Irish-Based Charity Is Scammed – The Chernobyl Children International charity founded and run out of Ireland by humanitarian Adi Roche is one of the most admired and successful efforts of its kind anywhere in the world.

Since its founding in 1991 following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, the nonprofit CCI has raised and spent over $120 million to provide free medical, social, and rehabilitative services to thousands of young victims in Chernobyl. It is far and away the favorite charity of Ireland and of the Irish people, who have sustained CCI’s two decades of giving even as their tiny nation dealt with its own economic crisis. CCI has been accredited by the United Nations and won scores of awards for its work over the past twenty years.
Proving the adage that “no good deed goes unpunished,” there are several bogus organizations that have, mostly via the internet, used the good works of the Ireland-based CCI to scam (steal is not too harsh a description) unsuspecting people into donating money to several newly developed phony charities of a similar name, and who claim, falsely, to be helping the young of Chernobyl.
The most notorious scam calls itself “Chernobyl Children Charity” and has been identified as criminally fraudulent, stealing from the CCI Irish charity’s website, and providing very little if any aid to Chernobyl or to anywhere else. The key is in the name. The largest of the fake charities calls itself Chernobyl Children Charity but the Adi Roche-led Irish-based charity with a 20-year solid history of delivering the goods is named the Chernobyl Children International.
The legitimate, widely honored CCI has the word “International” trademarked as an integral part of its name, not to be confused with the shameful scam operation run by a couple of parasitic Ukrainians. If in doubt here or in Ireland, know to whom you are giving, and remember: the internet giveth and it taketh.
Parades On Tap For St. Patrick’s Celebrations – Some of the area parades come early, most happen on the St. Pat’s weekend, and a couple come a week later. Here, courtesy of the Boston Irish Tourism Association, are some parades scheduled in New England and beyond:
Saturday morning, March 10 –Yarmouth on the Cape; Sunday, March 11 –Worcester at noon.; Sunday, March 18 – Holyoke at noon; Boston, Abington, and Scituate, 1 p.m.; Sunday, March 25 –Manchester, NH, at noon. In Ireland, Dublin’s famed parade begins at noon on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.
Another Good Idea From John Cullinane – That inventive laboratory in John Cullinane’s fertile brain has come up with yet another solid idea, this one aimed directly at the creation of jobs here and in Ireland, a goal sorely in need of a creative bounce. John, the Cambridge-based philanthropist and entrepreneur with a special regard for Ireland, has created an “Entrepreneurial Portal” that is designed to help young entrepreneurs succeed “anywhere in the world.”
The portal’s comprehensive approach coincides with a recent separate but congenial initiative by the Irish government geared to draw overseas entrepreneurs to Ireland.
Cullinane believes strongly that only entrepreneurs can create the private sector jobs that are the key to America’s future. And Ireland, with its 14 percent unemployment, would certainly benefit by that approach. Cullinane, who founded Cullinet, the first software products company valued at a billion dollars, and who has been active in creating inward investment in Ireland, has some innovative ideas in his Portal for prospective entrepreneurs that include: free online access to the experience of Cullinane and other successful entrepreneurs; problem-solving from proven leaders; links to the universe of successful entrepreneurs, organizations and other valuable contacts; and unique opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs to share experience and access advice.
Taoiseach Impresses Boston Community –Enda Kenny, a longtime Fine Gael bridesmaid and Taoiseach in waiting, has, along with his Labour Party cohorts, finally grasped the reins of the post-Fianna Fail Party salvage operation. Coming into government a year ago, Kenny had little need to play big. It was enough in those early days to simply not to be Fianna Fail.
However, more and more, Kenny has been making new friends in a difficult economic climate at home and in his straight-from-the-shoulder dealings with the European Union. This was reinforced in his mid-February visit to Boston and earlier to New York where the word on the street was that he impressed many of the Hub’s heavyweights with his ease and command of the issues. One close observer who was in attendance at more than one of Kenny’s appearances heard to say that Ireland was being run by some first-class people.
The taoiseach, leading Ireland next year into its EU presidency, also had some words of advice for the Union and the European Central Bank. He told his Boston audience that Ireland would seek to move Europe beyond austerity and cutbacks with renewed emphasis on economic growth. Kenny said that the ECB would need to ease off stringent policies and take a “fuller role” in finding answers to the Eurozone debt crisis. He concluded with his key theme, “reasserting Ireland’s place in the world.” All in all a very impressive message indeed from a confident leader in full stride.
