husband proposed to her on the Cliffs of Moher.” Bob Levine, Manager of National Accounts, claimed to be Irish-by-choice. Linda Duggins told me her family comes from the Caribbean. Her father has researched their name in Ireland. He displays the Duggin coat of arms and is proud of both his Irish and African ancestors. It was the end of the second day now, and Alphie McCourt was finishing his book signing stint. A woman asked him about writing as an Irish or family trait. “There was always a great love of reading in the family. We were surrounded by people who talked, and there was a musical thing with the words.” “And you’re the baby?” the woman asked. “The baby’s a man now,” Alphie said. “That’s from a Percy French song,” he explained, and sang, “‘The baby’s a man now, He’s toil-worn and tough; Still whispers come over the sea; Come back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballyjamesduff; Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me.’” There was applause. Ireland was certainly present at IA BookExpo America 2008. AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 83
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Tom Deignan reviews a selection of recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest.
Recommended
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ntil releasing his latest novel, Joseph O’Neill was best known for his “family history” Blood-Dark Track (about his grandfather who was an IRA soldier) and his regular, insightful contributions to The Atlantic Monthly magazine. Add two earlier novels into this mix, and this is certainly a fine résumé. But it does not quite strike you as the background of the author who may very well have written the bestreviewed novel of the year. (“It has more life inside it than ten very good novels,” raved the New York Times Book Review in a much-coveted cover review.) That, however, is what O’Neill has done with Netherland, his chronicle of a married couple in Manhattan struggling to hold their lives together following the September 11 attacks. We have already had a flurry of so-called 9/11 novels, many of them straining to recapture the horror of the moment, and the gravity of its aftermath. Netherland shows the value of allowing some distance to accumulate before an artist attempts to tackle a major historical event. The attacks of 2001 are of profound importance to Netherland, but really the novel is about a man struggling to cope as his life falls apart around him. It is also a lovely portrait of Manhattan, which, though it has endured an
apocalyptic moment, still mesmerizes O’Neill’s protagonist, a Dutchman named Hans. “Sometimes to walk in shaded parts of Manhattan is to be inserted into a Magritte [painting]: the street is night while the sky is day,” O’Neill writes in one typical passage. Then his observations move inward. “If I was indeed embracing an American lot, then I was doing so unprogrammatically, even unknowingly. Perhaps the relevant truth … is that we all find ourselves in temporal currents and that unless you’re paying attention you’ll discover, often too late, that an undertow of weeks or of years has pulled you deep into trouble.” Given the largeness of O’Neill’s themes – terror, the disintegration of a marriage, the struggle against history – his language is generally quite subdued. I’m not quite sure Netherland is as brilliant as many critics have noted, but it is still brilliant. ($23.95 / 256 pages / Pantheon)
Fiction
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est-seller Marian Keyes is back with a new novel entitled This Charming Man. Fans of Keyes’ previous best-sellers Anybody Out There? and Last Chance Saloon will not be disappointed. In fact, the topics and characters might seem very familiar to Keyes’ many fans. This latest book revolves around four female friends, as well as a rising star on the Irish political scene. All of Keyes’ characters (as in most of her previous work) are struggling to conquer the past, in the form of substance abuse, psychological problems or both. For all the weight of these topics, however, Keyes’ trademark humor is also on display. This is a blessing since (again, as with much Keyes work) This Charming Man checks in at over 550 pages. Marian Keyes is not for everyone, but her fans will not be disappointed. ($24.95 / 576 pages / Morrow)
Mystery
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istory and murder mingle in Blood Alley, a new murder mystery by Tom Coffey. Patrick Grimes is a selfdescribed lapsed Irish Catholic who works at the lowest rungs of the old New York Examiner newspaper. When a wealthy socialite ends up dead, and an apparently innocent man is charged with the heinous crime, Grimes becomes part of the story he is merely supposed to be reporting. Coffey brings the underside of Manhattan life alive in Blood Alley, as Grimes not only goes about solving the crime but also posing timeless, philosophical questions. ($24.95 / 280 pages / Toby Press)
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avid Guterson had a smash success about a decade ago with his novel Snow Falling on Cedars, later made into a movie starring Ethan Hawke. Guterson’s latest novel, The Other, explores two starcrossed childhood friends: Neil, from an Irish-American family of carpenters, and John, who becomes so disenchanted with life that he seeks to vanish from the face of the earth. Neil is a family man, but takes a risk in the name of helping out his old pal, a choice which has potentially tragic consequences. ($24.95 / 272 pages / Knopf)
($24.95 / 336 pages / St. Martins-Minotaur) 84 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
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n the vein of Roddy Doyle’s recent story collection The Deportees, acclaimed author Gerard Donovan shines a literary light on new Ireland with his collection of stories, Young Irelanders. Though the title might seem to refer to Ireland’s 19thcentury liberation movement, Donovan is actually talking, literally, about today’s
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oing back just a bit further in time, Cora Harrison’s latest “mystery of Medieval Ireland” is called A Secret and Unlawful Killing. As in her previous work, My Lady Judge, Harrison recreates Ireland in the early 1500s, when female Brehon Judges played a central role in Irish life as well as the criminal justice system. Mara (Harrison’s main character) must untangle the disparate ties that have led to one murder as well as an apparent suicide.
