Newsletter Masthead
Saturday, October 6, 2012


 
RECENT
PASSINGS

 

Tom O'Malley who died on September 26 in Newport, Co. Mayo, was a brother of Martin O'Malley of Edmonds.

Obit Notice

 

Robert Doran, 58, who died in Seattle on September 2 was the brother and brother-in-law of Ann & Martin O'Donnell.

Obit Notice

 

Hubert Shriane, the brother of Seattle's Frank Shriane, died suddenly in England in late August.

 

Tom Kelly, 77, a native of Co. Mayo, died in Seattle on August 25.

Obit Notice

 

Joe Dunne , 84, died on August 22 in Edmonds. He was the father of Candace and grandfather of Mary Dunne of Edmonds.

Obit Notice

 

Anne Murphy Keefe, 91, who died in Seattle on August 19, was the mother of Tom Keefe, a founder of the Seattle Galway Sister City Association.

Obit Notice

 

Liz McKee Fisher, 53, a former Irish Heritage Club Board Member, died in Seattle on August 3 after a battle with cancer.

Obit Notice

 

Niall Hackett, 51, a native of Co. Tyrone, died in Bellingham on July 14.

Obit Notice

 

Patricia Quackenbush, who died in California in July, was a sister of Beverly McCourt of Everett.

 

Katie Kavanaugh, sister-in-law of Dan Kavanaugh of Yelm, died August 25 in Seattle.

Obit Notice

 

Margaret O'Beirne, mother of Seattle's Gerrarda O'Beirne, died in Co. Roscommon on June 21.

Obit Notice

 

Ar dheis D� go raibh a n-anamacha d�lse   

May their faithful souls rest at God's right hand

 

 

The Celtic Connection
 Read the Seattle News in the most recent issue of the Celtic Connection newspaper, the voice of Celts around the Pacific Northwest. You can also pick up a copy each month at your local Seattle-area Irish Pub or Restaurant! 

 

IRISH CONSULATE

San Francisco

Irish Harp

Click to visit the website of the

Irish Consulate in San Francisco

 

 

 

Irish Consul

Contact John Keane, the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Seattle, for help with Irish Passports (renewal, new,  or emergency travel document), for information on getting Irish citizenship, or for any other Irish consular service in Washington State.

Tel 425-290-7839 

or Via Email.

 

IRISH PASSPORT?

Irish Passport

Are you eligible for Irish Citizenship or for an Irish Passport?

SEATTLE'S IRISH COMMUNITY CHAPLAIN
Fr. John Madigan
Fr. John Madigan,
Chaplain to the Irish Immigrant Community of Seattle, serving emigrants of all faiths or none. Contact Fr. John at 206-937-1488 (Ext 205), 206-935-8353, or Via email.


Seattle
 Area Irish Resources

 

Click the Photos below for listings and contact information

Irish Festival

Irish Dancing Schools

 

 Fiddle

Irish Musicians, Classes and Sessions

 

Irish Language

Irish Language Classes

 

Claddagh Ring

Irish Imports

 

Guinness Pint

Irish Pubs and Restaurants

 

Shamrock

Other Irish Links

  
Click the Photos above for listings and contact information
  

Seattle
Area Irish Resources

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Join Our Mailing List!

 

Facebook 

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Interested in studying in Ireland?

Ireland Study
Click photo for more information

 

Should you become a US Citizen?
Green Card
Even though you have a Green Card, there are some mighty good reasons why you should become a US citizen!
  

Interested in Living or Working in Ireland?

Images of Ireland
What you need to know before you should consider moving to Ireland.

 

FAMILY VISAS 

Liberty
For information on some of the different ways to get a US Visa for family members, visit irishseattle.com.

 

 

IRISH FLAGS
Ireland_National_flag
Buy any Irish-themed flag from our Seattle partner, C. Anderson & Co. Custom Flagmakers , and they will make a donation to the Irish Heritage Club to support our activities.
Erin Go Bragh Flag

Shamrock Flag

Shamrock Pendant 

UPCOMING IRISH EVENTS

IN SEATTLE

 

Crosses 

MASS OF REMEMBRANCE - Seattle's annual Mass of Remembrance in the Gaelic language will be Friday, October 26, at 7:30 PM, at St. Patrick's Church, 2702 Broadway Ave E (just off I-5 at Roanoke St). Mass booklets in English and Gaelic will be available for all in attendance. All hymns and readings are in Gaelic with only the Homily in English. This Mass commemorates the deceased members of Seattle's Irish Community, especially those who have passed away in the past 12 months whose names will be read out during the General Intercessions. Click here to read the names read out at last year's Mass. To submit names of friends or relatives who passed away in the last 12 months, or for more information, call 425-745-1263 or email [email protected].

 

BOOK CLUB - To honor the passing of Irish author Maeve Binchy, Seattle's Irish Book Club has selected one of her novels, Minding Frankie, to be discussed at their next meeting on Wednesday, October 17. Contact Judith at [email protected] for location and other details.

 

SENIORS' LUNCHEON - The next Irish Seniors' Luncheon will be the Christmas Luncheon at Noon on Saturday, December 1, at F X McRory's in Seattle. All seniors of Irish birth, extraction or interest are welcome along with their spouses and senior friends. Over 300 different Irish seniors, the majority of whom are Irish-born, have attended these luncheons over the past four years. Advance Reservations are required - call Lorraine at 206-915-1878 or email [email protected].

 

KNIGHTS NIGHT - This year's Irish Night at The Knights in support of St. Mary's Food Bank will be on Saturday, November 17, at The Knights of Columbus Hall, 722 E Union St, Seattle. Music - Dinner - Dancing - Auction. Good music and great fun - contact John O'Malley at 206-547-1612 or [email protected].

 

Oireachtas 

IRISH STEPDANCING - The Western Region Oireachtas, the 2012 Irish Dance Championships for the Western US, will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 16, 17, and 18, at the Hyatt Regency, 900 Bellevue Way, Bellevue. Free spectator admission all three days to see about 1,700 dancers from around the western US competing for qualification spots for the 2013 All-World Irish Dancing Championships. You are invited to show your support for the Oireachtas by taking an ad in the Program. Email [email protected] or find more details at www.wroireachtas.com.

IRISH MUSIC / DANCING

 

MUSIC SESSIONS - Starting Sunday, October 7, Irish traditional music will be played every Sunday from 2-4:30 pm at the Wedgwood Alehouse, 8515 35th Ave NE, Seattle, hosted by Randal Bays and family. The food is great, the atmosphere is relaxed, kids are welcome, the music is great, and there's no cover charge.

 

MURDER BALLADS - The Seattle Folklore Society presents Hanz Araki and Kathryn Claire in concert with great Irish, Celtic and English murder ballads - and love songs too - on Saturday, October 13 at 7:30 pm at Phinney Center Community Hall, 6532 Phinney Ave. N. Songs of Love and Murder, a collection of traditional murder ballads, as well as some jigs and reels. Reservations at 206-528-8523 or online at seafolklore.org.