Corrib Gas Pipeline Boon To Irish – The Irish equivalent of Boston’s Big Dig in terms of controversy has finally settled down and additional funding to complete the pipeline has been agreed to. The completion of the pipeline begun eight years ago is set for late 2014. The project, centered in northwest Mayo, has been the subject of almost continuing debate and delays but it will, experts say, create over 1,500 jobs on site and indirectly. The additional funding by Shell E&P Ireland to finish the project is roughly $1.1 billion The big news that comes with the agreement on continued funding is the fact that Ireland will be significantly more independent and (this is called burying the lead) the pipeline will supply 60 percent of Ireland’s present and future gas needs. Wow.
NOTABLE QUOTE
“An Ireland that ensures older people are not marginalized by ageist attitudes, and that respects the young and combines wisdom and energy, is a rich society.”
– President Michael D. Higgins
Embassy Closing Attracts New Critics – One of the icons of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Sean Donlon, has added fuel to the fire with a critical broadside against the closing of Ireland’s Vatican Embassy. A former ambassador to the U.S., Donlon, now retired, said the breakdown in relations between Ireland and the Holy See related to the clerical abuse scandal made the diplomatic mission more rather than less important.
Donlon said that Taoiseach Kenny’s very public blast at the Vatican “had probably been a good thing, because it shook up people at the Holy See” But he added that it was now time to begin the process of “normalizing the relationship.” Although some years have passed since Donlon was in government, he continues to offer a well-respected voice that his former peers listen to.
Donlon rejected the government’s contention that the embassy in Rome was too costly to operate. He recalled there was a precedent in place not to allow other countries to cover Irish diplomatic missions, but agreed that it might be possible to operate both Irish missions out of the same building.
Ireland’s Councils Need Spending Restraints – Apparently immune or uncaring about harsh warnings from the Dublin government about county and town council spending, the local governing authorities continue over-spending as if the Celtic Tiger were still prancing about.
The lads (still weak on gender equality) on various council bodies that were under orders to reduce costs and borrowing at the outset of the financial crisis have resorted to overdrafts and bank loans to meet everyday expenses. Auditors are troubled by the finances of three authorities, Sligo, Mayo, and Donegal. And the vast majority, 18 of 24, are running a deficit or are overdrawn.
The situation country-wide is dire. Because of its own deficit, the Dublin government has cut the council funding by a third. One result: The Galway City Council has 32 staff members who are owed more than a year’s paid annual leave; council salaries continue to increase regardless of ability to secure funding; and council contracts worth millions are being awarded without formal tendering. Maybe they might go the bankruptcy route of Harrisburg, PA, or Central Falls, RI. Who knows, but someone should tell them that the Tiger is sleeping.
Former Carmel Mayor Gives USA a Pep Talk – I thought the Super Bowl ad segments were mostly pedestrian. Nothing much to skip a beer for. Or at least they were until the former mayor of Carmel, CA, came on before his 100 million plus audience to say a few words about Chrysler, and a few more words about the state of the state. It was magic, especially if you can’t quite digest that Barack Obama is responsible for Jimmy Hoffa’s absence, the two most recent Patriots’ Super Bowl debunkings, and Elvis’s departure from the house.
I thought the U.S. taxpayers’ bailout of the American auto industry (sans Ford) was a no-brainer. You don’t kill America’s signature industry and its jobs while pouring billions into greedy rogue banking and investment emporia like Goldman Sachs, AIG, et alia, and take companies that actually make things off life support. At least not in the real world. Even Tim Geithner knows that. Thanks, President Obama, while we’re at it, for the job on Osama Bin Laden.
Another Long Knife Out For Gerry Adams – The Boston College/British police dust-up over Dail Deputy Gerry Adams added another hardscrabble player with a grudge to the lingering drama that seeks to demobilize the Sinn Fein party leader for distant sins. As described by Eamonn McCann, one of my favorite journalists/activists, in a Counterpunch newspaper article, Nicholas Baxter, a former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detective chief superintendent who is possessed of a fierce, unrelenting hatred of Adams, deserves a piece of the credit for the British demand for BC’s oral histories regarding the abduction and death of Jean McConville in 1972. Keep in mind the British never picked up a phone or lifted a finger to investigate her death for thirty years before the BC subpoena.
