Irish America February / March 2017 by Irish America Magazine

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COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

IRELAND’S CENTENARY

How the 1916 Easter Rising was remembered in Ireland and around the world, and the Irish government’s ambitious legacy program that puts culture and creativity at the center of its public policy

PLUS ANALYSIS OF THE RISING’S IMPACT RARE PHOTOS FROM THE WAR YEARS THAT FOLLOWED

CANADA $4.95 / U.S. $3.95

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contents | february / march 2017

Features

30 1916–2016: Reflections

Ambassador Anne Anderson writes on the Rising’s relevance for modern Europe.

34 An American Perspective

HIGHLIGHTS

40 The Irish Diaspora Centenary

U.S.S. Mason Returns to N.I.

54 The Face of the Centenary

Irish Eye on Hollywood

Cliff Carlson traveled to Dublin to witness the Rising commemorations first-hand.

1916 Easter Rising commemorations throughout the global Irish diaspora, from North America to New Zealand and more. Capt. Peter Kelleher, who read the 1916 Proclamation in Dublin on Easter Sunday, is the most recognizeable image from Ireland’s centenary events. By Adam Farley

A historic celebration for the crew of the U.S.S. Mason. p. 16

Pierce Brosnan, Ruth Negga, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan, and more. p. 18

56 Ireland Remembers 1916

In Dublin and beyond the Pale, Ireland went big when commemorating the events of Easter week 1916.

66 After the Rising

How the tumultuous years after 1916 led to the creation of a free state. By Tom Deignan

Wearing Irish

How Margaret Molloy promotes Irish fashion with a hashtag. p. 23

Looking Forward

72 Ireland at War

Photos from the Sean Sexton Collection document Ireland’s fight for freedom. The legacy of Irish nationalism in the Tipperary G.A.A. By David Lewis

Scholar James Flannery on the poetic legacy of the Easter Rising. p. 90

80 A Fearless Woman

Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell played a crucial role during the Rising, but was then written out of history. By Rosemary Rogers

The unexpected outcome of the Fenian’s Canadian raids. By John Kernaghan

88 The Tenacity of Hope

A new documentary recounts the Project Children story. By Sarah Buscher

94 Sláinte! The Little Clover

How did the shamrock really become Ireland’s national symbol? By Edythe Preet

p. 24

Reflections: 1916

76 Hurling & Nationalism

84 The Fenians & Canada

Upcoming festivals in Ireland and America.

DEPARTMENTS 6 10 12 26 87 92

First Word Readers Forum Hibernia Those We Lost Music Books

96 Last Word: The Way Forward

Ireland launches a new initiative aimed at celebrating the country’s creativity. By Sharon Ní Chonchúir

4 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Cover Photo: Maxwells

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the first word | by Patricia Harty

How Looking Back Has Helped us Face Forward

s you will see when you turn the pages, we couldn’t stop with the photographs in this commemorative issue. From North America to Argentina, Australia to Ireland, and places in between, we bring you pictures of school children and senior citizens, native Irish and the descendants of Irish immigrants in far off lands, paying tribute to the men and women who fought so bravely in Ireland’s bid for freedom in 1916. From the big parade in Dublin, which drew a crowd of over 250,000, to smaller events in rural Ireland, to New York and Boston, to Buenos Aires and Auckland, the spirit of the centenary was captured in photographs that, while great to look at now, in years to come, will serve as an important visual dimension to our history. Since its invention, photography has provided a window into the past, and alongside all the documentation of modern history in the making in this issue, we also bring you some rare photographs from the Sean Sexton collection that cover the period after the Rising, when the Irish were battling it out with British forces during the War of Independence. Irish history doesn’t just linger in the eye, it burns in the heart. The stories my father told me of the Black and Tans (British Army irregulars known for their brutality) gave me nightmares as child, and some vestige of that anxiety resurrected itself as I looked through Sexton’s images while making my selections for this issue. I turn away from the war photos only to become fixated on images of evictions dating to the 1880s, when struggling Irish tenant farmers, still recovering from the famine and unable to pay their rent, had their houses leveled and their few remaining possessions sold off. These are the toughest images for me to view. Harrowing, in fact. I have an unreasonable fear of being homeless that is not rooted in reality. I think it’s inherited – part of my DNA. There were more evictions in my home country of Tipperary in 1847 than in any other county in Ireland. Photographs are evidence that terrible things happened, but they are also serve as a reference point. We know that no matter how bad things were, we as a people could not be kept down. Like a boxer with more heart than skill, we kept fighting, kept getting up after every knock-down, and, as Pete Hamill, that wonderful chronicler of our race, is given to say, “we won all the late rounds.” Well, not entirely. As we mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, we are careful to use the word “commemorate,” not “celebrate.” The country that was whole during all the years of British occupation is now split in two. Not that I blame those who signed the Treaty. The rebels couldn’t hold out against the might of the British forces forever. It was partition or it was or nothing. The hope of Michael Collins, that a free 26-counties would be the first step in a process that would eventually lead to an independent Ireland free of British rule, was not to be. The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty led to a civil war so horrific that it was barely mentioned when I was growing up. I still can’t bear to 6 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

read about it, let alone see photographs. And at the end of it, the North stayed partitioned and the 26-counties, war-weary and heart-sore, turned away and set about re-making themselves. The Troubles that plagued Northern Ireland throughout most of its existence exploded into massive violence in the 1970s with terrible consequences for all, especially the children. We are reminded of this by Sarah Buscher, writing in this issue on the documentary How to Diffuse a Bomb, the story of Project Children. Here we find a hero that the leaders of 1916 would be proud to know. Denis Mulcahy, a bomb squad detective with the New York Police Department, founded Project Children in 1975, and over the next 40 years, with the assistance of many kind and generous American families, he changed the lives of thousands of children from Northern Ireland by giving them a respite from the violence and a chance to just be kids for a while. With the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Irish America took a step back from the North, and, in the minds of many now, all is well. That may be so on the surface, but in these times, when there is much talk of building walls, we should remember that there are more “Peace Walls” separating neighborhoods in Belfast today than ever existed during the Troubles. And there’s a more pressing worry: the immediate concern over the impact of Brexit. The possibility of reinstating a hard border between the North and the Republic is real, and could have dire consequences on both sides of the line. Colum Eastwood, the leader of the S.D.L.P. described Brexit as “the most dangerous thing for Northern Ireland since partition.” But here now, to offer some reassurance, let me introduce Anne Anderson, Ireland’s ambassador to the United States. Anderson believes we are more than capable of meeting the challenges to come. In a recent lecture (adapted for this issue), she said, “History has its coincidences: it has not escaped us that, just at the time we were commemorating the events of 1916 – the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland – we found ourselves facing another radical adjustment in British-Irish relations: for the first time ever, one of us will be inside the European Union and the other outside. “There is no minimizing the Brexit challenge that lies ahead, which will test us in very many ways. But I believe that all of our centenary experience – this process we have lived through of remembering, reflecting, and re-imagining – will have helped to fortify us to meet that challenge. We certainly do not have all the answers, but we are better grounded, with a surer sense of who we are, as we seek those answers. And so, in that very real sense, the centenary commemorations will have achieved one of their key objectives: looking back has also helped us to face forward.” Mórtas Cine

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contributors | Sarah Buscher,

who writes about Project Children for this issue, is an educator living in Washington, D.C. with her husband and four children. Previously, she worked as assistant editor for Irish America. She holds master’s degrees in Irish studies and elementary education.

Cliff Carlson was born in Chicago and

grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood. In his youth, he worked in the grocery business, and became a store manager for Safeway at the age of 26. A typing class he took in high school led to his involvement in the publishing business. In 1983 he founded Food Industry News, a trade publication in Chicago. He bought Irish American News in 1991, and established IANOhio in 2007 with copublisher, John O’Brien, Jr. Cliff and his wife Cathy created iBAM! Chicago in 2009. iBAM! presents the best in Irish culture and heritage at the Irish American Heritage Center yearly.

Adam Farley, Irish America’s deputy

editor, holds a Master of Arts in Irish and Irish American Studies from NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House, where he specialized in modern and contemporary Irish poetry, and a bachelor’s in creative writing from the University of Washington. He lives in Brooklyn.

Vol.32 No.2 • February/March 2017

IRISH AMERICA Tom Deignan writes

columns about movies and history for Irish America, and is a weekly columnist for The Irish Voice and regular columnist and book reviewer for the Newark Star-Ledger. In this issue he contributes a piece about the aftermath of the Easter Rising in 1916.

Sharon Ní Chonchúir lives and works

in West Kerry, and much of her writing is concerned with the changing face of modern Irish culture. She writes about the Irish government’s Creative Ireland initiative in this issue.

Dave Lewis, who

writes about hurling and nationalism in Tipperary in this issue, is from Rahway, New Jersey and is a graduate of Kean University’s honors history program, where he also established the Kean Hurling Club. He currently is the operations coordinator at Turlough McConnell Communications.

Rosemary Rogers co-authored, with

Sean Kelly, the best-selling humor/reference book, Saints Preserve Us! (Random House), currently in its 18th international printing. The duo collaborated on four other books for Random House and calendars for Barnes & Noble. Rogers co-wrote two info/entertainment books for St. Martin’s Press. She is currently co-writing a book on empires for City Light Publishing. In this issue, she writes on Elizabeth O’Farrell who played an important part in Easter 1916.

Kristin Cotter McGowan, who writes about Irish music for the

magazine, is a former Irish America intern and current freelance writer living in Glen Rock, NJ, with her husband and three young daughters. 8 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Mórtas Cine

Pride In Our Heritage

Founding Publisher: Niall O’Dowd Co-Founder/ Editor-in-Chief: Patricia Harty Vice President of Marketing: Kate Overbeck Deputy Editor: Adam Farley Art Director: Marian Fairweather Advertising & Editorial Assistant: Áine Mc Manamon Copy Editor: Olivia O’Mahony Financial Controller: Kevin M. Mangan Editorial Assistant: Dave Lewis

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Irish America Magazine ISSN 0884-4240) © by Irish America Inc. Published bi-monthly. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1277, Bellmawr, NJ 08099-5277. Editorial office: 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001. Telephone: 212-7252993. Fax: 212-244-3344 E-mail: submit@irishamerica.com. Subscription rate is $21.95 for one year. Subscription orders: 1-800-582-6642. Subscription queries:1-800-582-6642, (212) 725-2993, ext. 217. 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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letters | readers forum Church of Scientology in Dublin

Just what Ireland needs, another church. Hateful people, too, as far as I know. Crazies and oppressors. Should fit right in. In beloved Merrion Square, too. What would Joyce make of them?

Peadar Howard, submitted online

Dinner and the Dead

A great article, Neil! It reminds me of the lyrics of another Irish man, Bono of U2: “Everyone’s a star in our town / It’s just your light gets dimmer if you have to stay.”

John Saunders: The Image Maker

Congrats to cousin John. He is a pure gentleman, comes from good stock, and Mary, his mam, completely adores him. It takes hard work, integrity, and a knowing to achieve all John is. He is so good and a very authentic soul on the Planet. Well-done, John.

Eilish Mc Keown, submitted online

Dead Shot Mary

Nice article, though I have one correction. My father wrote the retirement story for the Times. My cousin Mary did indeed retire to a log cabin on Long Island. It was a modernized, year-round cabin with electricity and plumbing, but designed to look like a log cabin in a very wooded area. Our family visited her at the house when I was a child in the late ’50s or early ’60s. There was a life-size statue of a vintage policeman in front of the house by the road. I really loved it. He was wearing the old-fashion police helmet with Mary’s number on his badge. Mary told us exciting stories about her many police exploits. She impressed me as a very tough cop – not someone you would want to mess with. My father wrote for the New York Times (John P. Shanley, theater critic/television and radio editor) and I was aware that he wrote the article about Mary’s retirement. Mary was never married. The reference to Mrs. Shanley was a common practice in those days when referring to a single woman in deference to her privacy. I’m thrilled that Mary has recently been the subject of both a documentary and off-Broadway show. A new generation is learning about a real New York police legend. I’m a very proud cousin.

Robert Shanley, New York, NY

Ireland’s Ancient South East

Love your article, delighted you enjoyed your visit to our wonderful city. Great images too. Love the aerial one of our jewel in the crown, the castle.

As a forced exile from my home and family in Ireland, the tenalach of Australia will never be the same. You have to lose to realize what you have lost. When you leave your home, that home shines in a different way, a more lensed and focused way. There’s no place like home.

Con O’Donovan, submitted online

10 IRISH AMERICA

Maura Kickey, Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny

Visit us online at Irishamerica.com to leave your comments, or write to us:

Send a fax (212-2443344), e-mail (submit @irishamerica.com) or write to Letters, Irish America Magazine, 875 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 201, New York, NY 10001. Letters should include the writer’s name, address and phone number and may be edited for clarity and length.

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hibernia | news Record Number of Irish Passports Issued in 2016

record number of Irish passports were issued in 2016, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs announced in January. In total, 733,060 passports were issued last year, a nine percent increase from 2015. Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, TD, attributed the rise to “a variety of factors including the fact that more Irish people traveled in the first half of the year; we also had the Euros Championships and a historical spike in applications from 2006 feeding through in the 10-year renewal cycle.” Brexit, he said, was also a factor. “Following the U.K. referendum on E.U. membership in June, passport applications from Northern Ireland saw an increase of 26.5 percent over 2015 to 67,972 while application levels from Great Britain increased by 40.6 percent to 64,996. “The fact that passport renewal turnaround targets were largely met during the year despite the considerable demand pressure is I believe a great tribute to the professionalism and dedication of Passport Service staff.” The Irish Consulate in New York had the highest demand for passports, issuing 7,205 in 2016. This was closely followed by Canberra, San Francisco and Sydney. In January, too, Minister Flanagan announced a number of major passport initiatives meant to modernize the passport service, including an enhanced on-line application tracking service, which allows passport applicants to accurately track progress of their application in a visually dynamic way with a progress bar animation as well as a web-chat social media service to facilitate “real time” communication between the Passport Service and passport applicants. – A.F. 12 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

McGuinness Passes Torch to Michelle O’Neill

ormer Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness announced in January that he would not be running for re-election due to an earlier diagnosis with a rare medical condition. Taking on the role as lead representative of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland is Michelle O’Neill, the outgoing Northern Irish minister for health and niece of prominent Northern Aid official Paul Doris, who acted as Grand Marshal of the 2016 St. Patrick’s Day parade in Philadelphia. “I have to be honest with myself,” McGuinness said at a press conference. “This has taken a toll on me in the course of recent times, and the reality is that I’m not physically able to put the energy and the effort that is needed into this election. “After long and careful consideration, I have decided that it is time for a new generation of republicans to lead us into this election and the negotiations that will follow.” McGuinness’s resignation process began with a dispute with Northern First Minister Arlene Foster. Foster had refused to stand aside in face of an inquiry concerning a massive cost overrun on a project to replace fossil fuel usage with wood burning fuels, resulting in a potential $450 million fallout to be paid by the Northern Irish taxpayer. Weeks later, McGuinness declared that due to being diagnosed with an uncommon genetic disease known as amyloidosis, which

causes the abnormal buildup of protein in the body’s organs, he would be putting aside an attempt to run for re-election in order to concentrate on his health. “As a united all-Ireland team, we will give [O’Neill] the space and support to find her own voice and continue the good work Martin pioneered,” said Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams when announcing her appointment. He also asserted that she would guide the party into the next generation. O’Neill’s new position of First Minister or Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland will be decided by the general public when Northern Ireland goes to polls on March 2, heavily dependent on how Sinn Féin fares in the vote. The Tyrone native first became involved with the party in 1998 as a trained welfare advisor, working directly with Martin McGuinness after the Good Friday Agreement was signed. She has represented mid-Ulster in the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2007, and is the first leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland to be devoid of direct Irish Republican Army involvement, though her father (Sinn Féin councillor Brendan “Basil” Doris) was a formerly taken prisoner by the group. “I have never been afraid of a challenge and I have never been afraid to act,” said O’Neill, adding that the appointment was a “huge honor, a really, really big privilege for [her]” and that she was “following in the footsteps of a political giant.” – O.O.

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Sligo Named European Volunteering Capital 2017

n January, Sligo was announced as the European Volunteering Capital for 2017, beating out other European cities like Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Bruges, and Cagliari. A joint application was submitted from Sligo County Council and Sligo Volunteer Centre, according to volunteersligo.ie. The jury commended Sligo on having “well thought out and properly resourced volunteering strategies” which can have “a transformative effect on local communities.” They also referred to the fact that Sligo Volunteer Centre celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year. Charlie Flanagan, TD, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in a statement, “In Ireland we have a rich history of helping each other out in the spirit of neighborliness and community. As a largely rural people for most of our history, there has always been a great tradition of helping neighbors - to save the hay, to deliver the calves and the lambs, to cut the silage. In Ireland there is even a specific word for a community-based enterprise, and embodiment of the public spirit: meítheal.” The competition aims to promote volunteering at the local level by giving recognition to municipalities that support and strengthen partnerships with volunteer centers and volunteerinvolving organizations, celebrate and Left to Right: Joao Afonso, Deputy Mayor of Lisbon; Independent MEP Marian Harkin; Delores McDonagh, Sligo promote volunteering and the impact County Council; and Ciara Herity, Sligo Volunteer Centre. made by volunteers. – A.F.

Donegal Crowned World’s Coolest Destination

o. Donegal claimed the number one spot on National Geographic Traveller’s annual “Cool List” of recommendations for those who love travelling the world. The isolated western county ranked above locations in Greenland, Sudan and Seoul among other “culture capitals, hipster hotspots [and] wild escapes” and was praised for its “undiscovered” aura by the magazine. “There’s an array of reasons to visit,” the official statement explained, “from surfing beaches in Magheraroarty and Ballyhiernan Bay to Horn Head – a driving, walking and cycling loop that squeezes the 1,600 mile Wild Atlantic Way into a 4.5-mile nutshell.” “We considered many destinations for our Cool List 2017, but we felt Donegal was in a real sweet spot,” National Geographic Traveller editor Pat Riddell told the Irish Times. “On one hand, you

have big pushes like the Wild Atlantic Way and the recent visit of Star Wars; on the other, you only have to drive a few miles to have a beach or a road completely to yourself. It’s a warmhearted place, but wilderness always feels just a stone’s throw away. And it is wilderness… world-class wilderness. We think it’s due a big year.” The announcement was received with great pride by Failte Ireland, with spokesperson Orla Carroll commenting, “One of our key objectives for 2017 will be to boost visitor growth in the north west stretch of the coastal route. We know Donegal is cool and now we’re delighted that the rest of the world is hearing the same.” – O.O.

Cliffs of Moher Experience Breaks Visitor Record

he 10 year anniversary of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience was celebrated with a tourism networking afternoon at the Experience’s headquarters in Liscannor, Co. Clare in February. The event also marked 2016 as a record-breaking year for the Experience, with 1,427,166 people visiting the center to take in the beauty of one of Ireland’s most prominent natural wonders. This figure represents a 14 percent increase in visitors from the previous year. Owned by the Clare County Council, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience has undergone substantial investment in product and facilities in recent years, while the launch of the 7.5-mile Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk and the visitor attractions’ status as a “Signature Point” along the 1,553-mile Wild Atlantic Way has contributed to its growing popularity. Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience Katherine Webster commented that new record reveals the “huge popularity” of the site, acknowledging the attraction as one of the primary reasons tourists have made the journey to Ireland in recent years. “Dealing with this number of visitors is not without its challenges,” Webster noted, however. “Our facilities at times struggled to cope with the numbers during peak season.” “We have [...] been targeting our marketing to Fully Independent Travellers for some time to advise them to visit later in the day and avoid the peak time crowds,” added Webster. “This has the added benefit to the visitor of a chance to see the Cliffs in the light of the setting sun which is truly spectacular. It also favors those visitors who stay locally. We will continue with these initiatives and others into 2017.” – O.O. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 13

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hibernia | news Conor McGregor Cracks Forbes’ 30 Under 30

eigning Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor has made the prestigious 2016 Forbes magazine list of 30 Under 30 European entertainment stars. McGregor, who hails from Crumlin in Co. Dublin and also boasts a previous seven years spent as the Featherweight Champion, was lauded by the magazine for his versatility and being “best known for his aggressive fighting style.” “Impressive as McGregor’s [2016] feats were inside the Octagon, McGregor’s ability to entertain outside of it might have been even better,” said Forbes writer Matt Connelly. “He stole the show at every press conference he took part in, fueled endless buzz involving [his prospective future opponent] Floyd Mayweather and the WWE, and even got the last laugh going up against the sport’s notoriously corrupt commission.” Irish people made up one third of this year’s the 30 Under 30 list in total, with figures such as transgender rights activist Sam Blanckensee, Foodcloud co-founder Iseult Ward, and McLaren Automotive designer Patrick Carton among the ten. They join Web Summit co-founder Daire Hickey and actress Saoirse Ronan. – O.O.

Irish Surgeon Discovers New Organ

istoric medical discourses all over the world are set to be rewritten now that Irish surgeon J. Calvin Coffey has discovered a new abdominal organ called the mesentery, a finding which could lead to breakthrough improvements in digestive surgery and recovery. Coffey, who serves as a professor of surgery at the University of Limerick’s Graduate Medical School, revealed that the mesentery, formerly believed to be a collection of separate digestive parts, is actually a complete structure that connects the intestine to the abdomen. He published his findings in the November issue of medical journal The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology. “During the initial research, we noticed in particular that the mesentery, which connects the gut to the body, was one contiguous organ,” Coffey told USA Today. “Up to that,

2016 Presidential Distinguished Service Awards

he Presidential Distinguished Service Awards were celebrated in January, honoring exceptional members of the Irish diaspora. President Michael D. Higgins (first row, center) presented the awards to many figures of note, including four Americans: Dr. Garret FitzGerald (back row, far right), who served as Irish America’s inaugural keynote speaker for the Healthcare and Life Sciences 50 award ceremony; Shamrock Foods owner Norman McClelland (back row, third from right) for charity work; and co-chair of the New York City St. Pat’s for All parade Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy and LGBT group Lavender and Green Alliance co-founder Brendan Fay for community support (back row, second and third from left). “This year’s Presidential Distinguished Service Award recipients signify the breadth and richness of our diaspora,” Minister for Diaspora and International Development Joe McHugh said. “They include those working with the most marginalized and vulnerable, those who become the voice for those who have none.” – O.O.

$12.7m Sets Irish Whiskey Production to Soar

roduction of Irish whiskey is to skyrocket by 33 percent due to a $12.7 million investment made by Irish Distillers for the purchase of three additional stills for the Midleton, Co. Cork distillery. The company, which is responsible for the production of household Irish whiskey brand names such as Jameson, Powers, and Redbreast, is seeking to expand upon its already-significant growth 14 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

it was regarded as fragmented – present here, absent elsewhere, and a very complex structure. The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect.” The earliest recorded depiction of the mesentery has been sourced to Leonardo DaVinci, who portrayed it (correctly) as contiguous. This understanding was later usurped by the work of English surgeon Frederick Treves in 1885, whose description of the mesentery as disconnected was, until now, taken for medical gospel. Although the specific digestive function of the mesentery has yet to be determined, the University of Limerick has planned extensive research on this newly-reclassified organ that is expected result in fewer invasive surgeries, lower procedural fees, and shorter patient recovery times. – O.O.

from 2016 with the trio of handmade copper steel tanks, which were transported from Forsyth’s in Scotland to Horgan’s Quay, Cork, on the morning of January 19 and installed in time for February 1. “The new plant has settled and is meeting all of its sustainability targets,” distilling operations head Tommy Keane told the Irish Echo. “It was a good time for investment and we are seeing the results of

it now.” “What we’ve witnessed over the past few years is truly a renaissance in the industry,” added head of the Irish Whiskey Association Miriam Mooney. Irish Distillers now employ over 200 people at their Cork distillery and, with sights set to doubling all sales by 2020, hope to increase the number of available positions accordingly. – O.O.

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hibernia | military

U.S.S. Mason Makes Historic Trip to Northern Ireland Last year, the U.S.S. Mason arrived in Derry, honoring the crew of the ship’s World War II namesake, which made port in Northern Ireland in 1944. By Mary Pat Kelly

U.S.S. Mason sailors share a pint in Derry following the wreathlaying ceremony.

tanding shoulder-to-shoulder, squared up in their dress blues, shoes and buttons shining, the officers and crew of the U.S.S. Mason (DDG-87), 250 strong, faced the Celtic Cross Memorial in front of Beech Hill House Hotel, Derry that had been erected by a group of local people. Headed by Nobel Peace Laureate John Hume, hotel owner Patsy O’Kane, and manager Conor Donnelly, they had established an association 20 years before to honor the thousands of U.S. sailors and marines who made this city their home away from home during World War II and restore the historic links between the people of Derry and the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The grounds of Beech Hill House had served as a camp for many of these service people and the hotel has become a center for exploring this history. Commander Christopher Gilbertson, commanding officer of the Mason, and Fleet Master Chief Raymond D. Kemp placed a wreath of holly and red berries in front of the memorial while Irish Army veteran, Jim O’Hagan, piped a lament. December 18, 2016 marked 75 years since the U.S. Navy set up what would be become known as Base One Europe. The facility, which included an innovative hospital and a state-of-the-art ship repair yard where civilians of the entire island of Ireland were employed, was so crucial to victory in the Battle of the Atlantic that at the war’s end, the Nazi U-boats were ordered to surrender in the Foyle River. Naval Historian Joseph Sardo estimated that without Base One Europe, WWII would have been prolonged for two more years. But as well as commemorating the past, this ceremony celebrated a present moment when, in Seamus Heaney’s words, “Hope and history rhyme.” The U.S.S. Mason (DDG-87) is actually the third ship of its name, designated in honor of the sailors of the second U.S.S. Mason (DE529), a WWII destroyer and the first combat ship to have a predominantly African-American crew. (The first Mason was named for secretary of the Navy John Young Mason and was decommissioned in 1941; the second was named for Navy pilot Ensign Newton Henry Mason, who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished

16 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Flying Cross and was decommissioned in 1945.) Though the crew of the second Mason performed heroically, the men were serving in a segregated navy and had to endure racist taunts while in uniform from the very American civilians they were defending. But then they came to Northern Ireland. “Irish First to Treat U.S.S. Mason Crew as Americans,” the Journal and Guide of Norfolk headlined an article describing the men’s experience. “We were called Yanks,” Signalmen Lorenzo Dufau said in the article. “There was no prejudice, just genuine human kindness.” I discovered the U.S.S. Mason story while researching a piece for Irish America. I found Mr. Dufau and his shipmate James Graham. They had been trying for 50 years to tell their story. This magazine afforded them a platform. Eventually, I worked with the veterans on a book for the Naval Institute Press, a PBS documentary for which Phil Coulter wrote the theme song, “Home Away from Home,” and on the 2004 feature film Proud, starring Ossie Davis, Stephen Rea, and Aidan Quinn, which was funded by Tommy Hilfiger, who came to Derry for the 2002 filming. In 1995, President Bill Clinton recognized the men’s service and the navy awarded them the commendations for which they had been recommended in 1944. But the men’s greatest thrill came when the U.S. Navy named this ship for them in 1996, complete with the motto they had coined for themselves “Proudly We Served,” and a coat of arms that contained a shamrock that commemorated their Irish visit. And now, the U.S.S. Mason (DDG-87) had sailed into Northern Ireland, completing the circle. But this crew represented a very different navy, where diversity is valued and men and women of all backgrounds serve at every rank and in every capacity. “We owe so much to those men,” said Fleet Master Chief Kemp, whose responsibilities include U.S. Naval forces in both Europe and Africa. After the ceremony, he reflected on his very special connection to both ships. His first command chief master tour was aboard the present U.S.S. Mason. But on a visit to his hometown, he discovered that his high school girlfriend’s uncle was Lorenzo Dufau. “It was awesome to discover this connection to the man who was key to the ship’s proud legacy. I arranged for Mr. Dufau to visit the crew in Norfolk. He told us we would fall in love with this piece of iron and the history it represented. He was right.” The wreath laying was followed by an interfaith service hosted by Rev. Niall Farren of St. Mary’s Church, Ardmore, whose great uncle served as military chaplain to the American forces in Northern

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Sailors of the U.S.S. Mason (DE-529) commissioned at Boston Navy Yard 20 March 1944 proudly look over their ship. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY. NAVAL PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER.

