Irish Unity Would Boost North & South – The unification of the island of Ireland, a favorite theme of many nationalists, would produce a significant economic benefit for Ireland, north and south, says a Canadian study just released.

The report, conducted by the University of British Columbia, is being heralded as the “first comprehensive simulation of political and economic integration.” Its findings indicate strong, solid benefits and savings on both sides of the border. The new international survey also shows dramatic growth following integration, including $36 billion in new GDP expansion in the first eight years.

The report suggests that benefits would be island-wide but the North would benefit more than the Republic. The reasons for the disparity, says the study’s leader, is that “the North is obviously the less developed economy” The Republic, meanwhile, would enjoy benefits of better market access and better economies of scale of investments. A win-win for both parts of Ireland.
While the report provides a beacon of encouragement for many on the island it also has found its critics among the unionists in the North. Chief among the naysayers is the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which said the unity report “Sounds like Gerry Adams-style economics and has all the same credibility.” They used to be friends!

In rebutting the findings the DUP said, “Support for the Union has never been higher in Northern Ireland because the people ...see the value of being part of one of the world’s largest economies and other positives of being in the United Kingdom.”

A Miffed Gerry Adams Channels Rosa Parks – The US Secret Service says that the dust-up that resulted in the Sinn Féin leader being detained at the White House last month and finally leaving after waiting for some 90 minutes was due to an “administrative input error.” Adams’s remark after leaving – “Sinn Féin will not sit at the back of the bus for anyone,” an expression forever tied to US civil rights icon Rosa Parks – won Gerry some criticism from political foes at home.

There are a number of rationales for the Adams snub being circulated in Washington and Dublin political circles where Adams and his policies find scant comfort, but one has quietly risen to the top as the key reason for the unusual White House security holdup, and it has a history.

According to the Irish Independent newspaper, a recent British government report charged that the Provisional Irish Republican Army still exists and is involved in organized crime, including  recent murders in Ireland. The British report further notes that PIRA members “believe that the army council oversees both PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy.”

The Obama administration has been quiet on many aspects of homegrown terrorism in Ireland, but the death and disappearance of Belfast mother of ten Jean McConville in 1972  has been a continuing ugly sore spot in any relations between the Obama White House and Adams.

Lord Of The Dance Is Retiring – Speaking on the eve of his retirement from active dance, Michael Flatley told a Irish American Fund audience of his debts to his parents and what his stunningly successful career has meant.

It was a rare look at Michael and his life, but more it was a speech close to the bone and a poignant moment as he closed the curtain.

“I wish my father could be here tonight. He was a Sligo man, sadly he passed away a year ago. My mother just turned 80 and she couldn’t make the trip. My mother is from Carlow and they came to the United States from Carlow in 1947 with nothing and they worked so hard. Two Irish people. ... they worked day and night to support us. I would have nothing, I would be nothing without my parents, and any award I receive in my lifetime, particularly this one, it’s for them.”

But like the athlete he is, the dancer recalled his injuries: “a torn calf, two ruptured Achilles tendons, a broken toe. It has been severe but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Michael finished with a nod to the impact that Irish dance, the culture, has had on the world. “It was my great honor for the last twenty years to do what I do. We have bought Irish culture to the four corners of the globe. We have sold out every major venue from Tokyo to Texas, from Mexico to Moscow,” he said.

I have been to many live shows over the years but watching Michael Flatley and Jean Butler dancing together in center stage at the Point in Dublin is probably the most special, transcendent theatrical moment I have ever experienced. They were magic together and with my wife, Jean, alongside me, it was a treasured moment we remember.

A Time To Remember – It was exactly 25 years ago on the day before St. Patrick’s Day this year when the Birmingham Six were set free. They had spent over 16 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. The trial was a farce, some evidence pounced on, other exculpatory evidence pointing to the Irishmen’s innocence ignored or put aside.

The six men — Paddy Joe Hill, Richard McIlkenny, Hugh Callaghan, Gerry Hunter, Johnny Walker, and Billy Power were taken into custody, tried and convicted because they were Irish. One of the released men, Gerry Hunter, was the guest of Boston. I still recall the smiling but nervous man who sat with us in Doyle’s in Jamaica Plain. How does one begin to get those lost years back. Impossible!