Baxter, now a “security consultant” for New Century with a Pentagon contract to train the new Afghan police force, believes that the RUC has been emasculated and the terrorists (yes, like brother Adams) are winning the post-war war. In a Belfast Newsletter article on March 10, 2010, Baxter urged the RUC’s successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), to launch a new investigation in the Sinn Fein leader’s alleged role in the death of McConville, the mother of ten. He has continued to campaign in unionist/loyalists’ publications and other outlets with Adams as his target.
With his long ties as chief liaison between the police and MI5 in the North, Baxter has wide contacts and is held in high repute by both police and military. Harboring the hate he has for Adams has been a personal campaign of destruction focused on having charges being brought against Adams.
The pursuit of Adams and others, Eamonn McCann believes, is seen by Baxter and his colleagues as unfinished business.
And with the BC/British police imbroglio due for some resolution this month, it seems rather probable that Baxter and his police allies – and maybe MI5 thrown in for good measure – will get their wish to get Gerry Adams into a Northern Ireland criminal courtroom some day.
Not To Be Overlooked —The vice president of China and the soon-to-be next leader of China, Xi Jinping, recently spent three full days in Ireland meeting with top government officials and Irish business leaders. The Chinese vice president arrived in Ireland directly from the US and his Irish visit was his only stop in a European country. This could be a super significant event in the relations of the two countries. Vastly increased trade relations, even a long term partnership, appear to be the order of the day. Currently China only accounts for a scant three percent of Irish exports, but the red carpet treatment of Xi Jinping could radically change that.
RANDOM CLIPPINGS
Heroes are in short supply these day, or more likely we just don’t know about them. But my candidate for Hero Status is John Glenn, Marine, test pilot, astronaut, US senator, an Ohio boy who did it all and never bragged on it. … Irish folk legend Tommy Makem has been nominated to the Irish American Heritage Center Hall of Fame in Chicago. What took them so long? … John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban who took up arms against the US, could soon be paroled. He plans to seek Irish citizenship !!! … From late June through July 8 the place to be is Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race which will turn the county upside down during its two-week stopover. … Save your pennies: Peter’s Pence just went up as Italy is looking for taxes from the Vatican of almost a billion dollars. … I guess I am old-fashioned. Until now I had never heard of a bank charging a fee to close an account. … Royal Bank of Scotland had a terrible 2011, with stock price and income down, but CEO Steve Hester still wanted his $1.5 million “bonus.”
Globe columnist and basketball guru Bob Ryan is retiring after the Olympics; a solid, steady journalist. … Isn’t Dr. Bill O’Connell one of the best assets we have, and he continues working to honor the Irish in unmarked graves on Deer Island. Good man, Bill. … Joe Kennedy III looks a bit young for Congress, but father Joe of Citizen Oil wouldn’t have sent him out if he didn’t think he was ready. … If the Republic ponies up its share, the work can begin on A5, the road between Derry/Donegal to Dublin that is overdue and needed. … I didn’t see or hear either Gerry or Martin McGuinness saying it but kudos to Sinn Fein’s Pat Doherty for telling the world that the IRA campaign was a “massive injustice” to victims.
US House Republicans called a congressional hearing on contraception and women’s health and all the witnesses were male. Is anybody left in the GOP to be ashamed? … MSNBC, especially in the early mornings, is a channel I watch but never with the sound on when prime-time bigot and nativist Pat Buchanan is uttering his bilge. The cable station said “bye, bye” to him. Pat, don’t let the door knob catch you on the way out. ... When you see the name “Numbers USA,” check your landscapers. They have mobilized to defeat the Scott Brown proposal to allow 10,500 visas for the Irish same as we do for the Aussies. … As I write this, Galway’s regional airport may already have closed. It faces liquidation and has lost its government subsidy. … Nancy Brennan of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway lost her way when asked to produce pay records for herself and other top staffers, but my goodness, it’s not a capital crime. Cut them some slack and move on. Nancy forgot the Greenway is partially public funded. She won’t forget again. … .Famed runner Eamonn Coghlan doesn’t race anymore. Today he’s a Fine Gael senator and was at the NY Athletic Club fundraiser last month for his charity, the Children’s Medical & Research Foundation at Crumlin Hospital in Ireland. On occasions I would see him in Boston, usually alongside the late and much missed sports columnist and author George Kimball. … Kevin White was a gift to Boston. He was smart enough to build on Mayor John Collins’s urban ideas and vision and he had a great eye for talent in assembling one of the sharpest cadre of top staffers ever to patrol city hall.
To one and all: have a healthy and happy St. Patrick’s Day and hope for better days there and here.