POLITICS
CELTIC CLUB
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Kenny’s Time Running Out As Backbench Loses Faith
Club Leaders Ponder Next Move After Sale Windfall
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AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R February 23 - March 8, 2017 | Volume 30 – Number 2
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Fatally Engaged
Daithi Walsh, who died from stab wounds in Sydney last weekend, pictured with his fiancée, Tina Cahill, who is accused of his murder.
Wexford father-ofthree stabbed to death in Sydney, Irish fiancée charged with his murder SEE PAGE 3
THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND HAS VISITED MANY, MANY COUNTRIES SINCE 2011, BUT NOT THIS ONE
Micheal D’s Aussie blind spot multiple trips to Britain and the United States. But he has also visited Italy, China, Vietnam, Per u, Colombia, Mexico, France, Laos, El Salvador, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Ethiopia, Malawi, and South Africa. President Mar y Robinson visited Australia within the first two years of her presidency. President Mar y McAleese took a little longer to get here, arriving in 2003 some six years after her election. But there was an
official visit by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the year 2000. Similarly, President Patrick Hillery visited in 1985 during his second term. But many believe that the country which has welcomed more Irish nationals than any other over the past two decades might be closer to the top of the current head of state’s priority list. Apparently not. Australia has also been largely overlooked for the Pr esident’s Distinguished Service Awards for the Irish Abroad. Of the 50 awards handed
out since 2012, only two have gone to Irish Australians. President Higgins, who has yet to decide whether he will stay on for a second term, has family connections in Australia. In 2005, while serving as a TD, Mr Higgins revealed: “I have had an interest in Australia for a long time because an aunt and uncle of mine are buried there. My uncle was involved in building the railways and is buried in Toowoomba. His uncles and aunts in turn had emigrated from Clare to New South Wales and Queensland.”
Irish Echo Australia | 1300 555 995 | newsdesk@irishecho.com.au | (Admin): mail@irishecho.com.au | PO Box 256, Balmain, NSW 2041 I Print Post No 100007285
President Michael D Higgins Print Post No 100007285
AS Michael D Higgins enters his sixth year as President of Ireland, there is speculation that he may not visit Australia before the end of his term. All three of his immediate predecessors visited this country, but there is now concern that President Higgins will buck the trend. Michael D Higgins has been in the job since November 2011 and he has made many overseas visits. He has travelled to other countries that share considerable heritage connections with Ireland including