 

HARP LEGENDS - Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter, three of the premier Celtic harpers in the world, will take you on a joyous, dramatic musical journey deep into the myths, legends and history of the Celtic Harp on Saturday, October 13 at 7:30 pm at Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church, 14724 1st Ave NE. Visit brownpapertickets.com.

 

CELTIC FLING - Enjoy great Celtic music and sample delicacies in the tea or pie room, from 9 am - 5 pm on Saturday, October 20 at St. Andrew's Church, 111 NE 80th St, Seattle. Four Celtic bands perform from 11:45 am until 3:30 pm. Shop for gifts or enjoy kid-friendly activities like Pumpkin Painting, Crafts, & a Kids' Bounce House. All are welcome and admission is free!

 

Galway Bay Festival  

OCEAN SHORES FESTIVAL - Galway Bay's 9th annual Irish music festival is Thursday - Sunday, October 25 - 28, at three locations - Galway Bay Irish Pub in Ocean Shores, the Convention Center in Ocean Shores, and the 8th Street Ale house in Hoquiam. The Festival boasts 25 bands from Washington, Oregon, California, Illinois, and Canada, and includes from Ireland Derek Warfield & The Young Wolf Tones. For details and schedules visit galwaybayevents.com.

 

GAITA BAGPIPES - Carlos N��ez, a virtuoso of the Gaita (a Galician bagpipe) who has worked with Sin�ad O'Connor, Jackson Browne, and D�nal Lunny, performs on Friday, October 26, 7:30pm, at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon. N��ez plays Celtic music with Spanish passion and temperament and was featured on the Chieftains' 1997 Grammy-winning album Santiago. For tickets, call 360-416-6639 or visit ticketing.mcintyrehall.org.

 

SEATTLE C�ILI - Beginning Sunday, November 4, from 4-8 pm, a new monthly Cili every First Sunday with the Seattle Irish Dance Company and the Carrigaline C�ili Band, at the Fremont Doric Temple, 619 N. 36th St (around the corner from the Dubliner). Family style Cili and potluck. No experience necessary - instruction in basic steps for Cili and Set dancing. Suggested donation $10.00.

 

CELTIC YULETIDE - Magical Strings' 34th Annual Celtic Yuletide Concerts start November 30 and will be held throughout the Pacific Northwest with Seattle's concert on December 12 and Tacoma's on December 14. Concerts will also be held in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, in Kent, Mount Vernon, Bellevue, and Portland. This grand gala of Celtic-inspired holiday music is filled with Irish singing, dancing, juggling, caroling, storytelling and more. For the details, visit magicalstrings.com.

MORE SEATTLE IRISH NEWS

 

Concrete 

NEED A JOB? - A small architectural and structural concrete foundation company that has moved to north Seattle from Co. Galway needs Experienced Concrete Foundation Laborers / Form Setters. Their team works on custom residential projects with an emphasis on quality craftsmanship and the positions require a minimum of three years' experience with concrete foundations, preferably the Ainsworth/Simpson System. Must be hard working and have the ability to learn from others. Contact Ulick Joyce at [email protected].

 

Connect Ireland 

JOBS REWARD - Do you have a contact at a business that's considering expanding internationally? Representatives of ConnectIreland were in Seattle this week to say that, if you do, and if you introduce your contact to someone at ConnectIreland, and the company later creates new jobs in Ireland, you will receive a financial reward from the Irish government ranging from $6,000 to $200,000, all for you or your preferred charity. You don't need to have any business knowledge yourself, just make the connection. For more details, email [email protected] or visit ConnectIreland.com.

 

 Leinster House

AIRPLANE ORDERS - Washington's Governor Christine Gregoire (above right with Irish Taoiseach (PM) Enda Kenny and Irish Senator Dr. Katherine Zappone) led a trade mission to Ireland in July during which Irish Aviation leasing firm Avolon placed an order with Boeing for 30 new airplanes having a list-price value of $2.3 billion. The new orders bring the company's portfolio to 164 aircraft, the majority of which are Boeing planes.

 

VISA LOTTERY - The registration period for the annual Diversity Visa Lottery (DV Lottery) closes on Saturday, November 3. Irish citizens are eligible to apply for the lottery which offers winning entrants the chance to apply for permanent residency in the United States - a 'Green Card'. Applications must be submitted through the official US Department of State website and there is no charge to register. However, beware of Scams. For more information, contact Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group at [email protected].

 

BECOMING CITIZENS - There are more than eight million legal immigrants in the US who are eligible to become US citizens but have not done so. There are numerous reasons to become a citizen - to vote, run for public office, bring family members to the US, hold certain jobs reserved for citizens, and to be protected from deportation. In addition, there are many economic benefits not available to non-citizens, highlighted in a recent Migration Policy Institute report. Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group [email protected] will help any eligible Irish citizen apply for US citizenship.

 

Galway  

SISTER CITY - A Seattle Sister City Association delegation led by Washington State Sen. Ed Murray visited Galway in early September. The delegation was feted at a reception at City Hall and at a dinner hosted by Galway's Mayor, Terry O'Flaherty, and also met with officials at the University of Galway and toured Galway's new Museum. Mayor O'Flaherty, whose mother signed the Seattle Galway Sister City Agreement in 1986, hopes to attend Seattle's St. Patrick's Day celebrations next March. Sen. Murray also toured Leinster House in Dublin where the D�il (Irish Parliament) meets, and visited with Dr. Katherine Zappone, a member of Seanad �ireann (Irish Senate) who grew up in Seattle.

 

WOMEN'S HISTORY - Dissidents - Irish Republican Women 1923-1941 is the second of two books exploring the lives of some of the 10,000 women involved in the Republican movement during and after the Irish War of Independence. The author, Ann Matthews, is a historian who lectures at Maynooth University and she is reportedly also doing research on Lily Kempson McAlerney who was involved in the 1916 Easter Rebellion as a member of James Connolly's Irish Citizen Army and who afterwards came to Seattle where she died in 1996 aged 99. Dissidents is published by Mercier Press.

 

DREAM APPLICATIONS - Undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children have begun applying for a deportation deferral action and a two-year work permit. Anyone in Seattle's Irish community who needs more information should contact the Irish Immigrant Support Group at  [email protected].

 

IRISH CITIZENSHIP APPLICATIONS - A new online electronic system has been introduced by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to handle applications for Irish citizenship. Until now, applications were submitted on paper and the process could take up to two years for approval. The new process is expected to make it easier and more convenient for applicants and also to speed up the process. For details, visit dfat.ie or email [email protected].