Irish Have A Role In Brexit Vote – The referendum on Britain leaving or staying in the European Union will be held less than three months from now, on June 23. The British voters will decide what direction for the UK.  But the Irish, too, have a part to play in the vote. Many Irish do have a vote (living in Britain) and the Irish living in the North can participate. All in all there are over 600,000 qualified Irish voters: In England and Wales there are more than 400,000 residents who were born in the Republic, and a further 215,000 born in the North.

Many observers are suggesting the possibility of a very close vote in June. In that scenario the 600,000 Irish can, as swing voters, make a significant difference in the Brexit outcome.

A compelling factor for the Irish is the fact that experts, including the London School of Economics, contend that an exit vote in the referendum could lead to major economic losses in Britain. The outlook is that after England, the biggest loser in living standards would be Ireland, with the island suffering “the largest proportional losses of any country other than Britain.”

What was that election-day cry years ago in the Curley, Lomasney era – “Vote early and often!” Yes, indeed.

Sister Pascalina: The Rest Of The Story – She has, with ample reason, been called “The most powerful woman in Vatican history.” She was for some 41 years advisor, confidante, secretary to the Vatican cleric Eugenio Pacelli, and then virtual co-adjutor with him when he, as Pope Pius XII, was dealing with serious questions of policies and strategy concerning the Catholic Church he ruled.

In my outing on this topic in this space previously, I had to cut short the story of a truly extraordinary woman. Born Josefina Lehnert in Bavaria in 1894, she was called Sister Pascalina during her decades as a Catholic nun and La Popessa by many during her Vatican years when she served Pius the pope.

The two of them worked together for the betterment of the Church. They had frequent private disagreements over policy, strategy, and what was best for the pope and the Church. Pascalina verbally scuffled with cardinals and other Curia members when she sensed they were engaged in activities unhelpful to Pius and his mission.

When they had clashes or unresolved differences, she omitted the honorary “Your Holiness” when addressing the pope, and he omitted calling her Sister Pascalina when he was unhappy with something Pascalina said. But always it was respectful, if sometimes edgy, and their devotion to each other and the cause they served was never out of sight.

What I liked learning about Sister Pascalina was that every idea, policy suggestion, strong opinion or negotiated argument was invariably a fight between the two and she always came down on the side of what best served Pius and the church. From time to time she stiffened the back of the pontiff. She never used the relationship to further her own career. They often thought alike on major issues. In instances where saving Jews and others from the Nazis, she and the pope sometimes disagreed on methods but never on what was morally right. Between the two of them and others in the Vatican they saved scores with false exit papers, and hid thousands more within the Vatican walls.

After Pius died in 1958, her old foes in the Curia prompted her quick departure, and only a very few, like New York’s Cardinal Spellman and Boston’s Cardinal Cushing, were aware and respectful of her singular service and influence for good over the years in the back offices of Vatican City. Pascalina spent her remaining years at a convent in Vienna and died there at 89.

The Past Gets Razed – The Sheraton Wayfarer Is No More – After watching some of the Republican debates in recent weeks and shaking my head at the personal invective being wildly tossed around, I was lamenting the old days and wishing that politicking 2016 had more of the old stuff and the personalities going back a few decades.

Then I picked up a short article by James Perry, a wonderful old pro, a first-rate journalist at Dow Jones and the Journal and political observer of many New Hampshire primaries. Not any longer being much of a traveler myself, I only learned from Jim’s article that the Sheraton Wayfarer in Bedford, New Hampshire, had been abandoned and recently razed to create condos and a shopping center. I was saddened, but times change.

The Wayfarer in the woods came fully alive every four years at presidential primary time when all the big foot reporters and columnists, who, like dutiful anthropologists, gathered at the bar looking out on the grist mill and the waterfall while exchanging the latest rumors – who was hot or who was fading, or who was about to drop a news release of unknown value on the bar. The drinks were plentiful and fueled the rambling conversations.  We early birds were on the alert to see what candidate or key aide (they usually knew what was happening) had something that had advanced from rumor to about-to-break.

