Fund seeks to aid family of Mayo man, 42, killed in accident

Sean Corrigan and family: Died last weekend in fall from roof.Sean Corrigan and family: Died last weekend in fall from roof.A 42 year-old father of three died last Sunday, Feb. 22 when he fell through the skylight of a Canton warehouse while supervising snow clean-up. Sean Corrigan, a native of Co. Mayo who has been living in Medfield with his wife Sheila and three young children, was waked at Gormley's funeral home in West Roxbury this week. He will be buried in Ireland.

A fund has been set up to assist his family.

Irish first to get beef to US market

Simon Coveney “A huge prize”Simon Coveney “A huge prize”

The news has been a long time coming – nearly sixteen years. Since the Mad Cow outbreak in the late 1990s, the US had banned the import of European beef. Now, Ireland has become the first country in Europe to meet the strictures ensuring that the meat is safe for American consumers.

The US government lifted the ban last March, but Ireland has beaten its neighbors in preparing to sell to the lucrative market across the Atlantic. The news has been greeted with elation by the Irish government and its food board, Bord Bia.

In an announcement last month on Irish national radio, the Republic’s agriculture minister, Simon Coveney, stated: “This US market is a huge prize, given its size, and the demand we know exists there for premium grass-fed beef. We now have first-mover advantage as a result of being the first EU member state to gain entry. There is also the large Irish-American community, which will be a key target of our promotional efforts.”

Minister for Diaspora talks immigration in visit to D.C. Boston

Ireland's Minister of State for the Diaspora Jimmy Deenihan T.D., pictured with members of the Irish Cultural Center.Ireland's Minister of State for the Diaspora Jimmy Deenihan T.D., pictured with members of the Irish Cultural Center.

Irish Fine Gael politician James “Jimmy” Deenihan T.D., the Minister of State for the Diaspora, visited Boston last month during a four-day, two-city American visit that featured immigration talks in Washington with members of Congress, Irish American business leaders, and organizations thaty support Irish citizens.

When he was in Boston, the five-time All Ireland GAA football champion, who is 63 and a member of the Irish parliament, visited the Irish Pastoral Centre in Dorchester, the Irish International Immigrant Center downtown, and the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton. He also visited the soon-to-open EM Kennedy Institute at Columbia Point and the Boston College Irish Institute in Chestnut Hill.

There’ll be commemorative stamps aplenty in 2015

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

Do you ever look at the stamps on your mail? The US Postal Service offers many different and interesting stamps that feature a variety of seasonal designs, sports, flowers, history, holidays, and more.

Ireland’s post office also offers many interesting designs and we were delighted to see that detail from church windows by famed stained glass artist Harry Clarke was featured on two of three 2014 Irish Christmas stamps. The third stamp was a Dublin schoolgirl dressed as an angel.
One of Ireland’s three Christmas stamps featured a Michael McLaughlin photograph of the Infant Christ from “Adoration of the Magi,” a Harry Clarke  stained-glass window in St. Patrick’s Church,  Newport,  Co. Mayo. One of Ireland’s three Christmas stamps featured a Michael McLaughlin photograph of the Infant Christ from “Adoration of the Magi,” a Harry Clarke  stained-glass window in St. Patrick’s Church,  Newport,  Co. Mayo. 
HARRY CLARKE
Clarke (1889-1931), his father Joshua, and his brother Walter all worked in stained glass. Harry also illustrated books. We’ve written about Harry Clarke’s amazing artwork before but it bears repeating that if you are near any of his windows, it’s well worth taking a look. Harry’s work is often easy to spot because it is so detailed with such rich, deep colors.

I’ve always loved the story of how Harry’s large three-light window depicting “The Last Judgment” came to be installed in St. Patrick’s Church in Newport, Co. Mayo. In 1926, the pastor, Canon Michael MacDonald, sold his life insurance policy to pay for the windows. The canon specified that Harry himself was to do the work and not his studio. Harry started the work in the summer of 1930 but died the following January. Sadly for Canon MacDonald, the windows were finished and installed by his studio.
This year’s Christmas stamps were from photographs taken in St. Patrick’s Church in Newport by Michael McLaughlin, and in St.Patrick’s Church, Millstreet, Co. Cork, by Bill Power from Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. Both images are details from “Adoration of the Magi” windows in those two churches. The Millstreet photo depicts an angel playing a lute; the Newport image is of the Christ child.