Ireland during WWII, for which he was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom. Both of Derry’s bishops, Rev. Donal McKeown and Rev. Ken Good, Church of Ireland, participated. Bishop Good’s wife told the assembly that her father served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Rev. David Latimer, First Derry Presbyterian, offered a prayer, as did Rev. Michael Canny. Phil Coulter, Ireland’s official Ambassador of Song, performed “Home Away from Home” and “The Town I Love So Well” accompanied on the violin by Frank Gallagher. The Columbkille Ladies Choir, which has performed at the White House, sang a medley of Christmas carols and then the Mason crew joined them in “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The day concluded with a festive Christmas dinner for 400, which Fleet Master Chief Kemp described as “fit for royalty.” Gifts were exchanged. The crew mingled with the people of Derry and met Member of Parliament Mark Durkan. There was dancing. When Commander Gilbertson spoke, he expressed his gratitude for all of the events of the entire weekend – the reception at the Guildhall by Mayor Hillary McClintock, the screening of Proud at The Playhouse, hosted by Pauline Ross and the Beech Hill House celebrations. I reached Commander Gilbertson after they returned to the U.S. He summed up their feelings this way: “The entire crew absolutely enjoyed the all too brief visit. They were in awe of the wonderful recep-

tion we were given! The opportunity to celebrate the rich history we share was incomparable, and many of the sailors will remember it for a lifetime, much like our namesake, the great men of U.S.S. Mason (DE-529), did.” Like the WWII ship the present Mason had also been in harm’s way, facing attack in the Red Sea. “After successfully defeating multiple missile attacks in October, the visit served as a superb end to what was an historic deployment for the crew,” IA Gilbertson said.

Left to Right: Author Mary Pat Kelly, Phil Coulter, Command Master Chief Ronn Shasky, Commander Christopher Gilbertson, Pasty O'Kane, Fleet Master Chief Raymond D. Kemp, Commander Christopher Schwarz, Commander John Gray of the Royal Navy, and bagpiper Jim O'Hagan.

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hibernia | irish eye on hollywood

By Tom Deignan

Is 007 jumping into the “pool”?

umors abound in Hollywood that Irish hunk – and former James Bond – Pierce Brosnan will be appearing as a villain in the sequel to the critically-acclaimed box office smash Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds. It all started when a photo began circulating on Instagram of Brosnan, Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, of Wolverine fame, palling around. As The Hollywood Reporter noted: “This led a lot of fans to jump to the conclusion that Brosnan may be playing the time-traveling [villain] Cable in the next Deadpool installment. “Still, it should be noted that a second picture posted to Reynold’s Facebook page, showed the three men laughing like they just played a gag on someone.” Either way, Brosnan has a slew of other projects lined up for this year, including a TV series set to debut in April and (if you will) a blast from the past about Irish terrorists. Brosnan will play the lead in the upcoming AMC series The Son, based on Philipp Meyer’s novel, Hugh about the trials and tribulaJackman, tions of a Texas family. Pierce Brosnan Meanwhile, in the film The Foreigner, which recently and Ryan Reynolds completed filming, Brosnan plays Liam Hennessy. Based on a novel by British writer Stephen Leather, The Foreigner is about an IRA bombing campaign that strikes London and kills the daughter of a Chinese immigrant. Unable to get justice from the authorities, the man takes matters into his own hands. Jackie Chan will star alongside Brosnan in The Foreigner. Also look for Brosnan later this year in The King’s Daughter (directed by Irish American Sean McNamara), the thriller Final Score and – further down the road – The Only Living Boy in New York.

Jamie Dornan’s Heavy February

orthern Irish model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan once again steamed up winter movie screens just in time for Valentine’s Day in Fifty Shades Darker, the sequel to the massive erotic hit Fifty Shades of Grey. Later this year look for Dornan in Untogether, a much more sober film – literally. Untogether, which also features Billy Crystal and Ben Mendolsohn, is about a wildly talented young woman who turns to heroin. The film chronicles her sobriety, as well as efforts to become a writer. In case that all sounds a little too heavy, fear not Jamie Dornan Jamie Dornan fans! There’s yet another with Dakota Christian Grey movie – Johnson on the Fifty Shades Freed – set of Fifty Shades slated for 2018.

Darker.

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Ruth Negga in Preacher.

Ruth Negga Returns in Preacher

uth Negga – born in Africa to an Ethiopian

father and Irish mother – was one of the only Irish actors to receive an Academy Award nomination this time around, for her portrayal of Mildred Loving in Loving (yes, that was really their name), about the fight to overturn laws which banned interracial marriages in the U.S. Suffice it to say, Negga should soon be flooded with movie roles of varying quality, though right now she does not have anything “coming out soon,” as they say in Hollywood. She will be appearing in the new season of the AMC series Preacher, which is based on County Down native Garth Ennis’ graphic novel, and features, among other things, an Irish vampire.

Irish Stars Alight King Arthur

icklow native Katie McGrath and Dubliners Aidan Gillen and Michael McElhatton will team up

with Charlie Hunam in the big-budget May release King Katie McGrath Arthur. Hunam – best known as the lead in TV’s Sons of Anarchy and Michael McElhatton – plays the title role in this reimagining of the epic story of the unlikely knight who discovers his powers only after removing the sword Excalibur from a stone. Jude Law and Eric Bana round out the cast of this flick, which was directed by Guy Ritchie, best known for the blockbuster series of Sherlock Holmes movies starring Robert Downey, Jr. Also in May, look for Aidan Gillen – best known from TV’s Game of Thrones as well as The Wire – in the comedy The Lovers, starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts. Before all that, Michael McElhatton will also appear in The Zookeeper’s Wife, alongside Jessica Chastain in this World War II drama about a couple who managed to save all manner of wildlife while war ravaged Poland.

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Year of Irish Heavyweights

ot too many people saw the pairing of two Irish cinematic heavyweights – Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender – in the crime caper Trespass Against Us. The film came and went in theaters with little more than a whimper back in January. But fear not! Both actors have plenty of work coming up. In March, Fassbender will appear in acclaimed director Terrence Malick’s latest film Song to Song. Malick is best known for modern classics such as Badlands and Days of Heaven. Song to Song features Fassbender alongside Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Irish American Rooney Mara and is set amidst the thriving Austin, Texas music scene. Numerous musicians from Arcade Fire to John Lydon (the former Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols, whose parents were Irish immigrants to England) will also make cameos. In May, Fassbender will appear in Alien: Covenant

Eve Hewson’s Fantasy Role

nother forthcoming fantasy epic of war and adventure is Robin Hood: Origins, featuring Jamie Foxx as Little John as well as Taron Egerton in the title role. And who will be playing Maid Marian but Eve Hewson? Bono’s daughter is slowly building up a solid film career for herself, having now appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2015 film Bridge of Spies, about Irish American diplomat James Donovan, as well as the 2013 film Enough Said, one of James Gandolfini’s final roles. She also had a recurring role on the underrated Cinemax TV drama The Knick, set in a New York hospital in the early 1900s.

Eve Hewson

and Gleeson alongside Danny McBride, in Trespass Katherine Waterston and Against Us. Billy Crudup. Finally, in October, Fassbender appears in the moody detective thriller The Snowman, based on Jo Nesbo’s novel of the same name. On the other end of the moodiness spectrum is one of Brendan Gleeson’s next films – Paddington 2, a family comedy about a lovable bear which also featuring Imelda Staunton, whose parents were also Irish immigrants to England. Gleeson will also appear alongside Diane Keaton in Hampstead, about the unlikely love affair that blossoms between a widow and what appears to be a homeless man, both of whom do battle with developers looking to build on a landscape the couple have come to love.

Girls Draws to a Close

t’s old Brooklyn meets new Brooklyn on the final season of the HBO comedy Girls. Star and creator Lena Dunham has asked Brooklyn-born Irish American comedy legend Colin Quinn to appear as one of many guest stars on the show, which chronicles the lives of hip and aimless youth (who are not so young anymore) residing in what has become one of the world’s coolest and most expensive boroughs. Rita Wilson and Tracey Ullman will also be seen in the final season of Girls, which kicks off in mid-February. In April, you can also see Colin Quinn – who rose to fame on Saturday Night Live and recently appeared in Amy Schumer’s film Trainwreck – in the Netfilx comedy film Sandy Wexler. The film also stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jennifer Hudson and Arsenio Hall.

Project Children Documentary Dazzles

documentary that opened many eyes in Ireland and England is making its way to U.S. film festivals and will also be screened in Manhattan in April. How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story chronicles NYPD bomb squad specialist and Irish immigrant Denis Mulcahy, who created Project Children to get Protestant and Catholics kids away from Northern Ireland’s troubles and over to the U.S. Over 20,000 children have participated in the program. The film will be screened at the Irish Arts Center in New York City on April 25, and Mulcahy will be interviewed afterwards. (For more on the documentary, see page 88.)

Fassbender

SNL Gets its Own Biopic

he Irish American tradition of TV comedy – in front of and behind the camera – will be Thomas on full display later Lennon and this year in another Michael O’Donoghue much anticipated new Netflix film entitled A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The movie will take a close, no-holds-barred look at the roots of Saturday Night Live as well as the famous magazine National Lampoon. At the center of the story are a pair of Irish Americans – Florida native Doug Kenney (played by Will Forte) as well as legendary writer Michael O’Donoghue. O’Donoghue (to be played by Irish American actor Thomas Lennon) was from upstate New York and was one of the founders of National Lampoon magazine as well as one of the first head writers at SNL. Domhnall Gleeson also stars in the film as influential writer Henry Beard. All in all, A Futile and Stupid Gesture – based on Josh Karp’s book of the same name – will feature the formative years of some of America’s top comic minds from Chevy Chase and Bill Murray to Ivan Reitman and Lorne Michaels.

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hibernia | politics Joe Biden Receives Surprise Medal of Freedom, May Return to Ireland This Summer

n January, Barack Obama surprised former Vice President Joe Biden with the highest honor that can be bestowed on an American citizen by the government – the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. It was the only one he gave out during his presidency. Biden admitted he was taken by surprise and had no idea the award was being given, thinking he was attending a dinner of family and staff before his and Obama’s departure from the White House. “I don’t deserve this,” Biden said during an emotional acceptance speech, “but I know it came from the president’s heart. There is a Talmudic saying that what comes from the heart, enters the heart. Mr. President, you have crept into our heart, you and your whole family.” Biden is also hoping to take a well-deserved vacation in his ancestral home

county of Mayo this summer, the Mayo News reported in January. He also hopes to bring his son, Hunter. Biden, who frequently cites Seamus Heaney in speeches as well as the advice of his Irish American mother, has deep ties to Mayo. His great-great grandfather Patrick Blewitt was born in Ballina, Co. Mayo in the early 1830s and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1840s and today has numerous of cousins in the county, including Ireland’s most famous rugby brothers, Rob and Dave Kearney (fifth cousins once removed), and Brendan Blewitt and his grown children Laurita and Joe, the closest living Irish relatives of Biden. In January, Laurita, Joe, and their brother-in-law Francis O’Flaherty were invited to the White House to witness the surprise awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Biden, organized by Obama. Biden, Laurita said, “wasn’t aware of it. He thought it was dinner with the Obamas and his wife and then we were there with his family, his staff and close friends. It was amazing to witness him receive the Medal of Freedom.” Last June, Biden visited Mayo in a trip he had planned to take with his son Beau who died the previous year from brain cancer. That trip also included stops in Louth, where his Finnean ancestors emigrated from, and Dublin to meet with Taoiseach Enda Kenny. At the time, in the middle of the 2016 presidential race, Biden offered a sharp rebuke to the immigration policies proposed by Donald Trump. “We’re defined by a common creed that says our children, if they work hard, if they’re loyal, they can live a better life than the generation before them,” he said. “It’s defined by a simple, simple, simple belief that we share, that anything, anything, anything is possible, a belief shared by the vast majority of immigrant families that have come to the United States.” – A.F. 20 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Boston Mayor Walsh Stands up for Immigrants

oston’s Mayor Marty Walsh has emerged nationally as fiery opposition voice in the early days of the Trump Administration. The day after the inauguration, Walsh gave a speech at a women’s rally on Boston Common, attended by 150,000 people. Then, when the White House targeted travelers from seven countries from entering the U.S., Walsh convened a press conference at City Hall, surrounded by dozens of immigrant leaders from the city’s various ethnic communities. That evening, Walsh went out to Boston’s Logan International Airport to protest travelers being stopped at the international terminal. “Today’s executive orders regarding immigrants are a direct attack on Boston’s people, Boston’s strength and our values,” Walsh said. “We will not stand for it…. I will use all of my power within lawful means to protect all Boston residents – even if that means using City Hall itself as a last resort.” The reference to City Hall as a sanctuary recalled a similar action taken by Boston’s Ray Flynn in 1989, when 40 Polish sailors jumped ship and sought asylum in Boston from their communist government. Flynn opened up City Hall and resisted efforts from the federal government to take them into custody. A few days after Logan Airport, Walsh led another rally at Copley Square in Boston’s Back Bay, attended by thousands of protestors. He was joined by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Congressman Joe Kennedy and others. Walsh, the son of Irish immigrants from Connemara, was born and raised in Dorchester, Boston’s largest and most ethnically diverse neighborhood. He is in the third year as mayor of Boston. “My mother and father came from Ireland to Boston looking for opportunity,” he said. “They found their American dream, and I got to live mine by becoming mayor of the city that embraced us.” In an op-ed published on CNN, Walsh expanded his argument. “We are a city and nation built on immigrants and we depend on newcomers to maintain the vitality of our country,” he wrote. “We will not be intimidated by a threat to federal funding. We will not retreat one inch.” Walsh noted that immigrants comprise nearly a third of Boston’s population and contribute $3.5 billion in consumer spending each year. – Michael Quinlan

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hibernia | campaigns The Taoiseach’s American Trips

aoiseach Enda Kenny arrived in the U.S. in November for a three-day trip in which he met with businesses leaders in New York and Silicon Valley to promote Ireland as an investment location in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. During this visit he delivered an address to the Partnership for New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area Economic Council, and a group of business leaders hosted by Bloomberg chairman Peter Grauer, including former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Kenny’s next scheduled trip to the U.S. is for the annual St. Patrick’s Day “shamrock ceremony,” during which the taoiseach gifts the president of the United States a bowl of shamrocks as a symbol of Irish-American affinity. This year’s trip has been the subject of controversy since the inauguration of Donald J. Trump this January. Irish political groups such as the Labour

Party, Green Party, People Before Profit, and the Anti-Austerity Alliance have urged Kenny to cancel the meeting, while a public petition, “Shamrock for Trump: Not in My Name” has received over 37,000 signatures. “President Trump does not share our values. Indeed, he is openly hostile to them,” Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin told the Irish Times. “He and his team have made clear that he is unwilling to hear or even listen to discordant voices.” The shamrock ceremony began in 1952, and it’s unlikely the petitions will affect its continuation this year. The Office of the Taoiseach responded to the criticism by emphasizing the importance of engaging “with the U.S. president and his administration in Washington around the events of St. Patrick’s Day” in order to “maintain the historically strong links between the Irish and American peoples.” – O.O.

Chris Kennedy Running for IL Governor

hris Kennedy, the son of Senator Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, officially launched his campaign for the governor of Illinois in February, invoking a platform of state budget reform, access to healthcare, and equal education opportunities based on compromise and working with the state General Assembly. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican, has been locked in a 19-month stalemate on the state budget with the Democratic-majority senate. “What once made our country different from any place on earth was the notion that anyone could make it here – that America was the land of opportunity,” Kennedy said in his campaign announcement. “But today, if you're born poor in America, you will almost certainly stay poor. The American dream is slipping away and it's up to us to keep this fundamental promise.” Kennedy currently works in real estate development at the Wolf Point project in Chicago and previously managed the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, the largest commercial building in the world, and in 2012 he and his wife Sheila co-founded Top Box Foods, which works to get discounted groceries to families in low-income neighborhoods in the city. – A.F.

Petition for U.S.S. Patrick Gallagher Gains Steam

atrick Gallagher, who everyone called Bob, left County Mayo at 18 to live in America. Four years later, in April 1966, he was drafted and enlisted in the U.S. Marines and, following basic training, travelled home to let his family know he had joined up. He didn’t, however, tell them he was being deployed to Vietnam upon returning to New York so as not to worry them, he would later say. That July, his patrol was ambushed and Gallagher first kicked a grenade out of his foxhole before it detonated, and then threw himself on top of a second grenade to save two other soldiers. The grenade, miraculously, did not go off, and Gallagher was awarded the Navy Cross. He knew news would spread to Ireland, so he wrote his family a hasty note telling them where he was and he was expected back in spring 1967. Gallagher never made it, being killed in action on patrol on March 30, 1967, his last scheduled day in Vietnam. Now, an online petition to name a navy ship after Gallagher is underway, with aims to christen a new destroyer class ship, the commissioned but yet-unnamed DDG-127, the U.S.S. Patrick Gallagher. Approximately 7,000 signatures have already been collected, and Ireland’s RTÉ Radio One recently aired a documentary on Patrick’s life, which included interviews from family and fellow comrades. Petition organizer Martin Durkan expects the petition to reach 10,000 signatures by the end of the year, the requirement for submission to the secretary of the Navy. For more information and to sign the petition, visit www.patrickgallagherusmc.info. – A.F.

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hibernia | One Hundred Pounds Peeled Off with Potato Diet

he illustrious nutritional profile of the humble potato was further proven by the commitment of one Australian man to eat nothing but the starchy root vegetable for the entirety of 2016. Andrew Taylor, an Irish Australian man from Melbourne, lost over 100 pounds in 12 months by adhering to this diet, and has no plans to stop now. Taylor, who dropped from 335 pounds to 218 pounds by eating six to nine pounds of potatoes per day, was determined to kick a food addiction. “You can’t quit food, but I wanted to get as close as possible, and wondered if there was one particular food I could eat,” he told news.com.au. “Potatoes came up best.” Potatoes are a carbohydrate-rich food source which also offer protein, dietary fat, and essential micronutrients fiber, vitamin C, and iron. Prior to the Great Hunger (1845 – 1852), much of the Irish population was solely reliant on this cheap crop, with many consuming up to 14 pounds per day.

When potato blight struck, roughly one million people starved to death, while one million more emigrated overseas, many to the U.S., in search of a new beginning. “Potatoes have been good to me this year,” Taylor reports, as his cholesterol and blood pressure continue to stabilize. His doctor, Taylor mentions, was initially skepTaylor.

tical of this extreme mono-diet, but came to support him as his health began to improve. “If you want extreme results, you have to do extreme things,” Taylor added. “Yes, it’s extreme, but what’s wrong with that?” – O.O.

Irish Post Expands with Acquisition of Irish TV Assets

ondon-based newspaper the Irish Post has purchased the digital and intellectual property assets of the defunct Irish TV company, the company announced in February. Irish TV, which was founded in 2014 by London businessman John Griffin, was based in County Mayo and closed in December of last year. The purchase includes the Irish TV brand, business databases, website domains, social media, and the extensive video content library, and the Irish Post has not ruled out launching a new TV channel under the same name. The impetus for the sale was the Post’s belief in Irish TV’s mission “of bringing local Irish stories to the global Irish diaspora audience” and to establish a “physical presence” in the west of Ireland “at a time when British-Irish relations, both economic and community, are to the fore,” a spokesperson for the newspaper said. The Post has been owned by Elgin Loane (above) since 2011 and during that time has continued to move in the direction of digital journalism, of which this is a part, the spokesperson said. “We see a strong future for Irish TV and indeed the Irish Post on small screen platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which can be successful away from the traditional large screen broadcast networks.” – A.F. 22 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Norwegian Air to Commence $69 Irish Flights International budget airline Norwegian Air has announced plans to provide inexpensive flights to Ireland this coming July, with initial fares at $69 for a one-way ticket, though round trip rates will eventually settle at approximately $300. The proposed service will be running to Dublin, Shannon, and Belfast airports, and depart from Stewart Airport (60 miles outside Manhattan) and a smaller airport in the Boston area, with three more airports – T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, RI; Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, CT; and Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, NH – currently under consideration. “These are the routes that will launch with $69 fares and have average return fares of $300 – $350, including taxes. In order to operate such flights profitably, they need to be served by mediumsized/smaller airports within the Greater Boston and NYC areas,” director of Norwegian Air’s U.S. communications Anders Lindström told Lohud.com. “We will be offering the most affordable transatlantic flights America has ever had.” The Stewart-Belfast Airport link especially will be cause for much celebration after the termination of the United Airlines Belfast to Newark route in early January, Belfast’s only direct flight to the U.S., which increased anxiety about Belfast’s future in the international economy. – O.O.

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hibernia | fashion Manley

Necklace

Christina Belle Collar:

Paul Costello Bag:

Karyn Moriarty Dress:

fee g

Dress:

Melissa Curry Bracelet

Wearing Irish

argaret Molloy has tied her pride in her Irish heritage with her love of fashion and social media expertise to create the #WearingIrish social media initiative. In March 2016, Molloy, the New York-based global chief marketing officer for branding firm Siegel+Gale, began sharing photos of various Irish fashion pieces on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and encouraged others to “Dress head-to-toe in Irish-designed clothing, or pick one item or accessory to wear, in celebration of our heritage,” all the time using the hashtag #WearingIrish. Molloy, an Offaly native and Harvard graduate, feels that Irish fashion does not receive the recognition it deserves. Her vision was simple; she “wanted to create a movement around #WearingIrish, that men and women around the world will choose to buy at least one item of Irish fashion to wear every March. Ultimately, it’s about building Ireland’s reputation for fashion.” In creating this initiative, Molloy was keen to include affordable clothing and jewelery choices for the everyday person, not just celebrities. She sported looks from designers such as Orla Kiely, Jennifer Rothwell, Don O’Neill, Dunnes Stores and others. She knew her #WearingIrish 2016 movement was catching when she attended the Mayor De Blassio’s breakfast in New York City on March 17 and met countless people who were indeed wearing Irish. The outfits included designer dresses, traditional sweaters, and contemporary jewelry. Her most gratifying story came from an Irish-born man living in New York who had just returned from a visit to Ireland. “He told me that his wife had heard about the #WearingIrish initiative via social media and urged him to bring back a few pieces for them to wear to the March festivities,” she Necklace: said. “The thought of wearing Irish Newbridge in March had never crossed their e Silverwar minds and now they were advocates.” After the success of the last year’s campaign, Molloy has laid the groundwork to make 2017 a bigger and better year. “This year I’m looking forward to seeing pictures on social media of groups around the globe wearing Irish,” she said. “I’ve dubbed the organizers of these groups photos ‘Sartorial Ambassadors,’ because they are using fashion as a way to represent Irish culture, creativity, and collective goodwill.” To make it easy for people, Molloy has also compiled an online directory where people can find a large list of Irish fashion and accessories. See @MargaretMolloy on Twitter. This March, don some Irish clothing and proudly use the #WearingIrish hashtag to aid the promotion of the exceptional fashion that talented Irish designers have to offer. – Áine Mc Manamon FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 23

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hibernia | looking forward

Fun Festivals

in Ireland and Irish America

Wexford Festival Opera

he 66th Wexford Festival Opera will take place between October 19 and November 5, showcasing Medea by Luigi Cherubini (17601842), Margherita by Jacopo Foroni (1825-1858) and Risurrezione by Franco Alfano (1875-1954). Since first taking place in October 1951, Wexford Festival Opera has grown into one of the world’s leading opera festivals, taking masterpieces that were forgotten over the years and turning them into highquality productions, attracting thousands of opera-lovers from all over the world and acting as a beginning for some major stars in the business. The old Theatre Royal has been replaced by a state-of-the-art building, which is Ireland’s first custom-built opera house. The Wexford Festival Opera is a must for any and all opera lovers.

PHOTO: DOMNICK WALSH PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: CLIVE BARDA

By Áine Mc Manamon

PHOTO: EAMON WARD

The Rose of Tralee International Festival

he Rose of Tralee International Festival, which is one of Ireland’s largest festivals, will take place from August 16-22 this year. Young women of Irish descent from around the world travel to this small County Kerry town for a global celebration of all that is good about being Irish. Despite a widely-held, though inaccurate, perception, the Rose of Tralee Festival is not a beauty pageant, as the winning Rose is selected based on her personality. The organizers of this festival search for a Rose that will be a good role model and ambassador for both the festival and Ireland, as her Rose duties entail much international travel. This festival is not only about the two selection nights, which are broadcast live on RTÉ, but a celebration of Irishness that offers fun for all the family with events such as street entertainment, a carnival and funfair, live concerts, fireworks, and much more. So why not travel to Kerry this year, joining the 65 Roses and their escorts from Ireland and Irish communities around the globe for the seven-day festival, and witness first-hand crowning of the 2017 Rose of Tralee.

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West Cork Literary Festival

he West Cork Literary Festival is a highlight of the Irish literary calendar and takes place in Bantry between July 14-21. A festival for all ages, it is a week-long celebration of writing and reading. The Literary Festival originally began as a series of casual poetry readings in association with the Chamber Music Festival, and has since expanded into a week of workshops, readings and discussions. Designed not only to encourage experienced writers but also inspire beginners, it is the perfect festival for anyone with an interest in the written word.

Guinness Cork Jazz Festival

n annual event since 1978, the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has become Ireland’s biggest and longest established jazz event, attracting hundreds of musicians and music fans to the city each year. The week is fast-paced and fun, with numerous events taking place at over 90 of the venues, including pubs, clubs, and theatres. (Some have even been known to spill out into the streets.) Many of the events are completely free, too. Even if you’re not a jazz fanatic, the electric atmosphere during this festival is not easily forgotten. Even though the details for 2017 are not yet fully confirmed, it is scheduled to take place from Friday, October 20, to Sunday, October 22.

Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann

he most important event for lovers of traditional Irish music is Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, which this year will take place between August 13 and 21 in Ennis, County Clare. As many put their months of practice into action to become an all-Ireland champion, others get to enjoy the abundance of live and dance that surrounds them. Each year, this event builds on the success of previous Fleadhs by adding the uniqueness and traditions of the town land in which it takes place. The festival attracts people of all ages from all over the world and is guaranteed to get your feet tapping – so don’t be surprised if spontaneous music sessions erupt as you walk through Ennis this August!

Gaelic Park Irish Fest

he Chicago Gaelic Park Irish Fest has been celebrating Memorial Day weekend for more than 20 years with four days of Irish themed activities. Over

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40 music acts performing, shows by more than 500 traditional Irish step dancers and plenty of opportunities to play and watch traditional sports make it a great festival for people with all manner of interests. The younger attendees can even look forward to petting zoos and carnival rides. Dates and details for 2017 are yet to be announced, but it’s sure to be one you don’t want to miss.