Strictly speaking, I wasn’t supposed to be there with them. I had no byline, no up-and-comer I was pushing, but I liked the atmosphere and nobody cared as long as you got the odd round here and there. It was fun to see the men, mostly men, who served as the mechanics who oiled the campaign machinery. Later in the evening, just stopping by to say hello and move on, came the working candidates. Jerry Brown, the Greggs, father and son, TV’s Tom Brokaw having a drink before dinner, Walter Cronkite every once in a while in sloppy hat and tan raincoat, Howard Baker, on rare occasions, amiable, quiet George H.W. Bush, some stylish visiting reporters from the Los Angeles Times, Jack Germond, the raucous laugh announcing his arrival, and maybe a familiar face, like Marty Nolan from the Boston Globe.  I sort of miss the give and take of those olden days, and from what’s on offer on political television these sorry, surreal days, there’s not much replacing it.

Rest In Peace, Robert Kenney – The former director of the BRA was Boston Mayor Kevin White’s point man in the 1970s on the development of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and other key downtown projects that decades later are serving us so well. Bob Kenney was a quiet man of few words as a son noted after his death. He didn’t do bragging well; he let his work ethic and the buildings he developed and brought to life do most of his talking. He was a crackerjack, a genuinely talented man who never made a point of trying to convince you that he was smarter than you or the fellow standing next to you.

I liked Bob enormously. He was a close friend of friends of mine and we would bump into one another now and then, and amidst the warmth he exuded, I was always curious how this kind, gentle, accomplished man had gotten so much done in such a high visibility world without being outrageously popular or a media favorite. Somewhere along the way, it dawned on me that he was so successful and well-liked because he knew what was important in life and what wasn’t. He was the full package.
My condolences to Bob’s wife Kathy, their three sons, and the Kenney family.

RANDOM CLIPPINGS
The ugliest and most bogus charge ever raised against President Obama by the befuddled right-wing nuts is that Obama is responsible for creating Trump because of his partisanship. … Give Fidelity a pat on the back for its benefit program that helps their workers pay off their student loans. … George Regan will convince few when he whines “It’s not about the money” in his money-seeking lawsuit against Suffolk U. … Tom T.C. Cummings of WUNR 1600 Radio has passed on. Our condolences to wife Shelia Lordan Cummings. … Smart move up North as Antrim councillors now refuse to fund tires used for dreaded bonfires. The North’s civil service, once dominated by Protestants, is no longer that way and the complaints are piling up.

Stephen Colbert is not shy about bringing his Catholicism to his late night TV show. … The word is out that President Obama is plunging into the campaign arena with gusto. … Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is no stranger to the White House, where his urban smarts are prime time favorites of the Obama team. … US Sen. Ed Markey was for some airline fee cuts but the Senate blocked a new consumer aid bill that would have slowed the rising fees. … One of the more abusive charities, Wounded Warrior, which spends huge sums living high, has fired two top execs, but much more monitoring is overdue. … The move is on in the respective legislative bodies in Ireland to cut the high VAT tax for tourist spots, hotels, etc. The rate now in the UK is a ridiculous 20 percent.

In case you missed it former Anglo Irish bank chief David Drumm is back in Dublin facing ten years in his fraud case. … Post Office boxes, usually green, are being painted red for the 1916 events. Funniest is one An Post comment that some PO boxes may have been on the streets since the Rising. … Peace walls, some anyway, are coming down now in Belfast, the first of 21 targeted walls. Ulster U reports that the North spends $1.2 billion yearly coping with divisions there. … If you’re not otherwise engaged, Washington Post super columnist E.J. Dionne is to speak and offer his new book on Tues., April 26 at the JFK Library. … Martin McGuinness is calling for reunification if the Brits quit the EU. … Stormont is way behind in the women who serve in the assembly. … Former Irish President Mary McAleese is for the British voters to reject leaving the EU. … Ian Paisley, Jr. zapped the 1916 Rising celebration as a loser.  If this son of Nepotism had a brain, he’d be dangerous. … Mother Teresa becomes a saint on Sept. 4. I met her once on a Boston-New York flight to meet Charlie Haughey, who won’t be tabbed for similar honors. … Protests are under way from relatives of 1916 victims who don’t want the Glasnevin memorial wall to have British soldier victims names on it with their relatives.

Speaking of the 1916 centennial, President Obama at last month’s St. Pat’s Day White House event noted words from the Rising and their relevance today. Obama’s words: “Cherishing all the children of the nation equally: that’s a vision statement 100 years ago and it would be a visionary statement today.”