MONTHLY CÉILI - The next Céili in Fremont is this Sunday, June 2, 4-8 pm at the Doric Lodge, 619 N 36th St, Seattle. Family style Céili and potluck, includes instruction in basic steps for Céili and Set Dancing. Suggested donation is $10 per family - for information, contact tko2@u.washington.edu.

IRISH THEATRE GROUP - The Irish Heritage Players is a new non-profit theater group, dedicated to the production of Irish/Irish American plays with the first play scheduled to be staged next March, the Seattle premier of A Rose for Danny. An initial organizing meeting for the new group is being held Thursday, June 13 at 6:30 pm at Caffe Appassionato, 4001 21st Ave W, Seattle, located beside Fisherman's Terminal in Ballard. Anyone interested in participating or helping with this project is invited to attend. Contact kevmoriarty1@live.com or (206) 354-9418 for more details.

BLOOMSDAY - Seattle's Wild Geese Players will finish their journey through James Joyce's novel, Ulysses, with a staged reading of Chapter 18, "Penelope" (aka Molly Bloom's Soliloquy), at 3 pm on Sunday, June 16, at Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Ave. Ulysses is set in 1904 and chronicles the wanderings of Leopold Bloom around Dublin on June 16th. More details at wildgeeseseattle.org.

SEATTLE GAELS - On Saturday, June 22nd at Green Lake Park, the Seattle Gaels host the Green Lake GAA Tournament with games of Hurling, Camogie, and Men's and Women's Gaelic Football. FREE admission all day from 10 am to 4 pm, but bring a lawn chair! The Gaels have weekly games and practices at Magnuson Park, with the hurlers practicing at 6:30 pm on Tuesday evenings and playing City league games on Thursday evenings. The Gaels footballers practice on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm and Sundays at 11 am with the Football City League games on weekends throughout the summer. More information at seattlegaels.com or on Facebook.

IRISH SENIORS -Consul General of Ireland for the Western US, Gerry Staunton, will be a guest of honor at the next Irish Seniors' Luncheon on Saturday, June 22, at 1 pm at the Wilde Rover Restaurant, 111 Central Way, Kirkland. This will the Mayo man's last visit to Seattle as Consul General as he retires from the Irish Diplomatic Service in September. The subsidized cost of the buffet lunch is $10 per person, and spouses and all seniors with an Irish connection are invited to attend at the same price. However, as seating is limited, advance reservations are required to 206-915-1878 or Seniors@irishclub.org.  

IHC AGM - The Irish Heritage Club's Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers will be on Sunday, July 14 at 7 pm at Assumption Church Hall, 6201 33rd Ave NE (north of the University District), Seattle. All members and potential members are invited to attend. Pizza and more will be available at 6:30 pm and the meeting starts at 7:00 pm - please RSVP to IHC President Justin McMahon to let him know if you can attend so he can make sure there's enough pizza for everyone! Anyone who volunteered during Irish Week is especially welcome. For more information, contact President@irishclub.org.  

HARP CAMP - Beginners and experienced alike interested in exploring the Celtic harp and hammered dulcimer are invited to attend the weekend Summer Harp and Dulcimer Camp from July 19-21 at Magic Hill on the west side of Vashon Island just north of the Tacoma Narrows. Led by Philip and Pam Boulding, visit magicalstrings.com for more information

IRISH MUSIC CAMP - The Ceol Cascadia Irish Music Week from August 11-16 at Camp Casey Conference Center on Whidbey Island provides an opportunity to learn about traditional Irish music in one of the most beautiful seaside settings imaginable, with daily classes in fiddle, flute, guitar, button accordion, concertina, singing and more. Students will also enjoy intimate evening concerts and sessions, lectures and dancing. Classes will be offered for advanced, intermediate and beginning players. Organized by a group headed by Randal Bays, the camp is a program of the Irish Heritage Club.

MUSIC CONCERT - If you can't attend the Irish Music Camp for the whole week, do attend the Farewell Concert in the Camp Casey Auditorium on Friday evening, August 16. The concert will feature some of the world's finest Irish musicians: Randal Bays - fiddle, Antoin MacGabhann - fiddle, James Kelly - fiddle, Daithi Sproule - Guitar and song, Mary Bergin - tinwhistle, Sean Gavin - flute, Johnny Og Connolly - button accordion, and Florence Fahy - concertina. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com.

NEW CONSUL - Philip Grant, currently serving as director of the press office of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, will this September become the new Consul General of Ireland in San Francisco, replacing current Consul General Gerry Staunton. A native of Westport, Co. Mayo, Staunton has been serving in San Francisco since 2008 and is retiring from Ireland's Diplomatic Service.