Milwaukee Irish Fest

he very popular Milwaukee Irish Fest will be highlighting Celtic culture and heritage yet again this year August 17-20. This festival is well known for promoting all aspects of Irish and Irish American cultures while encouraging current and future generations to have an appreciation of their heritage through live entertainment, baking contests, sports, music, family activities, a Jameson lounge, and even a red hair and freckles contest. There really is something for everyone over this celebratory weekend! Taking place every third weekend in August, Milwaukee Irish Fest is the world’s largest celebration of Celtic music and culture, so it’s the perfect festival for anyone who wants to celebrate their heritage.

Newport Irish Film Festival

ifty-five miles south of Hollywood, the Newport Beach Film Festival will take place April 20-27 in Orange County, bringing 350 films and nightly gala events to an estimated 50,000 film fans. This festival has a strong history of presenting Irish films and an audience with an interest Irish cinema and culture. The festival will present its signature Irish Spotlight event on the evening of April 23, 2017 and this evening will celebrate Irish film by screening a number of feature-length Irish narratives and documentaries. So, if you happen to be on Southern California’s pristine coastlines in April, make sure to check out Orange County’s largest entertainment event.

Dublin, Ohio Irish Fest

n internationally, recognized event that promotes Irish music, dance, culture and tradition, Dublin Irish Fest is not to be missed. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, this three-day festival will take place in Dublin, Ohio from August 4-6. The event averages over 100,000 guests per year, attendees can expect to be entertained by 65 acts and 535 performers over 7 stages.

ABOVE: The Red Hot Chilli Pipers at 2016 Dublin Ohio Irish Fest. OPPOSITE PAGE TOP to BOTTOM: Gilda Fiume and chorus in Maria de Rudenz, by Donizetti, at the 2016 Wexford Festival Opera at the National Opera House in Wexford. Maggie McEldowney, representing Chicago, is crowned the 2016 Rose of Tralee. Clare All-Ireland Hurling Winner and two-time AllStar Brendan Bugler (right) and AllIreland Club Winning Captain with Na Piarsaigh, Limerick, Cathall King, united in music and playing side-by-side in Ennis.

PHOTO COURTESY NBFF

Actor Chris O’Dowd at the 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival.

arch is Irish Heritage Month, and Irish America is encouraging the Irish diaspora to reunite on social media and share their Irish activities using the new hashtag, #ConnectIrish. Ireland’s spirit of interconnectivity lends itself perfectly to new media forms, and well-known Irish strengths like reflecting on the past, exchanging stories, striking up relationships, and simply having the craic can now be shared under one hashtag, even in as little as 140 characters. “I think of my readers as family,” Irish America editor-in-chief Patricia Harty says. “I love connecting Irish people across the generations and seeing the magic happen as they explore their heritage and who they might know in common. #ConnectIrish is a great way to stay in touch and bring the Irish global experience into focus.” Irish America magazine has been in print for over 30 years, and we are happy to have helped re-establish Irish ethnic identity in the U.S. We have been there to watch the world evolve into a place where social media platforms and mobile phone apps allow Irish people all over the globe to maintain close personal and business connections alike, and it is our hope that these digital tools become the bedrock of a year-long global campaign through which Irish and people of Irish descent can come together once more. The initiative will be launched March 1, the first day of Irish Heritage Month. Now, those attending any Ireland-related event have the opportunity to share it, whether it’s with a picture of a favorite Irish dinner, comment on current events, or a shared video clip of Irish dancing lessons. Share it, and reconnect with the Irish diaspora with #ConnectIrish.

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those we lost | passages Elizabeth Flatley

1936 – 2017 other of celebrated Irish dancer Michael Flatley, Elizabeth “Eilish” Flatley died in January at in New Lenox, IL. She was 81. Her son has revealed that she herself was a “fantastic” Irish dancer who, he told the Chicago Sun-Times, supported him in a field often considered unmasculine by previous generations. A Chicago-based immigrant who grew up Elizabeth Ryan in Dranagh, Co. Carlow, she met Michael Flatley Sr. (by whom she is predeceased) at an Irish dance in Detroit and married him in 1956, mothering five children in seven years while also working with the family’s plumbing business. “It was very difficult [...] Nobody had money. After World War II that was just the way it was,” she said in her son’s 2006 autobiography, Lord of the Dance. “She was just so loving,” her son has said, noting that despite his immense fortune, her tastes remained simple – her favorite meal was a tuna fish sandwich and chocolate milk. – O.O.

Therese MacGowan

1931 – 2017 herese MacGowan, the 87-year-old mother of the Pogues’ frontman Shane MacGowan, died in a road accident in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, on New Year’s Day. MacGowan, who was a singer, traditional Irish dancer, and former Dublin model, was the was the first fatality on Irish roads in 2017. Born in Silvermines, Co. Tipperary as Therese Cahill, she lived briefly in Kent with her husband, Dubliner Maurice MacGowan, where her first child, Shane, was born in 1957. After the family returned to Tipperary, she had a daughter, Siobhan, now a journalist, writer and songwriter. “I used to learn a song a day from my mother’s family,” said Shane in a 2013 interview with the Irish Sun. “I owe my career entirely to my family and to the way I was brought up.” “She was a lady,” a Silvermines local told the Irish Mirror. “It’s going to be tough for the family.” – O.O.

Steven McDonald

N FROM TOP: Elizabeth Flatley with Michael Flatley, Theresa MacGowan, Steven McDonald, and John Montague

1957 – 2017 YPD Detective Steven McDonald, who was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame along with his wife, Patti, and son Conor in 2014, died in January at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY following complications from a heart attack. McDonald was paralyzed from the neck down in July 1986 after confronting potential bicycle thieves in Central Park, one of whom shot him three times. He remained on the police force as a first-grade detective and a year later gained notoriety for forgiving his assailant. In a letter written on the occasion of his son Conor’s christening in 1987, McDonald wrote of his attacker, “I forgive him and hope that he can find peace and purpose in his life.” Throughout his life, he sought to spread that message

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of forgiveness, including traveling to Northern Ireland to promote reconciliation efforts. His son Conor is now a sergeant in the NYPD and the fourth generation of his family to serve in the police force. NYPD commissioner James O’Neill announced McDonald’s death Tuesday afternoon. “No one could have predicted that Steven would touch so many people, in New York and around the world,” O’Neill said. “Like so many cops, Steven joined the NYPD to make a difference in people’s lives. And he accomplished that every day. He is a model for each of us as we go about our daily lives. He will be greatly missed, and will always remain a part of our family.” “New York City is heartbroken by the loss of NYPD Detective Steven McDonald, who for 30 years has been this city’s greatest example of heroism and grace,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “I will forever cherish my last conversation with Detective McDonald, late last year. His words encouraged all of us to continue to bring police and communities closer together.” The McDonalds were the first entire family to be inducted to the Irish America Hall of Fame. – A.F.

John Montague

1929 – 2016 rooklyn-born Irish writer John Montague died from surgical complications in Nice, France on December 10. He was 87. A well-known contemporary poet, Montague was the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry (Ireland’s equivalent to the U.S. Poet Laureate), inspired writers such as Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Sean Dunne, and William Wall, and published over 30 books of poetry and short stories during his lifetime, one of which, “The Death of a Chieftain” (1964), is the namesake of traditional Irish band the Chieftains. Born during the Great Depression, Montague was the son of emigrated Irish Catholics. Sent homeward by his ill mother at just four years old, was taken in by two aunts in Garvaghey, Co. Tyrone and raised as an Ulster farm child. He was granted a scholarship by St. Patrick’s College, Armagh, where he studied under Sean O’Boyle, a leading expert on Irish poetry. He proceeded to University College Dublin in 1947, befriending a young Thomas Kinsella (translator of the Táin) and writing frequently for The Dublin Magazine. In 1953 he moved to America, attending Yale and beginning a job with the Iowa Writer’s Workshop the following year. In 1961, Montague completed his graduate studies at Berkeley, returned to Ireland with his first wife, Madeleine, and published his first poetry collection, Poisoned Lands. His critically-acclaimed long poem, The Rough Field, was published in 1972. The sequence, called poetry’s most significant attempt to understand Northern Ireland’s turbulent past was proclaimed by the New York Review to be “soundly crafted as the rosewood fiddle which seems to play with mourning sweetness in the margins.” Montague was also instrumental in funding Claddagh Records,

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the publisher of Irish musicians and writers including Na Mooneys and Cavan Bucks. Montague and his third wife, novelist Elizabeth Wassell, lived primarily in France, where he was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honor in 2010. He is survived by Wassell, three children, and two grandchildren. – O.O.

Al O’Hagan

1935 – 2016 Irish American community activist and Great Irish Fair founder Al O’Hagan died at his Brooklyn home in October. He was 81. Born in Gerritsen Beach, O’Hagan was introduced as a boy to the Brooklyn Ancient Order of Hibernians and was quick to fall in love with his Irish heritage, eventually becoming Order chairman. Inspired by the deep South freedom marches of the ’60s, he led demonstrations in the New York area to promote peace and justice during the years of conflict in Northern Ireland, and was recognized by the White House under the Clinton administration for his contributions to the community. In 1974, he was appointed by Mayor Abraham Beame as the citywide chairman for bicentennial celebrations, specifically to celebrate Irish contributions to the U.S.A. O’Hagan founded the annual Great Irish Fair event on Coney Island in 1981, serving as its director for 23 years. He was credited with the rebirth of Coney Island, first by successfully campaigning to save the iconic parachute jump from demolition, and later for inspiring the installation of a professional baseball field. “I fell in love with all things Irish,” O’Hagan told Dennis Hamill in 1996. “Irish music, Irish history, Irish politics. Irish people.” His dedication to those people was honored in 1986 when he served as the Grand Marshal of the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade, as his paternal grandfather had done before him in 1929. He is survived by his wife, Catharine, daughter, Sheila, and son, Shaun. – O.O.

John O’Mahony

1953 – 2017 ohn O’Mahony, formerly of Bantry, Co. Cork, died in New York on February 3 of an apparent heart attack. He will be remembered for his skill as a writer/journalist, his love of opera and a good glass of wine, and his unfailing good humor and interest in life. John began his career in Ireland working for RTÉ, before moving to New York City in 1989. He worked as a writer for the Irish Echo newspaper in the early 1990s, before joining the New York Post. He began at the Post in 1993, and “within a year he was back in his native Ireland covering the Northern Ireland peace process as a Post correspondent,” the Post reported. “Genial, hardworking and possessed of a charming brogue, he was always amenable to a new idea and

an after-work nightcap with colleagues.” “He had a zest for life, was always coming up with imaginative ways to get ahead.” Irish Echo editor, Ray O’Hanlon, a friend and colleague, said, “John’s view of the world, its glories and absurdities, was prescient, funny, pointed. The world didn’t get enough of him, but he sure drew the max from the world every day of his too short life. Those who knew him will hold cherished memories of a singular Corkman, Irishman, American.” O’Mahony moved to Los Angeles in 2005, but he was happy to return to New York in 2014. He continued to work as a journalist, most recently for Bloomberg Businessweek. He will be sadly missed by his Aunt Ina Hayes (Waterford), Aunt Sheila Cronin (Dublin), Aunt Cathleen Fitzgerald (Cork) and by a large circle of relatives and friends. A celebration will be held in Bantry, Co. Cork, to coincide with the West Cork Literary Festival in July. – P.H.

T.K. Whitaker

1916 – 2017 he most influential public servant in the history of Ireland’s economic development, T.K. Whitaker, died in January. He was 100 years old. For his financial leadership, he was named Irishman of the Century in 2001 and the Greatest Living Irish Person in 2002. “He was in every sense a national treasure,” Taoiseach Enda Kenny said in an official tribute. “In modern Irish history, T.K. Whitaker is both incomparable and irreplaceable.” Appointed as the Irish Secretary of the Department of Finance in 1956, Whitaker’s influence on Ireland’s economic climate came during a period of intense depression: unemployment was rampant, and the country’s low standard of living saw the immigration and birth rate figures grow harrowingly close. Whitaker assembled a team of department officials to scrutinize the economy in order to plan for improvement. This plan, titled the First Program for Economic Expansion, proposed ideas of free trade and the end of protectionism. It was approved by the government and, in a rare occurrence, was published under Whitaker’s name in 1958. Subsequent foreign investment brought much stimulation to the Irish economy. Between 1977 and 1982 Whitaker was nominated to serve as an independent senator on both the 14th and 15th Seanads, and also chaired a Parole Board in the penal system for several years. From 1976 until 1996, he served as Chancellor of the National University of Ireland. He was a lifelong lover of the Irish language, and the 1981 collection of Irish poetry, An Duanaire: Poems of the Dispossessed from 1600 – 1900, edited by poets Seán Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella, was published in his name. Whitaker was born in Rostrevor, Co. Down as the son of a linen mill worker. Married twice, he outlived both of his wives and is survived by six children. – O.O.

FROM TOP: Al O’Hagan, John O’Mahony, and T.K. Whitaker

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hibernia | quote unquote “You can only wear one pair of pants at a time.”

– Irish America Hall of Famer Chuck Feeney, who gave away his $8 billion fortune to countless philanthropic projects over the course of his life, including more than $1.25 billion to initiatives in Ireland, speaking about his retirement and decision to live in a rented apartment in San Francisco. Feeney’s father was an immigrant farmer from County Fermanagh. New York Times, January 5.

“What happened is I went for an approval to do this massive, beautiful expansion – that was when I was a developer, now I couldn’t care less about it, but I learned a lot because they were using environmental tricks to stop a project from being built. I found it to be a very unpleasant experience.”

“I will not let you down.”

– Michelle O’Neill, who replaced Martin McGuinness, who will not be standing in the forthcoming assembly elections due to ill health. The Irish Times.

– Brian Burns, who was appointed Ambassador to Ireland by Donald Trump. Burns, who was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame in 2013, was the first ever (and to-date still the youngest) director of the American Ireland Fund, established by then-Presidents John F. Kennedy and Eamon de Valera in 1963. Currently, he owns one of the largest collections of Irish art in the world, and has donated extensively to the John J. Burns Library at Boston College, where he serves on the board of trustees. Irish Times, February 1.

– President Trump speaking to reporters from the Times of London and the German newspaper Bild about his abandoned expansion plans for the Trump International Doonbeg Golf Resort. The Times, January 16.

“We took full ownership of our history, and examined both light and shade. There was a constant mode of interrogation, rather than selfsatisfaction or complacency. Women were back from the margins, definitively bringing to an end that “pervasive invisibility” which had been their fate in earlier narratives of 1916. Young people were much more to the fore; the “new Irish” were properly recognized as part of our story; and of course the whole year was bathed in the afterglow of the joyous marriage equality referendum of May 2015.”

– Ambassador Anne Anderson speaking on the legacy of 1916 at Glucksman Ireland House on February 17.

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“This is like a dream that had no chance of coming true, but it is. “To think of it: my grandfather was a very poor immigrant in Co. Kerry in 1892 and a little over 120 years later I am being selected as a representative of 35 million or 40 million Americans of Irish heritage and this president to go to Ireland. It is astonishing; I have to pinch myself.”

Ambassador Anne Anderson in the green jacket of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick after she became the first woman admitted to the organization in its history.

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1916 to 2016:

Reflections “At a time of immense challenge in Ireland, in Europe, and in the United States, it is important that we draw on the perspective of memory, steady ourselves with reflection, and think boldly about the future.” – Ambassador Anne Anderson

t home and abroad, the 1916 commemorations resonated beyond our greatest expectations, with more than 300 events, spanning every part of this country. We recalled and remembered so much in the course of 2016, but for me one of the most powerful messages was the reminder of the importance of America’s engagement in Ireland at critical moments over the past century. The story of Irish American involvement in political movements in Ireland stretches back a century earlier: in the 1820s, Irish Americans were already sending back dollars to support Daniel O’Connell’s drive for Catholic emancipation and later in the nineteenth century, Irish American money supported the Home Rule campaign of Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt’s agrarian movement. And the engagement extended on beyond the Rising; already in the few years after 1916, Éamon de Valera came to the U.S. to launch an Irish bond drive to fund the Irish Republican Army in the War of Independence. And on the story went. It was never just about fundraising. In the long and tangled history of Ireland’s relationship with Britain, Irish America always hoped and sought to get the American government involved on the Irish side, so as to help balance the scales as a small country sought to work out its relationship with a larger neighbors. Sometimes the attempt failed, as when President Woodrow Wilson refused all entreaties to bring the Irish case to the table at the Versailles Peace Conference. Sometimes there was a degree of success, as in 1940, when the U.S. warned the British not to seize Irish ports as part of the war with Germany. Fast-forward from 1940 to some thirty years later. The dialogue with America became more complicated when the Troubles erupted in Northern Ireland in the late ’60s, and Irish America was deeply divided about how best to interpret what was happening and how best to engage. The subsequent fifteen years or so, culminating in signature of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, were long and agonizing ones, played out against a backdrop of violence and terrible atrocities in Northern Ireland, perpetrated on both sides of the divide. For much of this period, the British and Irish governments battled for the ear of the U.S. administration, until the two governments finally

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came to a sense of partnership in dealing with Northern Ireland, with important concessions on both sides. This partnership between the Irish and British governments has largely held over the past thirty years – not without differences of judgement and perspective, but with a broad sense of shared purpose and with evolving structures and institutions within which these differences could be addressed. The existence of such a partnership has freed the U.S. administration from trying to adjudicate between two friends and allowed it to throw its weight solidly and consistently behind the peace process. Through the involvement of successive U.S. presidents, and the role of successive envoys – most notably Senator George Mitchell, who brokered the Good Friday Agreement – as well as through America’s financial contribution to the International Fund for Ireland, America has established a critical stake in the Northern Ireland peace process. It is imperative that this active American involvement should continue. For all the extraordinary progress that has been made, there is significant unfinished business in Northern Ireland. The fragilities continue; currently, the outcome of the Assembly elections on March 2, is awaited with some anxiety. As we look back at the long sweep of the past 100 years and more, and particularly at developments over the past decades, our message to the U.S. government and to Irish America is clear: your involvement in the peace process on our island is still needed, still vitally important, and still capable of making a real difference.

Immigration Reform

We all know the foundation stories of Irish America: the Irish who poured into American cities before and after the Great Famine, until the middle of the 20th century. This narrative changed some fifty years ago. The immigration reforms in the U.S. in the mid-’60s

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were intended by the authors, and Senator Kennedy was principal among them, to end pro-European bias in immigration to the U.S. and to bring greater diversity to the immigrant pool. It was a perfectly worthy and understandable objective, and succeeded possibly even beyond the authors’ expectations. Senator Kennedy subsequently admitted that he did not anticipate that the Irish would suffer quite as much collateral damage as they did. Over the past 50 years, the channels for legal Irish immigration to the U.S. have narrowed considerably. From time to time, there has been some temporary and time-bound relief, such as the Donnelly visas and the Morrison visas, but the trend has been inexorable. Today, we see the results: less than one fifth of one percent of all green cards issued in the U.S. go to Irish people. As the demographics of this country have shifted, Irish America is shrinking in absolute terms and as a percentage of the overall population. And the generational distance has grown: now we have fewer and fewer first and second generation Irish, and more third and fourth generation. Inevitably, this has consequences in terms of engagement and connectivity, and obliges us to think in new and creative ways as

to how we nurture and sustain that connectivity. This narrowing of the channels for legal immigration over the past decades has had another consequence: the number of undocumented Irish in the U.S. has grown. While it is hard to PHOTO: PETER FOLEY arrive at a reliable figure, estimates from the Irish community suggest a number of 50,000 or so. It has been a longstanding objective of the Irish government – and one to which as ambassador I have devoted a great deal of my time – to help bring about immigration reform that would allow our undocumented to emerge from the shadows and to take their place in American society. Side-by-side with that, we have been trying for years to open up a better channel for Irish people to enter and work here legally. For a people who did so much to help build this country – its physical fabric of roads and railways and bridges, and its social fabric of teachers and police and firefighters – it is surely reasonable that we should seek to improve our position beyond the current one fifth of one percent of green cards. We are acutely conscious of the current uncertainties on the immigration front and the heightened fears and anxieties in the immigrant community in the aftermath of the U.S. elections. I want to reaffirm that the Irish government will continue to relentlessly press the case, both for the undocumented and for improved legal access, using all our friendships within the Administration and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. We will continue to set out the

FAR LEFT: March 3, 2016; Anne Anderson, Irish ambassador to the United States, gives remarks at the Gala Premiere of the documentary 1916: The Irish Rebellion at the Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in Notre Dame, IN. The documentary was produced by Notre Dame. LEFT: President William Jefferson Clinton, who was introduced by Ambassador Anderson at Irish America magazine’s Hall of Fame Luncheon on March 30 at the Metropolitan Club, NYC., is seen here studying the Proclamation which he went on to speak about saying, “The [Proclamation] is a humble document in that it recognized the very premise of democracy, which is nobody should have unfettered power, because nobody is right all the time.” TOP: On Oct. 3, 1965, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, with the island of Manhattan gleaming in the background, President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act. Since that date the Irish have had a very difficult time entering the U.S. to work and live. Only one fifth of one-percent of green cards go to the Irish each year.

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TOP: Manhattan, March 17, 2006. Ciaran Staunton (left) and Niall O’Dowd (right), founders of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), look on as Gabriel Byrne speaks at an ILIR rally and breakfast in support of immigration reform. RIGHT: Ambassador Anderson speaks at the launch of the 2016 Centenary Program in New York City at the Consulate of Ireland. FAR RIGHT TOP: Belfast, June 23, 2016. A girl walks past a “Vote Remain” poster fixed to a school in west Belfast, County Antrim, as voting got under way for the E.U. referendum on whether the U.K. should remain a member of the European Union. Since the Vote to Leave result, thousands of Northern Ireland citizens have applied for Republic of Ireland passports which will allow them to still work in the E.U. FAR RIGHT BOTTOM: Taoiseach Enda Kenny launched Ireland’s Allies – America and the 1916 Easter Rising, edited by Miriam Nyhan. The Taoiseach is pictured with Loretta Brennan Glucksman, the founder of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, which produced the book.

which has existed between the U.S. and Europe. Together, we helped construct the post-World War II international order; whether at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization or the Bretton Woods institutions, we have built the scaffolding which supports and underpins that order. Today, what has been so carefully built over so many decades is at risk. The unequal benefits of globalization, and the tensions caused by the inexorable advance of technology and the consequent redundancy of some traditional forms of human labour, have been eating away at our societies. Populism is becoming an increasPHOTO: IRISH EYE / ALAMY LIVE NEWS ingly potent force, and we are seeing its out-workings on both sides of the Atlantic. For us in Ireland, although of course we fully accept the democratic outcome of the British referendum, the Brexit decision was deeply unwelcome. Dealing with the implications of that decision – for our economy, for the relationships between North and South on our island, for Europe as a whole – will be one of the biggest challenges we have faced in the history of our state. Brexit is also impacting the E.U.-U.S. relationship in ways that are only beginning to be played out. President Trump and members of his administration have made clear their sympathy for Brexit, and that indeed is their choice and prerogative. But it is crucially important that this is not seen as a zero-sum game: maintaining the U.S. bond with Britain in no way requires or provides a rationale for loosening the compelling human case for the undocumented. With U.S. bond with Europe. Too much is at stake to allow regard to improved legal access, our point will that vital relationship to erode or fray. remain a simple but cogent one: there is no country For Ireland, our history and geography tie us which has a greater mismatch between its contribuclosely both to the U.S. and to Europe. In a welltion to the building of America and its current level known speech delivered seventeen years ago, our of immigrant access. then deputy prime minister Mary Harney mused as to whether Ireland was closer to Boston or Berlin. In European Union truth, we would never wish to be put in a position of This past year has provided much scope for reflection choosing between the two. We want to see the conon the various interlinked relationships: between tinuation of a robust and firm friendship between Ireland, Britain, the European Union, and the U.S. As Europe and the U.S., built on shared values of respect we look back over the past one hundred years, there for human rights, rule of law, and working together is a significant point to be noted: for the first 50 years towards a more peaceful and just world. of the Irish state, prior to our joining the European As the new administration beds down here, as Union, Ireland’s relationship with the U.S. was a Europe prepares for key elections in France and bilateral one; now it is a relationship that in some Germany over the coming months, and as Britain important respects is mediated through our E.U. and Europe work their way through the divorce promembership. ceedings which lie ahead, all of these relationships Ireland and Britain joined the European Union have the potential to become more brittle. Ireland together, on 1 January 1973. For Ireland and the Irish has an important role to play, and multiple interests people, the experience of E.U. membership over to protect. Britain is our nearest neighbor, with nearly forty-five years has been transformative. Our whom we share unique ties. At the same time, we joint membership of the European Union has done a are a deeply committed member of the European great deal to strengthen the British-Irish relationship, family, and we enjoy an exceptionally close friendand also I would suggest, has conditioned our relaship with the U.S. In this period of fluidity and shift, tionship with the U.S. in a very positive way. we will be working to protect and strengthen these In terms of shared values and a shared worldvarious relationships and to try to ensure they do view, there has been no closer alignment than that not come into tension with one another.

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Economic Relationship

How things have evolved and changed over the past century. I mentioned earlier the fundraising for Irish political causes that was so much part of the IrishAmerican tradition in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Today, we still have a thriving philanthropy on the part of Irish Americans – through the Ireland Funds and other organizations – that support a tremendous range of worthwhile projects in both parts of our island. We are gratified that Irish Americans are still, with great generosity, ready to offer such philanthropic support to their ancestral homeland. But I am also glad to say that the scales have evened up somewhat over recent years, with the Irish government providing substantial financial assistance to our diaspora through the Emigrant Support Program. In the classic area of economic relationships – investment and trade – the changes have been truly striking. The first half of the twentieth century saw a succession of bleak economic decades for Ireland – the post war economic recovery, which much of the rest of Europe, enjoyed passed Ireland by. By the ’50s, emigration was sky high and emigrants’ remittances from Britain and the U.S. kept many families afloat. From 1958, there was a radical reframing of economic policy in Ireland, when the then Finance Minister, later Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, launched the First Programme for Economic Development. Over the subsequent years, during the ’60s and especially following our E.U. membership in 1973, we were transformed from an economic backwater, with domestic markets protected behind high tariff walls, to one of the most open and globalized economies in the world. Throughout the past decades, foreign investment in Ireland has thrived on the back of a low corporate tax rate, investment in free education which gave us one of the best educated and most highly rated workforces in the world, and access from 1973 onwards to a European-wide free market in goods and services. FDI, especially from the U.S., became a key driving force in our economy. Ireland’s economic story since the ’60s is certainly not one of uninterrupted success, and the experience of the post-2008 crash is still raw and recent. But though the pain of the austerity years has not been erased, Irish people have shown extraordinary determination and resilience in reaching for recovery. That recovery has now fully taken hold and our economic growth over the past few years has been healthy and broad-based. Looking back over the past couple of decades, one of the critical points to underline is that the economic relationship between Ireland and the U.S. has become a two-way street. In the earlier years, FDI was almost exclusively one-way traffic; the U.S. was sending and Ireland was receiving. Now, with some of the more traditional Irish companies – such as Oldcastle – very active in the U.S., but also many young Irishbased companies – whose founders often got their start in U.S. multinationals in Ireland seeking to

spread their wings in the U.S. market, we have a very different equation. Today, U.S. multinationals in Ireland directly employ some 140,000 Irish people, and Irish companies in the U.S. have tens of thousands of American employees across all 50 states. Trade too has evened up – we remain a big exporter

of goods to the U.S. but are now also a major importer of U.S. services. In other words, mirroring many other aspects of the relationship, there has been a coming of age in economic relations. This is another area where we will need to stay vigilant and engaged. With the current fierce questioning of globalization, it is important that Ireland be a voice for the kind of “good globalization” we have experienced. Not an unthinking cheerleader for every aspect of globalization, but a strong advocate for the shared benefits that flow from rules-based international investment and trade. We know from our own history the dead ends of protectionism, and we know that openness is the only viable choice for the 21st century. We will continue to make that case clearly and vocally. History has its coincidences: it has not escaped us that, just at the time we were commemorating the events of 1916 – the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland – we found ourselves facing another radical adjustment in British-Irish relations: for the first time ever, one of us will be inside the European Union and the other outside. There is no minimizing the Brexit challenge that lies ahead, which will test us in very many ways. But I believe that all of our centenary experience – this process we have lived through of remembering, reflecting, and re-imagining – will have helped to fortify us to meet that challenge. We certainly do not have all the answers, but we are better grounded, with a surer sense of who we are, as we seek those answers. And so, in that very real sense, the centenary commemorations will have achieved one of their key objectives: looking back has also helped us to face IA forward. PHOTO: IRISH EYE / ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Adapted from “1916 to 2016: Reflections”address by Ambassador Anderson at Glucksman Ireland House, NYU Thursday, February 16, 2017.