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new Irish, be they immigrants or struggling adulterers. Donovan’s 13 stories add another intriguing layer to our understanding of the much-discussed post-Celtic Tiger Ireland of the 21st century. ($24.95 / 224 pages / Overlook)
Non-Fiction
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.J. English is best known for his gripping chronicle of the New York Irish gang the Westies, as well as his authoritative history of Irish organized crime, Paddy Whacked. English now turns his attention to Cuba with Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. English explores infamous mob figures such as Lucky Luciano, and their operations in the 1950s, when Cuba and its capital were one of the most desirable destinations for pleasure seekers. That was before a revolutionary named Fidel Castro whipped up a frenzy and not only changed the course of world history, but also left the Mafia quite angry. ($27.95 / 416 pages / Morrow)
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rank McCourt has written the Foreword to a new collection of essays (edited by Nell Casey) entitled An Uncertain Inheritance: Writers on Caring for Family. “There are two great themes in this book: suffering and heroism. You’ll be shocked by the honesty in these narratives, the mixed feelings we have when our parents – or family members in general –suddenly become so much of a burden that we have to change our lives,” writes McCourt Among the 19 authors who contributed to this at times touching, at times disturbing volume are New York Times writer Sam Lipsyte, Jerome Groopman and Andrew Solomon.
Cumaill to Bertie Ahern and Bono. Not only is this an informative read, but you have to be impressed by the author of a history book who admits in the very first pages that “I came to America at the age of 20 with no certificates to prove that I had ever been to school, far less learned anything there.” It is in this roguish spirit that McCourt actually does manage to teach readers many things about Ireland’s past. ($15.95 / 413 pages / Running Press)
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peaking of the Irish past, a provocative new book suggests that the horrific institution of slavery in America was not confined to African-Americans. In White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America, authors Don Jordan and Michael Walsh outline how the North American colonies were also populated by British, Scottish and, yes, Irish slaves, as well as indentured servants. ($18.85 / 320 pages / NYU Press)
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he Irish past also hovers over Writings for a Democratic Society: The Tom Hayden Reader. The longtime radical has collected many of his writings just in time for a presidential election. This volume touches on many of Hayden’s noted causes,
eanwhile, Frank McCourt’s brother Malachy has also kept himself busy. His latest book is called Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland. In it, McCourt puts his own spin on thousands of years of Irish history, from Fionn mac
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($21.95 / 591 pages / City Lights)
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oston’s towering Irish titans, from James Michael Curley to Ted Kennedy, have received plenty of attention. In Hidden History of the Boston Irish: Little Known Stories from Ireland’s Next Parish Over by Peter F. Stevens, lesser known Boston Irish men and women are given some of the attention they, too, deserve. These include Civil War nurse Sister Mary Anthony O’Connell, who earned the nickname the “Irish Florence Nightingale.” ($19.99 / 160 pages / History Press)
Religion and Spirituality
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n Christ of the Celts:The Healing of Creation, J. Philip Newell argues that in order to live healthy spiritual lives, we should reexamine our understanding of Jesus as well as Christian doctrine. Newell attempts to combine certain Christian beliefs with aspects affiliated with the Celts to come up with what he sees as a guide for those unsatisfied by existing religious ideas. This book may be a bit too New Age-y for some readers, and a bit harsh on Christian doctrine for others. Still, Newell creatively finds ways to reexamine and renew religious living.