LANGUAGE WEEK - A week-long Irish Language Summer Camp will be held in Portland, OR, from July 29-August 2. Learn Irish Gaelic through an innovative language learning technique called "language hunting" - an immersive experience focused on conversation, games and play. During the evenings, experience Irish music, dance, singing, storytelling - along with language learning games. Irish Gaelic learners of all levels, abilities, and ages are welcome.

LIVE GAA - All GAA Hurling and Football games are telecast live from Ireland at Fadó Irish Pub, 1st and Columbia, downtown Seattle. Call Fadó at 206-264-2700 for games, fees, etc. You can also watch all the games online on your computer using Overplay's Virtual Private Network for about $10 monthly. Or to watch all your favorite TV channels from Ireland or any other country right on your own TV, including all GAA and other sports, news, regular programs, etc., visit eurotvdirect.us or contact Gary at 619-807-0814 or gary@eurotvdirect.us. 

IRISH RACES - Irish Day at Emerald Downs in Auburn is Sunday, June 23, 2-7 pm. A coupon for Free Admissions on Irish Day along with Free Race Programs will be emailed in the next week. Unlimited coupons are available - just email Races@irishclub.org. Irish Day features Thoroughbred Racing with Irish Music, Stepdancers, Free Kids Activities (Pony Rides, Inflatable Slide, Face Painters), etc. For reserved seating or dining reservations, or for more info on Emerald Downs, call 253-288-7711 or visit emeralddowns.com.         

IRISH BASEBALL - Irish Night at the Seattle Mariners is Tuesday, July 9, vs. the Boston Red Sox at Seattle's Safeco Field. Dr. McDreamy, a/k/a TV actor Patrick Dempsey of Grey's Anatomy, has agreed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Irish Night, and the Baile Glas Irish Dancers and the Seattle Police Pipes and Drums will perform in center field before the game. A free Irish Heritage Night Mariners Cap and reduced price tickets for the best seats in the house are available at mariners.com/Irish or call 425-290-7839.

JULY 21 PICNIC - Seattle's Irish Community Picnic is Noon-6 pm, Sunday, July 21, at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah (exit # 15 off I-90). Games and fun for the entire family, and all are welcome at no charge. Free hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided but bring your own drink and a dessert to be shared. Free Park Admission to those who attend the Irish Heritage Club Annual General Meeting on July 14. For details, email Picnic@irishclub.org or call 425-745-1263.

FR. TONY CENTER - Seattle's Irish community is being asked to help fund a new St. Mary's Parish Center which will be named for retired priest Fr. Tony Haycock. Well known in Seattle's Irish community, Fr. Tony was born in the UK to an Irish mother, and spent his early years in Ireland. In Seattle, he has always been available to serve the Irish community whenever a priest was needed for baptisms, funerals or weddings. The center will provide a space to serve teens of many cultures and backgrounds and to complete the project, St Mary's needs to raise another $25,000. For details, visit stmarysseattle.org.

O'BRIEN EXHIBIT - The town of O'Brien, located just east of present-day Sea-Tac Airport and now part of Kent, was settled in 1868 by Irish-born brothers Terrence and Morgan O'Brien, and the area developed into a tight-knit Irish Catholic farming community with its own cemetery named for St. Patrick. The Kent Historical Museum, 855 E Smith St, Kent, now has an exhibit about O'Brien with maps of the area, information about who lived there, and showing how the community changed over the years since 1868. The exhibit is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 pm, through the end of June.

EMIGRANT'S LETTER - 130 years ago on January 13, 1883, Irish immigrant John F Costello wrote a letter from the 'White River Valley' (now Kent, WA) to his family back in Croagh, Co. Limerick. He wrote, "To speak in truth, my last thoughts going to bed at night and first arising in the morning are of home. ... home sickness is something that's natural. I often get a relapse of it but somehow there seems to be no cure only to stand it". But he ends the letter by saying, "To sum all up this is a free country". Costello is buried at St. Patrick Cemetery in Kent and was among those remembered at the Memorial Day Mass at St. Patrick.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Sean-Nós (Old Style) Dancing is a fun, easy form of old-style Irish step dancing. Email seannosseattle@gmail.com.
• The 2013 Newport, Oregon, Celtic Festival & Highland Games is June 7-9.
• The Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon are July 13-14
• Celtic Thunder plays Seattle's McCaw Hall on December 2.