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PERSPECTIVE

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A LOOK AT THE 1916 EASTER RISING COMMEMORATIONS IN DUBLIN THROUGH THE LENS OF CLIFF CARLSON

ABOVE: Liberty Hall, next to the river Liffey in Dublin, depicting events of 1916 on three sides of the building. LEFT: The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, inspects the troops in front of the General Post Office. TOP LEFT: Sinn FÃ©in table on a street in Dublin selling 1916 Rising memorabilia. TOP RIGHT: Former Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, and other dignitaries in attendance at the GPO wreath laying ceremonies. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 35

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“I ‘m glad I did...”

’m half Swedish, I have no connection with the Easter Rising that I know of, and don’t know how much Irish I have in me. But whatever the amount, my blood ran a proud green on this threeweek trip. I was invited by the Irish Government to cover the Centenary 1916-2016 events and I took them up on it. I’m glad I did. The trip was an experience of a lifetime. But, let’s start at the beginning. I arrived March 24th on a bright, warm and sunshiny day. I’ve been to Ireland enough to know that it was the kind of day that should be taken advantage of. Out came the camera and, after a stroll around St. Stephen’s Green, Grafton Street, O’Connell Street, and on past Trinity College and the Liffey, some 86 photos were in the bag. Not bad for one day and jet lag. The Green was being enjoyed by the Irish masses as I strolled the perimeter walk and took photos of all the placards telling the story of Easter Sunday, April 24, 1916, and the week that followed. Far from sweeping information under the rug, I found that there was an amazing amount of signs, displays and reenactors all over the city, telling the story of the Rising in a myriad of different ways. Fully decorated with depictions of 1916, tour buses were everywhere. Book shop displays were all about 1916. Liberty Hall, the birthplace of the Citizen Army, was most impressive, as it had been painted on three sides with images of historic figures and statements about the Rebellion. I stayed at the old Burlington Hotel which is now a Hilton Doubletree. On most days it was easy to catch a bus or a cab into the center of Dublin, but on the morning of the Easter Rising Parade there wasn’t a cabbie who would take me to O’Connell Street. Almost every road into the City Centre had signs for detours and bypasses. So I walked, and I’m glad I did. I had to go through St. Stephen’s Green to get to Grafton Street and then O’Connell Street, and it was alive with re-enactors. People were gathered around a tree with hundreds of ribbons hanging from its branches in memory of the number of children – 38 under the age of 16 – killed in the Rising, and I paused to pay my respects. As I left the Green and went up Grafton Street it was only 9:30 in the morning but the streets were already filling with people who wanted to be on hand for the parade at noon. It seemed that everyone who was ever in public office had pride of place in front of the GPO for the parade, and the public couldn’t get any closer 36 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

12 10

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1 1916 banner decorates the entire side of a building in Dublin. 2 1916 re-enactors in St. Stephen’s Green. Women fought beside the men for Ireland's freedom. 3 A Memorial to Fenian leader Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in St. Stephen’s Green. 4 Cartoons from the newspapers on display as posters in St. Stephen's Green. 5 Dress rehearsal for Centenary, held at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. They should take this play on the road! 6 RTÉ programs and memorabilia. 7 Re-enactor soldier in St. Stephen's Green. 8 Woman in 1916 garb checking her cell phone at RTÉ information headquarters! 9 Dublin newsboy selling Centenary newspapers outside “The Green.” 10 Children from Rainbow Drama School marking the ceasefire and honoring the children who died in the Rising in St. Stephen’s Green. 11 Cartoons from the newspapers on display as posters in St. Stephen's Green. 12 Irish American News publisher Cliff Carlson (C) with Lance Donaldson (L) and Bruce Quintos (R) of the Pipes and Drums of the Emerald Society, Chicago Police in Dublin at the Mont Clare Hotel. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 37

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than two blocks, but RTÉ had brought in 22 of the biggest video screens available and placed them strategically around the streets of Dublin so everyone could see what was going on up and down the parade route. It was interesting to see the pride, pomp and circumstance that was on display. Every military group and rescue group in Ireland was represented. The ceremonies were executed with efficiency and respect, with the laying of the wreaths at the GPO, Moore Street, and in the Stone Breaker’s yard in Kilmainham Gaol where the leaders of the Rising had been executed. Children representing the four provinces, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht, laid bouquets of daffodils in front of the GPO. Ireland should be proud of the events it put on over Easter weekend. Everything I saw was carried out with dignity, heads held high in commemorating Ireland’s freedom, but no rubbing it in anyone’s face. No burning effigies, no pallet fires, no flag burnings. The only incident of disturbance that I came across, was the hecklers at the Moore Street commemorations who took aim at Minister of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts & the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys, over the controversial issue of water charges being introduced for households in the Republic. All in all, Ireland did herself proud with her commemorations, and has set the bar high for what comes next.

1 Irish presidents, taoiseachs, ministers and many Irish dignitaries filled the viewing area outside the GPO. 2 Hats off to the food in Ireland. It was terrific everywhere I went. 3 A pub in Dublin decorated their windows, along with many other businesses in the city and around the country. 4 A band playing on a high stage at one of the many events scattered throughout Dublin.

fter 19 trips to Ireland, you might think I would be getting tired of it by now, but there is so much to see and do in this big little country that I see no problem in making another 19 trips if I can. I took these photographs in Cork City, Dingle, County Kerry, and Dublin. The icing on the cake was meeting one Adrian Carrie on Grafton Street. Adrian is a Dub, and he flies for Ryan Air. Adrian offered to fly me over Dublin in his small plane to get aerial shots of the city, and he did so at his own expense. I knew the people of Ireland were the real reason I have gone so many times, and this 20th trip over just solidified it. IA Cliff Carlson is the owner and publisher of The Irish American News based in Chicago. 38 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

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THE IRISH DIASPORA:

1916 EASTER RISING COMMEMORATIONS in North America, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand

NYC 1916 EVENTS

f the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, five traveled to New York to seek assistance from the longestablished republican Irish American community there, including Tom Clarke, who became an American citizen in Brooklyn in 1883, and John Connolly. Key figures in New York like Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa and John Devoy, Irish American organizations like Clan na Gael, and numerous Irish American newspapers in the city, including the Gaelic American, owned by Devoy and edited for a time by Clarke, remained fiercely determined to a free Ireland, sending money and arms in advance of the Rising and making the city a home away from home for Irish rebels. New York City paid homage to that history throughout 2016, hosting a total of 70 events to commemorate the Rising. The centenary year was officially launched in New York in January by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland Charlie Flanagan and Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson, and included such notables as New York Senator Chuck Schumer, author Colum McCann, Irish Tenor singer Anthony Kearns, chair of Culture Ireland Mary McCarthy, singer Maxine Linehan, and actor Liam Neeson at a community gathering at Pier A Harbor House in lower Manhattan, where an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation was displayed. In February, Lehman College’s Institute for Irish American Studies, CUNY held a symposium on Irish language literature and the history of Ireland, which combined bilingual readings, guest speakers, writing workshops, and social gatherings. Downtown, author Colum McCann hosted a night of poems by Irish and Irish American poets read by blockbuster Irish writers like Alice McDermott, Anne Enright, and Paul Muldoon, who debuted a new poem commissioned by NYU for the occasion. In April, NYU also hosted a major international conference, “Independent Spirit: America & the 1916 Easter Rising,” focusing on the trans-Atlantic context of the Rising with speakers like noted academics J.J. 40 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Lee, Terry Golway, Lucy McDiarmid, Miriam Nyhan, and Robert Schmuhl. Uptown, a commemorative centenary concert curated by Grammy-award winning composer Bill Whelan and Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Paul Muldoon featuring Liam Neeson, Colm Tóibín, Zadie Smith, Panti Bliss, Cassandra Wilson, and more, with an orchestral backing, was held at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The centerpiece of the year was the official Irish government centenary commemoration on April 24, the day the Rising began, at Battery Park. The event included a reading of the proclamation, the laying of a wreath, a minute’s silence, the raising of the Irish flag, and performances of the U.S. and Irish national anthems and a day-long celebration of Irish heritage with music, song and dance. The New York Public Library also played host to a commemorative event, “Poetry 100,” where poets, singers, and authors including Sinead Morrissey, Nick Laird, Iarla O Lionáird, Alvy Carragher, Ciaran Berry, and Fanny Howe explored one hundred years of Irish poetry since the Rising. On Staten Island too, this year’s Staten Island Irish Fair was dedicated to the lives lost in the 1916 Rising. Each year, the fair features traditional bagpipe bands, local Irish dance schools, special entertainment for young children, and local food and craft vendors. From April to August, the American Irish Historical Society hosted a landmark exhibition called “Her Exiled Children: 1916 Archive Exhibition,” which used it own archives to contextualize the American dimension of the Rising and tell the story from planning to aftermath of Easter Week 1916. In December, Irish historian and NYU professor Miriam Nyhan Grey launched Ireland’s Allies: America and the 1916 Easter Rising, a collection of essays from 24 scholars framing different aspects of the U.S. role in the Rising, at the Irish Consulate General in New York, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Consul General Barbara Jones, and historian J.J. Lee, who authored the forward and made one of the most enduring statements about U.S.-Ireland relations: “No America, no New York, no Easter Rising. Simple as that.” – A.F.

1 Minister for the Environment, Community, and Local Government Alan Kelly, TD, speaks at New York’s Pier A. 2 “1916-2016: Proclaiming the American Story,” a five-month exhibition housed at the Irish Consulate in New York. 3 Chris Cahill, executive director of the American Irish Historical Society, with AIHS librarian Georgette Keane at the "Her Exiled Children: 1916 Archives" exhibition last year. 4 New York Senator Chuck Schumer with Ambassador Anne Anderson, Minister Charlie Flanagan and Consul General Barbara Jones at Pier A. 5 Captain Peter Kelleher reads the Proclamation. 6 Colum McCann. 7 Senator Chuck Schumer launches the New York Rising commemorations in January. 8 Historians J.J. Lee and Miriam Nyhan Grey with Enda Kenny and Barbara Jones. 9 Minister Alan Kelly in April.

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Massachusetts COMMEMORATES 1916 IN 2016

By Michael Quinlin

n 2016, Massachusetts rose up to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising centennial, similar to how the state’s Irish community responded when Ireland’s most transformative episode unfolded a century ago. As in 1916, these commemorative activities took place in Boston, but also in the mill cities of Lawrence, Chicopee, Springfield and New Bedford, where Irish American communities were robust a century ago and remain relevant today. In February, Boston College hosted a standingroom-only forum at Gasson Hall with U.S. Congressman Richard Neal and Boston mayor Marty Walsh. Walsh recounted the influence the Easter Rising had on his immigrant parents from Connemara, who came to Boston in the 1950s. “Ireland’s long struggle for self-determination was not something we left behind, but a value we brought with us,” Walsh said. “The Easter Rising was an historical touchstone for that pride.” He mentioned union leader James Connolly, who temporarily lived in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, and Patrick Pearse, an Irish speaker who spent time in Rosmuc the village of Walsh’s mother, writing poetry and studying Irish. Congressman Neal also made local connections to Springfield, mentioning that Pearse had come to Springfield to raise money because of the strong presence of Clan na Gael in that city. The Ancient Order of Hibernians played a central role in 1916 when they advocated for Ireland and raised funds for relief of the Dublin families affected in the aftermath of the Rising. In Lawrence, Division 8 presented A Pictorial Exhibit of the 1916 Easter Rising, at Lawrence Heritage State Park, while Division 1 in Chicopee presented an exhibit, Of Terrible and Splendid Things, at Elms College. In April, the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton featured music and dance from Boston’s Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and the Irish Proclamation was read. Also in April, Senator Michael Rush invited Ireland’s Consul General 42 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Quinlan to the Massachusetts State House to reflect upon the Easter Rising. Her talk was followed by a reading of the Proclamation by Senate President Stan Rosenberg and other state senators. In May, Congressman Neal, Consul General Quinlan and local officials unveiled a Garden of Remembrance in Springfield to commemorate the Rising. Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sang the national anthems. “The rising in 1916 helped to create not only the modern Irish state but it was heavily influenced by the men and women who had settled in the city of Springfield and the surrounding communities,” Neal said. “Much of the financing that took place for the Rising occurred right here in Western Massachusetts.” In September the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston hosted a forum, “Ireland: Then & Now,” featuring former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahearn, along with Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, former MA Senate President Therese Murray, Boston College Professor Rob Savage, and Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen. Finally, in October, the New Bedford Whaling Museum launched a speaking series entitled “Famine, Friends & Fenians,” exploring the New Bedford-Irish connection from the 18th century through the Easter Rising in 1916. It featured Professor Catherine Shannon and author Peter Stevens.

1 MARCH 6-30, 2016: AOH Division 8, 1916 Photo Exhibit at Lawrence Heritage State Park. 2 FEBRUARY 22, 2016: Mayor Marty Walsh at Boston College.

3 APRIL 24, 2016: Jason McCool and Consul General Fionnoula Quinlan at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton. 4 APRIL 28: Consul General Quinlan spoke at the Massachusetts State House. 5 MAY 15: Ronan Tynan at the Garden of Remembrance ceremony. 6 Springfield Parks Executive Director Pat Sullivan, Ireland’s Consul General Fionnoula Quinlan, and U.S. Congressman Richard Neal at the Garden of Remembrance ceremony. 7 SEPTEMBER 27: Kevin Cullen and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

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By Cliodhna Joyce-Daly

Chicago

s the center for Irish immigration in the Midwest, Chicago has deep ties to Irish republicanism. For the past century and a half, the Irish have exerted their influence in the city through labor, government, and stockyard jobs. Prior to the Rising, John Devoy wrote for Chicago newspapers and held correspondences with key Irish figures in Chicago like Alexander Sullivan, a Canadian-born Irish nationalist and Chicago machine boss who was a fierce supporter of the dynamite terror campaigns in England. No surprise then that Chicago’s centenary celebrations were among the largest and most numerous in the country. The Consulate General of Ireland’s flagship event of the yearlong commemoration took place in June at the Chicago Cultural Center, in partnership with the Irish Fellowship, and the Irish Georgian Society, to host a cultural reception. Award-winning writer Turtle Bunbury delivered the keynote speech of the night. Bunbury, the author of the Rising history Easter Dawn, spoke on the long-term causes of the rebellion, highlighting personal stories of those involved, and Irish Americans’ critical role in its planning and execution. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel emphasized the “Irish community’s vital role in Chicago’s history, as well as the important relationship Chicago has with its sister city, Galway.” Earlier in the year, the Consulate collaborated with the University of Notre Dame for the gala premiere of the university’s landmark documentary, 1916 The Irish Rebellion, at the university in South Bend, Indiana. The documentary narrated by Liam Neeson, shares the untold story of Irish Americans’ role in the Rebellion and unseen footage filmed worldwide. The official launch of the companion book, published by the University of Notre Dame Press, was hosted at the Press Union League Club in Chicago following the premiere. To finish off the centennial year, the Consulate held an academic program making the Rising relevant to the Irish political landscape of today. The Southside Gaelic Park also celebrated 1916 with cultural movies, traditional festivals, music, and a “Living History” exhibit featuring school children dressed as Rising leaders and giving brief biographical performances. “I got the idea from my daughters Worth Wood Elementary School,” Colm Egan, Living History Exhibit Project leader and chairman of the Hurling 44 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Development Committee of the North American GAA, said. “Every year the children dress up as a historical American figure and have to give a short presentation on it. So I thought, why not apply that to the festivities this year?” Between James Connolly, Pádraig Pearse, and Helena Molony, the children embodied the nationalist fever of all the key Easter Rising characters, complete with period-appropriate outfits. (The event also spurred Puckane National School, Co. Tipperary, which is run by Colm’s brother Darragh, to partake in a similar performance.) “The costumes and presentations were spot on,” Colm said. “It was a wonderful event and it was well received by the Gaelic Park community.” Chicago continued the celebration with Cork City native, Paddy Homan, who commemorated 1916 with his own theatrical performance, “I Am Ireland” at Gaelic Park in March. The show illuminated the struggles and sacrifices of the Irish independence movement through stories, poetry, and song. “These stories and songs resonate with so many people, because it is a part of their history,” Homan said. He brought the show to Cork city last year, and this fall, he plans to bring the show on a national U.S. tour. The Irish American Heritage Center also marked the 100th anniversary of the Rising by hosting a Day of Remembrance, capped off with an evening musical tribute, “Songs of Freedom,” featuring the Chancey Brothers, the Dooley Brothers, and Catherine O’Connell, among others. And in October, the annual Irish Books, Arts, and Music Celebration brought the literary connections to the Rising to the fore with a weekend-long festival featuring music concerts, lectures, poetry readings and contests, panel discussions, theatre performances, and exhibitions on loan from Ireland.

RIGHT: The Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago on front steps reading the Proclamation at exactly 12:04 pm on April 24, 2016.

ABOVE: The crowd at the Irish American Heritage Center’s Commemoration. BELOW: Young adults who represented the various people who were instrumental in the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin.

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WASHINGTON

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ROBERT EMMET STATUE

n April, the Washington, D.C. statue of Robert Emmet, the first of its kind and the model for several identical copies by Irish sculptor Jerome Connor, was rededicated in a small park on Massachusetts Avenue, near the Irish Embassy and Irish Ambassador’s residence. The ceremony marked the concurrent centenaries of the Easter Rising, the formation of the National Park Service, and the creation of the first commemorative statue of Robert Emmet, which was cast in 1916.

KENNEDY CENTER – IRELAND 100

he national centerpiece of the Easter Rising centenary celebrations in the United States was “Ireland 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts and Culture,” a three-week festival held at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the Irish Embassy in May and June. The festival featured dozens of musical, theatrical, literary, culinary and dance acts and installations that spanned the breadth of Irish arts over the past century from a modern staging of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars, to a score of Tiny Plays for Ireland and America, to the ethereal sounds of the world’s largest string instrument, the Earth Harp. Actress Fiona Shaw served as the official artist-inresidency for the festival. The last week of the festival was largely dedicated to Ireland’s extremely strong literary tradition and featured fascinating panel discussions with Colm Tóibín, Eavan Boland, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Louis de Paor, Colum McCann, Paula Meehan, Siobhán Parkinson, capped off with “Muldoon’s Picnic,” a musical and literary revue hosted by New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon.

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1 Robert Emmet Park. Pictured (L-R): Captain Peter Kelleher, Ambassador Anne Anderson, NY State Representative Joseph Crowley, Robert Vogel of the National Parks Service, Smithsonian director Elizabeth Broun, Irish American Unity Conference president Thomas J. Burke, and national AOH president Brendan Moore. 2 Actress Fiona Shaw. 3 Dancers celebrate JFK’s 100th year at Ireland 100. 4 Joe Biden and Enda Kenny open Ireland 100. 5 Inside the orchestra concert at Ireland 100.

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WEST COAST 1916 EVENTS

he centerpiece of 1916 centenary events on the west coast was a unique and original concert held at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, in the city’s historic Nob Hill neighborhood. The concert, “Ireland’s Poet Patriots: A Musical Tribute,” was composed by American Richard Evans and endeavored to bring to life the works of 12 of Ireland’s great writers, including Robert Emmet, W.B. Yeats, Ella Young, Peadar Kearney, Maud Gonne, and Pádraig Pearse. The performance combined original compositions and traditional Irish music, including two sean-nós musicians from Ireland, as well as featuring three classical vocalists, 25 mixed voices, a 28-piece concert orchestra with harp, and a traditional Irish ensemble. “It is a narrative, a musical storytelling and a reflection on an ongoing developing story and a question of, ‘What is it that we identify with, what is it that is sacred about our past?’” Consul General of Ireland in San Francisco said of the concert. “The performance was deeply touching, and fundamentally the centerpiece of what our community wanted to do and wanted to say around the very special events it was commemorating.” The 13th annual Irish American Crossroads Festival also took over San Francisco in April, this year 1 presenting 14 cultural events and four directly tied to the Easter Rising, including an Irish American historical walking tour of the Mission District, a former working class Irish enclave, co-sponsored with the organization Shaping San Francisco. Elsewhere on the west coast, the Irish American Bar Association in Los Angeles held a commemoration in Long Beach with Regional Bishop David G. O’Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and M. Finbar Hill, Honorary Consul General of Ireland. The Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library in Phoenix, AZ also hosted a number of commemorative events, including a lecture series, a multimedia musical presentation, literary discussions, and an exhibition called “Remembering the Easter Rising,” which has been extended to run through June 2017. The University of California in Berkeley also held a conference within their Celtic studies department to mark the centenary of the Rising. In the Pacific Northwest, Seattle’s Antioch University hosted a weekend event with academic lectures, art installation, traditional Irish music, dance and culture with mayor Ed Murray. And in Portland, OR, the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernian held a special event that explored the city’s unique connection to the rebellion and featured readings from actors and actresses from Portland’s acclaimed Corrib Irish Theatre. – A.F.

WEST COAST

1 SAN FRANSISCO: Irish soloists, Trad ensemble, orchestra, chorus in Grace Cathedral. 2 Irish soloists Christy O'Leary and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. 3 SEATTLE: Mayor Ed Murray, third from left, attends Antioch University's Easter Rising commemoration in Seattle with members of the city's Irish community. 4 PHOENIX: Consul General Philip Grant, ICLF Treasurer Norman McClelland, and ICLF President Paul Ahern at the 1916 Commemoration Exhibit Grand Opening in October of 2015. IRISH AMERICA 47

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The Willis Clan from Nashville

COLORADO In Denver, the AOH/LAOH organized a celebration inviting members of the Irish community. Irish-Americans, Irish ex-pats, and friends of Ireland were represented by the Colorado Emerald Society, Irish Network Colorado, Michael Collins Pipes and Drums, Celtic Friends, Dr. James Walsh, Dennis Gallagher, and Séamus Blaney. Pictured are local AOH president Jeff Rodenberg and Ken Hannon Larson, editor of Teach Tábhairne Fógra.

ATLANTA,

March 6, 2016:

1916 Centenary Concert – A Celebration of Irish Culture.

KANSAS

osted by the Consulate in Atlanta and headlined by The Willis Clan from Nashville and Irish musician John Doyle, this concert program at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts on 6 March also included poetry from Yeats, Pearse and Tom Kettle arranged by Professor James Flannery and an excerpt from We Have Risen, an original 1916 performance commissioned by Consulate.

The Kansas City Irish Center hosted their annual Fulbright Language Immersion Weekend from April 8 through April 10 with particular focus on remembering the Rising. The center held Irish language classes for beginners and intermediate speakers.

ABOVE TOP: Consul General of Ireland in Atlanta Shane Stephens speaks at the Atlanta Centenary Concert ABOVE BELOW: Professor James Flannery.

TEXAS RIGHT: On March 12, Macnas, an internationally acclaimed Irish performance and spectacle company based in the West of Ireland, presents a highoctane, visually stunning series performances during the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Part of Culture Ireland’s “I Am Ireland” program.

FAR RIGHT: Consul General Adrian Farrell, center, commemorated the 1916 Easter Rising with the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Austin at St. Mary’s Cathedral. It was an event of song, story, and dance with special appearances from Austin’s Inishfree Irish Dancers and Irish Consul General Adrian Farrell. Presented in conjunction with the Celtic Cultural Center of Texas and the Consulate of Ireland in Austin.

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LEFT: At Baylor University, Professor Roy Foster (center left), W.B. Yeats’ official biographer, Oxford lecturer and Irish historian, spoke with award-winning Irish novelist, poet and playwright Sebastian Barry (center right).

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NEW ORLEANS

The Ancient Order of Hibernians of Louisiana, in partnership with the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Club, the Law Enforcement Emerald Society of Metropolitan New Orleans, and the New Orleans Gaelic Sports Club, commemorated the Easter Rising at the nationally landmarked St. Alphonsus Church (right) in the city’s Garden District in April. The church was built in 1857 to serve the Irish Catholic community in the Lower Garden District when the neighborhood was predominantly Catholic – there were also Frenchspeaking and German-speaking churches built at the same time. The church was deconsecrated in 1979 and today serves as the St. Alphonsus Art and Cultural Center.

NOTRE DAME

PHILADELPHIA

ore than 1,000 people turned out in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in April to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising in a city where a full fifth of the population claims Irish ancestry. The ceremony included pipe and drum bands, a flag raising, a keynote speech by Tyrone native Patsy Kelly, who pointed out that many Irish rebels might have descendants in the audience. He was right; among those also in attendance was Kevin Kent, chair of the Irish American Business Chamber in Philadelphia and a distant relative of Eamonn Ceannt, one of the signatories of the Proclamation. The success and size of the centenary celebrations in the city showed that it “has always had a strong Irish American community,” Kent told Philly.com. At the city’s Irish Center, tribute was paid to Philadelphia’s Irish links, including Joseph McGarrity, a Tyrone native who became a successful businessman in the city, became a leader of Clan na Gael, and helped raise arms for Irish rebels. His portrait was unveiled in a ceremony in March. McGarrity’s archives are held at Villanova University, where the ground floor of the Falvey Library there was given over to a months-long exhibit, “To Strike for Freedom: The 1916 Easter Rising,” that included McGarrity’s personal papers and an original copy of the Proclamation. – A.F.

BELOW TOP: Patsy Kelly speaks at the Philadelphia Easter Rising Centenary commemoration at Independence Hall. BELOW BOTTOM: Ruane Manning's portrait of Joe McGarrity with McGarrity's granddaughters.

SAVANNAH

March 3, 2016; The Gala Premiere of the documentary 1916: The Irish Rebellion at the Leighton Concert Hall in the De-Bartolo Performing Arts Center in Notre Dame, IN. TOP: Producer Bríona Nic Dhiarmada speaks at the Gala Premiere of the Notre Dame Documentary. LEFT: Rev. John I. Jenkins with Liam Neeson at the Notre Dame Gala Premiere of 1916: The Irish Rebellion March 3, 2016.

MARCH 16, 2016: Sgt. William Jasper Military Ceremony At this annual St. Patrick’s Day ceremony, Minister Paul Kehoe TD, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Departments of An Taoiseach and Defense, introduced keynote speaker, Lt. Damien O’Herlihy, a reservist from Irish Defense Forces who provided an excellent account of the history of the Defense Forces dating back to 1916.

