AREA CONCERTS / CÉILIS, ETC.

INAUGURAL HIT - The Corrigan Brothers from Tipperary, whose popular tongue-in-cheek ditty There's No one as Irish as Barack OBama has become an international hit, starred at the Irish-American Democrats' inaugural ball in DC last week. Their song is based on Obama's roots in Moneygall, Co Offaly, and millions of viewers have heard it or read about it on YouTube, RTÉ, BBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. Now Universal Music Records has signed the Corrigan Brothers to a contract - that's the CD cover above.

 

INAUGURATION WATCH - Americans living in Ireland gathered at different venues around the country to watch the US inauguration on large television screens and to celebrate. The Americans in Galway group packed the King's Head Pub to watch the broadcast while the Democrats Abroad gathered at an inauguration ball in Dublin. In Louth the occasion was marked by the malting of a new Obama Whiskey at Cooley Distillery. The only pub in the 285 person village of Moneygall, Co. Offaly, where Obama's g-g-g-grandfather left in 1850, was jammed for the occasion and there are now plans to build a heritage center there to cater for the Obama tourists who have been visiting Moneygall in increasing numbers.
 
KISSING COUSINS - One of Obama's distant Irish cousins and the Church of Ireland (Anglican) clergyman who discovered Obama's Irish roots both attended the inauguration and were guests at the Irish-American Democrats' inaugural ball. Ireland's ambassador to the US, Michael Collins, represented the Irish government at the inauguration.
 
INAUGURAL GREETING - Bono and the Edge of U2 performed at the "We Are One" inaugural celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial in DC. Addressing Obama, Bono said: "What a thrill for four Irish boys from the northside of Dublin to honor you, sir." In case you missed them, the Boston Globe carried some great inauguration photos.
 
IRISH MINORITY - During her December visit to the western US, Irish President Mary McAleese suggested that it wouldn't be long until Ireland had a member of an ethnic minority as head of state. 

  
*  In danger of collapse, Anglo Irish Bank was nationalized by the Irish government last week. The market value of the bank is now $217 million as opposed to a January 2008 value of about $9.25 billion.
*  Microsoft's announcement that up to 5,000 jobs will be cut over the next 18 months will affect only 17 of the 1,200 people employed at its European Operations Center in Dublin.
*  On January 1st, the last general officer commanding (GOC) British troops in Northern Ireland handed command over to a brigadier. It's the first time since partition in 1922 that there hasn't been a GOC in Northern Ireland.
*  Ireland's Gardai (Police) now have detection equipment capable of reading five license plates a second and that operates at night. In time, they also hope to be able to automatically detect if a car is insured.
*  Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs will shortly visit Cuba, becoming the first Irish Minister to travel to the island in an official capacity. Last year, the EU formally restored diplomatic relations with Cuba.
*  Conor Cruise O'Brien, the former Irish cabinet minister, writer, scholar, diplomat and journalist, has died. He also worked at the United Nations and had a key role in the UN Congo operation in 1960-1.
*  A European Commission economic forecast predicts that Ireland will have the second-worst performing economy in Europe in 2009, with economic output falling to 5% and unemployment rising to 9.7%.

*  Fitch Credit Rating agency has affirmed Ireland's "AAA" credit rating and declared its long-term outlook stable.
*  70,076 US troops have passed through Shannon Airport in the final quarter of 2008, the busiest quarter ever for US troops. Since 2004, Shannon has recorded some €30 million in profits from US troops' transfers.
*  A Co Donegal man recently set a new world record for lamb shearing in New Zealand, shearing more than 736 lambs for the eight-hour strongwool lamb shearing record. The previous record was 731 sheep.
*  A European survey found that Irish parents of 6-17 year-olds are the least likely to allow their children to give out personal information on the net, talk to strangers, visit chat rooms or use email or instant messaging. They are also most likely to limit the amount of time their children are allowed to spend online.
*  Air and ferry passengers traveling between Britain and Ireland now face routine passport checks. The change is part of the British government's drive towards the creation of an "electronic border".
*  Despite the financial turmoil, international sales of Guinness have seen a 6% rise in sales in Africa, and a 3% rise in Europe. On St Patrick's Day 2006, more Guinness was sold in Canada than in Ireland, making Canada one of the fastest-growing Guinness draught markets in the world.
*  Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery is the burial place of more than 1.2 million people, including Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Eamon DeValera, James Larkin, Maud Gonne MacBride, Countess Markievicz, Brendan Behan and Michael Collins.
*  Dungarvan, Co Waterford, is the new European campus of Mercyhurst College of Erie, Pennsylvania.

*  For a €15 ($20) filing fee, Irish consumers can now pursue small claims of less than €2,000 across all EU states except Denmark.
*  For the first time in many years, the rising sun didn't shine at Newgrange on the shortest day of the year, December 21, disappointing those gathered inside the tomb to see the sunrise light up the inner chamber. A lottery is held annually for "tickets" to be allowed into the tomb to view the event.
*  Irish Charity Bóthar, which recently sent 450 goats to Uganda and 80 heifers to Rwanda, will in future send animal embryos instead of live animals because of the increased cost of airlifting the livestock.
*  Irish people flying to the US must register online at least 72 hours before departure under the visa waiver program.
*  Irish teenagers recorded the second-highest level of drunkenness among nine countries surveyed, with 29% of 15-year-olds admitting to have been drunk at least once in the previous month.
*  Today, January 28th, is the 70th anniversary of the death of WB Yeats, the Irish poet and dramatist who was awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature.
*  Kerrygold dairy products are now sold in over 60 countries worldwide. In Germany, Kerrygold has 13% of the market share.
*  Kilkenny limestone and marble is exported around the world, yet two major new redevelopment projects in Kilkenny, known as the Marble City, are to be finished with polished stone shipped in from the Far East.
*  Ryanair, Ireland's budget airline which carried 49 million passengers last year, more any other air carrier worldwide, plans to fine passengers €30 ($40) if they are caught smuggling more than one piece of cabin baggage on board. A handbag or briefcase is considered one piece of luggage.
*  Some eight million overseas trips were made by Irish people last year, including 1.65 million trips to Spain. An estimated 100,000 properties in Spain are Irish-owned.
*  Some taxi drivers in Belfast make extra money by selling beer and liquor to their late-night passengers from the trunks of their vehicles.

*  The Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers estimates that about 250,000 Irish-born people live legally in the US, 70% of whom live in the Boston/New York area.
*  The incidence of cancer in Irish men and women is the fourth highest on the continent of Europe. The figures relate to 2006 and the study covered 30 countries.
*  The New York Times says the Irish Economy's Rise Was Steep, and the Fall Was Fast
*  This year marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of Ireland's first purpose-built cinema, the Volta, in Dublin, under the management of one James Joyce who later went on to write "Ulysses".
*  With the help of free software designed by Vodafone and Foras na Gaeilge, predictive texting is now available As Gaeilge (in the Irish language) on cell phones.

*  A new, free, on-line Irish-English dictionary provides Irish to English and English to Irish conversion, plus alphabetical lists, lists by subject, and a frequency list.
*  Raidió Fáilte is the only Irish Language radio station in the north of Ireland. One of their new programs includes an easy to follow, 8 week Irish Language course.
*  Irish Word a Day helps you learn Irish one word at a time by including audio.
*  Listen to the Cassidys singing Trasna na dTonnta, Irish for "Across the Waves".

IRISH PROVERB