APPLE & IRISH TAXES

NO TAX HAVEN! - Irish officials have rejected as being simply not true claims made recently at a US Senate committee hearing about Ireland being a tax haven that is being exploited by Apple, Inc. Ireland's tax rate is low but Ireland meets none of the established criteria of a tax haven. All companies in Ireland, including Apple, pay the standard 12.5% rate on their trading profits, and that includes Apple's Irish subsidiary, Apple Distribution International (ADI). However, Apple has been able to exploit key differences between Irish and US tax residency rules to help it avoid paying any tax for the past five years on certain operations.

TAX CODE DIFFERENCES - Ireland bases residency for tax purposes on where companies are managed and controlled, while the US bases residency for tax purposes on where they are incorporated. Apple's holding company, Apple Operations International (AOI), is incorporated in Ireland but keeps its bank accounts and records in the US and holds board meetings in California. The problem is the tax code differences between countries that can be taken advantage of to avoid paying taxes.

APPLE IRELAND - In 1980, just three years after the company was incorporated in the US, Apple Distribution International (ADI) was registered in Cork. ADI, which currently employs 2,800 people in Cork and plans to hire another 500 in 2013, services Apple subsidiaries around the world and also distributes and sells Apple products to the European, Middle East and African market. ADI pays the standard 12.5% corporate tax to the Irish Exchequer on its operations in Ireland. As the chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland puts it, "Ireland's 12.5% tax rate, while low, is not subject to any arbitrary adjustments".

JFK IN IRELAND

50TH ANNIVERSARY - 50 years ago on June 27, 1963, President John F Kennedy arrived in Ireland for a four-day visit. Thousands of well-wishers cheered the son of two families whose roots stretched back to Limerick and Wexford. His aide and friend Dave Powers later described JFK's Irish visit as the "happiest four days of John F Kennedy's life". It was a pivotal moment in Irish history with the President welcomed with great emotion, as one of their own returning to the land of his ancestors.

EMIGRANT FLAME -As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, a torch was this week lit from the eternal flame at JFK's grave in Arlington National Cemetery to be brought by an Irish Naval ship  to Ireland to light a new eternal Emigrant Flame on the quayside at New Ross, Co. Wexford. On June 22, the eternal Emigrant Flame will be lit by members of the Kennedy family and the Taoiseach, and it will serve as a permanent memorial to all who have been forced by circumstances to leave Ireland. The June 22 ceremony is just one of numerous JFK50 Homecoming events being held in New Ross from May 29 to June 22.

DOWN SURVEY

SURVEY REASON - After the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-53), Cromwell ordered a survey of Ireland to measure every inch of the land to determine what property should be redistributed to his soldiers and to those who funded the war. The laborer owners were kept on to work the land and the rest were killed or forced to flee. The resulting changes in land ownership, overwhelmingly from Catholic to Protestant, changed the country dramatically during the latter half of the 1600s.

KELLS ONLINE - High quality digital images of the 677 pages of the Book of Kells can now be viewed online. Written by Irish monks around 800 AD, the hand-written Gospel in Latin is renowned for its lavish decoration. The origin of the Book of Kells is generally attributed to a monastery founded around 561 by Irish monks on Iona, an island off western Scotland. In 806, following a Viking raid on the island, the monks fled to Ireland where they started a new monastery at Kells, Co. Meath. The Book of Kells was written around that same time and it stayed at Kells until 1654 when it was sent to Dublin for safekeeping from Cromwell's troops. It was presented to Trinity College in 1661, and has remained there ever since. It has been on public display at Trinity since the mid-19th century, and currently attracts over 500,000 visitors annually.

MORE FROM IRELAND

REGISTERED PAPERS - The registered papers of the Office of Chief Secretary of Ireland from 1818 to 1852 are in the National Archives of Ireland, and now the papers from 1818 to 1822 have been cataloged and are available for viewing online for free at csorp.nationalarchives.ie. The entire collection is one of the most valuable sources of original material for research on Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is the single most comprehensive archival collection relating to 19th and early 20th century Ireland anywhere in the world. 

VIRTUAL 1913 NEWSPAPER - Some of the most momentous events in Irish history are being covered in the Century Ireland Project, an online historical newspaper re-reporting the events of Irish life as they happened a century ago. Starting in 2013 and reporting online every two weeks, the "newspaper" provides contemporary news reports and documents, with video footage, photographs and contextual essays and interviews, reporting on them as if they were happening today. Follow reporting on the Home Rule issue, the women's Suffrage movement, crime in Dublin, etc. Century Ireland is produced by a team of researchers at Boston College Ireland with funding provided by the Irish government.

