The fact is that US companies like doing business in Ireland

By Joe Leary
August 31, 2011
Joe Leary

By Joe Leary
Special to the BIR

At least one segment of the Irish economy is doing very well this year -- exports of goods and services are way up, largely due to American companies doing business in Ireland. Some of the largest American corporations in the world and many smaller ones have chosen Ireland as their European base of operations while employing over 100,000 Irish to run their businesses. Another 300,000 Irish are employed by Irish companies to supply and service the 500 American businesses who have located in Ireland.

Will McGarrahan in "Next Fall" at SpeakEasy Stage

By R.J. Donovan
August 31, 2011
R.J. Donovan

Will McGarrahanWill McGarrahanBy R.J. Donovan
Special to the BIR

Actor, singer, pianist and director Will McGarrahan has been part of Boston's theater community for more than a decade. During that time, he has established himself as one of the city's most reliable and diverse talents. He's an accomplished musician, gifted at comedy, and he can just about stop your heart with a dramatic moment.

A graduate of Boston College, he has appeared at Lyric Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, Publick Theatre, and Nora Theatre, among others, in everything from "A Moon For The Misbegotten" to "Grey Gardens," "Some Men," "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," "9 Circles," "The Last Sunday in June" and "A Class Act."

On Sept. 16, he returns to SpeakEasy Stage Company to open the season in "Next Fall." Written by Geoffrey Nauffts and nominated for a Tony Award in 2010, the play looks at the ups and downs of an unlikely gay couple's four-year relationship with humor and honesty.

Here and There September 2011

By Bill O'Donnell
August 31, 2011
Bill O'Donnell

By Bill O’Donnell

Lenihan Family Passes On Politics – For the first time in a third of a century no member of the Lenihan family will stand for election in Dublin West. The death three months ago of Fianna Fail TD and former Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has brought to a close the active participation of the family members in Irish national politics. Mary O’Rourke, an aunt of Brian, and a longtime Fianna Fail TD and minister, was defeated for reelection earlier this year.

Here’s hoping the 2010’s Tea Party story ends the same way the 1850’s Know-Nothings era did

By Peter F. Stevens, Reporter Staff
August 31, 2011
Peter F. Stevens, Reporter Staff

Millard FillmoreMillard FillmoreBy Peter F. Stevens
BIR Staff

The Boston Irish community of the 1850s would have recognized the ways and means of the Tea Party of today. Those immigrants from the “old sod” would have known exactly what the “I-want-my-country-back” crowd of 2011 was up to and would likely be part furious, part ashamed to learn that any of their descendants were imbibing the tea of Texas Governor Rick Perry, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, Dick Armey, FreedomWorks, the Koch brothers, et al. (In a case of art imitating life, check out the old Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd comedy “Trading Places” for a look at the uber-rich, bigoted, social-experimenting, morally bankrupt “Duke” brothers played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy and you will that some “Koch-like” traits abound.)

Concannon, Haiti: a 'visceral' connection

By Staff
August 31, 2011

Brian ConcannonBrian ConcannonBy Greg O'Brien
Special to the Reporter

It may be hard to imagine any parallel between Ireland and destitute, still earthquake-ravaged Haiti, and yet there are any number: analogous gripping histories of famine, long stretches of political and economic repression, and the bad geographical luck of being adjacent to a super power or dominant force that presents undesirable attention. It is always difficult fighting a bully in your own backyard.

Human rights attorney Brian Concannon wrote of these dilemmas three years ago in the Boston Irish Reporter and in the Boston Haitian Reporter. “Like the British response to Ireland’s famine, bank programs (in Haiti) do not rise to the need,” he wrote, predicting the inevitable in a column headlined: Eating Dirt in Haiti and Ireland. “They are too late—they will not provide relief for months, perhaps years. They are too little—they stop where the requirements of helping poor people conflict with the requirements of the bureaucrats’ economic theories. In the meantime, just as Ireland exported food during a famine, Haiti will keep exporting money. So more Haitians will die of the diseases of hunger, and more children will grow older without going to school.”

Patrick Cassidy is Captain von Trapp in ‘Sound of Music’ at Reagle Theatre

By Ed Forry
July 29, 2011

By R. J. Donovan
Special to The BIR

Award-winning Broadway star Patrick Cassidy represents one branch of a far-reaching family tree of musical performers.  His Mom is Shirley Jones (he was actually conceived during the filming of “The Music Man”).  His Dad was Jack Cassidy.  His siblings include David Cassidy and Shaun Cassidy.  And his niece is Katie Cassidy of “Gossip Girl” fame.

Irish offer lots of help in choosing accommodations

By Staff
July 29, 2011

Fishing in Co. Galway. Photo by Judy EnrightFishing in Co. Galway. Photo by Judy EnrightBy Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

Some people say that carefully choosing accommodation in Ireland isn’t all that important because, after all, you just sleep in those places.

For a lot of travelers, that seems to be all too true. They just slog from one place to another without experiencing the history or flavor of the places they have visited.

But, fortunately, there are a number of organizations in Ireland that have set out to change all that. There is Ireland’s Blue Book and Manor House Hotels, The Great Fishing Houses of Ireland, Green Book Hotels, and many more. Some of the recommended properties appear in more than one book, too.

Irate PM Kenny scolds Vatican for abuse stance

By Ed Forry
July 29, 2011

Enda Kenny (AP Photo)Enda Kenny (AP Photo)By Shawn Pogatchnik
Associated Press

DUBLIN – From the pews and pulpits, Ireland’s Catholics are demanding that the Vatican finally come clean on its oversight role in child abuse cover-ups.

It’s a revolution of sorts in Ireland, a nation founded on a pillar of devotion to Roman Catholicism, where many now question the church’s role in a rapidly changing society. For decades Irish leaders let archbishops vet proposed laws, declared they were Catholics first and Irishmen second, and saw crossing the church as a surefire way to lose office.
No longer.

Ireland’s population surges to highest level in 150 years

By Joe Leary, Special to the BIR
July 29, 2011
Joe Leary, Special to the BIR

By Joe Leary
Special to the BIR

The population of Ireland before the famine was a little over 8 million people. Many thought this was an over-population that was at least partly responsible for the tragedy.

Now there are predictions that, despite the impact of the recession, an 8-million population number on the island of Ireland is within the foreseeable future.

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