An American in Ireland
by The YankRSS 
Recent Posts
- Ireland as Britain's wind farm - weighing up the pros and cons of ugly and heavily subsized Irish windfarms
- Justin Bieber's perfectly judged comment on Anne Frank - "Hopefully she would have been a belieber"
- The Irish property tax problem - everyone wants to own some and no one wants to be taxed on it
- American fans right to ignore the World Baseball Classic
- Will Ireland's emigrants catch a break on property tax?
Archives
Today is the day that the Irish government unveils the details of the bank rescue. This afternoon after the markets close the Minister for Finance will tell the Dáil (Parliament) and the nation exactly how much it is going to cost to save Ireland's banks.
This day has been coming since the end of September 2008 when the government was forced to guarantee all Irish bank obligations. Since then the government has nationalized the scandalously (possibly criminally) badly run Anglo Irish Bank and provided the two big banks with billions. Those were stop-gap measures designed to get us to today.
Today Brian Lenihan {photo} will give us the details on Nama - the government's 'bad bank' where all the banks' property loans are heading - and the additional billions that Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland need to keep going. The rumor is by the end of today the state will be the majority shareholder in AIB and a 40% owner of BoI.
Your Country Your Call is a national ideas competition launched by Ireland's President Mary McAleese. The two winning entries will each receive a prize of $150,000 to develop their ideas. The primary focus of the campaign is business/economics and the overall winning entry will receive $850,000 to fully develop their idea.
But Your Country Your Call is really more than a competition. It's a national brainstorming exercise where all Irish people can contribute ideas and also offer their views on others' ideas. The ideas can fit into any of 8 broad categories or 'Other', which leaves it wide open. Only two proposals will ultimately be “winners”, but there's every likelihood that many good ideas will emerge from this process. The key will be collating, organizing and prioritizing all this information.
This is a great initiative for many reasons:
- it encourages positive thinking about the nation's future at a time when despair would be the easy option;
- it solicits the views of Irish people from all walks of life and not just those who are generally asked “where now?”, namely those who control the levers of business, finance, labor, academia, politics or the media.;
- it involves people who live outside Ireland, seeking out their views (as noted by Amy Feran here.) This provides a sort of 'lower house' democratic counter to the recent Global Irish Economic Forum for the Irish rich and powerful.
Okay, hold on. I was going to write about the Pope's recent letter to Ireland's Catholics, but instead I want to talk about the story on the front page of the NY Times on March 25. Just because so many of the Bishops have made some grotesque errors in judgment doesn't mean that the NY Times should take leave of its editorial senses and adopt the sensationalist policies of a British tabloid.
The story the Times tells is another one about a priest who violated his vows, the innocence of children and the trust of their parents. Fr. Lawrence Murphy was an Assistant Director, Director and eventually Principal at St. John's School for the Deaf, a residential school in Milwaukee, from 1950 – 1974.
During that time Fr. Murphy sexually molested dozens of boys, perhaps even as many as 200. It's a horrific tale, made worse by the fact that Fr. Murphy preyed on deaf children for whom communicating what was happening to them was that much more difficult.
I was reading a report in this morning's Boston Herald about the Bruins' 2-1 over the Rangers last night when this caught my eye: "The plans have not been finalized, but it looks like the first of the two stops on the Bruins’ European excursion in September will be Belfast, Northern Ireland."
The Bruins are going to play in Belfast's Odyssey Arena. The Bruins will be playing a pre-season game against a German club, not the Belfast Giants. Did you know that hockey had found a home in Belfast?
The Giants compete in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League. They played their first game in 2000 (part of the 2000/2001 season) and were an instant success. They've been at or near the top for most of their existence. The 2009/2010 regular season has just ended and the Giants finished in second, one point behind the team from Coventry. Hopefully they can fix that in the playoffs.
Yesterday in Washington
Often, far too often actually, the diaspora is treated as if it's the not-too-bright-but-wealthy cousin who you can tap for a few bucks when you find yourself a little short (through no fault of your own, of course). It's about time that changed and Ireland took an active interest in offering a little something back to the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those emigrants who scrimped and saved to send money home to Ireland even when money was tight.
The idea behind the Ireland Homecoming Study Programme (IHSP) is that students will be able " The fees for the courses at the various institutions have been reduced by 40% for the IHSP and are €3,000 ($4,081) for a semester or €5,950 ($8,130) for a full year. The institutions taking part in this program are all members of the Institutes of Technology Ireland ( If this program is a success it will be oversubscribed and the number of available places will have to be increased above the current 500. If this program is a success it will be wildly popular and be a great win-win for the students and for Ireland.
The student will get time in Ireland and a decent education at a reduced rate and Ireland will get a new wave of unofficial ambassadors spread out across America, Canada, Australia, etc. These people will be the focal points for future collaborative business ventures and tourism promotions in our networked world.
It was a beautiful day here on the east coast of Ireland, easily the best day of 2010 so far. The good weather brought the crowds out to the parades all over the country. I didn't go to any, however, because my nine-year-old didn't want to go. I didn't argue much.
In fact, other than a mid-afternoon walk I didn't really do much of anything holiday-like today. I'm not sure if I'm unusual here or not, but to me St. Patrick's Day is nice easy day. I don't go for the party-hard St. Patrick's Day.
Many here do, however, which may or may not surprise you. Way back when I was a student I couldn't get over how quiet St. Patrick's Day was here. I can't remember if the pubs were open or not then, but regardless what I remember is how empty and peaceful the streets of Dublin were that night. That's no longer the case.
St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, which means that half the elected representatives of Ireland are outside the country today.
Government ministers have been dispatched to the four corners of the globe to meet and greet members of the Irish diaspora as well the political and business elite at each destination. This annual exodus of our government always elicits comments from the press about the waste of money, that these trips are all about the minsters' own pleasure and there's precious little in it for us taxpayers. They're on "jaunts" or "junkets", what have you. {Read this for an example of what I'm talking about.}
I'm all in favor of fiscal rectitude in government, especially because they're spending my money. To that end, the luxuries that the various cabinet ministers and their entourages have lavished upon themselves during these trips in previous years have rightly been reined in by Brian Cowen. However, to put an end to these trips as some would like would be wrong. It seems pretty obvious to me that overall that these trips are important and that this is money that should be spent.
When I first heard that a Leprechaun Museum was opening in Dublin my first reaction was "oh no." I was sure it was going to be nothing more than a tacky attempt to con Americans and other tourists out of their money.
Then I thought about it and I figured that if they did this right it would provide some information on the legend of leprechauns, the people who told such tales and the world they lived in. And, I thought, if they do a great job it will be a magical experience for children and something special for adults.
As it turns out it's none of those, although at least the aspirations are more towards the informative/magical experience than to simply part Americans from their dollars.
I had intended to mention this earlier, but it slipped my mind. RTE showed a two part documentary on the 20th century history of Irish missionaries.
There were some political and religious views that caused me a little disquiet and there were a few, sort of, 'National Geographic-like' images that I wasn't sure about, but overall it was a story worth telling and it was well told.
As well as spreading the faith, the missionaries were, as President Mary McAleese says, ambassadors who "have done Ireland no end of service." Unfortunately it's a service that's winding down now as there are virtually no young missionaries these days. What they accomplished and the trials they endured (or didn't - many died before reaching age 40) is a story all Irish people should know.
Part of the way we celebrate Easter in Ireland is that a certain percentage of the population suffers unduly on Good Friday because the sale of alcoholic beverages is banned. These people lead the annual moan about the pubs being closed for the day.