FAMINE CAUSE - Scientists have finally identified the strain of potato blight that caused the Irish famine and which led to the island's population falling nearly 25% when over 1 million people died of starvation and another million emigrated. DNA extracted from plant samples collected in the mid-19th century shows that the disease originated in Mexico in the early 1800s, emerged in the US in 1844, and spread to Europe the following year. In the summer of 1845 the disease, which is now probably extinct, spread throughout Ireland completely wasting the potato crop. Other countries were not affected to the same degree as Ireland as they did not depend on the potato as much as Ireland did.

STORY STAMP - A new Irish 60c stamp has been issued featuring all 224 words of a story that captures the "essence" of Dublin. The bright yellow stamp includes an entire story written by a Dublin teenager and was commissioned to celebrate Dublin's permanent designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. Dublin is a culturally rich city closely identified with writing and writers, such as Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and James Joyce. Four Nobel Prizes for Literature have been awarded to writers associated with Dublin. The unusual new stamp can be purchased online at irishstamps.ie.

GOOGLE CYCLING - Google Maps Ireland now allows users in Ireland to obtain directions for the best cycling paths that avoid the busiest roads between any two locations. The service identifies Ireland's roads and pathways as being either trails, roads with dedicated bicycle lanes, bicycle-friendly roads, or total no-go areas, and then suggests the best cycling path. The app for smartphones also lets cyclists listen to directions as they ride.

BRIAN BORU - A $104m budget film about Brian Boru is planned to be shot in Ireland in 2014 and would be the biggest movie ever made in Ireland, bigger than Braveheart which was filmed in 1994 on the Curragh in Co. Kildare. The last undisputed High King of Ireland, Brian Boru (Brian "of the Tributes") defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday, 1014, but he himself was the last person killed during the Viking retreat. Brian mac Cennétig (son of Kennedy) earned his name Boru by collecting tributes from the minor rulers of Ireland and using the monies raised to restore monasteries and libraries that had been destroyed by the Vikings.

DIASPORA FORUM - The European Global Diaspora Forum was held in Dublin recently and was attended by 220 delegates and 40 speakers from over 20 countries. Ireland's Diaspora, the Irish community that lives outside Ireland, is widely viewed as being one of the most sophisticated and developed in the world. The influence of Irish-Americans on the Northern peace process was held up as an example of the potential of a country's Diaspora to exert a benign influence on politics back home.

DANCE W/ RIVERDANCE - The Gathering Ireland invites you to join the stars of Riverdance, including 'First Lady' Jean Butler, at noon on Sunday, July 21, when at least 1,000 people will line up along the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest Riverdance line. All you need to participate is basic Irish dancing abilities and then you too could claim you "once performed with Jean Butler of Riverdance"!

IRISH FESTIVALS - For your trip to Ireland this summer, the Irish Times has a listing of the 20 best music festivals and events between now and the end of September. During the summer months, Ireland has dozens and dozens of music festivals and live shows, and outdoor festivals and shows happen every single weekend somewhere on the island.

MATCHMAKING FESTIVAL - For over 150 years, the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival has catered to people looking for love, but until now it was always a man-woman matching service. This year Lisdoonvarna opens with a weekend aimed specifically at gays and lesbians. Dubbed The Outing, the dating festival opens with drag shows in addition to the usual céilís and other events. Over 20,000 people annually visit the festival which lasts the entire month of September.

GRAFTON STREET UPGRADE - Dublin's best known shopping district, Grafton St, will be a construction site for the next 18 months as a complete revamp of the street is underway. A $5.2 million makeover of the famous pedestrian street will involve replacing the red bricks with "high quality natural stone", mostly from the Dublin and Wicklow mountains.

MARINE PLAQUE - A plaque presented by US Marines to the Mayor of Derry in 1943 will at long last be erected in the city. The US Marine Corps had a large presence in Derry in 1943 and a formal presentation of a plaque was made that year by the OC of the US Marine Corps to then mayor. Somehow, the plaque ended up in the US among the belongings of the Marines' second-in-command. Found by his daughter after her father passed away, she has donated it to the Beech Hill Camp Museum in Derry and a replica will now be erected at City Hall.

JAIL HOTEL - Armagh Gaol, which operated as a women's prison until 1986, will become a hotel and spa. Dating from 1780, the historic landmark will have a $35 million redevelopment to turn it into a hotel with apartments. Each room will be comprised of three of the former cells, and some original features of the prison will be preserved for inclusion in the new design.The number of female political prisoners at Armagh reached more than 100 between 1972 and 1976 and during the Troubles also housed some male prisoners.

NO CIGS - A pack of 20 cigarettes in Ireland currently averages about $14. Now Ireland will become the second country in the world, after Australia, to prohibit branding on cigarette packs. All forms of branding, including trademarks, logos, colors and graphics, will be removed, while brand names may be listed only in a uniform typeface. The packs will all be one plain color, but health warnings will be much more graphic.

