IRISH PICNIC - The Seattle area's Irish Community Picnic is this Sunday, July 20, Noon - 6 PM, at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore (see www.parks.wa.gov for directions, etc.). All members of Seattle's Irish community are welcome. BBQs, hot dogs and hamburgers are provided, but bring your favorite food and drink. The Hurling game starts at 2 PM, and will be followed by a Gaelic Football game where everyone is welcome to participate. Then there are Tug-a-war contests, kid's races, 3-legged races, sack-races, water balloon toss, straw search for the kids, etc. It's all free and all are welcome! For information, call 425-290-7839 or email Picnic@irishclub.org.

 

SEATTLE GAELS - The Seattle Gaels Hurlers and the Men's and Women's Gaelic Football teams are practicing hard for the North American Finals in Boston on the Labor Day weekend. In all, Seattle will have seven teams competing at the Finals in Boston and besides regular practices, the Gaels are busy raising funds to help with the cost of the trip. This Saturday, July 19, they host a Rock Paper Scissors Tournament at 7 pm at the Spectator Sports Bar and Grill, 529 Queen Ave N, Seattle. For the details, visit www.SeattleGaels.com.  
 
IRISH NIGHT - For reduced price tickets ($20 tickets for $11, $40 tickets for $25) to Irish Heritage Night at the Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland on Thursday, August 21, visit www.Mariners.com/Irish. One 2008 IHC member will help throw out the first pitch! Email membership@irishclub.org or call 206-526-5993.
 
IHC AGM - The Irish Heritage Club recently had its Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers and the outgoing President, Melissa Estelle, was re-elected for another year. Also re-elected were Frank Gill as Membership Secretary and John Keane as Treasurer. Newly elected Officers are Mardi Karr as Vice-President and Ralph Kosche as Secretary while Ralph Kosche, Melissa Estelle, Jane Sepede and David Jacobsen were elected for four year terms as Members of the Board of Directors.

EMIGRANT GRANT - Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs will provide grants totaling over $1.4 million to Irish Immigration centers in the United States, and that includes a grant of $2,500 to Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group. These organizations offer outreach and support to the Irish community at large and complement services normally provided by the Irish Embassy and Consulates.
 
ACCESS PROGRAM - Melissa Estelle is finishing up her survey of the Irish in Washington State, having completed the fieldwork and interviews, but she needs help getting an Access database created. If you can help, call her on 206-229-8512 or email MelissaE@irishclub.org.
 
WRITING RETREAT - Write In Ireland is a one week retreat in Co. Kerry for fiction writers of all skill levels and genres, with two sessions in October, 12-18 and 19-25, at Anam Cre near Kenmare. Organized by Seattle journalist Marcie Miller, visit www.writeinireland.com for details.
 
MITCHELL SCHOLARSHIPS - Applications are now being accepted for the 2009-2010 George J. Mitchell Scholarship. Twelve Mitchell Scholars, 18-30 years old, spend one year of postgraduate study in any discipline offered by institutions of higher learning in Ireland or Northern Ireland. Applicants are judged on three criteria: academic excellence, leadership, and a sustained commitment to service and community. For all the details, visit US_IrelandAlliance.org.

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TAOISEACH VISITS - Brian Cowen was in New York this week on his first official visit to the US since becoming Irish Taoiseach (PM). He had meetings at the New York Stock Exchange, met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, attended an Irish Development Authority event and addressed a Wall Street dinner.
 
AHERN APPOINTMENT - Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been appointed to the World Economic Forum's Council on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, an international advisory group. Other members include former President Jimmy Carter, and former Sen. George Mitchell. Founded in Geneva in 1971 the forum meets once each year in Switzerland.
 
BELFAST INVESTMENT - Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier will invest $1 billion in its Belfast operation to manufacture wings for a new series of aircraft. It is the single largest investment ever in Northern Ireland. The final assembly of Bombardier's CSeries planes will be near Montreal, Canada.
 
CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW - An Irish government committee recommends that an article in the Irish Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression should be amended to remove all references to sedition and blasphemy. The article presently includes the statement, "The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent material is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law."  In the only court case taken under this article, the Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to say "of what the offence of blasphemy consists".
 
TOURISM FIGURES - The number of tourists to Ireland is roughly the same as in 2007, but they are not staying as long and aren't spending as much. The rising price of oil, the strong euro and a downturn in the economy are being blamed.
 
1544 HOSPITAL - An Order of nuns, the Sisters of St John of God, are stepping down in December as managers of Waterford's Holy Ghost Hospital which operates under a royal charter granted by Henry VIII in 1544 to provide shelter and sustenance for 'the sick and infirm found wandering in the city'. Master of the hospital in the 1840s was Thomas Meagher Sr, father of Irish Patriot and US Civil War Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.
 
CENSUS DATA - Data from Ireland's 2006 census shows that more than 10% of the population was born outside Ireland, with 112,548 people, the largest group, born in Britain. 12,475 US-born people also live in Ireland.
 
ORANGE CELEBRATIONS - The annual July 12th Orange Parades in Northern Ireland passed off peacefully this year although there were still numerous bonfires burning Irish Tricolors. Over 10,000 Orange Order members and supporters marched without incident in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal, the only traditional Orange parade in the Irish Republic.
 