 

MAVOURNEEN - Mavourneen (from the Irish "Mo Mhuirn�n" = "My Darling") was the name of a yacht built in 1934 by the Boeing Aircraft Co at their shipyards in Vancouver, BC. The yacht was built for movie director John Farrow and Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan who was born in Boyle, Co. Roscommon. O'Sullivan is best remembered as the original Jane in the 1930's Tarzan movie. In January 1935, an article about Mavourneen appeared in a Seattle boating magazine after the yacht visited Seattle. The following year, Farrow and O'Sullivan married and they had seven children, one of whom is actress Mia Farrow.

 

IRISH HOLIDAY HOME - This wee house w/ two bedrooms & two bathrooms, is for sale in in a quaint village called Ballyleague on the banks of the Shannon near both Longford & Roscommon towns....great fishing...lovely setting. Contact Cara at [email protected] for details.


MISCELLANEOUS
  • If you weren't among the large crowd that attended the Irish Network Seattle Party on the Beach on September 14, check out these photos
  • Through St. Patrick's Day 2013, the Seattle Center offers $1 parking for up to 90 minutes in the 5th Ave Garage (beside EMP) for those who spend $10 with participating merchants in the Armory (formerly Center House) - see offer details.
  • The former publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal writes about "the Seattle area's three long-respected senior Irish bankers", Pat Fahey, Patrick Patrick and Pat Dineen.
  • Seattle-based games developer, PopCap Games, which has operated in Ireland since 2006, is closing its Dublin office. Last year, PopCap was acquired by industry juggernaut Electronic Arts.
  • There were celebrations at Seattle's St. Mary's Church on July 6 to mark the 40th anniversary of Fr. Tony Haycock's ordination in Kilmore, Co. Wexford in 1972. Watch a video tribute to Fr. Tony's amazing life.
  • Congratulations to Sean and Denise McCartan who were married on August 4 in Olympia. A native of Co. Tyrone, Sean was a regular on the Seattle Gaels Gaelic Football team for many years and we wish the couple a wonderful life together.
  • John O'Leary, an award-winning poet who recently drowned in a sailing accident in Cork, at one time served as writer in residence and professor of English at Seattle University.
  • The name of former Taoiseach John Bruton has been put forward for the position of European Commission president. Bruton is also a former EU Ambassador in Washington and was Grand Marshal of Seattle's 2008 St. Patrick's Day Parade.

For the latest information on any Irish or Celtic events around the Pacific Northwest, visit Hoilands.com.

NEWS FROM IRELAND 

 

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

  

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES - A Constitutional Convention to recommend changes to Ireland's constitution meets for the first time later this month. 100 people have been selected as members of the convention, with 66 members selected to represent the Irish public. That group includes non-politicians from different age groups, genders and regions of Ireland. 66 people were also selected to serve as substitutes if required. The Convention chair and the other 33 members are from political parties on both sides of the border with Northern Ireland.

 

DETAILS - The convention will sit for eight weekends and will discuss proposals such as to lower the voting age to 17, allow same-sex marriage, reduce the Presidential term of office from its current 7 year term, reform the D�il (Parliament) electoral system, and give Irish citizens abroad the right to vote in presidential elections. The convention will report within two months on its recommendations regarding the voting age and Presidential term proposals, and the final report is due within a year. All events will be webcast at constitution.ie.

 

PROPOSALS - Submissions to the Convention may be made by any Irish citizen to [email protected] but there is a deadline. Seven major areas have been suggested where constitutional change may be necessary: Northern Ireland, European Union, international human rights developments, socioeconomic change, working experience of the Constitution, outmoding of some provisions, and inaccuracies in the text.

 

CHILDREN'S REFERENDUM - A constitutional referendum concerning children's rights will be held in Ireland on November 10, 2012. If passed, the 31st Amendment to the Constitution will add a new standalone article relating to children. The proposed change is intended to strengthen the protection of children at a constitutional level and to recognize children in their own right with an expressed statement of their rights.

 

IRISH CONSTITUTION - Read a copy of Ireland's current Constitution as originally adopted in 1937 and as subsequently amended.

IRISH ABROAD

 

MOST-IRISH CITY - The 2010 US Census confirmed that Butte, Montana is the most Irish-American city among 942 metropolitan and micropolitan cities in the USA. 23.6% of Butte respondents reported they had Irish roots. Next in line were Ocean City, NJ; Corinth, Miss.; and Barnstable Town (better known as Cape Cod), Mass. All of them had just over 20% identifying as being Irish-American. Among the 50 largest metro cities, Boston ranked highest with 19.8% of Bostonians identifying themselves as having Irish roots.

 

FAMINE MUSEUM - Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, halfway between New York and Boston, this week opens Ireland's Great Hunger Museum featuring original sculptures, paintings, photographs, rare books, literary documents and reproductions of other historic documents and images. The collection includes over 700 books, including the exceedingly rare four volumes of The Bogs of Ireland, a copy of the six volume set on the Disturbances in Ireland (published in 1825), and a complete set in twelve volumes of The Parnell Commission. There are over 4,000 individual items covering all aspects of life in Ireland during the 19th Century, and also miniatures of Famine memorials erected in recent years in Ireland and abroad.

 

NEW LIBRARY - A new Irish library has opened in Phoenix, AZ, with over 6,000 Irish books plus periodicals, music, manuscripts, photographs, traveling exhibits, movies, genealogical research tools and a practice space for musicians. A partnership between the city of Phoenix and the Irish Cultural Center, it will serve the 500,000 Arizonans who claim Irish ancestry.

 

DISTANCE TRAINER - Brother Colm O'Connell, a 63-year-old Irish missionary from Cork, is the most successful long distance trainer in the world. At St. Patrick's High School in Iten, Kenya, O'Connell has trained 25 world champions and six Olympic champions, including David Rudisha who won the 800m race at the London Olympics. But O'Connell himself has never been to an Olympic Games or a World Championships and has never seen any of his pupils winning a major race. O'Connell came to Iten in 1976 and eventually became headmaster of the school. He has now retired from teaching but still coaches some of the world's fastest athletes.

 

IRISH-AMERICAN CHAT - Two well-known Irish-American Catholics, New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan and The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert, recently bantered onstage in front of 3,000 cheering students at Fordham University in New York. Dolan is the great-grandson of a man from Co. Cavan while Colbert spoke on PBS some time ago about what it means to him to be Irish in America.

US ELECTION IRISH CONNECTIONS

 

RYAN ROOTS - The LaCrosse Tribune says that Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan's paternal great-great-grandfather, James Ryan, in 1851 fled Ireland's famine for America from either Tipperary or Kilkenny. Ryan is the fourth Irish-American Catholic to be part of a major party presidential campaign team, after Joe Biden, John F Kennedy and Al Smith.

 

FAMINE LESSONS - John Kelly, author of The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish Peoplewrites "If the famine has any enduring lesson to teach, it is about the harm that even the best are capable of when they allow religion and political ideology to traduce reason and humanity". In a recent article in Newsweek magazine, Kelly argues that Paul Ryan is proposing the same economic policies that hurt his Irish forefathers in the Great Famine.