($24.95 / 277 pages / Morrow)
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including the Vietnam War and injustice in Central America. We also get a retrospective of events at which Hayden often had a front row seat: the infamous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, his marriage to the similarly outspoken Jane Fonda (they eventually divorced), as well as Hayden’s years in the California State Senate. Hayden also remains passionate about his Irish roots. In the introductory essay, entitled “The Famine of Feeling,” Hayden explores the impact of his IrishAmerican background, as well as his travels to Northern Ireland. He later recalls icons such as Bobby Kennedy, calling the slain leader “a raw Celtic spirit.”
($19.95 / 160 pages / Jossey-Bass)
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somewhat more traditional, but no less reverent take on the powerful role of spirituality in daily life is To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue, which offers touching prayers for the most wonderful as well as most painful events we all must eventually confront. ($25. 95 / 222 pages / Doubleday)
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{roots} By Maeve Molloy
The Marvelous McDonaghs
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cDonagh is one of the rarer surnames of Ireland, but exists also as MacDonagh, MacDonough, Donogh, and Donagh. The modern forms of the name are derived from Mac Donnchadha, which originates from the first name Donnchadh, a compound of "donn" meaning brown, plus "cath," a battle. Often translated as "brown one," Donnchadh was a popular first name in ancient times. Given its popularity, the surname derived from it rose quickly through many regions of Ireland. These many sects of McDonaghs grew separately throughout the country, and thus there is not always a common thread between McDonagh clans. The ancient McDonaghs featured mainly in Counties Cork, Galway, and Irish literature and drama, as he was not other parts of Connacht. In Cork, the only a distinguished poet, but also a coMcDonaghs were a branch of the founder of the Irish theatre. His son, MacCarthy clan. They were known as Donagh MacDonagh (1912-68), was the "Lords of Duhallow" and built also a poet and dramatist, with three volKanturk Castle. Construction began on umes of poetry and the classic play Happy this semi-fortified castle in about 1610, as Larry. but was halted when the English governContinuing the McDonagh tradition in ment became jealous of the size and apparent strength of the structure and its owner. Never finished, the shell of the castle is known as "McDonagh's Folly." A McDonagh family also rose in Connacht. These McDonaghs, a branch of the MacDermotts, claim Donagh MacDermott as an ancestor and ruled in the barony of Tirreril in ancient times. Their power was spread throughout Counties Sligo and Roscommon. McDonagh or MacDonagh is, in most cases, a Connacht name and is today concentrated in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. A martyr for Irish independence, Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916) Playwright Martin McDonagh in NYC was a gifted poet and a lecturer in University College Dublin. He is most the arts is Maitland McDonagh, a noted remembered for his part in the 1916 uprisfilm critic and author of several books on ing, during which he became a signatory cinema. Born into an Irish-American of the Proclamation of Independence, and family, McDonagh was raised in New for which he was executed. His mark will York City. Her emigrant grandparents forever be left on Irish independence and were the proprietors of the Moylan 88 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
Tavern, which was reincarnated as the Moylan Tavern of Fox's The George Carlin Show. McDonagh teaches film at Brooklyn College and is author of Filmmaking on the Fringe and Movie Lust, the third in the Sasquatch book series, which includes Book Lust by Nancy Pearl. Rounding off the clan’s theatrical contribution is playwright and director Martin McDonagh. London-born to Irish parents, his most famous plays are The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He won an Oscar in 2006 for best live-action short film for Six Shooter, and directed his first full-length movie, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, this year. Upholding the McDonaghs’ sports tradition is Jenny McDonagh, who is a field hockey forward on the Belfast Harlequins team. She played for the Women's National team in 2001 against England, as well as the Olympic and World Cup qualifiers in 2004 and 2006 respectively. The McDonaghs also have fine pugilists in the family. Peter McDonagh is currently fighting at lightweight. During the 1980s Seamus McDonagh was a popular cruiserweight who fought Evander Holyfield in 1990. Since putting the gloves away, Seamus has gone on to become an actor, and recently played the lead role in Shamrock Kid during its run in New York. In the corporate world, CEO of HSBC NA and subject of this issue’s cover story, Brendan McDonagh, is blazing a trail in banking. The Dublin-born businessman heads the bank from its headquarters in Chicago. HSBC employs over 40,000 people in the United States. The McDonagh name is popular in Galway, home of “McDonagh’s of Ireland.” Established in 1902, the restaurant is still owned by the original McDonagh family, and has become known around the world as the restaurant to visit in Galway. Presented with the "Best Bag of Chips [Fries] Award" in 2007, this famous spot even made it into the most recent version of the video IA game "Grand Theft Auto."
