Tracking Ireland by the numbers

Ed Forry
By Ed Forry
December 31, 2014

The Irish online publication “the journal.ie” each week posts a selection of “statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.” In late December, it reported what was termed “a bumper selection of figures looking back on the year that was.” Following is a selection of those facts and figures:

$359 million (£231 million): The number of Irish punts the Central Bank says are still hanging around under mattresses or in old piggy banks, almost thirteen years after Ireland switched to the euro.

Michael Joyce Memorial Playground gets 2d launch with a neat new look

By Ed Forry
December 31, 2014

State officials and community leaders came together this fall to celebrate the renovation of Michael Joyce Memorial Playground in South Boston. The park commemorates the life of Galway native Michael Joyce, a champion boxer in the Irish Army who emigrated to Boston in 1949, settled in Dorchester, and became a volunteer who helped scores of immigrants from Ireland find work and a place to live. He died of cancer in 1989 at age 66.

LGBT vets win council ok to march in Southie’s St. Patrick’s Day parade: Vote is 5-4; dissenter questions quorum count

By Lauren Dezenski
December 31, 2014
Lauren Dezenski

Members of the organization OUTVETS marched in the Veterans Day Parade in Boston last November. The group won approval to march in this year’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade at a meeting last month. Chris Lovett photoMembers of the organization OUTVETS marched in the Veterans Day Parade in Boston last November. The group won approval to march in this year’s South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade at a meeting last month. Chris Lovett photo

A breakthrough in the decades-long impasse over the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade organizers’ exclusion of gay and lesbian marchers was reached last month after a petition by the LGBT veterans organization OUTVETS to march in next year’s parade was approved by a committee of South Boston veterans by a 5-4 vote.

Mayor Martin Walsh’s office and others hailed the decision as a clear-cut victory against an exclusionary policy. “We’re very pleased that OUTVETS will be marching in this year’s parade,” said Kate Norton, a spokesperson for Walsh. “Mayor Walsh has been advocating for an inclusive parade for quite some time. We’re thrilled to hear that the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council have decided to make the 2015 parade an inclusive event.”

Breakthrough seen as LGBT vets win approval to march in South Boston parade

By Lauren Dezenski and Bill Forry
December 16, 2014
Lauren Dezenski and Bill Forry

One committee member in dissent seeks to challenge the decision

A breakthrough in a decades-long impasse over the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the exclusion of gay and lesbian marchers appears to have been reached last night after a petition by the LGBT veterans organization OUTVETS to march in next year’s parade was approved by a committee of South Boston veterans by a 5-4 vote.

Irish International Immigrant Center 25th Anniversary Celebration

By Ed Forry
December 8, 2014

The Irish International Immigrant Center capped its 25th anniversary celebration on Oct. 30 with the conferring of its annual Solas Awards, citations that honor the contributions of immigrants in the state’s Irish American communities and recognize the good work of the center’s chosen honorees. This year, the IIIC cited, from left: Susan J. Cohen, Esq., member of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C.; IIIC founder Sister Lena Deevy, LSA; and Richard E. Holbrook, chairman and CEO of Eastern Bank.

Irish Pastoral Center Annual Fundraiser

By Ed Forry
December 8, 2014

The Irish Pastoral Centre held its annual fundraising banquet on Sat., Nov. 15, at Florian Hall in Dorchester. Nearly 400 people were on hand as Eugene O’Flaherty, corporation counsel for the city of Boston, was honored with the organization’s first Community Award for his exemplary leadership. O’Flaherty, a former state representative, then spoke of the personal ties he has to the Irish Pastoral Centre and Father John McCarthy. Back, from left: Anne Byrne, Pamela O’Brien, Mai Gallagher, Kathleen Rohan, Neil Hurley, Louise Coyne, Mark Porter, Audrey Larkin, Jim Gallagher, Kieran O’Sullivan. Front, from left: Megan Carroll, Mickey Harte, Sister Marguerite Kelly, Sheila Gleeson.

BIBA hears Barros on development

By Ed Forry
December 8, 2014

John Barros, the chief of economic development for the city of Boston, spoke to the November meeting of the Boston Irish Business Association (BIBA) at the Algonquin Club in Boston’s Back Bay. After speaking, he answered questions for almost an hour on a range of topics, from the prospects of hosting the Olympics in 2024 to developing stronger ties with Irish-based companies.

Barros is pictured at right center with BIBA president Ryan McDermott, left, and Patrick Bench, who facilitated the evening’s program.

BIBA is a non-profit organization comprised mainly of small and medium size business owners, government officials, as well as executives from multi-national corporations. The group will hold its annual holiday party on Dec. 17 at MJ O’Connors at the Park Plaza, Boston.

Trad Youth Exchange plays its message: Mutual enjoyment keeps the music going

By Sean Smith
December 8, 2014
Sean Smith

Tin whistle players performed a medley as part of the Trad Youth Exchange concert.Tin whistle players performed a medley as part of the Trad Youth Exchange concert.

There was absolutely no space in The Burren Backroom, certainly not on the stage: Twenty children in two rows occupied most of the platform, and a third row of eight sat along its front edge. The 28 kids – ranging in age from pre- to mid-teens – also held an assortment of instruments, including fiddles, concertinas, flutes, tin whistles, bodhrans, and the odd banjo, guitar and set of uilleann pipes. The audience in the Backroom, meanwhile, filled every seat and just about every spot on the floor.

What packed the Backroom to full capacity had been billed as a concert, yet that worad seemed somehow an insufficient description. This had all the earmarks of a landmark event that spoke to the continuing legacy of Irish traditional music, and the spirit of community and fellowship it inspires, across great distances and generations.

‘Christmas Carol’ is Cheryl McMahon’s holiday specialty

By R.J. Donovan
December 8, 2014
R.J. Donovan

In Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” miserly Ebenezer Scrooge forsakes capitalism to discover the true spirit of Christmas after crossing paths with Ghosts Past, Present, and Future.  Since it was published in 1843, the story has stood as a holiday classic, whether in print, on the screen, or on stage. 

In 1989, the North Shore Music Theatre was preparing a production of the timeless tale, adapted by the theater’s then artistic director, Jon Kimball, and his staff. 

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