 

IRISH REPUBLICANS - The Irish American Republicans, a national coalition of Republican Irish Americans that was originally founded in 1868, has strongly endorsed the Romney-Ryan ticket and actively solicits the votes of Americans in Ireland. As part of that outreach, the Governor arranged to meet Irish Taoiseach (PM) Enda Kenny at the Irish Embassy in London when both were there for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

 

IRISH DEMOCRATS - US citizens from many backgrounds - American-born, emigrants returned from the US, and US citizens from elsewhere - have formed the Irish branch of Democrats Abroad, to work for the re-election of the Obama-Biden ticket and other Democrats.

 

AL SMITH - Known as "The Happy Warrior", Al Smith was the first Catholic on a major party US presidential ticket. He was also Irish. Two of Smith's grandparents left Kilcumreragh (now Rosemount), Co. Westmeath in 1841 and settled in New York. By the 1920s, their grandson Al Smith had become the leading spokesman for New York's Irish American community. Smith served four two-year terms as Governor of New York and became the Democratic Party nominee for President in 1928. He was heavily defeated, partly because of anti-Catholic bigotry. Nine years later in 1937, Smith visited Co. Westmeath and Rosemount to see where his grandparents were born.

 

POLITICAL BETTING - Irish company Paddy Power is Ireland's largest bookie and the firm accepts bets on nearly anything, including on the US Presidential Election. Another Irish company, Intrade, operates an influential predictions market where people wager on political outcomes.

OTHER NEWS FROM IRELAND 

 

Time Magazine  

TIME & TAOISEACH - Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Enda Kenny, is on the cover of the October 15 European edition of Time magazine, with an accompanying headline declaring: "The Celtic Comeback". Read the magazine's accompanying story or watch a Time video interview with the Taoiseach. Se�n Lemass and Eamon de Valera are former Taoisigh (Irish Prime Ministers) who have also made the cover of Time. 

 

The Gathering 

2013 GATHERING - The largest family reunion in history, The Gathering, is an initiative inviting the Irish abroad to "come home to Ireland" in 2013 for a year-long celebration of the Irish Diaspora. Irish Americans are key when it comes to ensuring the success of The Gathering which offers special events throughout Ireland - see thegatheringireland.com for details. Volunteers in parishes across Ireland are ready to guide you to your family homestead, farm or graveyard. Leave an enquiry regarding your ancestral home or parish at Irelandxo.com.

 

IRELAND XO - Barack Obama's Irish distant cousin, Henry Healy, has a new job with Ireland Reaching Out (or Ireland XO), a genealogy project that aims to connect Ireland's scattered diaspora around the world. The startup was one of this year's Arthur Guinness Fund winners, receiving a $130,000 prize and business mentoring over the coming two years.

 

IRELAND'S ECONOMY - Industrial production in Ireland continues to grow. Manufacturing production in June was 3.3% ahead of the previous month and 10.5% up on June 2011. The "modern" sector - dominated by pharma and computers - continues to perform well despite difficult overseas markets, with a 12.7% year on year output rise.

 

CHINESE STUD FARM - A stud farm stocked with bloodmares sourced from Ireland is being established in China as the country establishes its first national equine facility. At least 100 mares will be exported from Ireland's Coolmore Stud in the next three years and talks are also underway for another 800 horses to be sourced from Ireland for the racing venture and racecourse. The deal is believed to be worth over $50 million in Irish exports over the next 3 years.

 

OCEAN POWER - The Irish government plans to double the value of Ireland's ocean wealth by 2030, increasing turnover from the ocean economy to more than $8.3 billion. Aquaculture, renewable energy, marine and coastal tourism and marine biotechnology are among the activities identified as having greater potential in Ireland.

 

ELECTRICITY CONNECTOR - A 162 mile long connector between Ireland and Wales has commenced commercial operation. The 500-megawatt cable has the capacity to supply 350,000 homes and will be used as required to export or to import electricity. Another connector already exists between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

 

COVENANT PARADE - Some 30,000 marchers participated peacefully in last Saturday's Ulster Covenant Centenary parade from Belfast City Hall to Stormont to mark the centenary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant, the "most important day in the history of unionism". On December 28, 1912, 471,414 Ulster men and women signed the covenant pledging to resist Home Rule for Ireland. Read here about the Ulster Unionists in the early 1900s and their leader Edward Carson.

 

IRA INTERVIEWS - The US Supreme Court has granted a temporary stay of a lower court order requiring Boston College to hand over to British authorities tapes of interviews with former IRA members. 26 former IRA members gave a series of interviews to BC researchers between 2001 and 2006 on condition that the material would not be released until after their deaths, but British Police have been looking for access to the files. The stay will be in place until at least October 11.

 

LAW CONFERENCE - About 5,200 lawyers from around the world attended the International Bar Association conference in Dublin last week, along with more than 1,500 partners, exhibitors and support staff. Over the course of the week, more than 200 sessions, lectures and other events were held, along with more than 1,500 networking meetings and receptions. The key speakers included a number of Nobel Laureates.

 

TOP COMPANIES - Two Irish companies based in Dublin are listed in Fortune Magazine's Global 500, the top companies in the world. Accenture specializes in consultancy, technology and outsourcing, and employs 236,000 people around the world including in an office in downtown Seattle. CRH (aka Roadstone) is a building materials company which owns several companies operating in Washington State, including ICON Materials in Auburn. Worldwide, CRH has over 76,000 employees including in China where it has recently expanded.

 

TOP EMPLOYERS - The top ten multinational employers in Ireland are: Intel with almost 5,000 employees in Leixlip, Co. Kildare; Boston Scientific (5,000 in Cork & Galway); Pfizer (4,500 in Cork, Dublin & Kildare); IBM (4,000 in Dublin, Cork & Galway); Abbott International & Abbott Medical Optics (4,000 in Sligo, Longford, Cork, Dublin, Westport & Cavan); Hewlett Packard (4,000 in Leixlip & Galway); Dell (2,500 in Limerick & Dublin); Google (4,000 in Dublin); Medtronic (2,500 in Galway); and Apple (2,500 in Cork).

 

SCIENCE MAP - The Atlas of Ingenious Ireland highlights local and national sites of scientific interest around Ireland and is part of the Dublin City of Science 2012 program. For example, it identifies on a map the locations of the world's oldest fossilized footprints on Valentia Island, Co Kerry; the birthplace of Robert Boyle, the "Father of Chemistry", etc.

 

STORE SALE - Clerys Department Store in Dublin began life in 1853 as one of the world's first purpose-built department stores. It was gutted during the 1916 Easter Rebellion and almost went bankrupt in 1941. Now Clerys is back into receivership and the Gordon Brothers of the US have taken over. But they've pledged not to touch Clerys clock, one of Dublin's landmarks under which thousands of relationships, amorous and otherwise, have been formed.

