43 Comments

• jacersagain | Mar 20, 2013, 05:25 PM EDT

  @IrelandNorth – Yr post deeply concerned me... have you checked with a Surveyor as to whether your building is structurally sound after the blasting sounds of the American Bands drums? Jeekus, no one wants to sue those fabulous bands for structural damage to any Dublin City home!

• jacersagain | Mar 20, 2013, 04:40 PM EDT

  Well posted casuallMBA... excellent recognition of caring people in American Hibenian organisations that that eejit Counihan knows nothing about.

• jacersagain | Mar 20, 2013, 04:36 PM EDT

  Ag AnPiobaire – tá tú ceart. But you must take note that almost every irresponsible article that Patrick Counihan writes is designed to generate response whatever the subject, whether it’s anti-Catholic, anti-Pope, anti-Irish, anti-Irish-sportspeople and on occasions sexist when he writes of paedophilia and the lingerie choices of of Caroline Wozniacki, the renowned tennis player and g/friend of Nth Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy. How ICentral keep him in employment despite his flagrantly disrespectful, most times untruthful, incorrectly-researched articles is a wonder of their judgement, never mind Counihan’s choice of subject or words for his articles. Shure I could write better than him... I’m not even a journalist, an’ I say thanks be ta jaysus for that!

• casualMBA | Mar 20, 2013, 12:40 PM EDT

  Over the years, Hibernia, through its religious orders, has delivered caring journalism, ideas, and journals to western civilization. Both the Hibernian Society and the AOH have delivered, over the years, care to many in need, from the new born to the elderly. Irish politicians, as well as Irish Central, might do well to heed such caring behavior in their comments and headlines.

• AnPiobaire | Mar 19, 2013, 03:15 PM EDT

  This article says that the event in question is held by the "Hibernian Order". There is no such organization. The event is held by the Hibernian Society of Savannah. By creating this name of a nonexistant organization the author seeks to imply that there is a connection between the group and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. There is no such connection. Whatever about the merits of this event, of the Society, or of the AOH, Irish Central does itself no favor by, once again, engaging in careless journalism.

• IrelandNorth | Mar 18, 2013, 04:30 PM EDT

  jacers- you're right -again! Yup, the good ol' Yanks pumped some much needed psazz into an otherwise wet and dreary Dublin. The forceful blasts of their wind instruments bounced off my apartment bldgs close to the parade end at St Patrick's Cathedral. Maybe our Irish-American friends can clone Messrs Kenny and Gilmore whilse they're there in the USA, and send back less politically correct Xerox copies.

• casualMBA | Mar 18, 2013, 11:58 AM EDT

  correction @jacersagain, compliments on your kind words, shared solicitude for Ireland's overly Eurocentric tendencies, gratitude for your run-down of the Dublin parade, for your courteous translation for the average non-Irish speaking American, and "so what?" to the ill advised snub of the Savannah parade, and, its gender thing "segregation," and yes, peace to one another's souls, Christian, secular, or otherwise. Slainte!

• casualMBA | Mar 18, 2013, 11:46 AM EDT

  @jacersagain, compliments on your kind words, shared solicitude for Ireland's overly Eurocentric tendencies, gratitude for your run-down of the Dublin parade, for courteous inclusion of the average non-Irish speaking American, and "so what?" to the ill advised snub of the Savannah parade, and, yes, peace to one another's souls, Christian, secular, or otherwise. Slainte!

• jacersagain | Mar 18, 2013, 07:36 AM EDT

  On the subject of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, happily held in Ireland without Gilmore’s participation, I must say Congratulations and mucho thankso to all the American Bands who made the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade so spectacular yesterday. All of the US bands (and the one and only Canadian Burlington Teen Tour Band) were fantastic, immaculately turned out, playing great music and some baton holders and cheerleaders doing some spectacular dancing in the streets of Dublin – Bands from Sth Carolina, Colorado, NY, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Louisiana and especially Brewster from NYC but wasn’t the Cedar Rapids Band from Iowa something else on the day??? – They were a real stand-out band with the Colorado band a close second by the scrimpiest margin but the biggest thanks must go to the FDNY Pipe & Drum Band who paraded in NYC’s parade on Saturday and flew through the skies during the night to appear again in Dublin’s parade yesterday. Whaaat a great effort they made...! We Dubliners were ever so delighted and pleased to see them and thankful for their participation. Maith go leor do na fir agus na mná i an FDNY!! As mo chroí ó Blá Cliath agus go fíor Éireanach, Buíochas Libh go Léar! (All the best to the men & women of the FDNY. From my Dublin and very Irish heart, Thank You All so Much!!).