Q&A with Scott Doherty about ‘Rockin’ Road to Dublin’

Rockin’ Road to Dublin’Rockin’ Road to Dublin’

The era of Irish dance-themed stage productions, which has seen “Riverdance,” “Lord of the Dance,” “Dancing on Dangerous Ground,” and “Atlantic Steps,” among others, is not over yet: Now there’s “Rockin’ Road to Dublin,” which comes to the Greater Boston area this month with performances at the Collins Center in Andover on February 20 and 21. For the show’s co-creator, Irish dancer Scott Doherty, it’ll be a homecoming – he’s a Massachusetts native, born and raised in Lawrence. A former Irish World Dance champion, Doherty made his professional debut in 2005 in the North American tour of “Riverdance,” went on world tours with “Riverdance” and Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance,” and then performed in the lead role of Lorcan in Gaelforce Dance for their 2012-13 tours of Europe and Asia. He has also appeared in the Irish dance shows at Busch Gardens, and in concert with acts such as The Irish Tenors, Cherish the Ladies, Michael Londra, and Andy Cooney.

The Boston Irish Reporter recently caught up with Doherty, who talked about his background and what’s different about “Rockin’ Road to Dublin.”

The Barra MacNeils are coming!

The Barra MacNeils, who will perform at Medford’s Chevalier Theater on March 7, have forged a hugely successful career of nearly three decades playing Celtic music, including that of their native Cape Breton.The Barra MacNeils, who will perform at Medford’s Chevalier Theater on March 7, have forged a hugely successful career of nearly three decades playing Celtic music, including that of their native Cape Breton.

Legendary Celtic music performers The Barra MacNeils, who have traveled far and wide for nearly three decades to present music from their native Cape Breton, as well as Ireland and Scotland, will journey next month to Greater Boston, where they will present a concert on March 7 at 7 p.m. in the historic Chevalier Theatre in Medford.

The event commemorates the 75th anniversary of the theatre’s dedication in memory of pioneering Medford aviator Godfrey Chevalier, the first American to land an airplane on a moving ship. The Chevalier has a Greek Revival style exterior with Art Deco interior details, including a double elliptical ceiling that provides near perfect acoustics, and over the years it has hosted local and touring musical and theatrical shows, and civic, school, and performing arts events.

Now the Chevalier will add another chapter to its distinguished history by serving as a venue for the Barra MacNeils, whose performances are noted for featuring multiple lead vocalists, songs in English and Gaelic, entrancing harmonies, numerous acoustic, stringed, percussion and wind instruments, and step dancing.

Meet the ‘Queen of the Audience Experience’ at Lyric Stage Co.

If you’re among the thousands of theatergoers who attend performances each season at Lyric Stage Company of Boston, chances are you’ve crossed paths with Nora Conley, who is both Box Office Manager and Front of House Manager at the theater. Due to the skillful execution of her duties, the staff has affectionately dubbed her “Queen of the Audience Experience.”

Ebullience and joviality mark what The Press Gang offers their listeners

The Press Gang (L-R, Alden Robinson, Chris Stevens and Owen Marshall) performing at last fall’s Dorchester Irish Heritage Festival. Sean Smith photoThe Press Gang (L-R, Alden Robinson, Chris Stevens and Owen Marshall) performing at last fall’s Dorchester Irish Heritage Festival. Sean Smith photo

If you were a fellow in the prime of life back about, oh, a couple of hundred years or so in the British Isles, a press gang was the last thing you wanted to meet. Listen to a few traditional songs from the period (“Arthur McBride,” “William Taylor,” “All Things Are Quite Silent”) and you’ll know that press gangs constituted an altogether nasty form of military recruitment, notorious for using bribery, deception, or brute force to compel young men into serving in the Royal Navy.

But today, if you meet a Portland, Me.-based trio calling itself The Press Gang, there’s no need to fear, especially if you’re a fan of Irish music. That’s because the combo of Alden Robinson (fiddle), Chris “Junior” Stevens (accordion, concertina), and recent Boston-area arrival Owen Marshall (guitar, bouzouki, harmonium, banjo) has established itself as one of the more compelling New England trad bands to emerge in the past several years. Their love of and respect for tradition is apparent, as is the sheer ebullience with which they play, and the overall joviality they bring to the whole enterprise, whether in their sometimes adventurous approach to material and arrangements, or their good-natured, even self-deprecating sense of humor.

Boston Irish Reporter’s Here & There

 A Great American Patriot Dies – Former US Ambassador to El Salvador Robert White died at age 88 on Jan. 13 after a lifetime of loyal, principled service to the truth and to his country. The Massachusetts-born White served in the Navy in the Pacific in World War II and joined the Foreign Service during the Eisenhower administration.

During his time in El Salvador, “Ambassador Bob,” as he was called, made America proud during the tragic civil war in his host country amidst the terror campaigns waged by right-wing dictatorships in Latin America during the Reagan presidential years.

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