 

BELFAST TOURISM - Nearly 80,000 passengers and crew on board 44 ships have visited Belfast this year. The Titanic Belfast museum highlights the city's role in the 20th Century's best-known ship disaster and solidifies the city's claim to the lucrative trade in Titanic interest and memorabilia.

 

MICROSOFT IRELAND - The US Senate has criticized Microsoft over its practice of channeling profits through its subsidiary in Ireland. Microsoft Ireland paid $2.8 billion to its Redmond-based parent company in 2011 in exchange for its intellectual property license which in turn earned Microsoft Ireland $9 billion.

 

ELDER INCOMES - Older people in Ireland were at the lowest risk of poverty compared to other age groups in 2010, having been at the highest risk six years earlier. In 2010, the average weekly income of a person over 65 was $521.25. Six years earlier that person's average weekly income was $373.67.

 

IRISH OLYMPIAN - Pat Hickey, Olympic Council of Ireland President and European Olympic Committee President, was recently elected to the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He's the second Irishman to sit at the Olympic movement's top table after Lord Killanin who became IOC President in 1980.

 

TOTAL AMELIA - Joanne O'Riordan is a 16-year-old teenager from Cork who was born with a rare condition known as Total Amelia, meaning she has no limbs. Watch her impressive speech at a recent United Nations conference in New York.

 

RIC COMMEMORATION - An event was held recently in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery to remember Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police officers who died in 1916 and during and after Ireland's War of Independence. More than 85,000 men - the vast majority of them Irish - served in the various police forces operating in Ireland between 1816 and 1922.

 

DANGEROUS OCCUPATION - Farming is Ireland's most dangerous occupation highlighted recently by the accidental deaths of three family members on a farm in Co. Down. In the past six years, 102 people have been killed in farm-related accidents in Ireland. No other job presents such an array of risks, including gas poisoning, electrocution, drowning, being crushed by machinery and being attacked by animals.

 

COMBINE UNIVERSITIES - A recent study advocates a merger of Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin to eliminate unnecessary duplication of departments and facilities. TCD was established in 1592, and UCD was established in 1854.

 

CYCLE TRAIL - Ireland's National Roads Authority is examining possible routes for a national cross-country off-road cycle and walking trail from Dublin to Galway, a distance of about 130 miles. Presently, the 26 mile Great Western Greenway in Co. Mayo is the longest off-road walking and cycling trail in Ireland. It runs along the line of the disused Westport to Achill railway track, which closed in 1937.

 

VOLVO RACE - The nine month Volvo Ocean Yacht Race that ended in July in Seattle's Sister City of Galway brought in more than $125 million in tourism and business income to the Galway area. The race took the participants 39,000 miles around the world before ending in Galway at around 2:30 am on July 3 where 30,000 people were waiting to welcome them despite the early hour! Overall, more than 900,000 people attended events during the week-long festival.

 

MITCHELL SCHOLARSHIPS - The US state department has decided to restore its annual grant of $500,000 for the Mitchell Scholars program. The program, named in honor of former US senator George Mitchell, was started as a result of the Northern Ireland peace process and attracts applications from thousands of students across the US to study for an academic year in Ireland and Northern Ireland. A dozen Mitchell scholars being selected annually with most expenses covered.

 

TIDY TOWN - Out of a record 855 entries from across Ireland, the small Longford village of Abbeyshrule was declared Ireland's tidiest village for 2012. In their deliberations, judges examined the color schemes of houses, quality of road surfaces, the planting of open spaces, as well as the standard of public amenities.

 

IMMIGRANTS - Ireland's April 2011 Census reported a total of 544,357 non-Irish residents in Ireland from 199 different nations, with the majority speaking a language in the home other than Irish or English. Polish was the most common other language, with 112,811 speakers, followed by Lithuanian, Russian, Romanian and Latvian.

 

IRISH POLICE - The Irish Republic has 11,300 rank-and-file Garda� (Police Officers) and 704 Garda (Police) stations. 80% of the stations recorded an average of one crime or less per day in 2011 and 41% recorded one crime or less per week. Store Street Garda station in Dublin's north inner city is the busiest Garda station in Ireland, with 8,510 crimes recorded there last year.

 

MAEVE BINCHY - Irish novelist Maeve Binchy, 72, died recently following a short illness. The prolific writer had published dozens of novels, novellas and collections of short stories, as well as non-fiction works. She sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, was written and published in 1982.

 

BEST GOLF COURSES - Royal County Down was rated by Golf Digest magazine as the best golf course in the world outside the USA. Also on the list of the top 100 were Dublin's Portmarnock course; Royal Portrush in Co. Antrim; Waterville, Tralee and Ballybunion courses in Co. Kerry; Lahinch, Co. Clare, and The European in Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow.

 

BARRETSTOWN GIFT - A wealthy fan of the late Hollywood actor Paul Newman has left a bequest of more than $9 million to Barretstown, an Irish charity that provides therapeutic recreation programs for children with serious illnesses. The late actor started Barretstown in 1994 and modeled it on his renowned Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut.

 

ALL-IRELAND - Donegal won the 2012 All-Ireland Gaelic Football Championship for the first time since 1992 and for only the second time in their history, defeating Mayo in front of almost 83,000 fans in Dublin's Croke Park. There was a huge demand for game tickets with two tickets reportedly sold on eBay for over $9,000. Last Sunday, Kilkenny defeated Galway in the replay of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship Final after the first game on September 9 ended all level.

 

GUEVARA VISIT - The daughter of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, Dr Aleida Guevara March, was in Ireland last week where she opened the second annual Che Do Bheatha Festival in Kilkee, Co. Clare. The festival celebrates Che Guevara's visit to Kilkee in 1961 along with elements of Latin-American culture. Che Guevara's great grandfather was Irish, with the surname Lynch.

 

GENEALOGY BUTLER - Dublin's historic Shelbourne Hotel offers its own Genealogy Butler, a person to help visitors draw up a practical genealogy research plan during a one-hour advisory session. That includes suggestions as to where a person should travel in Dublin or throughout Ireland to best zero in on long-lost family connections. Aer Lingus, Ireland's International Airline, offers a "Discover Your Roots" package that includes airfare, car rental, five nights at B&Bs and an initial overnight at the Shelbourne that includes a consultation with the Genealogy Butler.

 

LORD'S BURIAL - Lord Peter Ralfe Harrington Evans-Freke, 92, the 11th Baron Carbery of Co Cork, was buried in the family crypt in Co. Cork, mourned by 25 family members who had returned from China, the US, Spain and England to their ancestral home at Rathbarry Castle. Monks from Glenstal Abbey in Co.Limerick and Downside Abbey in the UK officiated at the full sung Tridentine Latin Mass at Rathbarry Church. The baron was entombed next to his late wife who was interred in the family mausoleum in 2006, the first time the crypt was used since 1852.