• jacersagain | Mar 18, 2013, 07:02 AM EDT

  @ IrelandNorth... well said except that, as Dean Martin used to sing.. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder for somebody else"...

• jacersagain | Mar 18, 2013, 07:01 AM EDT

  Be jaysus casualMBA, much as I always enjoy your most-times sensible posts, I didn’t know you had it in ya to write such great poetic stuff. St. Patrick (not Pearce) musta inspired ya on the day!

• IrelandNorth | Mar 18, 2013, 05:50 AM EDT

  The Labour Court in Ireland some years ago determined that a right to join a union also conferred a right not to join one. Why should a Eurocentric egalitarian diktat impose a duty to be in mixed company all the time. Right out of the imposed multiculturalism dogma of the new Church of Political Correctness hierarchy that has replaced a deposed Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church in Ireland. Absence makes the heart grown fonder.

• casualMBA | Mar 17, 2013, 08:32 PM EDT

  For all the government secured bank robberies and money laundering, jacersagain, Ireland remains Ireland. As Patrick Pearse has said "...They have left us our Fenian dead..." Ireland's economics, despite its seedy, greedy, and tacky turns, is secondary, on this of all days, to Ireland's prayer at a wake, to its hearty chorus or clear tenor at a wedding, to its spontaneous poet in a pub, to its mother's crooning lullaby, its heart stirring ballad of love waiting or love's fierce love of Ireland. The American South is not hostile to Gilmore's itinerary. It sees it for what it is. A nationalistic Irish politician cavorting with, or challenging, American Southerners to "sound off," for the Irish people, for the common denominator of a religion unimpeded love of their Irish heritage.

• jacersagain | Mar 17, 2013, 06:25 PM EDT

  I’ve enjoyed reading the comments below which truly show up Gilmore for the hard-necked, publicity-seeking idiot that he is. How he has been re-elected time and again as a TD (member of the Irish parliament) over the last 24 years amazes me, especially given his former association with the Official IRA in a political capacity (the organisation of bank robberies, money-laundering and other anti-Irish State criminal activities were amongst their political decisions-making), his association with the Marxist ideology of the Russian Communist Party and his membership of the Irish Workers Party which was communist-orientated - all of which he once boasted about in times gone by but which he now no longer does as he hides under a new cloak. The man has no sense of propriety or sincerity, is a turn-coat of the most brazen kind, a self-proclaimed atheist who should therefore most definitely not be participating in any celebrations anywhere in the world honouring St. Patrick, our Holy national saint of Ireland. For one with once-Communist Marxist political leanings, he is today a very wealthy man. Will everyone in America and elsewhere involved in future St. Patrick’s Day celebrations please brush him off your list of invitees and turn your backs on him as he has done on the Hibernian Society in Savannah?

• jacersagain | Mar 17, 2013, 06:20 PM EDT

  Quite rightly said eiriamach! (I’ll expand on that in another post). As Éireann, deirimse leat agus le loadsa eile people (Pardonnez mon Francais svp *hic*) - Beannachtaí Lá Féile Naomh Pádraig leatsa freisin.

• eiriamach | Mar 17, 2013, 05:00 PM EDT

  I'd like to send Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig to Gemma Hussey, a past Fine Gael minister, who used Twitter to say that the AOH in Savannah had excluded her from their no-females-allowed dinner many years ago: "Well done Eamon Gilmore -- those Savannah Hibernians refused to have an Irish woman Minister (me) in the 80's so now they get none." (It's unfortunate that Savannah's female mayor doesn't have Gemma's Irish spirit.)

• falconflash | Mar 17, 2013, 03:30 PM EDT

  There are women's clubs here in America, Gilmore, and they don't want to see you or your penis at their functions....that is their right, in America we call it "Freedom of Assocation."

