Periscope
by Niall O'DowdRSS 
Recent Posts
- The Irish community returns to Hurricane Sandy hit Rockaways to aid ongoing recovery
- Young Irish woman turned in to U.S. authorities by Irish immigrant support group - Boston-based Irish International Immigrant Center does the unspeakable
- Profile in Irish fighting courage - Heffernan’s campaign for respite care for families dealing with fatal rare illnesses such as Batten’s disease
- Senator Schumer says Irish deserve a separate deal for visas because of 1965 shutout - Says “Schumer visas” set to give Ireland 10,500 visas a year for the future
- Prospects for immigration reform bill are 50-50 say the pols privately - House seen as major obstacle as Senate gets closer to a vote
Archives
I counted no fewer than eight separate attacks on Martin McGuinness in
the pages of the Sunday Independent this week.
The attacks were also quick in coming in The Irish Times and most
other media publications in Ireland.
Rick Perry is the latest false prophet for many Republicans and they want to stop Mitt Romney at any cost.
They think Chris Christie is the answer -- but he's not.
The Irish presidential race gets nastier every day since Martin McGuinness entered.
He has touched a raw nerve among the Little Irelanders,who want nothing more than to keep their little Republic to themselves and bitterly oppose any interference from the likes of McGuinness.
I have just witnessed one of the greatest sporting occasions I have seen and I have witnessed Olympics, World Cups, Super Bowls in my time.
This event was all the more remarkable because it was a game played by total amateurs, who were not compensated a penny for their endeavors.
I am referring to the All Ireland football final played in Dublin's Croke Park between age-old rivals Kerry and Dublin with 'the Dubs' victorious by a single point 1-12 to 1-11.
The latest Kennedy tragedy to hit, the death of Kara Kennedy, just 51, once more reveals how much this great family has suffered.
Untimely deaths run like a river through the history of the family and Kara is no exception.
Ted’s two other kids, Ted Junior, who lost a leg to cancer and Patrick who has had major substance abuse and alcohol issues illustrates just how tough the battle has been for the younger generation.
The entry of Martin McGuinness into the presidential race throws the cat among the pigeons very forcefully in Ireland.
I happened to be on a current affairs program, the George Hook Show here in Dublin when the news hit
. The reaction of the pundits was immediate.
Dunganstown County Wexford: It was from this little farm outside New Ross in Wexford that arguably the most famous Irish emigrant to ever hit America’s shores came from.
Patrick Kennedy was a cooper, or barrel maker when he departed this land in 1847 fleeing famine or chasing his true love Bridget Murphy, depending on who you believe.
The access roads to and from the farm don’t look all that different from the day he left I’d say.
Dublin: The cost of Ireland’s austerity program on the poor and disadvantaged was made clear to me Tuesday as I made my way to the Irish parliamentary building for a meeting.
I was overtaken by a crowd of about 500 parents and children, most with special needs, on their way to protest outside the Dail.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, she was after all a child born into privilege, Yale-educated father and a wealthy Irish American mother.
Art history, poetry, French history and literature were her preferred pursuits we read and you might also add, contempt for those lesser classes who failed to see the importance of such aesthetic pursuits.
I was surprised by how many tears I shed yesterday on 9/11.
I though I had let the raw emotion of that event pass me by in the ten years since, but it quickly resurfaced from early morning.
The children reading out the names of their dead relatives at that wonderful dignified ceremony at Ground Zero moved me deeply.
There is increasing evidence that the 9/11 tragedy has created a long-term change in American attitudes that cuts across all political, social and economic strata.
There are two moments I will remember all my life.
The first, when I was a child, was John F.Kennedy’s assassination, the second ten years ago where I was on 9/11.
Both were seismic events, both ensured the world would never be the same again.
I have just finished a wonderful little book, 'The Lone Seagull' a memoir by the late Kate Keane O'Dowd, no relation, about her life in the Kerry Gaeltacht, her move to Dublin and her move to America.
It is available from Maynooth University Celtic Studies Department who translated it from the original Irish, at tadhg.odushlaine@nuim.ie
Kate was born in 1912 in the little town of Murioch in the Kerry Gaeltacht, one of the most beautiful spots on earth. Reading her book is stepping back in time to an era long gone, where the ordinary peasant people had nothing, but they had everything, in terms of companionship, neighborliness and love.
The Vatican response to the Irish government criticism of its actions on child abusing priests is simply pathetic.
The Irish government needs to stand firm and not be cowed by this Vatican response which is utterly deceitful.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny has absolutely nothing to apologize for.
It now looks certain that Sinn Fein will run a candidate for president of Ireland after party spokesman Martin Ferris stated it was under definite consideration.
A Sinn Fein candidate could do very well in such a race but more importantly, they are positioning themselves to be the leader of the opposition parties in the Irish parliament.
Fianna Fail's inexplicable decision to not run a candidate for the nation's highest office gives Sinn Fein an invaluable opening that they will be seeking to exploit.
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