 

POETRY APP - The inspiration of a Mullingar woman who died last year has led to noted actors and artists doing poetry readings for a Josephine Hart Poetry App, available free for iPhones, iPads and Androids. A total of 115 poems have been included, read by talented voice actors like Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack, Bob Geldof, Roger Moore and Dominic West, among scores of others.

 

TRAVEL APP - Ireland: Are We There Yet? Is a cellphone guide to activities for parents and kids. The App suggests places children will love to visit, car games to keep them amused, a nationwide listing of free outdoor play areas, the location of scavenger hunts and even car bingo. Launched last October in the Apple App Store, it has now sold in more than 18 countries.

 

YE OLDE HOLIDAY - Arthur's Day on September 27 began life in 2009 as a celebration of Guinness' 250th anniversary and supposedly marks the birthday of Arthur Guinness, the founder of Guinness Brewery in Dublin in 1759. This year, large crowds again turned out in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the made-up holiday.

 

McALEESE VIEWS - Former Irish President Mary McAleese says the Catholic Church and its 'isolated' views on homosexuality has left youngsters struggling to cope. She was responding to questions about the growing number of male suicides in Ireland. A staunch Catholic, McAleese was President of Ireland for 14 years from 1997 - 2011, and is currently studying canon law in Rome.

 

ROLLING STONES - Footage of the Rolling Stones filmed in September 1965 at the Adelphi Cinema in Dublin and at the ABC Theatre in Belfast, and featuring the earliest known professionally shot footage of the band, is being released for the first time later this month. The documentary's world premiere took place during the New York Film Festival last weekend and the film receives a commercial release in November.

 

PORRIDGE RECORD - A new world record for the largest ever bowl of porridge was set in Waterford during the annual Harvest Festival. A bowl 6� feet high and 5� feet wide was filled with 100 bags of oats and 211 gallons of water. After sugar and milk was added it produced a grand total of 3,042 pounds of porridge.

 

CORNCRAKE PRESERVATION - Corncrake numbers in Ireland have dropped from 135 calling males in 2011 to 125-129 this year. The remaining strongholds for the corncrake are in Donegal and its islands, along with west Connacht. An endangered and elusive calling bird, the birds are very secretive, spending most of their time hidden in tall grass or vegetation, betrayed only by their rasping call. There were tens of thousands of corncrakes in Ireland in 1900, and about 4,000 singing males in the late 1960s, but the corncrake population had been in steady decline since then. For more information, visit birdwatchireland.ie.

 

FRINGED SANDWORT - Between 23,000 and 15,000 years ago, ice over 3 feet deep blanketed Ireland. Scientists believed that the ice scraped away all plant and animal life in Ireland, and that all herbs in Ireland today were blow-ins that arrived after the glaciers had gone. However, a new DNA sampling method proves from samples of Fringed Sandwort on the top of Benbulben in Co Sligo that the herb survived the ice-age and has lived in Ireland for up to 150,000 years.

 

RED KITES - For the first time in nearly 200 years, an Irish-born red kite has nested and bred chicks in Ireland. The male bird, born in 2010 to donor stocks of red kites brought from Wales, was recorded breeding in Co Wicklow. A red kite reintroduction program aims to restore Ireland's native population of kites to their traditional haunts.

 

AGNOSTICS - Since 2005, there has been a 22% drop in the number of Irish people who say they are religious, the second largest drop in the world. Today, fewer than half of all Irish people consider themselves to be religious. At the same time, just 10% of Irish people say they are convinced atheists. In 2005, 69% of Irish people said they were religious.

 

WWI MEMORIAL - A young Irishman in the US army's 306th Division who was killed in World War 1 in 1918, was buried in an unmarked grave in Clogheen, Co Tipperary. The American Legion's Fr Duffy Post recently accorded the soldier full military honors and erected a grave marker provided by the US Government.

 

1916 ARCHIVES - Ireland's Military Archives has digitized the contents of the once-secret "Bureau of Military History 1913-1921" and unlimited public access is available online. The archive includes personal recollections of hundreds of men and women, including 1,773 witness statements, 360,000 pages of name- and word-searchable documents, rare photographs, and voice recordings.

 

COLLINS' COINS - There has been high demand for two new collector coins issued to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the death of Michael Collins at B�al na mBlath in Cork on August 22, 1922. A €20 gold proof coin and a €10 silver proof coin have both been issued and are close to being sold out.

 

ARTHUR GRIFFITH - The man who founded Sinn F�in in 1905 was Arthur Griffith who also led the Irish delegation to London that signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922. He became Sinn F�in's leader in 1911 when he couldn't find anyone else to take the role, and in 1917 he stepped down in favor of Eamon de Valera. When Griffith died from a heart attack on August 12th, 1922, it is said that the only money found in his pockets was one penny.

 

1914 YACHT - The restored yacht, Asgard, has gone on display in Collins Barracks in Dublin. Commissioned in 1905 as a wedding gift for Erskine Childers, the father and namesake of the fourth president of Ireland, the yacht played a pivotal role in the 1914 gun-running of 900 rifles and 29,000 rounds of ammunition to Howth. The arms were later used in the 1916 Easter Rebellion.

 

WAR DIARY - Mary Martin's Diary chronicles the first five months of 1916 in Dublin. Mary wrote it for her son who was a soldier with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the First World War and who had gone missing in action in the Balkans. She hoped that one day he would return home and be able to read it. Set against the backdrop of the Easter Rising in Dublin, the diary chronicles the daily activities of her family of twelve, her friends and relatives. She later found out that her son had died of his wounds the previous December.

 

RUSSIAN JEWELS - In 1920 during the Irish War of Independence, the Russian Crown Jewels were used as collateral by the Soviet Republic for a loan of $25,000 from the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic. The jewels were handed over in New York to Irish envoy, Harry Boland, who gave them to his mother in Dublin for safekeeping. After Boland's death in 1922, his mother kept the jewels in her house until she turned them over to the Irish Government in 1938. The jewels were again forgotten about until 1950 when they were returned to the Soviet Union in exchange for the amount of the original loan, $25,000.

 

ANTARTIC EXPLORER - Patrick Keohane is to be honored with a statue in his native Cork, 100 years after he played a central role in Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four companions reached the Pole on January 17, 1912, where they found that Amundsen's Norwegian team had beaten them by a month. Keohane was one of four Irishmen on Scott's expedition, along with Tom Crean, Robert Forde and Murt McCarthy.

 

UNDERGROUND PASSAGE - A tunnel constructed in 1852 linked the Ards estate in Co Kildare to the local St John's Church of Ireland. The lady of the house commissioned the structure to allow her to travel to church without falling under the gaze of nearby peasants. Similar underground passages were common in the 1800s at landlord estates in Ireland.