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{sláinte} By Edythe Preet
Dancing at Lughnasa August may be a sleepy month in most places on the planet, but the opposite is true in Ireland, writes Edythe Preet.
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ning from his sword through Balor’s Evil Eye, destroying him and the whole Fomorian army. Like Star Wars, Celtic mythology centered on opposing forces – light and dark, good and evil, birth and death, planting and harvest. When the crops were mature, they were cut down, dying so that the people might survive. Lugh, who personified the conflict in opposing forces, has symbolized harvest throughout Celtic history. Before ‘early’ crops were developed, July was known as the Hungry Month. Food stores put away from the previous year were dwindling and rations were meager. But as summer drew to its close, the bounty of field and furrow was finally ready for
90 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL KALUTA
f all the months of the year, only August has no ‘official’ holiday. That’s poor marketing if you ask me. Holidays generate more ‘stimulus’ to the economic calendar than any paltry government ‘rebate’ could ever engender. Granted, there’s a flurry of back-to-school buys but academic purchasing doesn’t hit full momentum until September. To fill the void, I suggest adding another Irish celebration to the wildly successful duo of Halloween and St. Pat’s Day. That would be the year’s first harvest festival, Lughnasa. Doing so would rank the holiday marketers on a par with George Lucas who morphed the Sword-ofLight-wielding Celtic warrior Lugh Samildanach (The ManySkilled) into the light-saber-wielding Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker. Long, long ago in an Ireland not so far away, there lived the magical Tuatha De Danann and their enemies, the evil Fomorians. It had been predicted that the Fomor king, Balor of The Evil Eye, would be killed by his grandson. When his daughter gave birth to Lugh, who had been sired by a prince of Lugh the Dragon Slayer. Lugh, the Lightning-god, who is the champion of the human community, defeats the Tuatha De Danann, Balor the dragon powers of hostile nature, winning the right for humans to partake of the Earth’s bounty, and ordered the child’s death. But Lugh allowing the harvest to begin. was hidden away and raised by foster parents. harvest. In pre-Christian times this abundance was celebrated at Years later, as the Tuatha De Danann prepared for war with Lughnasa, the full moon between summer solstice and the the Fomorians, Lugh arrived and demanded a role in the fray on autumnal equinox, with market festivals, music, dancing, horse the grounds that he had mastered every known skill. The Tuatha races, and ‘handfastings’ – trial marriages that would last a year chieftain, Nuada of the Silver Hand, welcomed him and they set and a day with the option of making the union permanent or out to do battle. When Balor turned his Evil Eye on Nuada and ending the partnership amicably. slew him, Lugh fulfilled the prophecy by hurling a bolt of lightAs late summer is the time when wild blueberries appear, the
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(Note: This recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9x13-inch baking pan.) ⁄4 ⁄4 2 ⁄3 2
stick butter cup flour cup sugar tsp. baking powder pinch salt 3 ⁄4 cup milk 2 cups blueberries (frozen is ok) 1 ⁄2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) cinnamon nutmeg Preheat oven to 350 3 3
Melt butter in 8-inch square baking dish. Set aside. In a clean bowl, mix next five batter ingredients. Pour batter in dish. Sprinkle blueberries on top (add chopped walnuts if you like your cobbler crunchy). Dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Put the cobbler on the middle shelf of the oven and bake 35-40 minutes. –Recipe by Edythe Preet
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Sunday before Lughnasa – Bilberry Sunday – has long been the day for young folk to climb the countryside’s rolling hills and gather the fruit. After Christianity arrived in Ireland, grain from the first threshing was ground up and baked into special loaves of bread that were taken to church and blessed at a ‘hlafmaesse’ – an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘loaf-mass’ which over time shortened to Lammas. Once potatoes were introduced to Ireland, even the poorest folk could grow a subsistence crop in a tiny cottage garden and the ‘first fruits’ custom was transferred to the humble spud which conveniently produced a crop of tiny new potatoes just in time for the August harvest celebrations. George Lucas is not the only writer who has been inspired by the importance of Lugh in Irish folk tradition. On April 24, 1990, Dancing at Lughnasa premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Written by Brian Friel, the production is a memory