PHOTO: PAUL CAMP

OCTOBER 22, 2016: Emmet Park Bench Dedication Ceremony Monsignor William Oliver O’Neill sprinkles holy water during the dedication ceremony for newly installed Irish limestone benches in Savannah’s Emmet Park. Numerous Irish organizations in Savannah and the Consulate General of Ireland supported this 1916 centenary project led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 49

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CANADA COMMEMORATES

IRISH REBELLION W

Throughout our neighbor to the north, scholars, statesmen, and citizens reframe 1916 for modern times. By John Kernaghan

hat Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada Ray Bassett had in mind when he outlined 1916 Easter Rising commemorations in 2016 was sea-to-sea participation. And that’s what unfolded, scores of examples playing out from Halifax to Vancouver. He said, “the commemoration of 1916 does not belong to any group, individual or even the Irish State. It is part of our common heritage. Therefore here in Canada, I am seeking to promote the widest community participation.” Bassett noted writer Brendan Behan “is credited often with the observation that the first item on the agenda of any Irish organization is ‘The Split.’ To prove that wrong, I would ask that we have an inclusive, historically accurate and wholehearted commemoration of an event which has shaped our country and provided inspiration for many other countries who wished to regain their independence.” The embassy launched a year of remembrance with Canada, the Irish Language, and the Easter Uprising 1916: A Commemoratory Conference at the residence of the ambassador of Ireland in Ottawa. One of the most ambitious programs over the year was by Concordia University’s School of Irish Studies – Reframing 1916: History and Legacies of the Easter Rising. The September 21 event in Montreal, in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame’s KeoughNaughton Institute, offered an in-depth look at one of the key turning points in Irish history. It included a day of public events to mark the 100th anniversary of Ireland’s famed 1916 Easter Rising. Gavin Foster, an associate professor of modern Irish history at Concordia and the event’s organizer, noted, “Although the rebels suffered initial defeat, they set into motion a revolutionary process that ultimately produced an independent Ireland.” The day’s events included a morning symposium featuring Irish historian and author Brian Hanley, plus speakers and panelists representing Irish Studies from both Concordia and Notre Dame. The main event was a free public showing of the landmark documentary, 1916: The Irish Rebellion, followed by a panel discussion with the film’s writer and producer, Notre Dame professor Bríona Nic Dhiarmada. “We aimed to present this pivotal historical event to a broad audience in an accessible manner that is both serious and informative, but also highly visual and evocative,” said Nic Dhiarmada.

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“The 1916 Irish Rising is not only an event with historical and current ramifications, it is also a story of real men and women who participated in or witnessed epoch-making events. This is a specific story, but one with universal echoes. It is a story of heroism and of cowardice, of mercy and of cruelty, of victory and of defeat.” A Concordia statement noted, “in a centenary year marked by hundreds of Easter Rising commemorations, conferences, publications and other initiatives in Ireland and throughout the worldwide Irish diaspora, the feature-length film stands out for its rare footage of the uprising, and the large cast of researchers and archivists who were interviewed.” “It’s fitting that Concordia and Notre Dame, the premier centers of Irish Studies in Canada and in the U.S. respectively, are working together to remember and reconsider the Easter Rising,” Foster observed. “The goal of Reframing 1916 is to capture the imagination of the wider Concordia community and

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LEFT: Back row (L-R): Mike Rast, Gavin Foster, Brian Hanley, Christopher Fox, Michael Kenneally (Principal, School of Irish Studies, Concordia University). Front row (L-R): Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, Pamela McGovern (Chair, Canadian Irish Studies Foundation).

FAR LEFT and LEFT: Photos from the School of Irish Studies at Concordia University in Montreal of the “Reframing 1916: History and Legacies of the Easter Rising” symposium and documentary screening of 1916: The Irish Rebellion.

Montrealers of all backgrounds, while promoting rigorous debate and discussion of this pivotal event’s complex history and legacies.” A sample of the kinds of events across Canada in 2016 included: MARCH 26 — Irish Canadian Club, Hamilton presents Out of the Foggy Dew: Rebel Voices of 1916. MARCH 31 — Sile de Valera, granddaughter of Eamon de Valera, will give the Eleventh Annual St. Patrick’s Society Lecture in Irish Studies at Concordia. APRIL 3 — An Cumann, the Irish Association of Nova Scotia, Saint Mary’s University Irish Studies Program, and Dalhousie University Centre for European Studies present Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising. 1916 silent footage with musical accompaniment. APRIL 7 — Irish Women’s Network BC and Simon Fraser University: Talk by Dr. Mary McAuliffe, University College Dublin, on Realists and Idealists:

Women of the Easter Rising, 1916. APRIL 23 — Irish Canadian Cultural Association of New Brunswick, Moncton Chapter: 1916 Commemoration featuring a talk by Dr. Stewart Donovan of St. Thomas University. APRIL 26 — An illustrated public talk: Prof. Greg Marquis, Department of History and Politics, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, “The 1916 Irish Easter Rising and New Brunswick,” hosted by the New Brunswick Historical Society. MAY 1 — Commemoration of 1916 hosted by Celtic Folk Night Group – music, songs, poems, readings of the period – in Heart and Crown snug, Ottawa. MAY 21 — Friends of Sinn Féin (Canada) Inc. presents 1916 Rising Centenary Concert with The Wolfe Tones, The Estonian House, Toronto. MAY 27 — 1916 Commemoration Concert, Musicians of the World Symphony Orchestra, Montreal. Supported with a grant from the Embassy of Ireland. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 51

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FOUR CORNERS

OF THE RISING CENTENARY ARGENTINA

rish migration to Argentina in the 19th century led to the creation in the early years of the 20th century of a strong Irish-Argentine community, with its own institutions and newspaper The Southern Cross. The Easter Rising of 1916 evoked significant interest among the Irish community both in Buenos Aires and in other parts of the country where the Irish had settled. William Bulfin, the editor and proprietor from the mid-1890s of The Southern Cross kept his readers well informed about major cultural and political developments in Ireland. His son, Eamon, who was born in Buenos Aires in 1892, played a significant role in the Rising, hoisting the flag of the Republic on the roof of the GPO. Eamon Bulfin was later condemned to death, a sentence that was commuted owing to his birth in Argentina. Following the election of the first Dáil in December 1918, it was decided in Dublin to establish a diplomatic mission in Buenos Aires and Bulfin was sent as the first Envoy. For the Irish-Argentine community in Buenos Aires and the surrounding pampas, March and April of 2016 were filled with events celebrating Ireland’s ties to Argentina, with the main event titled, simply, “Buenos Aires Celebra Ireland,” Buenos Aires Celebrates Ireland. Among the notable events, the Argentinean Navy Band marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time (The Argentine Navy was founded by Mayo-born William Brown), and the Hurling Club of Buenos Aires put on a day of activities and an evening concert.

TOP: Actors from the cast of Easter Rising, Dublin 1916, which was performed in Buenos Aires. TOP RIGHT: The Spanish Monument in Buenos Aires, raised in 1910 for the centennial of Argentina’s Revolution of May, illuminated green for Ireland’s own centenary. ABOVE: Irish Ambassador Justin Harman with members of the Irish community in Suipacha, a town in the Pampas region of Argentina. BELOW LEFT: The Hurling festival took place March 19, 2016 with approximately 2.000 in attendance. It lasted all the day, beginning with sports exhibitions and games, a lunch, and the musical festival.

PHOTOS COURTESY GUILLERMO MACLOUGHLIN / THE SOUTHERN CROSS

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ABOVE: Marching in the Buenos Aires St. Patrick's Day Parade (left to right): Valeria Ruggiero, Jorge Mackey, Irish Ambassador to Argentina Justin Harman, and his wife, Carmen Casey, who met when Harmas was First Secretary of the local Embassy in the 1970s. BELOW: The Argentine Navy Band present for the first time during the program for Buenos Aires Celebrates Ireland.

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n June 16, the Consul General hosted a reception at the Sydney Film Festival to mark the “Focus on Ireland – From Rebels to New Romantics” short film season at the Festival. The season was supported by Culture Ireland and Tourism Ireland and curated by Gráinne Humphreys, director of the Dublin International Film Festival. The season included Sing Street, The Queen of Ireland, Viva, Atlantic, and Michael Collins. One other notable in Australia was “Women, Dreamers, and Ireland’s Rising,” organized by the Irish Consulate in Sydney and the Irish National Association of Australasia. The event celebrated the poets, playwrights, musicians and dreamers – many of them women – who paved the way for an Irish Republic by inspiring, taking part in or responding to the 1916 armed insurrection against British rule in Ireland. Elsewhere on the continent, cities commemorated the Rising throughout the year with concerts, lectures, and dedications to the history of the Irish in Australia.

SYDNEY: Director Conor Horgan and Panti Bliss, “The Queen of Ireland,” pictured alongside Ambassador Noel White at the Sydney Film Festival Hub.

PHOTO: WA REMEMBERS EASTER 1916

NEW ZEALAND

LONDON

PHOTO: EMILE HOLBA

everal cities across New Zealand held Easter Rising centenary events, including Wellington, Auckland, and Dunedin, where an academic conference, “‘Yet No Clear Fact To Be Discerned’: New Zealand’s Response to the Rising,” saw scholars from the University of Otago, New Zealand’s Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies, and the Toitu Settlers Museum come to share the untold story of New Zealand’s involvement in the Rising. In Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, the Wellington Irish Society, which traces its history back to 1939, hosted a special exhibition on the Rising. And in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, the month of April was dedicated to the centenary. The Auckland Irish Society hosted lectures, musical evenings, a “Great Debate on the Easter Rising,” at the Auckland Irish Club, and a capstone event on April 24, the day of the Rising, during which copies of the Proclamation were given out to all attendees (pictured above). “We had such a good response to our Commemorative Events that we are organizing more events to look at other important Irish historical events [this year],” Bridie Murphy of the Auckland Irish Society told Irish America. “There seems to be a renewed interest in our history these days.” – A.F.

MELBOURNE: Breandán Ó Caollaí, Irish Ambassador to Australia, and his wife Carmel, visited the Celtic Club in Melbourne in October at an event commemorating the Easter Rising. The Celtic Club is the oldest Irish club in Australia. PERTH: On Easter Week, 2016, the Perth Chamber Orchestra, led by Paul Wright, commemorated the Centenary of the Easter Rising with a Centenary concert at the GPO Building in Perth. The concert combined traditional Irish music with classical numbers to tell the story of the Rising.

London’s “Imaging Ireland” concert took place April 29 at the Royal Festival Hall. Produced by the National Concert Hall in Dublin in association with Serious Music in London, the concert was London’s response to the “Imagining Home” concert series at the Dublin’s National Concert Hall, a musical conversation between Ireland and England through the music of the past 100 years. Among those in attendance at the sold out show were Irish President Michael D. Higgins and his wife, Sabina.

PHOTO: MARTIN BURTON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE CELTIC CLUB

AUSTRALIA

The Embassy of Ireland in London hosted an “Inspiring Ireland” 1916 Collection Day which was attended by over 200 people. In total, 17 contributors came from across the U.K., and the event collected and digitized over 40 unique objects for sharing in upcoming exhibitions, including medals, political pamphlets, photos and even a Celtic kilt pin worn by a member of a pipe band. IRISH AMERICA 53

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PHOTO: MAXWELLS DUBLIN GOVERNMENT HANDOUT

Last year, Captain Peter Kelleher read the Proclamation in front of Dublin’s General Post Office, just as Pádraig Pearse had done April 24, 1916, and the ensuing photographs became the face of Ireland’s commemorations around the world. By Adam Farley

The Face of

THE RISING

n the morning of March 27th, 2016, Captain Peter Kelleher, of the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Irish Defense Forces in Dundalk, left his home in County Louth early and repeated the 514 words of the 1916 Proclamation to himself on the way into Dublin, “like a mantra,” he says. “I was quite nervous that morning, but, as I had practiced so often and delivered it so many times, felt enough had been done to mitigate against any major problem.” He was due to read the proclamation at noon sharp. That morning, Easter Sunday, an estimated 250,000 people turned out in the streets of Dublin’s city center, according to Gardaí figures, for the showcase event of Ireland’s Easter Rising centenary – a military parade past the GPO. It was, he says,

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a “daunting time.” “Just before delivery listening for my cue, I almost went into auto pilot. I fully soaked up the atmosphere and could feel the energy but did not feel nervous at that exact point. During the reading the silence all around was palpable. When I finished the names of the signatories, rolled up the parchment and saluted there was a spontaneous applause. That was immense, it was such a significant moment and as it was such a long document. And, taking over four minutes to read out there was potential for mishap. My father in law, who was watching at home, said he was willing me to look down during the reading and praying that I wouldn’t go wrong which thankfully I didn’t.” Captain Kelleher was selected for the role by army senior staff following a thorough application and au-

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dition process that began in January of last year. Kelleher says he hadn’t considered applying until a friend urged him to do so, suggesting his image and voice were in line with what was needed for the reading. While Kelleher, whose accent and affability unequivocally betray his Cork roots, doesn’t have any direct ancestral ties to the Rising itself, he does have militant republican forbears who were directly involved in the War of Independence in Cork, a hotbed of rebel activity during the war. “My grandfather, also Peter Kelleher, was a member of the 1st Brigade of the Irish Republican Army in Cork during the War of Independence and my granduncle on my grandmother’s side, Pat Collins, was wounded by the Black and Tans and later died as a result,” he says. Though his father, who died when Kelleher was young, was somewhat of a detractor with respect to the Irish army, Kelleher enlisted as a private in 1999, hoping to, as he puts it, “get that sense of adventure and get a bit of travel in.” Now 36, Kelleher earned his cadetship in 2002, previously served with the 1st Infantry Battalion and 4th Artillery Regiment, and has been deployed overseas to both Lebanon, with Force HQ, and Chad, where he and his wife Orlaith had their first son, Senan. (They have since had two more boys, Liam and Shea.) Growing up in Douglas, Co. Cork (a suburb of Cork city), Kelleher had a friend with the Proclamation on his bedroom wall, and, like most people in Ireland, encountered it throughout his childhood. “It’s a very instantly recognizable almost brand in Ireland. You’d see it in certain areas around the country. You’d see it straight away. It’s a very recognizable typeset and print,” he says. He was also quick to point out that he’d be remiss to say he was overly familiar with it. “I knew what it said, I had read it a few times, but I was not very fluent in it and I probably couldn’t even have quoted much from it in advance.” So, preparing for the day, he understood the weight of the text and the importance of his duty. “I was delighted, yet somewhat daunted by the prospect when I learned I had been selected. I knew for sure about three weeks before the parade that I had been selected so got practicing in earnest from then. I practiced constantly as I knew I had to do the document justice and keenly felt that responsibility. I repeated it so often at home that my two older boys, Senan and Liam, can now almost recite it too. “The document itself was such a powerful progressive text, and indeed the language on it would be seen as somewhat archaic now. And with the type of language that it is, it was tricky, and there were stumbling blocks that had to be ironed out well in advance.” Speaking of the text itself once he started to memorize it, Kelleher came to appreciate the “concept of freedom and destiny and being able to decide things

for ourselves as a nation.” “It’s powerful language. I actually particularly like the opening line – ‘Irish men and Irish Women, in the name of God and of the dead generations’ – it’s a powerful opening phrase and it really sets the tone for the document,” he says. “And you know, you hear these arguments saying that they weren’t elected representatives, but these people were poets and dreamers, and that’s reflected in the language of the text itself. [They aspired] to something greater for Ireland, and the fact that they took up arms to do it, I think the whole document has a lot of resonance in it. It’s a very strong language. The mandate, they had the mandate from earlier elections.” He knew that the document and the signatories were important before reading it on the day, but it was only afterwards that he grasped just how significant the words were. “The feedback was universally positive and I was very grateful for that. I was reading a lot of the comments back on social media, and what I was surprised at was the depth of emotion that it awoke in people,” he says. Shortly after the Dublin commemorations on Easter weekend, Kelleher was approached by the New York Consulate General to read the Proclamation on April 24 at Battery Park, 100 years to the day after the Rising, and by the Irish Embassy in Washington, D.C. to recite it for the rededication of Robert Emmet Park near the Irish Embassy. Naturally, he obliged both requests. When asked how it made him feel to be the face of Ireland’s Rising commemorations, he first laughed it off, telling Irish America that his “colleagues would find it hilarious [that I’m being called] face of the commemorations.” But he recognizes that the image isn’t about his face or even his individual identity, but rather, “that strong sense of duty to the nation.” “I was happy enough that the image was used,” he says. “I thought it was quite a good image and it projected a good image of the Defense Forces, and of Ireland in 2016 in the commemorations. I thought the photo itself was quite good, so I was pleased with how the photo came out. “As for any feelings I have towards my photo being used in particular, I was just happy that it seemed to project a positive message, and it was IA well received.”

PHOTO: MAXWELLS DUBLIN GOVERNMENT HANDOUT

PHOTO: MARTY KATZ

PHOTO: JAMES HIGGINS

OPPOSITE: Captain Peter Kelleher from the 27th Infantry Battalion, Irish Defense Forces, reads the Proclamation at the GPO, O’Connell Street, Dublin, March 27, 2016. ABOVE, TOP to BOTTOM: General View of the flyover at the Easter Sunday Commemoration Ceremony and Parade from O’Connell Street, Dublin, March 27, 2016. At Battery Park in New York City, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, April 24, 2016. At Robert Emmet Park, Washington, D.C., April 27, 2016.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 55

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IRELAND REMEMBERS 1916 CENTENARY COMMEMORATIONS: DUBLIN “Let us revive the best of the promise of 1916, so that those coming generations might experience freedom in the full sense of the term – freedom from poverty, freedom from violence and insecurity, and freedom from fear.”

n Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, nearly 4,000 members of the Irish Defense Forces, emergency service workers, and veterans (including those who had served in Ireland’s U.N. peacekeeping missions) paraded in full uniform ahead of military transport vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and mobile artillery pieces in the largest parade ever held in Dublin to commemorate the centenary of Ireland’s Easter Rising. For a rebellion that left an estimated 485 people dead (more than half of whom were civilians), the Irish government’s commemoration of its events sought to highlight the bridges built in the century since, particularly focusing on the success of the Northern Irish peace process. Speaking at the GPO, Taoiseach Enda Kenny directly offered a transnational hand, saying it was “important that we bear witness this centenary year to all those who gave their lives during Easter 1916,” referencing not only Irish rebels, but the Irish and British soldiers who fought against them, many of whom were on leave from the war. Before the reading of the Proclamation by Captain Peter Kelleher, Fr. Séamus Madigan, Defense Forces head 56 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

– President Michael D. Higgins

chaplain, offered a prayer of remembrance for “all those who have suffered in the Troubles of the past century, and we hope for peace and reconciliation in the century that stretches before us.” “Together, on this island, we have achieved a new peace. We cherish that peace, as we cherish all of the children of this island equally,” he said. President Michael D. Higgins laid a wreath a the GPO with relatives of Rising combatants, and observed a moment of silence during which, the Guardian reported, the “only noise was the creaking of the flagpole in the wind atop the spot generations of Irish citizens regard as sacred, and the flapping wings of a pigeon flying from the GPO to the other side of O’Connell Street.” Gardaí estimates put those in attendance along the parade’s 2.8-mile route at 250,000, with more than a million people tuning in to the live RTÉ broadcast of the day’s events. Other events during Easter Weekend included laying wreaths at Glasnevin Cemetery, Kilmainham Gaol, and each of the seven Rising battle sites in Dublin, in addition to more than 500 debates, talks, exhibitions, film screenings, and dramatic reenactments on Easter Monday. – A.F.

1 A sampling of coverage from Ireland’s newspapers. 2 President Michael D. Higgins laying a wreath at the Easter Sunday wreathlaying ceremony in Kilmainham Jail. The ceremony took place in the stone breakers yard on the site where the 1916 leaders were executed. 3 Irish Great War Society, as they acted out some scenes from the rising in Smithfield, Easter Monday. 4 Eamon Heffernan (8) from Limerick touches a bullet hole in the GPO. 5 Ms. Moira Schlindwein (nee Reid), whose father fought in 1916 in the GPO, pictured awaiting the parade at the GPO, O’Connell Street. 6 Joseph Dalton (11), Chaya Smith (10), Aileen Mooney (13), Yasmin Suomalainen (11), Oisin Mooney (9), and Michael Durkin (9), who performed in the Reflecting the Rising event in St. Stephens Green Easter Monday.

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7 7 Lily Ann Forbes (6) from Sandymount, Co. Dublin, from the National Performing Arts School, as part of the Reflecting the Rising event performed a short piece entitled We Could be Heroes in the Mansion House, Easter Monday. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 57

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1 2

1 The wreath-laying ceremony, Sunday, March 27, at Glasnevin Cemetery. 2 A scene from the National Performing Arts School’s performance of We Could Be Heroes in the Mansion House, Easter Monday. 3 Lt. Shannon presents a copy of the Irish declaration of independence and an Irish flag to Conor and Kyla McDonagh in Cornanool National School in Co. Mayo on Monday morning as part of the 2016 Flags For Schools program. Also pictured is school principal Ann O'Hara.

4 ABOVE: Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan and Arts Minister Heather Humphreys view roll books from 1891 with the names of pupils Padraig and Willie Pearse at CBS Westland Row. Also pictured are principal Kate Byrne and pupils Chloe Ellison, Jabe Kelly and Abby Kelly. 58 IRISH AMERICA

4 Dancing scenes at the Ceili Mór on Earlsfort Terrace as part of Reflecting the Rising celebrations on Easter Monday. 5 Columba Tierney Graigue from Kilkenny (holding gun) with her comrades at Reflecting the Rising (in partnership with Ireland 2016) at O’Connell Street, Dublin. It was the biggest public history and cultural event ever staged in Ireland and is a free family event.

PHOTOS: MAXWELLS

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Commemorations

BEYOND THE PALE The main Easter commemorations were in Dublin where most of the action happened on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, but the Rising left deep scars on those beyond the Pale of Dublin. There were hundreds of commemorations in small towns, and villages, across Ireland, in Donegal, Longford, and Tipperary, and cities such as Cork and Belfast.

BELFAST

PHOTO: BELFAST TELEGRAPH

ABOVE: Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness with actors in period costume at the 1916 Easter Rising event in Clifton House, Belfast, including Bartle Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Arcy (left), who is helping organize the centenary plans.

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RIGHT: Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilan pictured with James Connolly Heron, the Great Grandson of James Connolly at the unveiling of a statue to him in west Belfast.

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KILDARE

ABOVE: Maynooth 15 re-enactment walk from Maynooth to The Garden of Remembrance, 23 April 2016, commemorating the walk by 15 Volunteers in 1916 from Maynooth to the GPO.

LEFT: Unveiling the statue of John Devoy in Kildare. Pictured are Mayor of Kildare, Cllr. Brendan Weld (left) and U.S. Ambassador, Kevin O’Malley (right). October 25, 2015.

DONEGAL

PHOTO: MICHAEL COOPER

The annual Tír Chonaill Stone Festival includes dry stone wall workshops and stone, carving workshops, as well as talks and tours of local stone heritage. This being the centenary year, the festival committee, with support from the Donegal County Council Community Commemorative Grant Scheme and other funders, unveiled a special collaborative sculpture entitled Clocha na hÉireann, which was in the making for twelve months. The collaborative work, a wall map of Ireland, incorporates stone from the 32 counties and the work of stone masons all over Ireland. The unveiling ceremony, which was held on June 18, 2016 in Glencolmcille, County Donegal, drew a crowd of 800 people despite damp conditions. The talk on local volunteer Donnchada MacNiallghuis was at full capacity, recorded for future release.

ABOVE: Children from Illistrin National School receive copies of County Donegal in 1916: From the Edge, History and Heritage Education Pack, February 2016. RIGHT: The collaborative wall map sculpture of Ireland in Glencolmcille, Donegal, showcasing the all-Ireland collaborative approach to planning, creating, and completing this ambitious project. The sculpture is clearly visible, being located in a parking area & viewpoint, and many visitors are specifically making Glencolmcille a destination in order to see it. It will stand the test of time and is a fitting contribution to the legacy of the 1916 commemorations. February / MarCh 2017 IRISH AMERICA 61

PHOTO: EILEEN BURGESS

Tír Chonaill STone FeSTival

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KERRY RIGHT: Pictured at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2016 in Ballymahon, County Longford. FAR RIGHT: Enjoying the parade. RIGHT: Kiernan’s car with Eamon Creamer. This car once belonged to Larry Kiernan, brother of Kitty Kiernan – the fiancée of Michael Collins, and would have transported Collins around the Granard area on his visits to meet Kitty.

ABOVE: “As down the glen one Easter morn” – Michael Leane, Conor Leane and neighbor Lori O’Connor of Coolroe, MacGillycuddy’s Reeks. The Leane brothers have connections to the 1916 Rising on both maternal and paternal sides of the family. Their great-great-grandparents were Pat and Mary Plunkett from 16 Moore Street in Dublin City. It was in their house, the final headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising, that the surrender note was written on the back of the Plunkett’s wedding photograph. Their bed linen was used to wrap a wounded James Connolly before his execution and later handed back to the family by Cumann na mBan. On the other side, their great-great-grandparents and uncles Davy “Garret” Leane, Michael “Mackey” Leane, a bomb engineer based in Waterford, and Patrick “Higgins” Leane, who was first Magistrate in Beaufort, fought bravely in the War of Independence, receiving medals for their actions, which included hiding out for five days in “Die Hards Den” in the Hags Glen.

CORK MACROOM: Over 1,000 people paraded together in Macroom, County Cork, to commemorate the centenary of Easter Sunday 1916.

1 Reading of Proclamation at unveiling of plaque by Durlas Eile Eliogarty Committee at St. Mary’s Garden. 2 Muriel MaCauley, grand-daughter of Thomas MacDonagh, with her daughter Michelle Drysdale and grandson Matthew Drysdale at the unveiling of the Thomas MacDonagh statue in Cloughjordan in May. 3 Sinead McCoole talks to students from the Gaelscoil in Nenagh about the Mna1916: Women 1916 exhibition in the Nenagh Civic Offices in December. 4 Parade to St. Marys Memorial Garden, Thurles.

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LONGFORD PHOTO: SHELLEY CORCORAN

PHOTOS: MICHELLE GHEE

TIPPERARY

PHOTO: LOUISE JOYCE

ABOVE: Jed Walsh and Una de Paor standing with their portraits taken for the “1916 Descendents” project by Damian Drohan.

PHOTO JOHN WORTH

PHOTO: JOHN WORTH

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WEXFORD

PHOTO: PATRICK BROWNE

RIGHT: Marie and Jim Wilkinson, from the Enniscorthy Reenactment Society, during last year’s commemorations in Enniscorthy on Easter Monday, March 28, 2016.

PHOTO: MARY BROWNE

TOP: Irish Defense Forces passing by Enniscorthy Castle, in the shadow of Vinegar Hill, the location of the decisive battle of the Rebellion of 1798. ABOVE: Reenactors John Goff and Ray Murphy at Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford where the Athenaeum was officially re-opened. The Athenaeum played a highly prominent role during the 1916 Easter Rising in County Wexford, when it was occupied the Irish Volunteers in support of the Dublin Rising. ABOVE LEFT (Center): Rosie and Emily Murphy from Enniscorthy. LEFT: Raising of the Patriot’s flag in Enniscorthy, April 27, 2016. BELOW LEFT: Enniscorthy reenactors are inspected by John Grey during the commemorative events.

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PHOTO: PATRICK BROWNE

BELOW: The reading of the Proclamation in Enniscorthy, Easter Monday, 2016.