• casualMBA | Mar 17, 2013, 01:45 PM EDT

  Would Tanaiste Gilmore’s opposition to segregation “on any … basis” include, then, the segregation from Irish historical teaching, research, funding and publication, the confiscations of the Fitzgeralds’ lands in southwest Ireland? And of the preservation of their anglo-norman keeps, their patronage and sustainment of Irish culture and ecclesiastical institutions, their connection of Ireland to a larger world view, their stands for Irish independence, political and religious? “Segregation” is a mis-applied term, with an improper jurisdiction in Savannah today. The improper “segregation” of Ireland’s re-paying of its debt to European lenders without regard to the unpardoned Fitzgerald basis of its sovereign collateral in southwest Ireland is something he might could be heeding.

• Smyrnian | Mar 17, 2013, 01:35 PM EDT

  Ciara - Once again, gays have been marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC since its inception. I personally know three gay people who marched yesterday. I marched in the parade myself in the 1960's and knew gay people who marched then too. You do not know what you are talking about.

• MarybethC.P. | Mar 17, 2013, 11:10 AM EDT

  Very glad to see Mr. Gilmore taking a stance against this men-only event! Of the other IC readers who responded about women's organizations and events, it seems to me none of those have institutional rules AGAINST men's attendance - even though they may be geared towards benefitting women. And for Seanmor here, mercifully, it is no longer 1912! We've made some progress, thank God, and thank those who are progressive enough to see the virtues of being inclusive!

• citizen69 | Mar 17, 2013, 10:56 AM EDT

  Savannah's Hibernian Society is another Irish organisation which origins were exclusively Protestant. As was America's oldest Irish organisation - Boston's Charitable Irish Society. The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick were 90% Protestant. These societies were responsible for the first St. Patrick's day parades in America. Irish Central like to ignore these facts and pretend that the only Irish are Catholic Irish.

• Miceal1 | Mar 17, 2013, 09:52 AM EDT

  Typical Gilmore - It was a pity that he did not take the same stance with the IMF or the ECB. Labour's way or Frankfurt's way. The Irish Men's Rugby Team is all male - I wonder does he watch their matches. Would he go to Irish Countrywomens Assocoiation meeting to give a speech - course he would. All gas is Gilmore.

• Seanmor | Mar 17, 2013, 07:18 AM EDT

  Having read that Táisiste Gilmore refused to attent the dinner of the Havannah Hibernian Society because only men are invited to this event, I wonder if Gilmore disapproves of President Taft's presence at this dinner in 11912. The Savanagh Hibernian Society was founded in 1812 by a group of PROTEATANT men to support Irish immigrants.Is it a crime for a society to be all male or all female. Twice in the past 3 years the D.A.R. chapter of which my wife is Regent held a meeting here in the house in which we live. Would the Táiniste Gilmore decline an invitation to dinner by the New York State D.A.R. because the Daughters of the American Revolution are all women?

• pilib04 | Mar 16, 2013, 11:40 PM EDT

  How unfortunate that General William Tecumseh Sherman spared the city of Savannah.

• SCVMalcolm | Mar 16, 2013, 07:19 PM EDT

  Bigots, try to get your facts straight, Cincinnati banned a local chapter of a national organization working to eliminate the bullying, badgering and abuse of CHILDREN who happen to be gay! NYC des not ban gay people per se. They DO ban individuals or groups who openly identify as being gay! And you Irish Catholics need a reminder that bigotry and discrimination ARE sinful. SLAINTE~ Proud Irish/Reformed Catholic.

• Dompedro | Mar 16, 2013, 05:39 PM EDT

  I presume that Sir Gilmore would have to refuse to visit a city where an all women's group might ask him to speak, also.

• Dompedro | Mar 16, 2013, 05:36 PM EDT

  I presume that Sir Gilmore would have to refuse to visit a city where an all women's group might invite him too speak, also.

• ciaradexy | Mar 16, 2013, 04:53 PM EDT

  ''We don't need this jerk Gilmore down in our part of the world.'' American through and through Georgie!!

• ciaradexy | Mar 16, 2013, 04:36 PM EDT

  George, popped in to see if you're still spouting ignorance, lies, racism and support for monoculture and guess what, you didnt let me down! You need to get a life instead of living on this site. Its funny how one track minded 1 American can be when it comes to a country they're not from nor live in. Smyr, NY mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, was said to be dismayed at the lack of LGBT presence at the parade due to these groups being banned from the parade. Hmmm. Even the Cincinnati parade organisers refused to allow LGBT groups to join their parade and yet in Ireland, we include everyone! Gilmore has the full support of Irish people over this. I suggest you take a look at thejournal dot ie or any other paper to see this for yourself. We dont do gender discrimination anymore. Seems like 'the ancient order of people who once were related to an irish person' still do though! hahaha! How Islamic of them!