SOCCER FRIENDLIES - The Republic of Ireland and England this past week drew 1-1 in a soccer friendly played at London's Wembley Stadium. The two sides hadn't played since a friendly in Dublin in 1995 when English supporters began rioting after Ireland took a 1-0 lead. The game was quickly called off by the referee. A second friendly between the countries will be played in November 2014 in Dublin.

MISSING STATUE - The bronze lifesize statue of Phil Lynott on Harry Street in Dublin was cracked in the middle after it was knocked over recently and has been removed for repairs. Lynott, who was 36 when he died in 1986, was the frontman, singer, bassist, and songwriter for the Irish Rock band, "Thin Lizzy".

WWII AMNESTY - A law has been passed in Ireland granting an amnesty and apology for the way the Irish government treated members of the Irish Army who deserted or went absent without leave during World War II, the majority of whom later ended up fighting with the Allies. It is estimated that about 7,000 of the 42,000 members of the Irish Army deserted, of whom 5,000 joined the Allies.

MIRACLE TWINS - Twins born to a family in Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny, set the Guinness World Record for the longest interval between the births. Amy was delivered prematurely at 23 weeks on June 1 last year, but Katie did not arrive until August 27, 87 days later. Katie was taken home at five days old, with Amy following her seven weeks later, and both are now perfectly healthy.

KOREAN MEMORIAL - A memorial for the 159 Irish people who died during the Korean war was unveiled in Seoul recently by the Irish Association of Korea and others. The monument honors "all those of Irish birth and heritage who fought and died in the service of the United Nations and those civilians of Irish birth and heritage who died side by side with the Korean people 1950-1953.

RUNNING BROTHER - The New York Times profiles Brother Colm O'Connell, a 64-year-old Irish Patrician missionary from Cork who has trained five Olympic Champions and 25 world champions and is considered to be the most successful long distance trainer in the world. He has never attended an Olympic Games or a World Championships, but is largely responsible for the relentless rise of Kenyan distance running even though he know nothing about running when he first arrived in Kenya in 1976.

SWIFT'S LILLIPUTIANS - Jonathan Swift often stayed with friends at Gaulstown House in the townsland of Lilliput on the shores of Lough Ennell in Co. Westmeath. When Swift looked across Lough Ennell one day and saw the tiny human figures on the opposite shore of the lake, he conceived the idea of the tiny Lilliputians, and used the name of Lilliput for his fantasy island in Gulliver's Travels which was published in 1726.

WALTON'S NOBEL - In 1932, Waterford native Earnest Walton and John Cockcroft were the first people in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering in the nuclear age. In 1951 he and Cockroft were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics - making Walton Ireland's first and only Nobel science laureate.

FLYING IRISHMAN - The first Irishman to fly was Harry Ferguson in 1909 in a plane he built himself. From Co. Down, Ferguson (1884 - 1960) is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor. In 1926, he also designed and built a new plough which revolutionized farming. His name lives on today in the Massey Ferguson company.

LINENHALL ANNIVERSARY -Founded in 1788, the Linenhall Library in Belfast celebrated its 225th birthday on May 13. The oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Ireland, the Linenhall is highly regarded for its Irish and local studies collection, including its 250,000 item archive of the 1968-1998 Troubles. The oldest public library in Ireland is Marsh's Library in Dublin which was opened in 1701.

RATHCROGHAN'S OWEYNAGAT - The ancient royal site of Rathcroghan, Co. Roscommon, was once the home to the Warrior Queen Maeve and the starting point for the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Rathcroghan is also home to Oweynagat (the cave of the cats), also known as the entrance to mother earth. In early Irish literature Oweynagat is home to numerous monsters and creatures from the otherworld. The cave was formed by hydro erosion and in early Christian times a souterrain was added at 90 degrees to the cave, providing the entrance that visitors use today.

FAMINE WORKHOUSE -The Attic Dormitory at the 1843s workhouse in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, has been restored to its original state as a memorial to those who died there. The Workhouse was opened in 1843 and is representative of similar institutions that once existed across Ireland. In the attic dormitory the destitute slept side by side on straw. Only a thin blanket was provided and people huddled together for heat.

ULSTER FRY - The number of people dying from heart disease in Northern Ireland is double the rate of that in southern parts of England and is due partly to the Ulster fry, according to a senior British heart expert. The so-called "heart attack on a plate" generally consists of rashers, eggs, sausages, soda bread, potato bread and tomatoes, and sometimes mushrooms, pancakes and beans.