The Irish Voice - 25 years later, the battle for immigration reform and the vibrant Irish community in New York

During the past quarter century, the Irish community in the New York owes a debt of gratitude to the "irish Voice" for publicizing the plight of Irish immigrants in the area who do not have permanent visas. However, there is still need to inform the larger community that the vast majority of today's undocumented Irish are far more likely to make a valuable contribution to the U.S. than are most of those who entered illegally thru our southern border. All Irish immigrants speak English fluently, and most assimilate easily and almost none is a burden to U.S. taxpayers.

Sixteen months after the first issue of "The Irish Voice" was published, a letter by me to the Editor was published, titled "Rashers or Ham" (April 15, 1989). My letter was in response to an item in your paper 2 weeks earlier under the heading "Man arrested with rashers at JFK". This ficticious article appeared in your newspaper on April 1, 1989 (Fools Day). Actually no Irish person was taken into custody by the authorities at JFK Airport for rashers or any other type of Irish bacon. At that time I was very muchn involved with the Bronx Gaelic League and soon began using the Irish version of my name on most items that I managed to get into print. More than 33 years have gone by since the "Voice" published my letter, and I now offer a very sincere go raibh míle maith agaibh as an bhfabhar mór a rinne sibh ar mo shon.