play in which the central character, Michael Evans, recounts the events of August 1936 when he was a seven-year-old fatherless child staying with his mother and her four sisters at the family cottage in Donegal. In the shadow of the approaching harvest celebration honoring Lugh, the god of light and fire and music and dance, the women of the house share such strong bonds of love and courage in moments of joy as well as loss that the memory of them dancing and singing lives with Michael all his life. When Dancing at Lughnasa was produced on Broadway in 1992, it won the Tony award for best play. In 1998, the play was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep as the eldest sister. While only a few pre-Christian Celtic celebrations have withstood the passage of time, the Irish have made merry at the harvest festivals of Lughnasa and Lammas for thousands of years, perhaps because until only recently Ireland’s primary industry was agriculture. Today both festivities are wildly popular summer events in several places around the island. On the Dingle Peninsula, Feile na Lunusa is a celebration of surf and turf, combining the bounty of both land and sea. Ballyhugh, Co. Cavan marks Lughnasa with a full week of music concerts and ceilis, step and house dancing, and traditional craft workshops. The Ould Lammas Fair at Ballycastle, Co. Antrim is the biggest and longest-running harvest event. Dating from the seventeenth century when the McDonnells of Antrim distributed food to the needy, it is renowned for two local specialties: Dulse, an edible local red seaweed, and Yellow Man, a sugary confection that resembles honeycomb. While not specifically harvest festivals, several other of Ireland’s August happenings bear noting. At the quirky Puck Fair in Killorglin, Co. Kerry the townsfolk crown a goat ‘king’ to commemorate the day that a herd of goats ran amuck through the village warning the people of Cromwell’s advance on their region. The weeklong Galway Races draw horseracing fans from around the world to gape and wager on Ireland’s magnificent thoroughbreds. And last, but certainly not least, fine fillies of the human kind vie for top honors at the Rose of Tralee beauty pageant. August may be a sleepy time in most places on the planet, but the opposite is certainly true of Ireland. Someone should tell the Madison Avenue marketing mavens they missed IA this particular boat. Sláinte!
RECIPE Blueberry Cobbler
The Ould Lammas Fair by John Henry MacAuley At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle long ago I met a pretty colleen who set me heart a-glow. She was smiling at her daddy buying lambs from Paddy Roe At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O. Sure I seen her home that night When the moon was shining bright From the ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O. Chorus: At the Ould Lammas Fair, boys, were you ever there? Were you ever at the Fair In Ballycastle-O? Did you treat your Mary Ann to some Dulse and Yellow Man At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O? In Flanders fields afar while resting from the War We drank Bon Sante to the Flemish lassies O. But the scene that haunts my memory is kissing Mary Ann, Her pouting lips all sticky from eating Yellow Man As we passed the silver Margy and we strolled along the strand From the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O. (Repeat Chorus) There’s a neat little cabin on the slopes of fair Knocklayde. It’s lit by love and sunshine where the heather honey’s made With the bees ever humming, and the children’s joyous call Resounds across the valley as the shadows fall. Sure I take my fiddle down and my Mary smiling there Brings back a happy mem’ry of the Lammas Fair. (Repeat Chorus) Note: This well-known ballad was composed by John Henry “The Carver” MacAuley, a skilled bog-oak carver. Born on a farm in Glenshesk, he was expected to follow in the farming tradition but when he was a child, he met with an accident that left him crippled. MacAuley was a gifted and well-known fiddle player. AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008 IRISH AMERICA 91
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{crossword} By Darina Molloy
ACROSS 4. This Walter penned Seek the Fair Land (6) 7. The ____: New Conor McPherson play (8) 8. (& 25 across) House __ _____: Achill ’holy’ place now in question (2) 9. (& 21 down) Canadian poet/singer with three sell-out Dublin shows in May (7) 12. See 20 across (8) 14. Food grown without synthetic fertilizers (7) 16. Donegal seaside resort town (8) 17. The Sarah Jessica Parker character in Sex and the City (6) 20. (& 12 across) Boston College exhibition which ends in September (8) 21. (& 19 down) Former Irish leader whose long-term mistress died in June (7) 23. See 36 across (5) 25. See 8 across (6) 26. See 11 down (6) 27. (& 29 down) His best-known novel is Revolutionary Road (7) 30. See 23 down (5) 32. Kith and ___ (3) 34. Common action in, say, a bookstore (6) 36. (& 23 across) Laois-Offaly mountains (6) 38. (& 4 down) Princeton professor, poet and Pulitzer-winner (4) 39. The ____: Baltimore cop show (4) 40. This James designed the White House (5) 41. Ancient Irish language (4)