 

CASINO MARINO - The Casino Marino in Dublin was originally designed in 1770 as a pleasure house for the 1st Earl of Charemont. It has eight tunnels leading out from the building - one of which is a mile long and connected the garden retreat to the main living house. It was used as a passageway for servants so they could come and go without spoiling the view.

 

ACCIDENTAL ISLAND - North Bull Island is located in Dublin Bay, just over 4 miles from Dublin's City center. It's a small island, 3 miles in length, nearly � mile wide, and was formed by the tides over 200 years ago following the building of Dublin's sea walls. In 1800, Capt William Bligh, later of The Bounty fame, first noted the Island's existence while researching a proposal for a north wall along the mouth of Dublin's harbor.

 

JEWISH MUSEUM - Located in the once heavily populated Jewish area of Portobello in South Dublin, the Irish Jewish Museum was opened on June 20, 1985 by the Irish-born former president of Israel, Dr. Chaim Herzog. Previously a synagogue, the museum contains a collection of memorabilia relating to the Irish Jewish communities and their various associations and contributions to present day Ireland. The first recorded Jewish immigrants came to Ireland as early as 1660 and the largest influx occurred during the 19th century. There are currently around 1,300 Jews in Ireland, down from almost 5,000.

TID BITS

 

  • See a nighttime photo of Ireland & the UK from the International Space Station with the Aurora Borealis in the background.
  • About 2,200 people in Ireland start up a new business every month with about 11% engaged in medium- or high- technology sectors.
  • Total Irish exports in the first quarter 2012 grew by 3.6%, including a 19% rise in exports to the UK.
  • Irish exports were up by 6% in July giving the country a trade surplus of some 12%.
  • In 2011, Trinity College Dublin was ranked in the top 1% of research institutions in the world in 17 fields including Molecular Biology and Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Computer Science, Clinical Medicine and Engineering.
  • Element Power, which has its North America Headquarters in Portland, OR, will invest $10.3 billion in Ireland to build 40 new wind farms.
  • The LA Times writes that In Ireland, optimism is in the air
  • Two Dublin high school students won first prize in the EU Young Scientist competition 2012 with a project developing algorithms for a range of applications from satellite placement to predicting network congestion in telecommunications.
  • Ireland's Taoiseach (PM) Enda Kenny assumes the presidency of the European Union on January 1, 2013.
  • There are 24 road, pedestrian or railroad bridges across the river Liffey in the Dublin area, the oldest being the Anna Livia Bridge in Chapelizod which was built in the 1660s at a cost of 195 pounds, 1 shilling and 7 pence.
  • The Irish have more than 50 different words for rain
  • It is claimed that Ireland loses more than $1.1 billion a year to the black market, with 25% of all cigarette sales and 12% of all diesel sales being illegal.
  • A National Heritage survey shows that Newgrange in the Boyne Valley is Ireland's favorite heritage site.
  • During the Irish Famine, the number of tax collectors in Ireland rose 225%.
  • Irish Lives Remembered is a free to join Irish Genealogy Community. Anyone with Mayo or Antrim ancestors should especially check out the August issue of its eMagazine.
  • Mayoman Martin Sheridan, who won nine Olympic medals representing the USA between 1904 and 1908, was the most successful Irish-born Olympic competitor in history.
  • At the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis, the Irish games of Gaelic football and hurling were played as exhibition sports.
  • About 35,000 American fans attended the ND-Navy football game in Dublin on September 1, more Americans than attended the Olympic Games in London.
  • It is estimated that the ND-Navy football game in Dublin pumped over $100 million into the Irish economy.
  • Sports Illustrated says that Ireland's Katie Taylor, who won a gold medal for Ireland in Women's Boxing, may have been the most popular athlete at the London Olympics.
  • The most popular car licensed in Ireland in July was Volkswagon followed by Ford, Toyota and Renault.
  • Former Taoiseach John Bruton has been suggested as a candidate for the position of European Commission president. Bruton is a former EU ambassador to Washington and was Grand Marshal of Seattle's 2008 St. Patrick's Day Parade.
  • Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was the first serving Taoiseach to address the annual B�al na mBl�th Michael Collins commemoration in August.
  • A photographer and artist recently walked over 300 miles from Mizen Head in Co. Cork to Malin Head in Co. Donegal to see if he could do it without walking past a pub!
  • The Secret Gospel of Ireland tells the astonishing story of how the holy men of Ireland shepherded the West from antiquity to the modern era
  • In 1927, Paul A. Murphy, a Dublin university Professor, discovered for the first time the resting spores of the potato blight fungus which had caused the potato famine.
  • 23% of drivers killed and 29% of passengers killed on the roads in the first half of 2012 were not wearing seatbelts.
  • Take a Virtual Tour of Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery which has seen 1.5 million burials since it was established in 1832.
  • The Collins Press is an independent Irish book publisher based in Cork that publishes a wide range of non-fiction books of Irish interest.
  • Watch Che Guevara being interviewed in Dublin in 1964 
  • View some 360� Panoramic views of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
  • The New York Times say that "the whole world is watching Irish-made television".
  • Watch a video of dolphins playing off the coast of Derrynane, Co. Kerry.
  • See a birds-eye view of the Iveragh Peninsula and Skellig Rocks in Co. Kerry.
  • A monastery of monks existed on Skellig Michael (Sceilig M�r) from the 6th to the 12th century. See a video shot on top of Skellig Michael.
  • See what it looks like jumping from 4000 feet onto the beach at Bray, Co. Wicklow
  • Watch a beautiful time-lapse video of a day in Dublin
  • Read an Irish-born US lawyer's views on Irish immigration to the US
  • An online map shows the location of Ireland's most spectacular roadside viewpoints and scenic driving routes.
  • An exploration company has recovered 48 tons of silver 150 miles SW of Kerry from the SS Gairsoppa, a British cargo ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in February 1941.
  • Ireland now receives 15% more rain than it did in the 1970s. That has drastically affected insect numbers on the island with a knock on effect on many birds who feed off of them.
  • Irish butterfly numbers fell by almost 50% last year.
  • As British prime minister, the Dublin-born Duke of Wellington helped guide the Catholic Relief Act, aka Catholic Emancipation, through the UK Parliament in 1829.
  • During the Israeli war of independence leading to 1948, Israeli leader Yitzhak Shamir's code name was "Michael" after Ireland's Michael Collins whom he admired for the guerilla tactics that helped liberate a tiny country from a world power.
  • There are more than 2,000 Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in Ireland's 32 counties.
  • There are more than 200,000 men over the age of 65 in Ireland, one in three of whom lives alone.
  • The population of Northern Ireland is now 1,810,900, bringing the total population of Ireland to 6.4 million.
  • The Irish government has proposed setting a minimum unit price for alcohol by the end of 2012.
