Niall Heraty is just like every other 11-year-old. He adores the Yankees, he plays a mean game of basketball, and he loves more than anything to wind his older brother, Conor, and his younger brother, Ryan, up. However, Niall, son of Julie and Vinny Heraty, natives of Westport, Co. Mayo, hasn’t had the time or energy to enjoy such activities since March. Niall has a rare cancerous tumor and is currently undergoing rigorous treatment to rid his young body of the disease.

Ashley Davis had a lot to celebrate last month. She was not only getting the opportunity throughout the East Coast to air the beautiful songs on her new “Down by the Sea” disc, she would be doing so as special guest on the tour of her idol, Clannad’s Moya Brennan.

THERE was standing room only at Rory Dolan’s Irish restaurant in Yonkers on Wednesday, May 6, at an immigration meeting hosted by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. “There’s nothing going on in Ireland anymore. There are no jobs,” said Alan, 25, a native of Co. Limerick who has been working in New York for the past four months. “They say things are bad here, but I’ve still managed to find construction work. Not a hope of that in Ireland. There will be plenty more Irish coming over here very soon because it’s so bad. I hope ILIR is able to do something for them, and me.”

There was standing room only at Rory Dolan’s in Yonkers on Wednesday as the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform held a public meeting for the undocumented.

Senator Charles Schumer of New York will hold the first hearing on the issue of immigration reform on Thursday, April 30 in Washington, D.C.

Irish music fans will get two divas for the price of one when Moya Brennan hits the road with Manhattan’s own Ashley Davis for a spring tour.

The Irish undocumented have warmly welcomed the news that the Obama administration will address the issue of immigration reform in the next couple of months. Many of them have been living in the U.S. for many years and haven’t been home in a very long time.

On December 5, 2009, I will marry John Mooney, a fine Limerick export, and I just can't wait! As I cleverly dodged the patches of ice on the Manhattan sidewalks last Wednesday morning on my way into the office, I quietly pondered the ingredients of a successful long-lasting marriage. What is it that makes a marriage last? I wondered. Is it good communication? Having the same circle of friends perhaps? Maybe passion? Unsure and badly wanting the answer, I decided to ask the experts, those who have gone before us and withstood the test of time (and many a disagreement or two).

The hopes of summer gathered at Rory Dolan's in Yonkers last Sunday courtesy of the Woodlawn School of Irish Music. It was their early foray into fundraising for their young students who aspire to attend Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann (www.fleadh 2009.

When it comes to encouraging children to take lessons in Irish traditional music, a key component is often what's in the genes and the role that families play in ensuring that it passes from one generation to the next. The support from parents and the extended family to youngsters learning the tin whistle, flute, accordion, fiddle, piano or singing and entering them into competitive fleadhs or summer schools to raise their standard of performance is vital to its success. It is also an important component in the Woodlawn School of Irish Music established in the Bronx enclave bordering on Yonkers, which could easily be considered an Irish village in America.

GETTING music students prepared for a fleadh competition is always a challenge, but few approach it with such dogged determination as Annmarie Acosta.

Given the fact that she is actually studying for a master's degree in traditional Irish music performance at the University of Limerick, over 3,000 miles away, to say that she has been tele-communicating is an understatement, leaving tunes and providing feedback on answering machines or via the web for her hopeful prize-winners at the upcoming Pearl River Fleadh (www.nyfleadh.

We often focus on Michael Coleman as THE Sligo fiddler who had the most influence in New York City, but actually his contemporary the "Professor" James Morrison (1893-1947) from Riverstown, Co. Sligo taught more people to play the fiddle over the years. One of his last remaining fiddle students, Veronica McNamara, a well-known face to many New Jersey trad folks, will lead a night of musical history at the clubhouse of the Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey (www.