DOWN 1. Family name in Little Women (5) 2. Hymn-like anthem of 9 across (10) 3. Irish love (3) 4. See 38 across (7) 5. Neither ___ (3) 6. See 31 down (8) 10. (& 18 down) Irish writer who spoke publicly about her imminent death (5)
11. (& 26 across) This Ballymena actor can be heard in new Narnia film (4) 13. Kildare racecourse (7) 15. The sport at the center of Joseph O'Neill's new novel (7) 18. See 10 down (8) 19. See 21 across (7) 21. See 9 across (5) 22. (& 24 down) Irish voters rejected this EU draft (6) 23. (& 30 across) Democratic presidential candidate (6) 24. See 22 down (6) 28. Small Clare fishing village (6) 29. See 27 across (5) 31. (& 6 down) New First Minister of Northern Assembly (5)
33. Word denoting a person, thing, place, etc. (4) 34. Favorite tipple of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (4) 35. Nintendo game console (3) 37. First lady (3)
June / July Solution
Win a subscription to Irish America magazine Please send your completed crossword puzzle to Irish America, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10001, to arrive no later than August 15, 2008. A winner will be drawn from among all correct entries. If there are no correct solutions, the prize will be awarded for the completed puzzle which comes closet in the opinion of our staff. Winner’s name will be published along with the solution in our next issue. Xerox copies are acceptable. Winner of the June / July Crossword: Catherine Winger, Scranton Pennsylvania 92 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
Correction: There was an error in answer 31 (as shown above) of our June/July Crossword. We would like to thank the readers who brought this to our attention.
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A New Kind of Leader For a New Kind of Ireland Brian Cowen recently took over from Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach of Ireland. Publisher Niall O’Dowd, who was one of the first Irish-Americans to meet with him, writes about his first impressions of the new leader of the Fianna Fail party.
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ride of place on the wall of new ception to one side. Coming to America Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian soon into his term is a very smart move Cowen’s office is a portrait of Sean and signals his priorities. Lemass, the father of modern Ireland. Helping the Irish undocumented in the When Lemass came to power in 1959 U.S. is another area Cowen intends to Ireland was at a low ebb. Over the next focus on. He wishes to meet with the seven years he revolutionized the country, Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and putting in place the industrialization stratsome undocumented persons when he is egy and free education scheme that transhere. He is not talking in the abstract, formed the landscape and gave us modern either – he has relatives who are undocuIreland. Cowen, 48, clearly sees himself in the same mould as a reformer and innovator. Given the evidence of a recent hourlong conversation with him, I have little doubt he will succeed or die trying. Cowen is refreshingly direct about his ambitions. He well suits the unapologetic, upwardly striving country he now runs. Don’t expect blarney or blather from Cowen. He lets people know where he stands and rarely embellishes. What you see is what you get. It is a direct style that will go down well in America. He comes to power at a pivotal moment. The Celtic Tiger is flagging, peace reigns in Ireland’s new prime minister, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Irish publisher Niall O’Dowd. the North, and a new vista and vision is needed for Ireland as the mented. world turns elsewhere. Cowen believes Coming from a rural constituency in he can provide it. Offaly, Cowen has an instinctive feel for America looms large in that vision. One an issue that affects thousands of families of his first trips abroad will be to New in Ireland. Indeed, Cowen understands York in July for Irish America’s Wall this country in a way his predecessors Street 50 . never did. As a student, he worked here As the Celtic Tiger light dims, Cowen on construction sites. He played football knows that efforts are afoot among foreign in Gaelic Park in the Bronx, and he has development agencies to portray Ireland close relatives living in New York. as busted flush whose best days are He knows there is no greater crisis facbehind. He is intent on setting that pering an Irish community abroad than what 94 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008