  • Half of the 650 people killed by yellow fever in Savannah Georgia in 1854 were Irish immigrants mainly because they had no prior exposure to the disease.
  • The Vanishing Ireland Project aims to chronicle an Ireland that seemed to be disappearing rapidly.
  • Cork City Council has unanimously passed a motion supporting gay marriage.
  • 3.3 million Irish people are entitled to free annual dental check ups
  • Irish actor Peter O'Toole, 79, has retired, saying he no longer has the heart for it. The actor had been nominated for eight Best Actor Oscars and received an honorary statuette in 2003.
  • Dublin Airport has installed five new charging points for electric cars.
  • Ireland is the first international research partner of US space agency NASA, which allows Irish science undergraduates to work at NASA's research facilities and may result in Ireland's first astronaut in space.
  • Developed by a Dubliner, Taxi Fair is an App for visitors to Ireland, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, or Madrid which shows how much a person should be charged for a taxi trip and the route that should have been taken.
  • A new book claims that Bruce Springsteen's great great grandmother left Westmeath for America in the 1850s.
  • Of the 1.6million Irish who were in the US in 1860, about 180,000 fought in the US Civil War.
  • Each person in Ireland generated an average of 811 lb of household waste in 2010, below the EU average of 979 lb.
  • Ireland is on track to meet its target for greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto protocol. Concentrations of particulate matter in the air have fallen in most cities and towns since 2002.
  • There has been a 1.35 degree (F) rise in Irish temperatures over the past two decades.
  • Galway University researchers say the Irish Sea's level will rise by about 1� feet by the end of the century.
  • One of Dublin's most famous cafes, Bewley's on Westmoreland Street, has now reopened as a Starbucks.
  • The US Library of Congress has thousands of images of Ireland from the early 20th century.
  • Ernest Walton (1903 -1995) is the only Irishman to have won a Nobel Prize in science.
  • The New York Times writes about House Hunting in Ireland.
  • Air Canada and Aer Lingus have agreed a code share agreement starting in 2013 which will compliment Air Canada's Toronto-Dublin service.
  • Irish tenor Paul Byrom, who used to sing with Celtic Thunder, is using Kickstarter to look for help in funding a PBS special.
  • A retired sheep farmer from Kerry has started traveling on a vintage tractor named Betsy along the 2,500 mile long Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago in a fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society.
  • Irish singer Larry Cunningham, one of the most popular showband leaders on the Irish danceband and music scene of the 1960s and 1970s, whose most popular Irish hit was  Lovely Leitrim, died last week aged 74.
  • About 30,000 people attended a march in Melbourne, Australia last Sunday to honor a 29-year-old Irish woman who was murdered in the city on September 22.
  • 16 Republican and one Democrat Members of the US Congress have written to Irish Taoiseach (PM) Enda Kenny demanding that he halt any bid to legalize abortion in Ireland.
  • A Co. Meath cattle farmer has bought back an 8.5-acre site for $78,000 which he had sold just seven years ago for almost $2 million.
  • 102 year old Bill King, believed to have been the last surviving submarine commander from WWII, died recently at Oranmore Castle in Co. Galway.
  • Ireland's Road Safety Authority has proposed that garda� (police) be able to check the cellphone records of people involved in accidents, to determine if cellphone use was a contributing factor.
  • The number of married people in Ireland in 2011 was 1,708,604, up from 1,565,016 in 2006.
  • In 2011, there were 344,944 couples in Ireland without children, of which 261,652 were married and 83,292 were cohabiting.
  • Apple's new iOS 6 maps application shows an airport on Kilmacud Road in Dublin along with a Zoo in Temple Bar, neither of which actually exist.
  • Golfer Rory McIlroy hasn't yet decided whether to play for Ireland or for the UK in the next Olympic Games in 2016. Being from Northern Ireland, he can play for either country.
  • The Irish Times writes about football, hurling and camogie teams fighting for glory at the GAA's North American Championships held in Philadelphia on the Labor Day weekend.
  • Irish prisoners retain their right to vote.
  • At least 29 Irish-born men gave their lives while serving the US army in the Korean War.
  • Food Republic says that sales of Irish Whiskey in the U.S. were up 24% in 2012, and they suggest 10 Irish whiskeys to try.
  • Ireland's coastline is 4,850 mile long.
  • The Lawrence Photographic Collection in the National Library of Ireland consists of about 40,000 glass plate photographic negatives of Irish scenes dating from the period 1870 to 1910. Some of the then and now comparison photos can be seen at irishtimes.com.
  • Ireland's largest Coffee Shop chain is Insomnia which has over 60 coffee shops mainly around the Dublin area.
  • Ireland's horse breeding industry produces more than 40% of all thoroughbred foals in Europe.
  • Otto Jaffe, a German-born Irish Jewish businessman, was elected Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1899 and 1904.
  • An experiment by an Irish website found that only one in seven Irish people will accept when offered a FREE €5 note.
  • Solar-powered garbage cans in Dublin's Temple Bar area will soon be equipped to provide information to smartphones about free wi-fi and activities in the area.
  • While visiting Hollywood, a Donegal man and his Scottish girlfriend ended up as surprise guests on the Ellen DeGeneres Show (at the 4 minute mark)
  • According to hoteliermiddleeast.com, the Middle East's most powerful hotelier is Galwayman Gerald Lawless.
  • On August 7, a pod of approximately 50 Dolphins were videoed in Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal
  • Watch Thai school children singing "Dublin in the rare old Times"
  • As an addition to Street-View Ireland, Google now provides virtual interior tours of many pubs, restaurants, and hotels in Cork.
  • An 18th-century manuscript recently digitized by Dublin City Library is a handwritten diary from 1716 to 1734, containing daily observations of Dublin's weather.
  • The city of Limerick is among six other cities around the world competing to host the Gay Olympics in 2018.
Seanfhocal - Proverb
 
N� feic a bhfeicir, Is n� clois a gcloisir, Is m� fiafra�tear d�ot, Abair nach bhfuil fhios agat
Don't see what you see, Don't hear what you hear, And if you're asked, Say you don't know

(In other words, Don't be a Blabbermouth!)


Sl�n go f�ill�n, Goodbye for now!
 
John Keane 
 
2012 John Keane. Items may be copied if
[email protected]� is credited
This newsletter is sent on behalf of the Irish Heritage Club, the Seattle Galway Sister City Association and the Irish Immigrant Support Group.
 Irish Heritage Club Logo
PLEASE BECOME AN IRISH HERITAGE CLUB MEMBER FOR 2012! Show your support for Irish activities in the Seattle area by becoming a member. Membership is used to support all IHC activities throughout the year, including the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Irish Festival, and is open to anyone interested in "Things Irish". Dues are $20 (single membership) or $30 (family membership), and you can pay by cash, check, or Secure Credit Card. For more information, email [email protected] or visit www.irishclub.org

2012 Members remain in good standing until March 31, 2013