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THE RISING The soaring oratory of the Easter Rising Proclamation – “In this supreme hour the Irish nation must . . . prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called” – was followed by seven long years of desperate deal-making, retribution and bloodshed. Only then did the Irish find themselves on the path to freedom.

he fallout from the Rising did not end when all seven of the Proclamation’s signatories, and others, were executed by the British within weeks of Easter 1916. Hundreds more were arrested and martial law took hold across much of Ireland. The mass arrests – following the outcry over the executions of Rising leaders – fanned a growing nationalist sentiment in Ireland. “The clang of prison doors on the everincreasing numbers of young rebels... failed to drown the defiantly swelling chorus of ‘Up the Republic,’” Tim Pat Coogan writes in The IRA: A History. By June of 1917, there was a general amnesty – so as to create what British authorities called “a favorable atmosphere” for peace negotiations – and the vast majority of remaining detainees returned home. Unintentionally, however, the prisoner release also seemed to create a new boldness among Irish nationalists. The prisoners were greeted by frenzied crowds in Dublin, while across the country, armed men drilled in public, in a show of military preparedness for whatever the future might hold.

THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN

Capitalizing on the post-Rising nationalism, as well as opposition to the military draft in Ireland, Sinn Féin won parliamentary elections across much of southern Ireland in 1918. Around the same time, the Irish Volunteers – the armed group that had largely been responsible for the Rising and which was now drilling openly – were reorganized under 66 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

BY TOM DEIGNAN

the leadership of Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha and Sinn Féin leader Éamon de Valera, the most prominent Rising participant who was not executed (partly because he was American by birth). The Volunteers – forerunner to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – would serve as Ireland’s main defense force, in case hostilities with Britain renewed, and also because Ireland was swiftly undertaking the process of building itself into a nation, with functioning courts, military forces and other day-to-day operations.

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Sinn Féin had formed in 1905 in an attempt to bring numerous nationalist factions together, based on “abstentionist” principles – that the Irish should not even participate in the political process of imperial Britain, with the long-term goal of a united Republic. The party was seen as an alternative to moderates such as Redmond who, though he’d advocated Irish Home Rule for decades, also believed the Irish should fight alongside the British to beat back Germany in World War I. Indeed, at the time of the Rising, Ireland was not only divided by the question of independence, but also by participation in World War I. Though some saw this as an act bordering on treason, thousands of Irish men had signed up to fight alongside the British – to earn money, or simply see the world. John Redmond’s Wexford-born brother Willie – also a member of parliament – was killed in action in 1917. When John Redmond’s East Clare seat opened following his death in 1918, it was won by none other than Sinn Féin’s Éamon de Valera. It was clear that a new political wind was blowing across Ireland.

THE FIRST DÁIL

In January 1919, Irish lawmakers such as de Valera enraged the British by refusing to take their parliamentary seats in London. Instead, they set up a breakaway parliament, the Dáil Eireann, in Mansion House on Dawson Street in Dublin. Many

of the Dáil’s newly-elected members, including de Valera and Arthur Griffith, were subsequently imprisoned by the British on various charges related to sedition and collaboration with the Germans. Events took a dramatic turn in February when Michael Collins and Harry Boland went on a secret mission to Manchester, England to coordinate de Valera’s escape from prison. De Valera had managed to make an impression of the prison cell key in candle wax. A copy was made and smuggled into the prison inside of a cake. Armed resistance to British occupation also grew in 1919. In what many consider the first shots fired in the Irish War of Independence, members of the Irish Volunteers ambushed and killed two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) police officers who were transporting the explosive gelignite in Tipperary. There was sporadic violence that year – including the attempted assassination of a British viceroy in December – but nothing compared to the following year, 1920, which came to be known as the “Year of Terror.”

TOP: Members of the First Dáil. First row (left to right): Laurence Ginnell, Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha, Arthur Griffith, Éamon de Valera, Count Plunkett, Eoin MacNeill, W. T. Cosgrave, and Kevin O’Higgins (third row, right). LEFT: Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins (1890 – 1922) working the crowd in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day, 1922. His was one of the signatories on the Treaty document, signed on December 6, 1921, that created the Free State (of 26 counties), and partitioned the six counties of the North, creating Northern Ireland, which opted to stay with the U.K.

HUNGER STRIKES

In January, Tomás MacCurtain, an IRA leader, was elected Lord Mayor of Cork. Weeks later he was assassinated, likely by RIC soldiers. MacCurtain was succeeded by Terence MacSwiney, who was swiftly arrested on what critics said were flimsy charges of sedition. Sent to England’s Brixton prison, MacSwiney went on a hunger strike that lasted an astounding 74 days. When MacSwiney finally died he became an international symbol for FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 67

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TOP: Seán Hogan’s (No. 2) Flying Column, 3rd Tipperary Brigade, IRA.

the troubles besieging Ireland. To stem the rising tide of violence in Ireland, the British established the notorious “Black and Tans” (thus called for their uniform colors), a security force that was “more or less given a free hand, to shoot, loot and carouse as they wished,” as Tim Pat Coogan put it in his book Ireland in the 20th Century. And so the IRA fought back. “During the course of the war... the IRA, as the Volunteers became known after the first Dáil, carried out a campaign of ambushing, raiding police barracks, and inflicting casualties which were estimated... at 600 killed and 1200 wounded on the British side, and 752 IRA men killed and 866 wounded,” writes Coogan. A cycle of attacks and reprisals gripped Ireland for much of the year. The Anglo-Irish war was brutal, with torture a common tactic used by the British to gain information or revenge. (The excellent 2006 film The Wind That Shakes the Barley covers this period and gruesomely depicts a common British tactic – soldiers peeling back the fingernails of captured IRA soldiers.)

BLOODY SUNDAY

The most notorious day of the conflict was “Bloody Sunday” in November of 1920. Michael Collins had assembled an elite assassination squad within the ranks of the IRA that had come to be known as the “Twelve Apostles” – including future Irish prime minister Sean Lemass. On the morning of November 21, the “Apostles” fanned out across Dublin and assassinated 14 British intelligence and security personnel. Later that day, in what was widely seen as retaliation, British auxiliary forces 68 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

(the Black and Tans) stormed the highly-anticipated Gaelic football match between Tipperary and Dublin. Claiming (with no subsequent proof) they had been shot at first, soldiers opened fire, killing over a dozen spectators and wounding many more. Tipperary captain Michael Hogan was also killed, and to this day, in tribute, a section of Croke Park is known as Hogan Stand.

TROUBLE IN AMERICA

Irish America, meanwhile, had faced its own troubles even before the Easter Rising. It was a time of backlash against immigrants and ethnic minorities in the U.S., and once World War I began, the Irish conflict with England, an American ally, started to look like support for Germany. It did not help that some Irish Americans were, in fact, recruited for various German-led sabotage missions in the U.S., designed to keep America out of the war. The most prominent Irish American nationalist of the early 20th century was Kildare native John Devoy, who had been active in Ireland’s Fenian movement. After serving part of a 15-year prison sentence for treason, Devoy came to the U.S. in 1871, settling in New York City. “John Devoy’s position as leader of a great and seemingly united exile movement was unchallenged,” writes Terry Golway in his Devoy biography Irish Rebel. For years, Devoy built coalitions between more secretive nationalist groups such as Clan na Gael and more public ones like the Friends of Irish Freedom, which, at the height of its popularity, boasted a membership of over a quarter of a million. Devoy and his Irish American network played a

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central role in the planning and execution of the Easter Rising. But afterwards, Devoy’s carefully-constructed coalitions began to crumble. These divisions became most glaring when Éamon de Valera made a perplexing decision in 1919. Following his escape from prison, de Valera – born in Manhattan to an Irish immigrant mother and Spanish father – believed that if Ireland was truly going to be recognized as a republic, American influence (and money) would be vital to the cause. However, Michael Collins and others believed there was no point organizing Irish American opinion when the situation in Ireland remained so unsettled. In the end, de Valera went to America, and it was not long before simmering fissures in the trans-Atlantic nationalist movement burst wide open.

Though he met with British prime minister Lloyd George numerous times in July, he decided not to take part in the final negotiations directly. Instead, Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith met with the British throughout the fall of 1921 and ultimately decided that the best deal they could get was a conditional freedom for the 26 counties in the south. The island of Ireland would be partitioned, with the six counties in the north remaining part of the British Empire. And the Irish would still have to swear an oath of allegiance to the British crown. Done fighting the British, the Irish were about to start fighting each other. The Dáil fiercely debated the treaty, with de Valera and other hard-liners leading the opposition. Collins, however, spoke of the treaty as the best, first step towards the long-term goal of an Irish republic. Sinn Féin was hopelessly split into pro- and anti-treaty factions. WILSON AND THE IRISH In January of 1922, the Dail voted to accept the treaty 64 votes The de Valera and Devoy camps disagreed over the degree to to 57. The Irish people backed these results in the subsequent which U.S. president Woodrow Wilson – a known Anglophile – parliamentary elections and the so-called “Irish Free State” was could be trusted to support the cause of Irish freedom. Yes, once established – which did little to appease the anti-treaty forces on World War I had ended, Wilson did champion the rights of small both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., Clan na Gael and the Friends of Irish Freedom split over the merits of the Anglo-Irish treaty. In Ireland, acrimony between partisans and enemies of the treaty turned violent. De Valera resigned as leader of the Dáil and barnstormed across Ireland, denouncing the treaty and proclaiming that Irish nationalists “would have to wade through the blood of the soldiers of the Irish government... to get their freedom.” Sure enough, in April 1922 – six years after the Easter Rising – the Four Courts and several other buildings in Dublin were occupied by armed men, this time opposed to their fellow Irishmen. For two months there was a stalemate, with Collins – the leader of the Free State military – hoping violence could be averted. However, once the anti-treaty rebels kidnapped a Free State general, Collins – already under enormous pressure from the British – approved the shelling of the Four Courts. Days of TOP: De Valera under nations to govern themselves, but Devoy had warred arrest by British troops gunfighting in the streets of Dublin ensued, with fiercely with the president, whose administration following the Rising. hundreds dead (including Cathal Brugha on the antibanned Devoy’s newspaper, the Gaelic American, treaty side) and hundreds more wounded. Through and openly questioned the loyalty of numerous Irish the summer, anti-treaty forces managed to control American leaders. large swaths of southwestern Ireland (which they dubbed the Instead of building a powerful coalition, Irish leaders sought “Munster Republic”), though many others were rounded up to to undermine each other, establishing competing organizations face imprisonment and even execution. By late August, Free such as de Valera’s American Association for the Recognition of State forces had largely regained control of rebel-held areas such the Irish Republic (AARIR). as Cork, though it was still a dangerous place for treaty support“The Irish American movement,” according to Golway, “had ers like Michael Collins, who was planning a visit to the area, been split at the very moment of Ireland’s greatest peril and possibly to discuss a ceasefire. greatest opportunity.” On August 22, 1922, Collins was killed in an ambush at a crossroads called Beal na Blath. Many speculate (as seen in the film Michael Collins), that de Valera was behind the assassination plot. PEACE TREATY LEADS TO CIVIL WAR Just 10 days earlier, Arthur Griffith had died of heart failure. By 1921, as many as 1,000 lives had already been claimed by On the anti-treaty side, Brugha and Harry Boland had also been the Anglo-Irish War of Independence. A truce was finally called killed. The civil war seemed to be decimating an entire generain the summer, and an Irish delegation went to London to negotion of Irish leadership. tiate a treaty. If the Rising gave us William Butler Yeats’s sublime poem De Valera, again, made a mystifying decision. “Easter 1916,” the work of literature best associated with postFEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 69

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1916 Ireland may well be Liam O’Flaherty’s bleak short story “The Sniper,” in which two gunmen on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War stalk each other. The story’s last line reads: “The sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” The Civil War truly did divide friends and family. Cork-born brothers Sean and Tom Hales fought side by side against the British, and the latter was even captured by Crown forces and tortured. Following the treaty, however, Sean supported Michael Collins while Tom fought against the forces of the Irish Free State, going so far as to participate in the ambush on Collins. Sean Hales was later killed by anti-treaty forces. In retaliation, Free State Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins ordered several anti-treaty prisoners executed, including Rory O’Connor – who had earlier served as best man at O’Higgins’ wedding.

AFTERMATH

A REPUBLIC, FINALLY

The towering figure of post-civil war Ireland, of course, would be the enigmatic de Valera, who, once the guns had been set aside, decided it was best to work within the system. He left Sinn Féin, founded the Fianna Fail party and would be at the center of Irish political power for the next five decades, until his death at the age of 92 in 1975. De Valera rewrote the Irish constitution in 1937, which finally brought stability, though critical historians have long charged that this set Ireland on a decidedly conservative path. They point to the constitution’s infamous “within the home” clause referring to women, as well as the prominent social and educational role given to the Catholic Church. De Valera helped pass legislation that finally made Ireland a republic. The law officially went into effect April 18, 1949 – days before the 33rd anniversary of the Easter Rising. The question of partition never went away, and if violence had largely been set aside in the Republic of Ireland, it migrated North, flaring

ABOVE: Michael Collins and

Though Free State forces had superior Arthur Griffith. weapons and organization, the civil war dragged RIGHT: Kathleen on until May of 1923. Guerilla warfare flared up Clarke, Countess Markievicz, Kate intermittently in rural areas, where houseO'Callaghan and burning was also a common tactic on the antiMargaret Pearse in 1924. Clarke treaty side. All in all, there were thousands of and O’Callaghan casualties. Railways, roads and urban adminiswere elected to trative buildings lay in ruins, costing Ireland milthe first Dáil. lions in damages. The toll on families and friendships that had been torn apart could not be measured. Just weeks after anti-treaty leader Liam Lynch was killed in April 1923, a ceasefire was finally declared, with the anti-treaty faction of the IRA dumping its arms (rather than surrendering them) at the end of May. “Further sacrifice of life would now be in vain.... Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic,” a bitter de Valera said in a statement. But the healing process would be slow indeed. Thousands of antitreaty sympathizers faced harsh treatment while still in prison, even launching a lengthy hunger strike in October of 1923. “The civil war was over,” Tim Pat Coogan writes in Ireland in the 20th Century. “But . . . the new state had been born in bloodshed and hatred, which would affect political, economic, cultural and social progress for many years into the future.” He adds, “The days of the high heroic were over, and the dull, grey business of balancing the books, of making the new Irish Free State work, resemble nothing so much as the cleaning up of a house after what was intended to be a massive and joyous party ended in violence and destruction.” 70 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Thousands of emigrants, meanwhile, headed to the U.S., fleeing either British authorities or else the hostilities that lingered among the Irish who ended up on opposite sides of the civil war. In New York, expatriate IRA veterans like Thomas O’Shea redirected their political energies into labor organizing, forming the Transport Workers Union and other influential groups.

up into the infamous Troubles of the late 1960s. Thousands more would die until the late 1990s, when it seemed there was a real moment for a lasting peace. Again, there was controversy – particularly over the decision to grant Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a visa to visit the U.S. But overall, Irish America was much more unified, and played a key role in what would blossom into the Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of that fragile – but, thus far, lasting – peace. And while 1916 will forever remain a mythic number in Irish history, it was only in the years after the Rising that Ireland did IA the hard, bloody work of finally becoming a republic. PHOTO: SEAN SEXTON COLLECTION

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Ireland

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These rare photos from the Sean Sexton Collection chronicle the years of terror following the Rising when the Irish were caught up in the War of Independence and the Civil War.

RIGHT: Terence MacSwiney, a playwright, writer, and politician. He was elected mayor of Cork City in March 1920. Arrested soon thereafter by the British on charges of sedition, he was taken to Brixton Prison in London. He died there in October 1920 after 74 days on hunger strike, bringing the Irish struggle worldwide attention. He was 41, and left a wife, Muriel Murphy, and a daughter, Maire. His sister, Mary MacSwiney, became leader of Sinn Féin when Éamon de Valera resigned the presidency of the party in 1922.

ou can read all you want of Irish history, but photographs give us a window to the past that words can’t. For the centenary of the Easter Rising, London’s Photographer’s Gallery put together an ambitious exhibition highlighting critical events that led up to the Rising, as well as photographs of the action on Easter week. In a matter of weeks, over 50,000 people had visited the gallery. The images displayed came from one source, Sean Sexton. His incredible collection of Irish historical images number 20,000. While no photographs of the Famine exist, Sexton’s eviction photographs from the 1880s, show the abject poverty and hopelessness that fueled so many uprisings that ended in failure before the eventual delivery of the Free State, to which the Easter Rising gave birth. On the phone from London, Sexton tells me that more exhibitions are planned to mark the upcoming anniversaries of the War of Independence (also known as the Black and Tan War), and the Irish Civil War, where pro- and anti-Treaty forces battled it out. It’s on these photographs that we focus on in this essay. The images in the following pages are the story. Who could not be struck by the look on Terence MacSwiney’s face as he is led away to prison, later to die on hunger strike after 74 days, leaving a wife and young daughter? How can you not get caught up in the image of the sentries standing outside J. Harris? How alien the soldiers look in this remote country village? We know from Irish history the reign of

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terror the British foisted on the Irish during the war years, so one can imagine what’s going on behind the closed door of the Harris establishment on the day of the raid. In another photograph, we see Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith leaving 10 Dowing Street, having signed the treaty that led to partition and the Civil War. Yet another image shows Portobello Barracks in 1922. It was from here that Collins set out on that fateful day in August 1922 to be ambushed and killed by anti-Treaty forces in rural Cork. You can catch Luke Dodd’s brilliant introduction to Sexton’s London exhibition on YouTube. For a thoughtful interview with Sexton, and earlier photos essays from his Irish collection, check out our archives at irishamerica.com. We thank Sean Sexton for his generosity in granting us permission to bring you these images. – P.H.

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BOTTOM RIGHT: Internment Camp Kilworth, located in North Cork. Kilworth housed approximately 250 detained persons during the War of Independence.

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ABOVE: British soldiers raiding party, Co. Cork, 1920. RIGHT: Portobello Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. On May 17, 1922, Irish troops took possession of the Barracks, and it became the National Army's Headquarters under General Michael Collins. The barracks hospital became Michael Collinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home when he set up his headquarters. It was from here that he set off to Beal na Blath, the day he was ambushed and killed on August 22, 1922. FAR RIGHT: British soldiers halt for a fire on a country road during the War of Independence.

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BELOW: The Cairo Gang, British intelligence agents operating in Dublin during the War of Independence who were targeted by the IRA.

RIGHT: Micheal Collins (right), together with Arthur Griffith (left) and Robert Barton, the other signatory to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, leaving Downing Street during the London conference.

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HURLING & 2

Dave Lewis explores the historical connections between the Gaelic Athletic Association, nationalism, and a heritage of hurling in County Tipperary.

016 was a great year for Ireland as it celebrated the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The year was an even better one for the people of Tipperary, as not only did they celebrate the heroes of the past, but celebrated two All-Ireland Championship victories. The men of the blue and gold achieved a hurling double in which both minor and senior county teams won the Irish Press Cup and the fabled Liam MacCarthy Cup. According to Eoghan Cormican of the Irish Examiner, the minors led by captain Brian McGrath defeated Limerick 1-21 to 17 points as Jake Morris scored a goal early in the second half. The senior team faced off against their rivals, Kilkenny, who were trying to retain Liam. Performances from Seamus Callanan, John “Bubbles” O’Dwyer, and John McGrath, were vital to Tipperary’s win as Callanan scored thirteen out of the twenty points Tipperary scored on the day while O’Dwyer and McGrath scored two great goals. The great Young Ireland leader, Thomas Davis once referred to Tipperary as the “Premier County” due to its nationalistic fervor in the 1840s and exclaimed, “Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows.” Thomas Davis didn’t know it at the time, but this statement could not have been truer. The people of Tipperary have led in various aspects of nationalism throughout Ireland’s history whether it be through sport or military action. Tipperary were, and still, are the leaders.

he Gaelic Athletic Association was founded on the first of November 1884 at Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles, Tipperary. It was Michael Cusack, a Clare man, who called for an “association for the preservation and cultivation of our national pastimes and providing national amusements for the Irish people.” Though Cusack was from Clare, four out of the original seven

Young Ireland leader, Thomas Davis.

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executive members were from Tipperary. These men were Joseph O’Ryan, J.K. Bracken, Thomas St. George McCarthy, and finally Maurice Davin. Michael Cusack personally selected Maurice Davin, from Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary to be the Gaelic Athletic Association’s first president as Davin was an accomplished athlete. Davin had won multiple championships in field sports like hammer throwing and the high jump, and had an international following according to the G.A.A. Museum at Croke Park. Davin’s leadership on the field would develop off it as well. While the G.A.A. grew throughout the country, other organizations started to take notice of its recruiting potential.

ne such organization was the I.R.B. otherwise known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret revolutionary organization whose goal it was to overthrow British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic. It was even rumored that the I.R.B. was in charge of the organization to start with as members began to take key positions in the executive officers’ positions. One of the key positions taken by an I.R.B. member was the vice presidency, taken up by another Tipperary man, P.T. Hoctor in 1886. Hoctor’s vice presidency brought the beginnings of the rumors that the I.R.B. was behind the G.A.A. as he pushed for I.R.B. leaders and Tipperary men like John O’Leary and Charles Kickham to be honored with patron-ship and memorial funds. One year later, Tipperary would be represented at the first All-Ireland Final. For the previous four years, Gaelic games within the G.A.A. were played on a basis of challenge matches between local clubs within their own counties. That was until 1888 when the G.A.A. hosted the All-Ireland Championship on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1888. The two counties that were represented on the day were Tipperary and Galway. However, the teams were not set up how they are today, where players are selected from their clubs to be on the county team. From Tipperary, the Thurles Blues, known now as Thurles Sarfields represented Tipperary and Meelick, known as MeelickEyrecourt today represented Galway. The game was also structured vastly differently

PHOTO: RTÉ

Nationalism

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than it is today. According to Ronnie Bellew and Dermot Crowe, authors of Hell for Leather: A Journey Through Hurling in 100 Games, the final was played in Birr, County Offlay. On the day, the Tipperary team dominated Galway as they came out as winners with a score line that read 1-01-1 to 0-00 as Tommy Healy drove the sliotar on his left side past the Galway goalkeeper, scoring the first-ever goal in an All-Ireland final, which meant that if Galway had scored a point, Healy’s goal would outvalue that point. The third chronological point in the score line was also due to another rule that has since faded, the forfeit point, in which a player played the ball over his own end line. “The Premier County” men earned Davis’ moniker for them on the day. While the G.A.A. had connections with the I.R.B. within their membership, the organization distanced itself from any kind of action that the I.R.B. had planned militarily. One of the foremost examples of this was during the 1916 Easter Rising, in which the G.A.A. wrote a statement that denied any involvement with the plans for the Easter Rising and even met with General John Maxwell, the British Army commander who oversaw the executions in the aftermath of the Rising, according to Paul Rouse of the Irish Examiner. Even if the executive members of the G.A.A. did not want to be involved with the IRB and its militant policies, their regular membership all throughout the country however made it their duty to take part in the Rising. Immediately after the Easter Rising, many members of the G.A.A. were sent to prisons like

PHOTO: G.A.A. MUSEUM ARCHIVES

Frongoch in Wales, where the prisoners played hurling and football. Gaelic games were still being played and despite the G.A.A.’s stance on the Rising, and its temporary loss of members, the Tipperary team still celebrated Republican heroes of the past as they had taken the field against Laois wearing green white and orange armbands that said “Remember Tone.” Even before the 1916 All-Ireland final (which was actually played on January 21, 1917 due to the internments of players and spectators), the men of the Premier County marched down Sackville Street and stopped at the GPO, the headquarters of the Rising, and recited a decade of the Rosary in honor of the rebels that valiantly fought for Ireland’s Independence there. Their success off the field was matched by their track record on it, too, as they beat their neighbors,

TOP: Brendan Maher, captain Tipperary Senior Hurling team, lifts the McCarthy cup following the team’s All-Ireland final triumph over the Kilkenny “Cats” by 2-15 to 2-08. Goals were scored by John “Bubbles” O’Dwyer and John McGrath, while Seamus Callanan contributed 13 points. ABOVE: The 1916 Tipperary hurling team.

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PHOTOS: CATHAL NOONAN

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TOP: John (born 28 July 1994) and Noel McGrath (born 17 December 1990) brothers who play on the Tipperary senior team. John played as right corner-forward, and Noel took the field as a center-forward. ABOVE: Top scorer Seamus Callahan

Kilkenny 5-4 to 3-2. Though people from Tipperary celebrated by lighting tar-barrels and marching through the town of Boherlahan to the beat of a Fife and Drum band, they would not be celebrating their team in three years’ time. Instead, they would be grieving at the loss of one of their own. Three years later, Ireland was at war with England as Tipperary men Séan Treacy, Dan Breen, Séan Hogan and other members of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers ambushed two Royal Irish Constabulary, killing them. While the war was in its infancy, Croke Park was still the host to many exciting Gaelic football and hurling matches. While these matches were going on, Michael Collins, was planning an assault on British agents to smash their intelligence system. On November 21, 1920, very early in the morning, Collins sent out agents, his “Twelve Apostles,” to assassinate 14 British agents all throughout Dublin. As soon as British authorities were notified of the assassinations, British soldiers were sent to Croke Park to search the crowd to find those that participated in the killings earlier in the day. Tipperary and Dublin were playing in a challenge match when the Auxiliaries, Royal Irish Constabulary officers, and an armored car entered the stadium and started firing on the players and into the crowd. Fourteen people were killed including a

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10-year-old boy, a young woman only five days away from her wedding day, and Tipperary right full back Michael Hogan while 60 were wounded. Hogan’s jersey on the day can been found in the Tipperary county museum today. Hogan’s death would be remembered in 1924 when Croke Park expanded the stadium and named its main stand after him. This tragedy would greatly impact the War of Independence, as it had shown the Irish people that the British forces within Ireland and the Crown cared little for the safety of the Irish people. Despite the fact that Hogan’s death was a tragedy, his death and the death of the 13 others led to a heightened awareness of how desperately the Irish people needed their freedom from the grip of its imperial neighbor.

n today’s world, Tipperary still leads the way within the G.A.A. community in terms of impact. On February 25 this year, the members of Kiladangan G.A.A. are hosting a diasporic gathering at Slattery’s Midtown Pub in Manhattan. According to Colm Egan, originally a Kiladangan man but now living in Chicago as the chairman of the North American G.A.A. Hurling Development Committee, this event will be one of many happy reunions as 110-plus current members of the parish and expatriates from all over the world are coming to Manhattan. The goal, in addition to celebrating their common birthplace, is to help raise funds for a 6,000-square-foot community center for the local parish. If you know of anyone from Kiladangan or the surrounding area, or anyone willing to help Tipperary keep its strong traditions, please tell them to IA attend!

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wild irish women |

by Rosemary Rogers

Elizabeth O’Farrell

A Fearless Woman An Irish nurse and member of Cumann na mBan, Elizabeth O’Farrell performed nursing and courier duties, delivering dispatches and ammunition to rebels over the days of the Easter Rising. She further risked her life to deliver Pádraig Pearse’s terms of surrender to the British forces on Friday April 28, and stood with him when he surrendered to General Lowe later that day.

t may have taken 100 years, but finally the hidden heroes of the Rising – the women who fought, those rebels shoved to the margins of history – were at last recognized during the centennial. Women played a major part during Easter week, but stories of their bravery became lost in the male-dominated theocracy that followed. Elizabeth O’Farrell was one such hero, a foot soldier turned footnote, remembered only for being forgotten, her pivotal role in the Rising airbrushed in a bit of early trick photography. Born into a working class Dublin family, Elizabeth was as a midwife at the National Maternity Hospital. She and her best friend, Julia Grenan, embraced the nationalist and feminist fervor of early 20th century Dublin as suffragettes, fluent Irish speakers, members of Cumann na mBan (the women’s paramilitary organization), trained in weaponry and first aid by Countess Markievicz herself. They were also life partners whose sexuality remained as hidden as their bravery. “The love that dare not speak its name” had destroyed the life and reputation of fellow Dubliner, Oscar Wilde, who died in disgrace only 16 years earlier. Surely this resonated with Elizabeth, Julia and other lesbian soldiers most notably Dr. Kathleen Lynn; Madeleine ffrench-Mullen; the cross-dressing Maureen Skinnider, who was shot three times at the GPO; and the bi-sexual Abbey actress Helene Maloney. Pádraig Pearse knew that he and his ragtag army of poets, socialists, and teachers were going to die, but knew too that it would be a “glorious failure.” He believed, and history proved him right, that a blood sacrifice and a set of instant martyrs were the key to Ireland’s freedom. Pearse and Connolly, both feminists, co-wrote Proclamation of the Irish Republic which they, significantly, addressed to “Irishmen and Irishwomen.” The Proclamation gave women the right to vote, making it the first declaration of independence in history to promise equal suffrage. To further address women’s rights, Connelly ordered garrison commanders to allow female soldiers to fight. All agreed, save one: Éamon de Valera defied the order, claiming women were unfit for combat.