OREGON KILLING - A 20-year-old Irishman was shot dead last week by a Silverton, Oregon, police officer responding to a call reporting an attempted break-in. The man's family insists he was disorientated and thought he was knocking on the door of his sister's house which was a block away.
 
PEACE PRINCIPLES - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness was in Baghdad recently to witness Sunni, Shia and Kurdish politicians signing a commitment to support non-violence, similar to the Mitchell principles agreed during the Northern Ireland peace negotiations. Talks were previously held in Helsinki involving the same representatives along with Northern Irish and South African politicans.
 
IRISH WEDDING - Samantha Power, the Irish-born aide to Barack Obama who resigned from the Obama campaign in March after calling Senator Hillary Clinton "a monster", recently married at a small church on the Ring of Kerry near Waterville, Co. Kerry. She met her future husband while working on the Obama campaign in January.
 
CENSUS FILES - Irish census returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were destroyed in a fire in June 1922. Returns for 1861 and 1871 were officially destroyed following the extraction of the statistical data and those for 1881 and 1891 were pulped by the UK authorities during the First World War. The 1911 returns are accessible on the internet but information from the 1926 census is protected by law until 2026. Now genealogical groups are urging the Irish government to relax that rule.
 
TARA ARCHEOLOGY - At the sixth World Archaeological Congress in Dublin, one speaker claimed that pressure was put on Irish archaeologists to approve the building of the new motorway near Tara despite damaging several archeological sites. However, another archaeologist said that $47.5 million had been spent on archaeology research as a result of the motorway being built and that it was impossible to build a major road anywhere in Ireland without it having a serious archaeological impact.
 
GPS ASTRAY - In-car GPS systems are being blamed for steering astray in 2007 over 8,000 carloads of tourists trying to visit the megalithic tomb at Newgrange in Co Meath. The GPS systems send visitors to the site itself where the cars must turn around and drive back several miles to the Brú na Bóinne visitor's center where all tours begin.

KERRY UPROAR - A Kerry radio advertisement promoting the Munster Fleadh Cheoil, the Irish music and dancing festival in Kenmare this week, generated numerous complaints from listeners who thought the announcer was promoting "sex" when he was really talking about dancing "sets"! 

 

 *  Members of the Garda (Irish Police) now include people from Belarus, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, the UK and US.
*  An Irish woman injured after falling during a pub crawl while on holiday in Greece was awarded damages of $43,000 against the travel agency which organized it.
*  Irish government plans to lower drink-driving limits to .05 from .08 will be postponed because the breathalyzers used by gardai (police) cannot detect the lower alcohol level. 
*  An Irish grocery chain says an "error in the system" recently permitted several hundred online customers to buy cans of Harp lager for 1 cent each.
*  A Limerick-born US soldier just returned from Iraq was killed in an accident last Friday in Anchorage, Alaska.
*  The cost of gas in Ireland averages €1.34 per liter or $8.02 per US gallon, while diesel averages €1.438 per liter or $8.61 per US gallon.
*  There are an estimated 60,000 Chinese people in Ireland, mostly working or studying in Dublin.
*  The 50,000 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War were commemorated at an ecumenical service in Dublin this past weekend. The war ended 90 years ago this year.
*  Fewer than 20% of gun crimes in Ireland, the vast majority of which are drug-related, result in a conviction.
*  Guinness is brewed in nearly 50 countries using a top-secret component transported from Dublin where it is kept under lock and key.
*  To pour the perfect pint of Guinness is supposed to take 119.5 seconds, no more, no less.
*  Ireland is still the second-biggest beer-drinking market in the world, after the Czech Republic.
*  Guinness is still Ireland's best-selling beer, even at $7.20 a pint.
*  A third of all Guinness sales occur in Africa and more Guinness is sold in Nigeria than in Ireland.
*  The GAA's Gaelic Football All Stars from Ireland play an exhibition game in San Francisco on December 6.
*  58% of Irish households have at least one computer and 49% have internet access.
*  69% of Irish homes have both a landline and a cell phone, 20% have a cell only and 9% have a landline only.
*  Jean Kennedy Smith, a former US ambassador to Ireland, recently visited New Ross, Co Wexford  to unveil a sculpture of her brother, JFK.
*  The levy on plastic bags in Ireland raised $35 million in 2007.
*  Since 1998, the economy of Belfast has grown fastest among the 30 largest cities in the UK.
*  Former South African president Nelson Mandela became Queen's University Belfast's Centenary Honorary Graduate. The citation was delivered by the university's Chancellor, Senator George Mitchell.
*  Punctuality at Dublin airport is the second worst in Europe, second only to London Heathrow
*  Irish companies make an average profit of $73,000 per employee, according to Ireland's second largest trade union.
*  Ireland's 2006 census registered people from 188 different countries
*  Limerick County Council is offering umbrellas and bicycles to its employees as part of a new initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
*  About 2,000 Irish-born Christian missionaries work overseas, and their average age is 70.
*  Pádraig Conneely of Fine Gael is the new Mayor of Galway, Seattle's Sister City.
*  There are an estimated 8 million people from non-EU countries living in the EU illegally, i.e. without a proper permit.
*  In the last ten years, 402,658 people from Northern Ireland have applied for Irish passports. People born in Northern Ireland can get an Irish or British passport.

IRISH PROVERB

 

Is buaine focal ná toice an tsaoil