Letter from Dublin: Belfast’s elite have long stoked sectarian division to blunt labor solidarity. Is 2024 the turning point?

By Timothy Kirk, Special to BostonIrish
February 29, 2024
Timothy Kirk, Special to BostonIrish

On Jan. 18, more than 170,000 public sector workers in Northern Ireland went on a 24-hour strike.  The 17 trade unions representing nurses, teachers, ambulance staff, bus drivers, and road maintenance crews did so with the support of most of the people in Northern Ireland.  According to the office of national statistics, there are 861,000 workers in Northern Ireland, which means the strikers constituted 20 percent of all workers in the six counties.

Letter from Wicklow: Stormont back in the North, Sinn Féin slipping in the Republic

By Larry Donnelly, Special to Boston Irish
February 29, 2024
Larry Donnelly, Special to Boston Irish

With a mixture of fanfare and cautious optimism, Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Stormont assembly finally is up and running after a two-year impasse.  Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill is the first ever nationalist First Minister in the six counties and Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party is her deputy.

The Presence of Rose: Remembering an aunt’s immigrant example

By Martin McGovern
February 29, 2024
Martin McGovern

 When my father declined to cross the Atlantic for my wedding in 1990, I understood why. Traveling from Dublin to Massachusetts and meeting so many new people would have been anxiety inducing for him. Although his decision did not upset me, it left me worried about my mother traveling solo and without a partner at a family event.

Consul General embraces life as a Bostonian: ‘Everybody’s so lovely, so warm, so welcoming’

Ed Forry
By Ed Forry
February 29, 2024

It was Christmas Eve Day 2023 and Ireland’s Consul General Sighlé Fitzgerald was on the beach at M Street in South Boston. The outside temperature was 5 degrees with the water temp in the high 30’s and she was there to join with a few other sturdy souls to take a mid-morning plunge into the waters of Dorchester Bay to help raise funds for the Irish Pastoral Centre.

“It’s a Lovely Christmas Eve Dip this morning with the Boston Irish Dippers…. and amazing post-dip catering,” she posted that day on her Facebook page. 

For Dorchester, March 17th marks two landmark holidays

By Peter F. Stevens, BostonIrish Contributor
February 29, 2024
Peter F. Stevens, BostonIrish Contributor

In early March 1776, Gen. George Washington rode out to Dorchester and reined in at the farm of Captain John Homans, who lived in “the upper end of town.” Homans’s acreage was full of white birch, and Washington ordered his troops to cut down the trees so that “the citizens of this and the neighboring towns…could cart them…on the night of the 4th, to [Dorchester] Heights.”

The Heights were dotted by “nine dwelling houses on the Neck, now South Boston.” The American Revolution was about to arrive at the front doors of those nine Dorchester households.

Boston prepares to celebrate Evacuation Day/St Patrick's Day

By BI Newsroom
February 26, 2024
BI Newsroom

Original art for the Boston Irish Magazine by Vincent Crotty.
Scene depicts Dorchester heights, at the top of Telegraph Street, South Boston. It was from there that General George Washington forced the withdrawal of nearly 10,000 British troops from Boston Harbor on St Patrick's Day- March 17, 1776. The day is now memorialized in Boston as "Evacuation Day," a city holiday, as well at St. Patrick's Day.  To see the current edition - download here ------------->>>

A Long Day’s Journey to ‘Thirst' At Lyric Stage Company

By R.J. Donovan, Special to BostonIrish
February 24, 2024
R.J. Donovan, Special to BostonIrish

Eugene O’Neill’s classic drama “Long Day's Journey Into Night” follows one devastating day in the life of the Tyrone family.  Set in 1912 in the family’s Connecticut summer home, the highly autobiographical Pulitzer Prize-winning play reveals a family shattered by addiction, disease, and desperation. 

Roscommon Assoc. announces Man and Woman of the Year

By BostonIrish.com Newsroom
February 5, 2024
BostonIrish.com Newsroom

The County Roscommon Association of Boston has announced plans for its traditional St Patrick’s celebration- on Saturday March 30, 7- 11 pm at the Irish Social Club of Boston, 119 Park St West Roxbury.

At the event,  Pat Kelly and Aoife Griffin will be honored as Roscommon Man &  Woman of the year-and musical entertainment will be by Erin’s Melody with Margaret Dalton, 

For more information, call Richie Gormley at 617-327-7777.

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