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Easter Monday, April 24 to Easter Thursday, April 27

On Easter Monday morning, Elizabeth and Julia rushed to the epicenter of the action, the GPO, reporting to James Connelly and his assistant, Winifred Carney. They spent the week, with medicine and ammunition hidden in their skirts, braving constant gunfire to run dispatches from the GPO to outpost battalions, managing, at the same time, to nurse wounded soldiers and civilians.

Easter Friday, April 28

On Friday, April 28, after constant bombardment, the GPO was on fire and about to collapse. Elizabeth, Julia, and Winifred were the only women left. Pearse wanted them to run for safety, but they refused, as did Winifred Carney, who was never to leave the side of the seriously-injured Connelly. The “glorious failure” was over; it was time for the Republicans to evacuate the GPO. To avoid the open streets, they were forced to “mousehole,” that is, blast through walls and adjacent rooms, until they arrived at a back room at No. 15 Moore Street. Once inside, the three women continued nursing as Pearse and Connolly discussed the logistics of surrender.

Easter Saturday, April 29

Easter Saturday, April 29, Pearse needed word of the cease-fire to reach the senior officer of the British Forces in Ireland, Brigadier General Lowe. He felt it would be safer for a woman to deliver the message, and charged Elizabeth with confronting Lowe and informing him of Pearse’s wish to “treat” (or negotiate). Thus empowered, Elizabeth grabbed a white flag, Red Cross armband, and on Saturday at 12:45 p.m., prepared to leave Moore Street for Lowe’s headquarters at 70 Great Britain (now Parnell) Street. Watching her leave for the 250-meter journey, a wounded soldier assured her, “They would never fire on a woman.” Theo Dorgan was commissioned by the Irish Centre to write verse for the centennial. Below, his poem, “We Carried It to Here as Best We Could,” goes inside Elizabeth’s head as she leaves her comrades:

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Gathered all that I had been until now, my time on earth, stood, smoothed my skirts, pinned up my hair. Pearse, by the stretcher, sought my eyes: “Now, Liz, be of good heart. This is not defeat, we’ve made a good beginning now, we’ve carried it to here.” I bowed my head, I would not weep. The walls, the roof, crashed in. “We’ve carried it to here” – words that stayed with her as she walked, seemingly oblivious (according to eyewitnesses) to the heavy gunfire around her. She reached the military barricade, stopped before General Lowe and spoke first, “The Commandant of the Irish Forces wishes to treat with the Commandant of the British Forces in Ireland.” Lowe told her there would be “no treat,” only unconditional surrender and to give Pearse that message. After three round trips, each one with her life in

danger, Elizabeth finally returned to Lowe, this time with Pearse. Before they left, Pearse said the rosary, brushed off his uniform and at 3:30 p.m., April 29, the President of Ireland and the nurse appeared before the Brigadier General. Pearse surrendered his sword, Elizabeth standing at his right side. A British army photographer captured the moment, the shot becoming one of the most iconic of the 1916 Rising.

Low Sunday, April 30

When the grainy photograph ran the next day in a

London tabloid, the Daily Sketch, Elizabeth was present. But soon, she was absent, excised with almost surgical precision from an event she facilitated. Why? Sexism, always a likely culprit, may have come into play; a woman didn’t belong in such an historic moment. Pearse, a man who carefully curated his image, could have orchestrated the shot. Or, after his execution, Pearse’s followers could have altered the photograph, Miss O’Farrell being a distraction. General Lowe could have done the same thing, believing a woman cheapened the gravitas of the situation. In later years, Elizabeth claimed she deliberately stepped back since she was nothing if not a loyal soldier. In any event, she was airbrushed out of the picture and written out the event. The surrender accomplished, Elizabeth had now an even more dangerous mission – take copies of the cease-fire order to the rebel commanders stationed

ABOVE: Illustration by David Rooney. Courtesy of 1916 Portraits and Lives, edited by Lawrence William White and James Quinn. LEFT: The original photograph of Pádraig Pearse’s surrender. Elizabeth O’Farrell’s feet, visible below Pearse’s coat, are all that remain of her in the airbrushed photo.

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wild irish women | throughout the city. She had to crisscross all of Dublin, dodging bullets, sidestepping dead bodies as she made the rounds of the garrisons. Again, Theo Dorgan speaks for her: Dead bodies in doorways, on the streets, this I remember, the stench, quick swarming flies... and not just soldiers – volunteers, yes, but ordinary men and women, and children too, my god the children!

After the Rising, Elizabeth and Julia fought in both the War of Independence and the Civil War, remaining dedicated members of Cumman na mBan and ardent republicans for the rest of their lives. They shared a home on Lower Mount Street and were viewed as a pair of feisty spinsters and veterans of 1916, rather than what they were – lesbians living together in a devoted, de facto marriage. How painful it must have been for them to witness the nemesis of women’s rights, Éamon de Valera, rise to power. They experienced, up close and personal, his reactionary, sexist and Church-centric policies dominate Ireland for 40 years. If only they could have returned to their country for one day – May 23, 2015 – the day Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. When Elizabeth O’Farrell died in 1957, she was buried in the Republican section of Glasnevin Cemetery. Her tombstone pays tribute to her treacherous walk through Dublin on Easter Saturday, with a piece of verse by Brian O’Higgins: When duty called on the field of battle, She went, under orders, the foe to meet, Bearing sadly, unfearingly, proudly, The flag of surrender but not defeat. Julia Grenan died in 1972 and the two were reunited at Glaslevin. Julia was noted on stone as “faithful comrade and longtime friend.” This inscription inspired a poem written in 2016 by Jane Clark, another tribute that emerged from the centennial:

In Glasnevin

For Elizabeth O’Farrell and Julia Grenan

Finding the words carved on their plain, granite headstone, faithful comrade, lifelong friend, reminds me of my grandmother

Elizabeth O’Farrell in her nurse’s uniform.

When she arrives at the garrison at Boland’s Mill, de Valera thought her a spy and her message a hoax until a male officer arrived to confirm her story. Elizabeth had seen Julia and Winifred marched off to Kilmainhaim, but General Lowe had promised she wouldn’t be arrested. Nonetheless, she was stripsearched and tossed in a cell while the messages and funds soldiers had entrusted to her were confiscated. She was released later, and though maybe a less formidable woman would have been content with her freedom, not so with Elizabeth.“What about the money that was taken from me?” she demanded. “There was £16 taken out of my pocket and I want it back.” Lowe returned the money to her.

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who used to say, there was none of that in my day. I wish I could ask the faithful Julia and Elizabeth were they grateful for the mercy

of sharing a grave, did they choose those words to save them from shame, did they have someone to tell that though the words said so much,

they didn’t say enough, and when they nursed the rebellion’s wounded, did they question the cost of a new (free) state. IA

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History Marker: 150 Years

The

FENIANS & CANADA One hundred and fifty years ago, members of the Fenian Brotherhood sought to force Britain’s hand by creating disturbances along the Canadian border. The raids failed, but they led to an unexpected outcome in 1867. By John Kernaghan

TTAWA, Ontario – It was civil warfare, with some almost comic sidelights, and it might have been lost in the mists of time but for a discovery in the attic of a Virginia home 13

years ago. The 23 paintings discovered there depict one of the Fenian raids in which Irish American Civil War veterans crossed into Canada near Buffalo, New York and won two battles against British Canadian forces. It was one of several raids between 1866 and 1871 aiming to hold portions of Canada as a bargaining chip to make the British leave Ireland. Unwittingly, though, the modest invasions served to draw the diverse regions of British North America together and cement Canada’s confederation in 1867. The watercolors depicting battles at Fort Erie and Ridgeway in Ontario are part of an exhibit at the Canadian War Museum in Canada’s capital. It is called The Fenians – Unintended Fathers of Confederation and is on display until September 4. The Fenian name was coined by founder John O’Mahony, after the Fianna Eiri-

JOHN O’MAHONY

ohn O’Mahony, the man who ordered the Fenian raids, was born into a wealthy family in1815 near Mitchelstown, County Cork. After his part in the failed Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 he fled to the United States where he founded the American branch of the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish nationalist secret society active in Britain and the United States during the mid-19th century. O’Mahony attended Trinity College and became a respected Irish scholar and linguist, though he did not graduate. By 1853 when he arrived in New York he’d become a prominent leader of Irish resistance to British rule. He settled in New York, where he helped organize the Emmet Monument Association, a predecessor to the Fenian movement. In 1857, O’Mahony formed an American support organization for the parent organization under his own leadership. He named it the Fenian Brotherhood, inspired by the Fianna,

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onn, the ancient Irish warriors. As war goes, this was about as nice as it gets despite a handful of dead on both sides. The Irish Americans – led by LieutenantColonel John O’Neill and mostly Union soldiers with a smattering of Confederate veterans – left the Canadian turf they occupied as they found it. “They were disciplined soldiers who operated by the strict rules of war at the time,” says museum historian Dr. Peter MacLeod. “They behaved very well towards the civil population. They didn’t loot and they treated Canadian prisoners very well. They were there in an attempt to free Ireland from the British” and had no grudge with citizens. History is fuzzy on who came up with the plan to capture Canada and exchange it for Ireland, “but the irony is that while they fail to free Ireland, what they do is help the confederation movement in Canada because it gets Canadians thinking about uniting for protection against attacks,” MacLeod says. In a sense, then, the Fenians created Canada. The Fenians also raided what is now New Brunswick and Quebec. Elections held following those threats strongly favored

legendary warriors in ancient Ireland. O’Mahony had recounted their battles in his own translation of a 17th-century Gaelic history of Ireland. By 1865 the Fenian Brotherhood had grown large and prosperous, and it was able to send both arms and money to Ireland. O’Mahony reluctantly backed the Fenian decision of 1865 to make a series of military raids on Canada, part of a scheme to take Canada hostage for the cause of Irish freedom. His popularity plummeted after a failed attack against Campobello Island in New Brunswick. There is no evidence he participated in that raid or the successful mission in Ontario. He resigned but returned in 1872 to resume leadership. O’Mahony died destitute in New York and his body was returned to Dublin. It lay in state in the Mechanics’ Institute after the archbishop of Dublin, an anti-Fenian, refused it permit it in the procathedral. O’Mahony’s funeral procession to Glasnevin Cemetery on March 4, 1877, was reported to have been attended by more than 70,000 nationalists.

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PHOTO: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA

Confederation. A final raid in Manitoba in 1871 to occupy a customs house was in fact snuffed out with help from America authorities. Says Stephen Quick, director general of the Canadian War Museum: “While the Fenian threat is now a distant memory, its unintentional contribution to our nation’s birth is worth remembering as we celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary this year.” The watercolors are by Alexander von Erichsen, a

COLONEL JOHN O’NEILL

olonel John O’Neill, who took last-minute command and won battles over a Canadian militia in Ontario, was born in Drumgallon, Clontibrit County Monaghan and emigrated to New Jersey in 1848 where he worked in a variety of publishing jobs. As an officer in the 5th Indiana Cavalry in the Civil War, he was remembered as a daring fighting officer, but bristled he had not received promotion, which led to a transfer to the 17th United States Colored Infantry as Captain. He left the Union Army prior to the end of the conflict. O’Neill successfully routed the opposition at Ridgeway, Ontario in 1866 with a ruse that fooled the defenders. He had no cavalry but using a handful of officers and riderless horses to alter the defense strategy, exposing the Canadian militia under British leadership to infantry attack.

German-born artist who lived north of Toronto at the time of the Fenian Raids and later moved to Virginia. The Fort Erie Historical Museum, just across the border from Buffalo, acquired the paintings after they were discovered in Virginia in 1994. The detailed illustrations and captions tell the story of the largest Fenian Raid on British North America, when 800 Irish Americans occupied Fort Erie on June 1, 1866, moving on to defeat about 900 Cana-

The Battle of Ridgeway. An 1869 lithograph produced in Buffalo, NY depicting the charge of the Fenians, led by Col. O’Neill, against No. 5 Company, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, a Toronto military unit, near Niagra, Ontario, on June 2, 1866.

But his next ventures into Canada in 1870 and 1871 were dismal failures. The Battle of Trout River in Quebec ended in a rout, O’Neill was arrested by a United States marshal and charged with violating neutrality laws. O’Neill was imprisoned, sentenced to two years, but he and other Fenians were pardoned by President Ulysses S. Grant. Recanting on a vow to never attack Canada again, he was persuaded to lead an attack on the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Pembina, Manitoba in October 1871, an area was then disputed between the U.S. and Canada. He was arrested by American troops. O’Neill later devoted himself to relocating Irish immigrants from eastern slums to the west. He died in 1878 of a paralytic stroke. After his death, the area he moved many Irish to and resided in, then called Holt City, was renamed O’Neill and is now called the “Irish Capital of Nebraska.” FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 85

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History Marker: 150 Years

PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM

dian militiamen in the rural community of Ridgeway later that day. The following day, they marched back to Fort Erie, where they defeated another Canadian force. But although the Fenians won these battles, they ultimately lost the war. Ireland remained a British possession, and British North Americans united to form the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Macleod said the Fenians mobilized in part because of their Irish blood, but also because following the Civil War jobs were scarce. And the mix of Union and Confederate veterans was a result of “their shared Irishness overcoming any lingering bitterness from the war.” But the movement faded as the soldiers began to find jobs. MacLeod noted a song the Fenians sung as they mobilized on Buffalo. “We’ve won many victories, along with the boys in blue We’re off to conquer Canada because there’s nothing left to do.”

Even if the Fenians had continued their raids, McLeod suggests there was little chance of success. “They had defeated amateurs at Ridgeway and Fort Erie but now the British Army was on the march,” ready to send them back to the United States. The Fenians had moral support in the U.S. but after the raids in Ontario many were rounded up, charged, though later released. Some of von Erichsen’s watercolors show a bias against the Irish American cause. One painting of Fenians carousing in a New York tavern shows one man trying a drunken handstand on a barrel and in one scene, a Fenian officer seizes a rifle from a Canadian soldier, swearing the weapon will never shoot another Fenian. He smashes the rifle butt on a stone, killing himself as it fired. The 23 paintings, one showing Fenians caring for a wounded Canadian, found their way back to Canada from Newport News, Virginia after an aunt of Vivian Jewel, the last surviving relative of von Erichsen’s granddaughter, passed them on. Vivian and husband Charles traveled to Canada and the Fort Erie area in 1990 and by chance met historian David Owen, author of The Year of the Fenians, who put them in touch with the Fort Erie Historical Museum. The paintings return there in September for permanent display. Back in Ottawa, there is more Irish history at the Bytown Museum, which sits at the foot of Parliament Hill, Canada’s seat of government, and just beside the Rideau Canal, dug mostly by the Irish and French Canadians in the 1820s and 1830s. Between 2,000 and 6,000 men worked on the canal, which connected the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario, and it was dangerous work as men died due to malaria or poorly executed black-powder charges. 86 IRISH AMERICA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

TOP: Watercolors by Alexander von Erichsen, around 1866. Fort Erie Historical Museum 994.085.013. LEFT: Watercolors by Alexander von Erichsen, around 1866. Fort Erie Historical Museum 994.085.002.

Reports suggest about 1,000 died in the canal’s construction, but Grant Vogl of the Bytown Museum believes that figure is low. He points out that history, until recently, has treated the Irish and French Canadians as simple laborers. But the discovery of documents shows many Irish did the skilled stonemasonry. When the canal was completed, those Irish were out of work and there was an organized attempt to break the French Canadian lock on the logging industry. It was a lawless time, and accounts, notes Vogl, indicate that brawling Bytown was one of the rowdiest outposts in Britain’s colonies. Fuelled by alcohol, fighting broke out up and down the Ottawa Valley, including the Ballygiblin Riots of 1824. Despite all that, Ottawa was selected as Canada’s capital, and today, people who identify with their Irish roots compose about 20 per cent of the region’s IA 1.1 million population. PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM

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album review |

by Kristin McGowan

Rising • Black Bank Folk

A debut album years the making, Rising, tells the human stories of historic heroes, an idea inspired by musician John Colbert’s personal connection to the rebellion through his great uncle, Con Colbert, one of the executed leaders of the Rising. John and fellow musician James Sheeran explore the emotions of love, fear, courage and admiration amid the immediacy of a changing world. Several standouts of the album include “Brother,” a song of Willie Pearse’s devotion to older brother Padraig. Willie learns about love and sacrifice from Padraig’s early efforts to preserve their beloved country, never leaves his side during the fighting, and, although he never held a gun, is executed along with his brother for his involvement, praying their mother will understand. “Lullaby,” featuring guest vocalist Grace O’Malley, is a heartbreakingly lovely duet evoking the last moments of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford before his impending morning execution. A dramatic cover of Luke Kelly’s “Sons of Roisin” features the group as musical backdrop to Kelly’s reading. Having grown up together, both becoming accomplished musicians with a stellar debut, Rising will hopefully not be the last collaboration of Colbert and Sheeran.

Visionaries – 1916

Lorcán Mac Mathúna with Elaine O’Dea, Íde Mac Mathúna, Daire Bracken, Martin Tourish, and Éamonn Galldubh

From an inspiring concept – setting to music the words of poets Pearse, Plunkett, and Connolly while paying homage to the musicianship of Ceannt – renowned sean-nós singer and composer Lorcán Mac Mathúna has created a remarkable album that reveals the everyday passions of these revolutionary heroes of 1916. Mac Mathúna initially composed the music for the Arts Council Centenary program, “1916 – Visionaries and Their Words,” and teamed with long-term collaborators Martin Tourish and Daire Bracken for the recording. Two of Pearse’s poems, “Fornocht do chonac thú” and “Óró Sé do Bheatha a‘Bhaile” are movingly sung in Irish, the first to a simple melody with minimal accompaniment of fiddle, flute, and accordion and the second to the familiar Jacobian air to which Pearse first set his poem. Included in this collection, too, are Plunkett’s “Clouds” and “White Dove of the Wild Dark Eyes,” both thoughtful and contemplative performances in voice, fiddle, and pipes. James Connolly’s, “We Only Want the Earth,” is rendered here as a rousing ballad, lifted by a lively melody and inspiring chorus. A trio of tunes featuring uilleann pipes pays tribute to Éamonn Ceannt, beginning with “Ceol an Phíobaire” (the “music of the piper”), followed by jigs “Cnocan an Teampel” and “The Gold Ring.” This album is a gift to those who love Ireland’s history, literature, and traditional music.

The Girl with the Beret Kate O’Callaghan

Singer, songwriter, and artist from Donegal Kate O’Callaghan draws inspiration for this concept mini-album from the witness statement of her great-great aunt, Catherine Rooney, as recorded with the Bureau of Military History. The album moves from the spoken words of this statement into the songs they inspire, bringing to life the courage of a young girl during the Easter Rising. The first track, “The Fight is On,” opens with the sound of morse code, the delivery method of the first news broadcast of the Rising, and Catherine’s words describing the scene on O’Connell Street and how she kicked in the side window of the Post Office to get inside. This leads into “Rising Men Down” where we hear the sweet yet strong voice of Catherine’s great-grandniece singing this story, further interpreting what Catherine saw, heard, and felt. One of the most poignant parings is “Safe Passage” into “Lay,” in which we learn of Catherine’s dangerous messenger work, running through gunfire and burning streets, remembering the kindness of those who promised safe passage and gave her rest. A haunting, simple melody with beautiful lyrics, made all the more so by knowing the story is real. Kate O’Callaghan pays a great tribute to her aunt in this small but powerful collection, tinged with sadness, admiration, and love.

No Force On Earth Damien Dempsey

For No Force On Earth, Damien Dempsey pulls women, Irish travelers, the English aristocracy, and those beyond Ireland’s boarders together, emphasizing the diverse power and spirit of the people involved in Ireland’s struggle for freedom. His own voice gives power to the rebel standards “Banna Strand” and “James Connolly,” and he sets to music Yeats’s “The Death of Cuchulain,” juxtaposing Ireland’s mythical and contemporary warriors. Dempsey’s personal connection to the Rising comes to the surface in “Aunt Jennie,” a tribute to his great-aunt Jennie Shanahan, who fought under Sean Connolly in Dublin City Hall and in the end held the dying Connolly in her arms as she whispered the Act of Contrition in his ear. Other original songs include “Paddy Ward,” the true story of an Irish traveler who fought in 1916, the War of Independence, and the Civil War, only to be murdered by a landlord who got off too lightly. “Wave Hill Walk Off” tells the story and struggle of the Australian aboriginal land rights movement of 1966, written in solidarity with the Rising’s commemorative year. Damien’s passion in both voice and lyrics is compelling; he delivers No Force on Earth forcefully and straight-forwardly, with minimal accompaniment – an ideal choice for this message. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 87

Hope

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The Tenacity of

A new documentary recounts the founding of Project Children and the strides the all-volunteer organization made toward helping Northern Ireland achieve peace. By Sarah Buscher

Kevin Brady (left) and John Cheevers (right) on John’s wedding day.

“It’s simple, it’s not rocket science.”

Denis Mulcahy is reflecting on Project Children’s 40 years of service to Protestant and Catholic children of Northern Ireland. It’s a story of turning points, of lives redirected, of second chances at childhood. It’s the story of humanity at its best – selfless and generous. Simple. Mulcahy, a native of Cork, his brother Pat, and a group of friends founded the project in 1975 while sitting around a dining room table in the quiet town of Greenwood Lake, NY, about 60 miles northwest of New York City. At the time, Northern Ireland was a cauldron of sectarian violence. “The Troubles were on the six o’clock news every night. The bombings were 24/7,” Mulcahy recalls. “In one 24-hour period, 15 places were blown up in Belfast. Anyone could be a target. No place was safe.” The Protestant and Catholic communities of Northern Ireland were polarized, with both sides living in different neighborhoods and children attending segregated schools. In 1975, Kevin Brady was the oldest of eight children in a Catholic family living in an apartment block on New Lodge Road in Belfast. “One of the first memories I have is of the army shooting tear gas up the stairs at my brother and I when we were kids. There was massive rioting going on all the time. I remember looking out the window and seeing four or five places that were on fire. “When I lived there we would play football on the street, we would climb into old buildings and we would riot. Rioting was what all the kids in the neighborhood did. Those were my memories. “There was a bar in our neighborhood,” he continues, “McGurk’s bar, where Loyalists just threw in a bomb and 16 or 17 people died and there were numerous shootings. I sort of envied my parents because they remembered a time when it wasn’t that way, but that’s all that I can remember. That was my childhood.” William Crawley, a Project Children alumnus and now a commentator for BBC Northern Ireland,

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describes Northern Ireland as divided by a “mythic sectarianism.” Mulcahy set out to combat the fear and misunderstanding that perpetuated it, by providing both Protestant and Catholic children a safe place in the States where they could just be kids. Children were placed with families or other children from Northern Ireland who represented the other side of the sectarian divide – Catholic children were housed with Protestant families and, vice versa. As a nine-year-old, Brady was part of the first cohort of children from Belfast Project Children hosted in the States. “I was really, really excited. It just exposed a whole new world to me. I had never seen anyone with black skin. I had never been close to any Protestants, let alone people who were Jewish or Muslim. I knew that world existed on TV, but actually being there and seeing that there was another world, gave me hope.” Fast forward 40 years: Project Children has hosted 22,000 children from Northern Ireland and evolved from an organization that hosted young children for a summer to a young adult internship program that partners with Habitat for Humanity and brings Protestant and Catholic children from the Republic and Northern Ireland to spend a summer in the U.S. to develop job skills. The launch of the documentary How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children story has recently thrust Mulcahy back into the spotlight, a place he’d rather not be. In fact, he agreed to the film because he never thought it would happen.“When I gave the go ahead,“ Mulcahy points out, “I never thought they’d get the funding and put it out of my mind.” This is typical Mulcahy – too busy to rest on any laurels. He’s also quick to deflect praise for his vision or stewardship of the organization. “We’ve done incredible work,” he admits, “but it’s not me. It’s the host families.” “The one thing about the program,” Mulcahy reflects, “was it attracted the greatest people in the world. The most generous people, the most understanding people.” What seems to elude Mulcahy after all these years is how he embodies the qualities he admires in others. In describing the taciturn Cork-native, Brady, now a journalist living in Florida, points out, “I think that’s one of the reasons that Project Children was as successful as it was because he never forgot names, and he never forgot people and he never forgot to thank people. It’s because of Mulcahy’s aversion to accolades that the film’s director, Des Henderson, describes Mulcahy as “a nightmare to interview.” “Denis is a cop, a stereotypical Irish cop. He doesn’t give much away” Yet there’s nothing typical about Mulcahy’s career. While stewarding the all-volunteer organization, the father of four also spent years as a decorated member of the New York Police Department’s elite bomb dis-

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LEFT: Cheevers (center left) and Brady (center right) with their host parents, Carol and Duke Hoffman, at JFK airport in 1975. BOTTOM LEFT: President Clinton meeting with Project Children, Denis Mulcahy is behind the woman with the red coat whose arm is stretched out. BELOW: Willie McColgan is pictured with his family. Willie spent time with the Gleason family in Pennsylvania and recently contacted them by Facebook to say, “Thank you. And hello. I have great memories of my time I spent with your family thank u so much.”