• Smyrnian | Mar 16, 2013, 04:24 PM EDT

  Ciara - Gays have been marching in the St. Patricks day parade in NY since the beginning. Gays are not banned. Are you an idiot it or just ignorant????

• WoundedKnee | Mar 16, 2013, 04:18 PM EDT

  Ciaradexy: You're back. We really enjoyed the break from your intolerance and bigotry. Please go away again.

• ciaradexy | Mar 16, 2013, 02:34 PM EDT

  Not a fan of Gilmore but well done on this issue. The Ancient Order of Hibernians present a backward view of Ireland particularly in the New York parade which is the only annual parade in NYC that bans gays from marching. They’ll help Irish immigrants alright as long as you pass their intolerance checklist. Its good to see one of my politicans taking a stand for 50% of the Irish population who are women. This order has more in common with Islamists than anything Irish.

• anglo-norman | Mar 16, 2013, 02:15 PM EDT

  Gilmore gets it wrong again

• casualMBA | Mar 16, 2013, 02:06 PM EDT

  Why doesn't Gilmore just come out for women priests and enthroning a gay matriarchy in Ireland while he is at it? Can't wait for his St. Patrick's Day speech.

• johnozed | Mar 16, 2013, 11:48 AM EDT

  Eamon Gilmore is a smart man from the 21st century.

• Siobhan39 | Mar 16, 2013, 11:16 AM EDT

  I am female and belong to the AOH in my area. We are not affiliated with the national group . . . because we admit women . . . I will be at the AOH ball on March 17.

• saraindc | Mar 16, 2013, 11:08 AM EDT

  well said Searlit - funny how some people are so anti-everthing on some things but such idiots on others - shows how dumb some of the posters on here are! and dont bother replying, i dont waste my energy checking to see what stupid replies come up - i'm with Searlit on this!

• Searlit | Mar 16, 2013, 10:47 AM EDT

  Alright you fellow posters here. Don't slam the door on someone who tries to stand up for discrimination. How difficult do you want to make it for anyone to change for the better ? That is called resistance. While it is fine for men to have a men's club, when it comes to inviting people from outside the club to dinner, they need to drop their men's only status, for those occasions. Unless they want to look like dinosaurs.

• cillowen | Mar 16, 2013, 10:21 AM EDT

  good riddance - no need for such flakes that abound in ol erin.

• Rebelforce | Mar 16, 2013, 10:10 AM EDT

  I'm sure Savannah is just devastated by this. LOL

• jfmulligan | Mar 16, 2013, 09:48 AM EDT

  Tick. Tick. Tick. Anti-gay St. Patricks Day parades, all men St. Patricks Day celebrations-time is running out on the whole shower of bigotry and hate. Ireland and most of the Irish community in America has progressed to celebrate true Irish family and community which includes women,lesbians and gay men.

• joan1954 | Mar 16, 2013, 09:40 AM EDT

  We would have loved an Irish representative to come to San Antonio but unfortunately we are the forgotten city in Texas. They chose to go to Austin, Dallas and Houston but San Antonio, the oldest city in Texas and whose Irish roots extend back to Spanish colonial times is left out. The last time anyone came was 2007 but they have come every year for the others almost.

• WoundedKnee | Mar 16, 2013, 08:55 AM EDT

  We don't need this jerk Gilmore down in our part of the world. I followed that last Irish election campaign, and this liar campaigned on resisting austerity and cuts, and refusing to implement Europe Union diktats in Ireland. Guess what. Once elected he became the EU's favorite lapdog. The guy also has let us say an "interesting" past, since for a long time he was a member of the "political" arm of the Official IRA. The servile journalistic class in Ireland have never investigated what that was all about. Incidentally, the Official IRA never explained what they did with their guns and bombs after they called off their campaign. As to the Hibernian Society, I am sure that at one time it served Irish immigrants in GA and SC. Nowadays it's just a bunch of wealthy good old boys getting together to overeat and overdrink.