is happening in America since 9/11 and the immigrant crackdown. It is an instinctive reaction on his part. You get the sense that Cowen would be as comfortable sipping a beer in the corner of O’Donnell’s bar in Gaelic Park as presiding at a major European Union summit. It’s a rare ability to be able to fuse the two talents. He knows that Ireland and America need a new paradigm, a new way of dealing with the reality of the relationship. It makes no sense that legal immigration from Ireland is virtually no longer possible, or that Americans cannot work legally in Ireland. He understands the danger if the two countries no longer have access to each other. Expect a major effort on his behalf to remedy that. He arrives in power with great expectations. Cowen, a country lawyer from Offaly before he took up politics, has excelled in a series of ministries, so much so that the race to succeed Bertie Ahern was a walkover. Along the way he developed a reputation as a private wit and raconteur, but also a man who can handle the most difficult briefs and fight his corner with aplomb. He is the grassroots taoiseach, a man beloved by the rank and file of his own party who provided him with America the overwhelming support he needed to succeed Ahern. Interesting that in the offices of the last two Irish leaders, Ahern and John Bruton, historical figures took pride of place – Patrick Pearse, the 1916 leader for Ahern, and John Redmond, the leader of constitutional nationalism at the beginning of the last century for Bruton. By giving Lemass a pride of place Cowen is making his own statement too. It is one about the future and the need to be innovative and groundbreaking. Cowen promises to be all that and then some. IA
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Peacemaking in Northern Ireland as a Model for Conflict Resolution Worldwide Northern Ireland; yet in the middle of all this bloodshed and mayhem, contact was initiated which much later on came to fruition. Similar issues arise in Afghanistan, although the complexities of war lords state and Israel’s need for security. attached to the Taliban more for tactical Addressing Palestinian grievances – reasons on the one hand, and the presence from security to jobs and housing – as we of Al Qaeda leaders on the other, make the did in Northern Ireland, can create more whole process especially hazardous and fertile ground for a political process to complex. complement engagement. In Sri Lanka, attempts a few years ago to However, Al Qaeda terrorism is funda- broker a solution saw progress, then mentally different. It is not rooted in polit- impasse and violence again. But the only ical objectives capable of negotiation, but answer is to negotiate a viable form of rather in a reactionary totalitarian ideology devolution to reconcile bitterly competing that is completely opposed to democracy, Singhalese and Tamil interests. Just as both freedom and human rights. Negotiation the British and the IRA came to understand, there cannot be a military solution there for either side. Similarly in the Basque region of Spain, either side may have temporary armed advances, but the solution has in the end to be political, and the mechanism negotiation. In Kashmir, supporting efforts to take forward negotiations between Delhi and Islamabad is the imperative. Here also, a seemingly irreconcilable constitutional conflict could be addressed with ingenuity. The extent of cross border structures (and the planned devolution Niall Burgess,Consul General of Ireland, Peter Hain, of policing and justice) was crucial MP for Neath, former Secretary of State for Northern to Republicans agreeing to share Ireland, and Bill Flynn. power in what remains still a with Al Qaeda and its foreign Jihadists is devolved part of the British state they distherefore politically and morally out of the own. If India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris question. themselves can agree to an entity with soft Yet offering individuals attracted to AQ borders and greater autonomy for a non-violent, political avenue to address Kashmiris on both sides of the line of contheir concerns and frustrations could con- trol, then maybe progress could be made ceivably help produce change in years to whilst preserving the interests and longercome. Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable, term objectives of each. Hugh Orde, only last week told The The West urgently needs to match our Guardian that discussions with Al Qaeda commitment to global security with a “wouldn’t be unthinkable, the question commitment to global justice and global will be one of timing.” conflict resolution. The Northern Ireland With the IRA’s bloody armed campaign experience, horrendous as it was, points to raging over 30 years ago, nobody in the a re-balancing of foreign policy to overBritish Government could stomach talk- come horror with hope. IA ing with Republican leaders except in surPeter Hain is MP for Neath and former Secretary of render terms since they were regarded as State for Northern Ireland. His full lecture is availcompletely beyond the pale after terrorist able on www.irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu attacks on Britain, let alone within