At week's end tragedy interrupted the otherwise sublime week in the Catskills when Boston accordion player and raconteur, Joe Joyce, "The People's Choice," suffered a massive heart attack and passed away on Sunday evening at nearby Albany General Hospital. In his early seventies, the colorful mainstay of Boston's Irish music scene going back to the Dudley Street Days (Read Susan Gudetis' important Boston history called See You at the Hall) had enjoyed himself along with his wife Karin and daughter Catherine, a fine young musician in her own right, at all the week's events until he took ill on Saturday.

New Yorkers had a chance to experience the truly one of a kind personality he had last month at Rory Dolan's when he performed with Catherine at the fundraiser for Annemarie Acosta's School of Music.

Comedian Des Bishop will be in New York this weekend for a one night only show in support of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform at Rory Dolan's in Yonkers. An immigrant from the U.S.

SUPER Bowl Sunday is nearly upon us. Will the New York Giants have a bigger fan base than normal tuning in to see them play the New England Patriots this Sunday?

The Irish Voice asked members of the Irish community their plans for Sunday and who they will be supporting?

James Foley from Yonkers is an avid football supporter. Albeit a Jets fan, Foley admitted he will be rooting for the Giants.

THE fall music season is off to a great start already with many opportunities to take in some great live music and support those who make it. Coming up on Friday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The lads who make up Icewagon Flu plan on serving up plenty of Guinness with their next installment of the Irish Rock Night at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey on Thursday, October 30.

The lineup features the New York Brogues, a group that makes Rory Dolan's and C..

It's a sight that is not seen too often. Big burly electricians carving up turkeys and hams donned in white aprons at the Aisling Irish Community Center in Yonkers on a chilly Monday afternoon in preparation for the annual feed the homeless drive in Manhattan.

Over 30 volunteers of all ages and professions pulled over 300 dinners together on Monday, November 24.

QUEENS-born, Irish-based funnyman Des Bishop crammed Rory Dolan's in Yonkers on Friday night, January 11 with a two-hour show stopping performance before 500 people, with all proceeds going to the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR). Another two hundred were locked out.Bishop, who is currently learning the Irish language for a new television show, In the Name of the Fada, which will be televised in Ireland in March, told the Irish Voice last week he was coming to New York to film for the show, so he decided to do the gig to raise money for the ILIR.

Bout two of the sumo wrestling championship is back and guaranteed to be another slam-dunk day in Yonkers.

On Sunday, September 14, those who fancy themselves as the next Hulk Hogan, sumo style, will compete for a $500 prize and the prestigious title of champion in a specially made ring at Rory Dolan's in Yonkers.

"It was such a great day out last year," said Orla Kelleher, executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center, host of the event.

An Internet petition drive has been launched to have Elk Street in lower Manhattan renamed Frank Durkan Way in honor the legendary Irish attorney Frank Durkan.

In a letter to the city's Community Board 1, a group of five well-known Irish Americans have stepped forward to commence the renaming process. The five former members of the so-called "Fort Worth Five," Ken Tierney, Tom Laffey, Matty Reilly, Danny Crawford and Paschal Morahan, strongly believe that Durkan should be immortalized as a patriot and friend of Ireland on the streets of New York.

Clinton Meets Irish Backers

SENATOR Hillary Clinton met with a group of key supporters, including several Irish, on Monday at a midtown Manhattan law firm.

Among the Irish present were Declan Kelly, who has raised over $1.5 million for the campaign, his associate Paul Keary, Irish American Democrats leader Stella O'Leary, attorney Brian O'Dwyer of the top firm of O'Dwyer and Bernstien, and Ciaran Staunton, vice chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR).

Fordham University's venerable Ceol na nGael program on station WFUV is reinventing itself yet again with two new on air personalities. Fordham students Ashling Colton and Kevin Quinn, both entering their junior years in the fall, are taking over the reins as co-hosts of the long-running Irish music and news program.

Heard every Sunday from noon to 4 p.

The legendary Irish traditional music innovator Finbar Furey will play at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan on March 16 in a one night only show. It’s a terrific choice of venue for a singer and songwriter who has been at the forefront of Irish traditional music for over four