Letter from Wicklow/ Larry Donnelly

Not for the first time, “Opening Day” in American college football was played in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.  Georgia Tech and Florida State flew across the Atlantic to face off and some 27,000 of their followers accompanied them.  The game itself was a thriller, with the Yellow Jackets, who have Co. Kerry-born David Shanahan on their roster, pulling off a 24-21 upset.

By any objective measure, the event was a tremendous success.  My older son Seán, a huge football fan and Patriots diehard, thanks to his adoptive father, went along.  He indicated that the atmosphere was electric and that there were no signs of trouble in the capital, which has unfortunately been the site of too much of it lately.  In his own words, “there were Americans everywhere and they were loving it.”

They surely did.  An accounting firm estimates that this late summer Saturday was worth more than one hundred million euro to Dublin and the nation, given that scores of the travelling contingent went on tour.  I encountered a group of them having a blast at Wicklow Golf Club.

Crucially, the visitors were not Bostonians or New Yorkers; lots of these southerners didn’t have any Irish connections.  Now, having seen this country’s beauty and met its wonderful people, they will go home professing their grá for this place to family and friends who will add Ireland to their bucket lists.  There will be further benefits from the Georgia Tech-Florida State clash that was watched by a massive TV audience in the US.

Most of the Irish enjoyed the event.  But, sadly, some didn’t and their pronouncements on the game and the disruption it undeniably caused were, to describe their criticisms euphemistically, ugly.  The president of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union posted on Twitter/X: “This is my idea of hell (yanks, the colour orange and sports).”  Another opined that “Yank simps are just nauseating.”  And there were far worse remarks.

Of course, Twitter/X can be a cesspool. Yet the facts are that a not insignificant swath of the population in Ireland has little use for us and that this sentiment is more widespread due to vigorous opposition to US foreign policy in the Middle East and its essentially unwavering support for Israel as our close ally wages what is perceived near-universally here to be a grossly disproportionate, ghastly war on innocents in Gaza.  It is equally a fact that this thinking is prevalent on the Irish left.

So yes, the relationship between our governments and our citizenries is, in many ways, stronger than ever.  Be aware, though, that there is a vocal and growing minority wishing  that wasn’t the case.

•••

Conversely, it has been a privilege for me to be a director of the Kennedy Summer School, an annual festival of Irish and American politics, history, and culture held in the Kennedy family’s ancestral hometown of New Ross, Co. Wexford, for the past eight years.  It has just concluded and we on the organising committee are basking in its glow.

The highlights of KSS 2024 included the hilarious impressionist Aidan Tierney, who assumed, in rapid-fire fashion, the voices and mannerisms of a number of well-known figures from the sporting, broadcasting, and political realms.  He even impersonated yours truly, prompting my wife to say that it was better than the real thing!  Attendees also heard from the current Taoiseach (prime minister), Simon Harris, who has to be one of the best communicators on the planet, and from former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who regaled us with yarns from his five decades as a member of Dáil Éireann (Irish parliament).

It was a very special occasion that the speakers and the spectators alike relished, based on their unsolicited feedback.  The planning for 2025 has already commenced.  If you are aiming to be in Ireland at the end of August, please do get in touch and join us.  I guarantee you won’t regret it.

•••

It is natural, in that the 45th and possibly the 47th POTUS was the star of “The Apprentice,” that discussions of celebrity politics typically begin by focusing on the land of my birth.  That said, high profile and usually well-heeled individuals pursuing elected office isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon.  Here in Ireland, a plethora of politicians became household names before they appeared on a ballot paper.  For instance, Jack Lynch, Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979, was a brilliant hurler and Gaelic footballer for Co. Cork prior to entering politics.

Recently, famed ex-news anchor and Connemara native Gráinne Seoige announced her intention to seek the Dáil seat in the Galway West constituency being vacated by Éamon Ó Cuív, who has served in the parliament since 1992.  Seoige’s bid to garner a Fianna Fáil party nomination has taken most of us keen onlookers, who never had an inkling that the Irish language advocate with Boston links had any interest in politics, by complete surprise.

Seoige seems to be going about it the old school way: phoning and meeting the grass roots to persuade them of her capacity and credentials.  It does throw up a question.  Is it fair for an untested celebrity to parachute in and bypass the city and county councillors who have been doing all the tough, often unrecognised work in their local areas?

I don’t have a satisfactory answer.  I believe it is a decision for Fianna Fáil initially and then, if Seoige is ratified, for the residents of Galway West.  Frankly, in a context in which dozens of Irish parliamentarians are declining to run for re-election – owing in large part to their frustration with a 24/7 job that increasingly entails the incessant online abuse. I am only glad that talented women and men, regardless of their background, are still willing to put themselves forward.

Good luck to Gráinne Seoige and to her fellow prominent media personality, Alison Comyn, who is standing for Fianna Fáil in Co. Louth.         

•••

Lastly, the eyes of the world will be on the US until November 5.  All elections are vitally important, but this one matters perhaps more than any other in living memory.  I urge readers to consider that when voting.  And I don’t write as someone who is a big liberal or who is particularly enamoured of the Harris/Walz ticket.  I issue this plea because I love America and am terrified by the prospect of a second Trump presidency.

Larry Donnelly is a Boston born and educated attorney, a law lecturer at the University of Galway and a regular media commentator on politics, current affairs and law in Ireland and the US.  Twitter/X: @LarryPDonnelly