When he was secretary for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain helped broker the historic power-sharing agreement between Unionists and Republicans at Stormont.The following is an abridged version of a lecture he gave at Glucksman Ireland House-New York University on June 5, 2008. bserving Northern Ireland today, it’s hard to recognize what was just a decade or so ago the theatre for such horror and barbarity, hate and bigotry. For fourteen months now, old enemies have worked together – and even smiled at each other – when they had never exchanged a courtesy before. Last year’s historic agreement has so far stuck, and I believe will stick through ups and downs, precisely because it was brokered between the two most politically polarized positions held by Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party and Gerry Adams’ Sinn Féin. But what are the lessons for international policy in other areas still locked in similarly bitter conflict, violence and terrorism? First, a need to create space and time, free from violence, in which political capacity can develop; second, identifying key individuals and constructive forces; third, the importance of inclusive dialogue at every level, wherever there is a negotiable objective; fourth, the taking of risks to sustain political progress including by talking with enemies; fifth, the need to align national and international forces; sixth, avoiding or resolving preconditions to dialogue; seventh, gripping and micro-managing conflict resolution at a high political level, refusing to accept the inevitability of it – and doing so, not intermittently but continuously, whatever breakdowns, crises and hostilities get in the way. In the Middle East, the conflict has not been gripped at a sufficiently high level, over a sufficiently sustained period. Efforts and initiatives have come and gone, and violence has returned to fill the vacuum. International forces have not been aligned. Preconditions have been, and now are, a crippling bulwark against dialogue. However, despite the depth and intensity of bitterness and hatred between Hamas and Israel, neither can militarily defeat the other; they will each have to be a party to a negotiated solution which satisfies Palestinian aspirations for a viable
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{photo album} Family Pictures
Four Generations
1909: Four generations: Joseph Michael Dooley, Julia Carolan Daily, baby Frances Rella Dooley and Catherine A. Dooley.
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he above photo, taken in 1909, shows four generations of my family. Top center is my great-great-grandmother, Julia Carolan Daily. On the right is Julia’s daughter, my great-grandmother, Catherine A. Dooley. Left is Joseph Michael Dooley, my grandfather. Center is the first child of Joseph, my aunt, Frances Rella Dooley. Julia Carolan was born in Nobber, County Meath, on October 8, 1835. When she was 15, she came to the United States in 1850 with her father, Thomas, surviving a crossing of fourteen weeks. Julia married a Galway man, Michael J. Daily on October 29, 1859 in Canton, Illinois. He died on April 5, 1878, leaving her with four children to raise. She never remarried. Julia died on January 8, 1912 at the age of 76. Catherine A. Daily was born on September 3, 1862 in Canton. On June 25, 1884 she married my great-
grandfather, John Michael Dooley, who had roots in County Laois. Their marriage produced four children. Catherine died on January 5, 1938, at the age of 75. Joseph M. Dooley was born on October 22, 1885. He married Laura Jane Bronson in Canton on April 24, 1907. They had three children, Frances Rella, Laura Josephine, and my father, Joseph Bronson Dooley. He died on January 6, 1947 in Davenport, Iowa at age 61. Frances was born on May 16, 1909. She married William T. Caffery in 1928 in Davenport, and had three sons. She died on September 9, 1990 at the age of 81. Our family now spans the United States, and we are forever grateful to Julia Carolan Daily for her courage and fortitude in crossing over. Submitted by John M. Dooley, Davenport, Iowa
Please send photographs along with your name, address, phone number, and a brief description, to Declan O’Kelly at Irish America, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10001. If photos are irreplaceable, then please send a good quality reproduction or e-mail the picture at 300 dpi resolution to Irishamag@aol.com. No photocopies, please. We will pay $65 for each submission that we select. 98 IRISH AMERICA AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008