About 200,000 Irish fans from all over the world have joined a Facebook petition calling on FIFA for a replay of the France/Ireland match which ended in bitter controversy in Paris Wednesday night. France advanced to the World Cup finals through a disputed goal after star striker Thierry Henry blatantly handled the ball before setting up the winning score.

A $2 million dollar study commissioned by Roman Catholic Bishops at the height of the Church’s sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. has found no connection between sexual orientation and abuse of children by clergy.

Don't miss IrishCentral's first-ever New York City networking, partying — and drinking / good times — event, the Irish "Click." We're expecting lots of New York Irish and Irish Americans — and maybe a few visitors from the Auld Sod — to join us for a $2-a-drink party at O'Neill's Bar on Thursday in Midtown Manhattan.

Sometimes when you get chatting to a person who has emigrated from Ireland, you can catch a glimpse of the country’s own evolution over the last thirty or so years. That’s very much the case with Buncrana, County Donegal man Turlough McConnell, whose writing and music took him first to Dublin and then on to New York.

Spider-Man’s been saved! That's the word from an inside source on the troubled Broadway musical which features music from Bono and The Edge.

The Irish have made their mark on Manhattan for centuries, building the skyscrapers, policing the streets and eventually running city hall. That’s why when you visit the Big Apple you won’t be short of fascinating historical sites of enduring importance to the Irish.

Over thirty horses could end up homeless after the Housing Preservation and Development agency issued an order to Shamrock Stables to vacate their premises on 45th Street in Manhattan by the end of 2009.

Bridget English: On the bus ride back we drove through lush countryside and towns like Monaghan and Omagh. These towns, though smaller than Derry, seemed equally appealing. While there is much beauty to be found in Southern countryside, the North feels unspoiled, ripe with possibility and well worth a visit.

Niall O'Dowd: Somewhere in Australia there's an Irish lad called Rowan McCormick who broke Maureen Dowd's heart. When she went back in the early 1970s to visit her homestead in County Clare, hard by the majestic Cliffs of Moher, she met him and fell madly in love.

AJ Voelpel: Notre Dame has something in common with 12 other teams in the nation; they both have two bye weeks. One in which they have a full week off, and the other when they play Washington State.

It’s the concert of the year. On Thursday October 29 at 8 p.m. the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland (CBOI), a group composed of musicians aged between 12 and 24, will perform at the prestigious Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Speculation has risen that Rosie O’Donnell and longtime partner Kelli Carpenter have called it quits.

Ronan Tynan, the famed Irish tenor, has apologized for anti-semitic remarks he admits having made which has cost him his regular Yankees 7th inning stretch appearance to sing 'God Bless America' and may damage his career.

New York based Irish writer Colum McCann has been shortlisted for the prestigious US National Book Awards for his novel 'Let The Great World Spin.'

The names Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick and others with the prefix "Fitz" are numerous in Ireland. The name-form, however, is Norman and most of the families arrived in Ireland during the 12th century. The Normans, who were French in origin, conquered many parts of Ireland but gradually adopted the Gaelic language and customs and to a great extent assimilated with the native population, becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves.

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced his proposal to create a high school named in honor of the late Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt at a memorial service to celebrate McCourt’s life and work held at Symphony Space in upper Manhattan last week.

April Drew: You'd think that emigrating to the U.S., Canada or Australia from Ireland would be easy. We speak the same language. Right? Think again! The Irish seem to speak a foreign language no matter where they are. Take a read and see what you think.

An unmistakably Irish memorial service was held in upper Manhattan on Tuesday night when the life and work of the incomparable Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish-American writer, was commemorated in story and song.

Gavin Friday’s celebrity-filled birthday bash at Carnegie Hall ranks with U2’s current tour as the concert of the 2009. Featuring the rock gods of the last 40 years, it boasted artists as diverse as Lou Reed and Lady GaGa. Friday talks about the fulfillment of a lifetime dream.

Tony-winning Irish actor Jim Norton has returned to Broadway in Finian’s Rainbow, a joyful big-budget revival of a golden-era classic that’s become that rare thing: an almost critic-proof Broadway musical. Cahir O'Coherty talks to the veteran Irish actor and his A-list Broadway castmates about starring in the most hotly-anticipated show of the season.

U2 star Bono celebrated his 33rd birthday during the 1993 Zooropa tour with one bizarre gift! Pal Gavin Friday sent him a packet containing nails, a hammer and wood with a note marked “DIY.” “He didn’t get up on the cross, though!” said Friday.

Irish singing star Gavin Friday, former singer with the infamous Virgin Prunes and a close friend of U2’s Bono, has assembled some of his most famous friends for a very special one night only concert at Carnegie Hall on Sunday night.

Middleweight John Duddy was in upbeat form at a press conference in midtown Manhattan, New York on Thursday, ahead of his Madison Square Garden bout against Michi Munoz on October 10.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been named Grand Marshal the 2010 St. Patrick's day Parade in New York.