posal unit. The same patience, courage, and tenacity it took him to approach and dismantle a bomb were the same qualities that may have helped Mulcahy turn the tide of the Troubles. As word of Project Children spread throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, more and more families signed on to host children out of Northern Ireland. The program branched out along the East Coast, eventually reaching the homes of power brokers in Washington, D.C. Well-connected people like Kitty Higgins, then assistant to President Bill Clinton and cabinet secretary, hosted children. When Mulcahy visited the White House to receive an award for his service in the NYPD, Higgins pulled Mulcahy back into the Oval Office after the ceremony to tell the president about Project Children. Clinton went on to invite Mulcahy to join him on both of his trips to Northern Ireland. The former president plays a prominent role as a commentator in the film, which is narrated by Liam Neeson. Henderson recalls, “It was obvious that they both have huge respect for Denis and the work he has done over the years. They really wanted to be involved.” Other luminaries in Mulcahy’s orbit are the actor Michael Keaton, who hosted children from Northern Ireland, and Roma Downey. With success also came heartbreak. Project Children alumnus Seamus Morris was shot and killed in the streets of Belfast years after his summer in America. Young Bernadette McDonnell’s Project Children summer was cut short when her father Joe died on hunger strike. Some joined the violence that surrounded them. Yet, for as many tragedies the project experienced, there were countless success stories: Michael Mullan, who, as part of his Project Children summer, received the surgery that would allow him to walk, and Catholic Kevin Brady and Protestant John Cheevers, who, years after their summers together on Greenwood Lake, would go on to serve as best man at each other’s wedding. Another Project Children alumna, Patricia McBride, whose father and older brother were killed during the Troubles, went on to a life of activism, serving as Northern Ireland’s victim commissioner. At Project Children’s 40th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C., McBride recalled, “What Project Children did, and I think this was the success and the magic that Denis and Marion and everyone who was involved created, was that they didn’t force

anything.... It was just very gently creating opportunities for everyone to be in the same space. It was gently encouraging people to do things that they mightn’t have done otherwise. I’m absolutely a different person because of the encouragement.” And so it went, building understanding, child by child, year after year, until the dream was realized – a ceasefire in 1998, followed by the Good Friday Agreement and a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland between nationalist and loyalist parties. The work of reconciliation continues. In reflecting on the Troubles, Denis states, “If you were to ask back in those days if we would be where we are now, I would have said forget about it.” Yet the contrast from the Belfast of 40 years ago to today is a stark one. Kevin Brady asserts, “When you would walk downtown in Belfast, [during the Troubles] you always looked down. You wouldn’t look people in the eye, but then when I went back a few years ago, about ten years after the ceasefire, people were looking each other in the eye and they were smiling and they were saying hello. I saw the change immediately and I said to myself, there’s hope here.” As How to Defuse a Bomb is being rolled out in the states, many U.S. citizens, on the right and the left alike, feel increasingly disenfranchised from the political system. When I ask Henderson why he thinks this is an important story for the current times, he adroitly sums up the power of the film and the power of Project Children itself: “Ordinary people do have the power to change the world for good. Denis was an ordinary NYPD cop – an immigrant to America – who took it upon himself to change the way the world worked. It’s inspiring and should remind us all that change starts with an idea and the bravery to see that idea through, even IA when others aren’t supporting you.” FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 IRISH AMERICA 89

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reflections | 1916

“A living Soul for Ireland:” THE POETIC LEGACY OF THE EASTER RISING By James W. Flannery

James W. Flannery is he director of the W.B. Yeats Foundation and a member of the Global Irish Network appointed by the Irish Government. From 1989 to 1993, he was the executive director of a Yeats International Theatre Festival at the Abbey Theatre devoted to promoting peace and reconciliation through the arts.

n Sunday March 27, 2016, with other representatives of the Irish diaspora, I attended a remarkable ceremony at the General Post Office in Dublin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Both the GPO, the headquarters of the Rising, and O’Connell Street, the center of the city, had lain in ruins a century before. Now, in exactly the same place, hundreds of thousands gathered to watch the ceremony slowly unfold in silence and reverence. My father fought in the War of Independence that followed the Rising, and I proudly wore his IRA medal as I sat in the viewing platform. I often thought of the struggle for their country’s freedom that he and other young men and women embarked on as a direct response to the ideals and example of the 1916 rebels. As I experienced the stately procession of Commemoration 2016 move down O’Connell Street, I was increasingly conscious of being present at a singular moment in time – a liminal moment of transition in which the Irish people at length celebrated their spiritual, cultural, and intellectual triumph over the troubled circumstances of the past. As such, it was also a vindication of the extraordinary vision and practical idealism of Padraig Pearse and the other leaders of the Rising whose heroic sacrifice enabled the proud and independent Ireland of today to be born. Pearse had launched the Rising in front of the GPO by reading a statement that announced the establishment of a provisional Irish Republic and the democratic principles by which it would be governed. One of the most moving moments of the commemoration was the reading of the 1916 Proclamation by an army officer in the same location Pearse had stood. As the words rang out, I was struck by the acknowledgment of the role played, throughout Ireland’s long struggle, by her “exiled children in America.” My father was one of those exiles who had kept the faith. And there were many others who, like me, had come from across the globe in fealty to the commitments of their ancestors. Not far from the minds of those in attendance was the great failing of the Irish revolution, the abandonment of the nationalist people of Northern Ireland through the partition of the island and the awful suffering that ensued from that decision. That turbulent experience along with the hope promised by the Good Friday Agreement were recognized through a beautiful “Prayer for Remembrance” read by the head chaplain of the Defense Forces that called for a

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Reading the Proclamation. PHOTO: MAXWELL

“new song” for all the people of the island: “A song of compassion, inclusion, and engagement; a song of unity, diversity, and peace; a song of Céad Míle Fáilte and of care for our environment.” The theme of reconciliation was honored by four children, representing the four provinces of Ireland, who each laid a wreath of flowers while a piper played a lament to the air of “The Salley Gardens,” that haunting song Yeats composed out of his own soul’s longing for transformation and transcendence. The climax of Commemoration 2016 occurred with the raising of the tricolor, the national flag of Ireland with its green, white, and gold symbolizing the union of the different traditions on the island that was the fundamental goal of the Irish Republic proclaimed by Pearse. To men like my father, the realization of that goal was the defining mission of their lives. In some ways, the purity of the republican vision at the heart of the Poets’ Revolution of 1916 was sustained more fervently by the American Irish who brought about the peace process and its continued hope for the unification of Ireland than it was by those who remained at home and had given up on that dream. In one of his last poems, Pearse the schoolmaster spoke of the simple truths that remain the source of his lasting legacy now and in the generations to come: Of wealth or of glory I shall leave nothing behind me (I think it, O God, enough!) But my name in the heart of a child. Walking back to my hotel room after the event I was stopped by a young couple who asked if they could take a photograph of my father’s medal. The woman, who identified herself as “a Dub,” asked whether she could touch the medal. After holding it a moment, with tears in her eyes, she said, “I never knew before today where we really came from. Or who we really are.” For this witness-bearer to the commemoration of 1916, the look in the eyes of that woman as she held my father’s IRA medal is what remains with me. They were the eyes of a child whose heart has been awakened to a love of country. My father awakened the same emotion in me many years before, a love summoned in poetry and song that, he believed, would ultimately transcend the artificial divisions of race, religion, politics, and geographical boundaries through the creation of a communion of living souls IA known as the Republic of Ireland.

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review of books | recently published books A Line Made By Walking By Sara Baume

ragic figures such as Vincent Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Virginia Woolf feature prominently in history’s narrative of the creatively-inclined and chronically depressed. Implied in the legacies of these figures is the idea that their heightened sensitivity to the world’s sadnesses took root as the source of their vision, the key to their productivity. Such is the hope of the protagonist of Sara Baume’s second novel, A Line Made By Walking. Frankie, a twentysomething ex-student of the visual arts overridden by depression, has sought solace in her dead grandmother’s rural house, abandoning the aimlessness of her life in Dublin to busy herself with a new project. During her stay, she aims to restore her creative spirit by photographing every dead animal she encounters in the Irish countryside. With every chapter named for a creature thus prophesied to appear lifeless within it, A Line Made By Walking is a novel which presents the life-death dichotomy with elegance: a drowned mouse is likened to the famed painting “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais and, later, Frankie’s efforts to save an injured bird lead to a crisis, part existential, part artistic. The idea of art as something beyond tangible reality is discarded; Frankie actively chases death in order to refill her own life with meaning, “Hoping, without thinking, for something to die.” In an attempt to find grounding in the long days otherwise marked only by her misfortunate quarry, Frankie tests herself constantly, drawing on her academic training to link historical works of art to her circumstances as they arise. For a lover of such trivia, the raw yet wry insights provided by A Line Made By Walking render it a must-read. The fickleness of life in the animal kingdom is no more so than the fickleness of the human connections the novel reflects on – Frankie’s dead grandmother (and Joe, the devoted dog who passed in her wake); Frankie’s mother and sister, the details of their lives divulged only as afterthoughts; William, her ex-schoolmate with learning disabilities; and Ben, the romantic lead of a previous life. In an honest depiction of emotional disruption, Baume centralizes no single face, opting instead to hinge upon Frankie’s every distraction and tangent. “I knew precisely what things I wanted to do,” Frankie says, fittingly, of her childhood. “I was deeply resentful of other people’s attempts to enforce structure on my days.” Art, Baume implies, is a window between life and death in their every sense. Not content with merely looking through the glass, A Line Made By Walking flings it wide.

– Olivia O’Mahony (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / 352 pp. / $25)

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The Weight of Him By Ethel Rohan

arly on in Ethel Rohan’s debut novel, The Weight of Him, Billy Brennan pockets a “second,” a flawed toy he is tasked with throwing to the incinerator at the factory assembly line where he works. This second, a toy soldier with his chin strop missing, becomes his most stable companion throughout the course of the novel, as Billy sees his family and neighbors turn away from his attempts to overcome what seem to be increasingly insurmountable tasks, arguing that it will bring too much attention to him and the town. Those tasks are nothing light. The novel begins with the suicide of Billy’s son Michael, at 17, and grief quickly overwhelms the tone and pace of the book. Billy, who weighs 400 pounds, also has an addiction to food, borne of an emotional dependency to the comfort of perceived self-control in what he eats. These two story lines converge as Billy resolves to lose half his weight to raise money for suicide prevention in Ireland, hold a march in his small rural Irish town in Michael’s name, and shoot a documentary about his efforts. Throughout the book, characters deal with the loss of Michael and come to terms with Billy bringing unwanted attention to himself (as others see it at least) and it becomes increasingly clear how much command of everyday people Rohan has. The characters, including Billy, who narrates the novel, are some of the most frustratingly average people, complete with irrational reactions, poor foresight, and indecision. But, by turning her gifted authorial eye to an unexceptional family somewhere between Dublin and Newgrange that is thrust into a situation wholly unexpected, Rohan is able to probe at what it means to be stable, healthy, and happy, suggesting that each of those conditions can only be measured relative to external events. That Billy works in a toy factory is apt – there can be no perfection except in the inanimate, no ideal but the factory-made. His squirreling away of the seconds, only to build complex back stories and even physical homes for them, shows that in flaws, there is more character and history than can be attained by putting on airs of a quiet, idealized life.

– Adam Farley (St. Martin’s / 336 pp. / $25.99)

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1916: One Hundred Years of Irish Independence By Tim Pat Coogan

im Pat Coogan’s 1916: One Hundred Years of Irish Independence is a personal and fiery assessment of whether Irish political, spiritual, and cultural institutions have honored the ideas laid down by Pearse and Connolly. Coogan uses the Proclamation of the Irish Republic as a rubric for his assessment and explains in depth where these institutions succeed, but mostly where they have failed. The chapters chronologically follow the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence, beginning with the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion, and concluding with present-day issues like the financial crisis and government corruption. No major institution or political figure is safe in Coogan’s hands. He dedicates two chapters to criticizing the Catholic Church and one chapter to the “Age of Dev,” in which he accuses de Valera of being a demagogue “very capable of making political hay out of such ill-judged governmental cost-cutting.” Coogan concludes the book by claiming that those who have run Ireland’s institutions have betrayed not only the ideals that the leaders of the Easter Rising proclaimed, but have betrayed the people of Ireland. In fact, the only major cultural institution that emerges unscathed is the Gaelic Athletic Association, which Coogan argues follows the ideals of his rubric, the Proclamation, to a tee. It should be noted that 1916: One Hundred Years of Irish Independence is not for those looking for an introduction to Irish history and politics – the book is written more like an elongated editorial piece than a strict history of the Ireland’s institutions and its notable historical figures. Instead, Coogan’s book is a passionate evaluation of the past 100 years that challenges whether the modern Irish state can, or should, regard itself as the inheritor of the ideals of the Easter Rising.

– Dave Lewis (Thomas Dunne / 336 pp. / $26.99)

Ireland’s Allies: America and the 1916 Easter Rising Edited by Miriam Nyhan Grey

new collection of essays published late last year aims to be the first to give a detailed image of the Rising as a transnational event, focusing specifically on the Irish diaspora in the United States in the two decades leading up to Easter 1916. Twenty-five well-known academics come together in the volume, co-published by UCD and NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House and edited by NYU historian and GIH associate director Miriam Nyhan Grey, with a forward by GIH director J.J. Lee. Each tackles a different aspect of the American ties to the Rising, from the Irish language to the Catholic press, from Pádraig Pearse’s New York visit to the evolution of German-Irish relations in the U.S. during the period. (Disclosure: I graduated from the master’s program at NYU, where both Nyhan Grey and Lee teach, and some of the contributors have previously published in Irish America.) In addition to well-known figures in America like John Devoy, Joseph McGarrity, Jim Larkin, and Thomas Clarke, the understudied abound in the book. Chapters like those on Mary Jane O’Donovan Rossa, Jeremiah’s wife; Gertrude B. Kelly, founder of Cumann na mBan in New York; and Irish and Irish American suffragettes in particular illuminate the key role women played in American organizing efforts against British rule in Ireland. And the final chapter on the Rising’s relation to American anticolonial nationalists is particularly important for its research on how the Rising influenced radical black leaders in the U.S. like Marcus Garvey and Indian nationalists like Lajput Rai. The specter of Woodrow Wilson’s anglophelia and American intervention in World War I loom large in the book, as does the increasing vocalism of anti-British sentiment in New York during the time. The chapters that address the issue do a good job of contextualizing the debate with respect to the various ethnic allegiances formed during the time, as well as reminding readers unfamiliar with the debate of its high contentiousness. Taken as a whole, the book is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to learn more about Americans’ relationship to the Rising and offers a sweeping platform for scholars and amateur historians alike to dive into further research.

– Adam Farley (University College Dublin Press / 400 pp. / €40)

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Little Clover The

Slainte columnist Edythe Preet explores the story behind Ireland’s national symbol.

ABOVE: St. Patrick depicted with shamrock in a detail of a stained glass window in St. Benin’s Church, Co. Wicklow. TOP RIGHT: Shamrock on an Irish Defense Forces U.N. beret.

elling anyone with even just one drop of Irish blood there’s no such thing as a shamrock would be akin to announcing at Mass that the Pope isn’t Catholic. But it’s true. Before you cry “Blasphemy!” let me explain. The word “shamrock” is an anglicized form of the Irish term seamir og, which means “little clover.” While there is no plant botanically classified “shamrock,” there are dozens of types of clovers. Ireland is covered with gazillions of them, and a shamrock is really just a young clover. Like the Irish themselves, clovers are found all over the world, but only in Ireland has a cloverleaf become a primary national symbol. Saint Patrick gets most of the credit. Born in Roman Britain to a Christian family, at age 16, Patrick was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Ireland where he learned to speak Irish and served as a shepherd until escaping six years later. Not long after reaching home, Patrick experienced a vision in which the Irish pleaded with him to come back to Erin and tell them about Christ. After studying for the priesthood in France, he went to Ireland as a Christian missionary in the early part of the 5th century. According to a Latin work referred to as St. Patrick’s Confessio and believed to have been written by Patrick himself, he didn’t receive a warm Irish welcome on arrival but was robbed and beaten more than once. It does, however, note the thousands of baptisms he performed and the many monasteries he founded. While the work contains no account of Patrick using a shamrock in his zealous missionary work, several legends tell the tale. In each story, Patrick explains the Christian Trinity – one Supreme Being with three distinct personae, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – by comparing the faith’s mystery to a shamrock on which three separate leaves grow from one stem. In one tale, Patrick used the shamrock/Trinity analogy to convert King Laoghaire. In another, unable to convince the King, Patrick converted the two royal daughters, Ethne and Fedelm. In a third legend, Patrick chanced upon a group of chieftains beside a clover-filled meadow and plucked one to illustrate his message. It might seem that nearly two thousand years ago the concept of one god with three different personalties might have been a big leap for an Irish pagan to

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accept, but such was not the case. Celtic beliefs included many gods and goddesses, each manifesting different aspects of human life, and some even embodied triplicity. Perhaps the most revered Celtic divinity was the triple goddess Brid, who represented the three aspects of womanhood – maid, mother, and crone. Brid’s female triplicity provided a yin balance to Christianity’s yang Trinity. As for the shamrock, Patrick had assistance there too. The plant’s three leaves was sacred to Druids for whom three was a magical number. A seamir og symbolized past, present, and future as well as the three elements of earth, water, and sky. Because the seamir og’s leaves turn over and upward before a rain, it was thought to have prophetic powers. Shamrocks were used for medicinal purposes, and as a protection against evil. During famines, many people ate the lemony “wood sorrel” variety to avoid starvation. Having been enslaved in Ireland for six years, Patrick must have known about Celtic beliefs. His Irish fluency surely enabled him to explain the Christian God’s triplicity in a language the locals understood. And when he used the Irish term seamir og to name the plant, it entered the vernacular as “shamrock” and has been called that ever since. Despite all the folklore about Saint Patrick and the shamrock, no written record linking the two appeared until more than a thousand years after Patrick’s death. In 1671, English traveler Thomas Dineley wrote that Irish people wore shamrocks on Saint Patrick’s Feast Day. Another fifty years passed before Patrick’s shamrock explanation of the Trinity was noted by botanist Caleb Threlkeld. He also mentioned the custom of “drowning the shamrock” in the final Patrick’s Pot of whiskey drunk on March17th and then throwing the wilted wet leaf over one’s left shoulder for luck. The shamrock began to change from a Christian symbol to a national symbol, when it was adopted in the late 1700s as a motif by several revolutionary groups fomenting Irish independence from the British Crown. The resulting brief but bloody Irish Rebellion of 1798 (May 24 to September 24) was so brutally put down by British forces that it inspired folk ballad “The Wearing of the Green,” which lamented, “they’re hanging men and women for the wearing of the green [shamrock].” With the 1800 Acts of Union, Ireland’s shamrock was added to the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom along-

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sláinte | good cheer

RECIPES Puréed Sorrel Soup

side England’s rose and Scotland’s thistle. The shamrock’s popularity as a national symbol swelled throughout the 19th century, appearing not only on St. Patrick’s Day greetings but also public buildings, monuments, streetlights, churches, and even postage stamps. When the Royal Regiment of the British Army adopted the shamrock as its emblem, Queen Victoria ruled that Irish soldiers should wear shamrock sprigs to honor their fallen fellows. During World War I, the famous Connaught Rangers (who called themselves “The Devil’s Own”) marched to battle wearing shamrock emblazoned badges and singing “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary,” which became a unifying anthem of the conflict. These days, the shamrock is as internationally recognized a symbol of Ireland as the Statue of Liberty is for the United States. It is the emblem of Ireland’s Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, the Irish Football Association, the Olympic Council of Ireland, and Tourism Ireland. A shamrock not only appears on the tail of every Aer Lingus jet, the airline’s air traffic control sign is the shamrock as well. From touristy t-shirts to hand-cut crystal whiskey tumblers, the humble “little clover” appears on a host of Irish products. One of the most famous is the Shamrock line of decorative vases and dinnerware produced by Belleek Pottery in Co. Fermanagh, which appeals to collectors of fine china all over the world. Every year on Saint Patrick’s Day, the Irish taoiseach presents the president of the United States with a bowl of shamrocks in a special Waterford Crystal bowl featuring a shamrock design. If you decide to create a similar centerpiece for your own Saint Patrick’s Day celebration and there’s clover growing in your lawn, just pick a handful of the leaves and place them in a pretty vase. And if there happens to be a rare four-leaf clover in the mix, the luck of the Irish will surely be with you! IA Slainte!

(personal recipe) Note: Commercially grown sorrel is an acceptable substitute for wild wood sorrel. It isn’t easily found in the market. I grew it in a large flower pot and you can too. 1 ⁄4 cup unsalted butter 3 leeks, both green & white, sliced thinly 5 large garlic cloves, crushed 12 cups fresh sorrel leaves (stems trimmed, chopped, & tightly packed) 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock 1 medium potato (peeled & cut into small cubes) 1 cup Italian parsley (minced & loosely packed) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 teaspoons dried tarragon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1 ⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add leeks and garlic and sauté until soft. Handful by handful, add sorrel, allowing to wilt. Continue adding sorrel, stirring well to combine with leeks & garlic. Add remaining ingredients and cook over low to medium heat for 1 hour. Purée with an immersion blender until smooth – add more stock if too thick. Serve with a dollop of sour cream. Makes 4-6 servings.

The Tipperary Cocktail World War I Cake

(personal culinary history recipe) Note: This cake uses no butter, eggs, or milk, which were all rationed during war time. It kept well and so was a good treat to send to soldiers on the front. 1 cup water 2 cups raisins 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 ⁄2 teaspoon cloves 1 cup brown sugar 1 ⁄3 cup shortening 1 ⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 ⁄4 teaspoon salt 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 ⁄2 teaspoon baking powder Place water, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, shortening, nutmeg, and salt in a saucepan and mix. Place on heat and bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes. Allow to cool, then sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir into cooked mixture. Spoon into a greased loaf pan lined with waxed paper and bake at 350 F. for one hour or until a toothpick can be removed clean. Cool on a wire rack, then peel away waxed paper. Makes one loaf cake.

(courtesy Jameson Whiskey) Note: This pale green cocktail first became fashionable in preprohibition New York where there was a large population of both Irish and Italian immigrants. The original recipe appeared during WWI in a 1916 book titled “Recipes for Mixed Drinks” by Hugo R. Ensslin, a bartender at New York’s Wallick Hotel, and was popularized by the Great War’s rallying song “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.” 1 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey 1 oz French Chartreuse 1 oz Italian Vermouth Combine all three liquors with ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into rocks glasses filled with ice cubes. Serves two.

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last word | the legacy of 1916

The Way Forward Following the success of the 1916 commemorations, the Irish government has launched a five-year program to celebrate the wealth of Ireland’s creativity.

2016

By Sharon Ní Chonchúir

PHOTO: JAMES HIGGINS

was a momentous year for Ireland as the country marked a century since the Easter Rising. However, it was only the beginning of what will be five years of commemorations as Ireland reflects on its march towards independence and 100 years of nationhood. One of the ways in which the Irish government plans to celebrate key moments in the foundation of the State is through its new Creative Ireland program, which was launched by Minister for the Arts Heather Humphreys at the Irish Consulate in New York in January. It aims to build on the unprecedented levels of public involvement in last year’s 1916 centenary commemorations. “Last year provided a great opportunity for Ireland not just to reflect on the last 100 years and to celebrate our diverse culture but also to look ambitiously to the future,” said Minister

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Humphreys. “This is where Creative Ireland comes in. It would be a missed opportunity if we didn’t seize on the huge level of public engagement in the centenary year. We are aiming to capture that enthusiasm to drive a creative agenda in every county nationwide; the benefits of which we hope will be felt for generations to come.” The Creative Ireland program will be overseen by a government committee chaired by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. However, its director, John Concannon, will be responsible for its day-today running. John was previously involved with the Gathering and with last year’s centenary and learned a lot from both experiences. “The Gathering came at a time when we were emerging from the recession and people had spent years despairing over the direction the country was taking,” he said. “The Gathering was a call to action for them, a chance for them to play their part in Ireland’s recovery.” They were invited to participate just as much in the centenary celebrations. With the aim of involving as many people as possible, a series of meetings were organized throughout Ireland. “We had intended to hold 26 meetings, one in each county,” said John. “But we had to hold 84 meetings to cater for the demand. More than 3,500 events took place as a result of those meetings. That response was off the charts compared to what we had expected.” Looking back, certain events stand out for John. He is proud that the tricolor was presented to every national school in the country. “Two soldiers visited each school explaining the meaning of the flag,” he said. “They explained how its coleurs show that Ireland has always been an island of peace and plurality.” Easter weekend was another highlight. “There was such a sense of pride to it all,” said John. “Not the fist-pumping, chest-thumping kind, but the intrinsic kind that comes from a sovereign

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PHOTO: JAMES HIGGINS

nation that has a lot to be proud of.” Minister Humphreys shares John’s positive memories of 2016. “If you look back on the weekend, our capital city was brought to life with arts and culture,” she said. “What is most important now is that we don’t lose focus on culture and creativity. We saw what was possible in 2016 and there is an onus now to build on that for the future.” Just as meetings were held throughout Ireland to plan for 2016, meetings with local communities are currently taking place in every Irish county to plan for the commemorations to come. So far, the program consists of five key pillars. The first is enabling creativity in the community

and it involves an awards scheme to promote Irish artists at home and abroad; a scheme providing income support to low-earning artists; and an annual county of culture award which will allow individual Irish counties to showcase their cultural creativity over a 12-month period. “And then we have Cruinniú na Cásca,” said John. “This will be an annual celebration that will take place every Easter Monday, starting this year. It will involve free cultural events throughout Ireland and it’s already generating a huge response from communities wanting to take part.” The second pillar of the program will focus on elevating creative industries such as media, architecture, digital technology, fashion and crafts. Its initial project will be to develop Ireland’s potential as a global leader in film production, TV drama, documentary, and animation for the screen. Just as the Proclamation of the Republic promised to cherish every child equally, the third pillar of the Creative Ireland program aims to foster the artistic potential of every child. It promises that every child in Ireland will receive tuition in art, music, drama, and computer coding. Investing in infrastructure is the fourth pillar. This will include investment in the National Gallery, the National Library, the National Archives, and the National Concert Hall, as well as local arts and cultural centers.

TOP: Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, TD, who launched the 2016 Centenary Program in New York City at the Consulate of Ireland, is pictured with Ambassador Anne Anderson and John Concannon, who spearheaded the commemorations. LEFT: Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits Pádraig Pearse’s cottage in Rosmuc, Connemara during the planning stages of building a new visitor center on the site. FAR LEFT: Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys speaks at the launch of Creative Ireland earlier this year in New York.

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last word | the legacy of 1916

TOP: Lt. Shannon presents a copy of the 1916 Proclamation and an Irish flag to Conor and Kyla McDonagh in Cornanool National School, Co. Mayo as part of the 2016 Flags for Schools program. Also pictured is school principal Ann O’Hara. TOP RIGHT: Dancers perform during Dublin’s Reflecting the Rising events Easter weekend last year.

The final pillar is unifying Ireland’s global reputation, which translates as articulating how we wish to be seen by the outside world. “The messages being conveyed about us are uncertain at the moment when you consider things like Brexit and Apple tax,” said John Concannon. “This is our chance to control our narrative internationally. We want to let people know that Ireland is a great place to live, which means it’s also a great place to visit, to invest and to study. The www.ireland.ie website will tell this story and signpost to various agencies that will help anyone who wants to live, visit, invest or study here.” The Irish abroad are to be included in every aspect of Creative Ireland, just as they were in the centenary celebrations. “We partnered with our embassies and consulates to deliver the Ireland 2016 Centenary program overseas and they did a tremendous job with more than 1,000 events in

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100 cities worldwide,” said Minister Humphreys. “It is important to us that the diaspora feels connected and involved. Their story is part of the journey Ireland has come on over the last century.” To date, events planned outside Ireland include performances in the U.S. by music groups The Gloaming and Téada; funding for music acts to attend the South by Southwest festival; and a variety of events to be held in the Irish Arts Center in New York. “We’ll be announcing more through our website www.creative.ireland.ie in the near future,” said John Concannon. “We’re planning a lot of publicity around the Saint Patrick’s Day parades.” John is looking forward to seeing just how Irish communities throughout the world choose to shape the Creative Ireland program. “The past few years have been ones of looking back at the heroic decisions and actions of the past, at the rocky road that culminated in the creation of our republic,” he said. “What I hope Creative Ireland does is look to the future, asking where we are and where we’d like to go.” Whether or not it does this depends the involvement of as many different Irish communities as possible. “In 1966, we had a singular narrative to commemorate 50 years since the Rising,” said John. “It was seacht fear, seacht lá (‘seven men, seven days’). Last year’s commemorations were much more nuanced with multiple narratives. That’s the sign of a true and mature democracy. Considering the space we’re in now, I’m expecting Creative Ireland to reflect the hope, optimism, confidence and sense of possibility that Ireland and Irish people feel for the future. We have a lot of stories still to tell.” IA For more information, see www.creative.ireland.ie

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