This year we got a head-start on the annual moan thanks to the fact that the authorities in charge of rugby have scheduled a big game between Leinster and Munster in Limerick on Good Friday night. The pub owners of Limerick, worried about the trade they might miss out on, are Those for whom the This goes on annually. Every year the cries grow stronger and the sympathy for the sufferers greater. There is only one obstacle to the change needed by these poor people - the Catholic Church.
Or so they imagine. The airwaves are full of "this is not a theocracy" or "in this day and age the Church should not ..." and so on.
Rumors are rife that an American - a citizen of the United States of America - is about to be elevated to a position in the Irish government. I'm not sure what you might think about that, but I'm not comfortable with it.
American citizen and Green Party member Ciaran Cuffe is the man in question. Cuffe is a member of the Dáil (Irish parliament), but now he is supposedly about to become a minister in the government, probably later this month.
Cuffe's in the same position as me and all those who hold dual citizenship between America and any other country. We all walk a line that can seem pretty fuzzy at times. I've always figured that there's little chance of an actual war between Ireland and America* so my true loyalties will never be called into question**.
Oh yeah! I'm feeling three years younger today. Just like that - I'm feeling that little bit more limber, my mind a touch sharper.
And to what, I hear you ask, do I attribute this burst of youthfulness? Well it's all thanks to the Irish government, actually.
You see, yesterday the Irish government decreed that no longer would those of us born after 1960 be retiring at 65 as is currently the law, but at 68. So you see, the government clearly feel I don't have enough wear and tear on me at this age. I can go on working for three more years!
There's a lot of hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth here in Ireland today thanks to the announcement by Bishop Brennan of Ferns that he would be asking Catholics in the diocese to help pay compensation and legal costs arising out of sex abuse scandals. {Read more here.}
Thus far, the Diocese of Ferns has paid out $10.9m in compensation on 48 cases with a further 13 actions pending. The diocese's insurance covered only about $1.5m of these claims, which means the diocese to raise money to meet these obligations.
A column by documentary producer Mary Raftery in today's Irish Times captures the mood of those who are outraged by the bishop's request. Rafferty says the parishioners of the Ferns diocese should not be asked to pay because the "parishioners damaged no child, transferred no pedophiles from parish to parish, covered up no abuse, hid no shameful secrets." That's all true, but if the money doesn't come voluntarily from Catholics in the diocese of Ferns, where will it come from?
Back in May I advised any prospective visitors to Ireland that they should use their debit and credit cards rather than come with the traditional traveler's checks. That advice still stands, but it may have to be revised if the fears of NY Times columnist Ron
One area untouched by the new rules is foreign currency exchanges. Currently these charges can be as high as 3% on top of every foreign purchase, but,
I don't know if or how this new law might affect debit/bank card withdrawals. Although it depends on how much money you need and what your bank charges for using ATMs, using the machines is probably the best way to change your money in Ireland. Irish banks don't charge people with American bank cards for using their
Of course, there's one more consideration before you choose that credit card for your trip to Ireland. If you're planning to rent a car, you should look for a card that covers the insurance on your rental car.
That's easier said than done because very few cards will cover renting a car in Ireland. However, the cost of the insurance can be astronomical - around $20-25 per day. Therefore, spending time researching, seeing if you can find a card that allows you to waive the rental company's
Shop around. Get a good card for your car rental. Get a good card for all your other foreign currency transactions. Use your debit card. There is no good reason to make your Irish vacation more expensive than it has to be.
Just like that it's all over. You wait, you wait and you wait and when it comes it's great. But then it only lasts two short weeks and then nothing again. Not for another four years.
The Winter Olympics are like Christmas - only without gifts. As soon as the 'festive season' is upon us I unpack all my verbal decorations. The 'salchows', the 'prone shoots', the 'Back Full-Double Full-Fulls', the 'lying shot', the 'backside wall', etc. all get taken down, dusted off and proudly displayed.
I talk like I know what I'm talking about. Of course every Olympics I pick a few new words to add to my collection. You can't fool me on a Wu-Tang now.