Kara Rota reports from the the Tina Santi Flaherty 1st Irish 2009 Theatre Awards, which took place at Hudson Terrance in Manhattan

Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy will be presented with the inaugural 2009 Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish American Writers and Artists, Inc. (IAW&A) in Manhattan on October 16, Eugene O'Neill's birthday.

It is fitting that the 1969 Nobel Prize for literature went to the Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett. After all, in works such as "Waiting for Godot" and "Endgame," Beckett alternated between tragedy and comedy, drama and farce. The same could be said about 1969.

Featuring award winning Irish playwrights like Sebastian Barry, Billy Roche and Conor McPherson, the 1st Irish Theatre Festival is putting new Irish writing on the map in Manhattan. Sebastian Barry and Vincent Dowling talk about the exciting month long event, already attracting critical raves.

New York local politics will get a major Irish boost on Tuesday when Deirdre Feerick, a second-generation Irish American, squares off against two other Irish-American candidates in the September 15 Democratic primary election in Queens to succeed well known Council Member Eric Gioia who has endorsed her.

Based on family names and individual stories, there are many hundreds of American dead with Irish heritage, including Americans who through parents or grandparents had become Irish citizens. 

This is a tribute to several of these brave Irish men and women.

It is quite an image... Maureen Dowd, scourge of every president since Poppy Bush and, arguably, the most powerful journalist in America thanks to her must-read column in The New York Times, talking of the road not taken, living a quiet life as a barkeep's wife back in Clare. Maybe that image isn’t so fanciful, though.

Though Labor Day has passed, Irish festivals are still on tap for September and the cooler weather as much of the music shifts to indoor venues. Here’s a look at some things to keep in mind.

Irish people urgently need to pull together says former Irish president Mary Robinson. A self-confessed optimist, Robinson said that the Celtic Tiger had pushed Irish people apart.

Though this column has never received a question from a surviving spouse of a deceased U.S. citizen whose marriage was less than two years old at the time of death, there have been several cases reported in the national media of a so-called “widow penalty” in U.S. immigration law preventing the surviving spouse from becoming legal here.

Padraig Harrington tees off Friday at the Deutsche Bank Championship knowing he will have plenty of Irish support in the Crowd at TPC Boston.

Help is on the way for the financially plagued “Spider-Man” Broadway musical. Reports say U2 rocker Bono, who along with The Edge wrote the score for “Spider-Man, Turn Off The Dark,” is coming to the show’s rescue by raising the funds necessary to keep it afloat.

Irish Voice and IrishCentral.com reporter April Drew interviews playwright and bartender Derek Murphy, whose new play, "A Short Wake," will show at the Manhattan Theatre Source from September 10-26.

Sinn Fein asked United States ambassador Richard Egan to attend the party's September ard fheis to signal to the rank and file that the US did not intend to shut them out of the negotiating

Irish immigration centers in New York are feeling the pinch of the recession and are concerned about the future of their services.

An autographed photo of a nude Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has been found by archivists sifting through the thousands of collectibles gathered by late pop icon Andy Warhol.

Featuring 21 Irish playwrights, 12 venues and 375 artists over five weeks from September 1 to October 4, the second New York Irish Theatre Festival has doubled in size since its inaugural year in 2008.

Pultizer Prize winning Irish writer Frank McCourt will be given a Mass on Wednesday, August 19 in New York. McCourt would have celebrated his 79th birthday on that day.

Did you know "Ulysses," the literary masterpiece by James Joyce, might never have appeared on American bookshelves. The court case to get the book published in the U.S. involved one passionate Irishman, challenged the censorship of perhaps the greatest novel ever written, and changed the way Americans read.

An Irish contractor is due in federal court tomorrow to face corruption charges related to a bribery scheme involving New York City’s carpenters union. Finbar O'Neill, 44, from County Tyrone, surrendered to the FBI at Newark International Airport on Wednesday after returning from Ireland.

The late, great Frank McCourt would abhor the idea of a statue of him being erected in his hometown of Limerick, according to his brother Malachy.

Irish-born artist Katie Holten is encouraging New Yorkers to commune with nature this summer through her interactive Tree Museum, a public art project along the four-and-a-half-mile Grand Concourse that connects Manhattan to the north Bronx.

With her glowing wig of black curls and bright smile, Mitsi Fink looks like she’s 18 when she points her toes to dance at the Long Island Feis on Sunday. She has danced for seven years and is in four competitions at the Long Island Feis. But Mitsi only took up step-dancing when she was 25 years old. She’s one of the few adult dancers at the feis and is competing with people much younger than her.

An Irish American is in the driver's seat of a new $100,000 electric car. Diarmuid O'Connell is a key executive at

On November 2, 1759, a veritable riot broke out along several blocks of lower Manhattan. The target of the torch-bearing crowds was a man deemed to be a “rogue” and informer named George Spencer. Spencer survived the crowds’ wrath, though he was banged up with bruises and

Tom Deignan reviews a selection of recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest.