United States Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley were among the distinguished guests at the Irish Voice’s Irish Legal 100 reception held last Wednesday evening, November 11, at the Washington, D.C. residence of the Irish Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Collins.

Robert Reynolds: Since Sarah Palin once famously said she didn't know whether Africa was a continent, we in the global Irish community are left to wonder whether she could have ever unscrambled the difference between England, Britain and the so-called United Kingdom. Alas, we won't have to wait too long for Palin's wit (?) and wisdom (?!). Her new book comes out Monday.

According to a recent study, Dublin has the highest rate of gun murder in Europe. The rate is almost as high as some cities in the U.S. like Washington D.C. So far this year, 19 gun murders, all of which were gang related, have occurred in Ireland’s capital city, which has a population of 1.2 million.

Former Taoiseach (prime minister) John Bruton has returned to Ireland after his five-year stint as EU ambassador to Washington, D.C. came to an end on Friday.

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.

News from the 32: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

Raymond McCord, 53, the father of a Belfast man murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries in 1997 took his campaign to bring his son’s killers to justice to Capitol Hill last Thursday. McCord, a staunch Unionist, told a House of Representatives subcommittee he believes there was collusion between the Northern Irish security forces and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in the killing of his son.

THE promise of immigration reform benefiting the undocumented Irish in America took a quiet but very important step forward in Washington, D.C. last week with a pivotal meeting between Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and South Carolina Ancient Order of Hibernians board member Jim Lawracy.

If businessman Richard Quirke has his way, then Two-Mile Borris could become Ireland’s sin city with its own casino in the midst of the Irish countryside.

Collusion between British security forces and loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland was the focus of hearings on Capitol Hill this week in Washington.

The inaugural meeting of the newly formed Irish American Leadership Council took place last Friday in New York, with a robust exchange of ideas among members and Irish government leaders on how to maximize the multi-tiered relationship between Ireland and the Irish community in the U.S.

Irish Voice Senior Editor Debbie McGoldrick answers your immigration questions, queries and concerns. This week: passport issues.

During his visit to the U.S. last week, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin announced the allocation of $2.68 million in grants for Irish organizations throughout the U.S. The Emigrant Support Program, managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, provides the grants.

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, is meeting with members of Congress in Washington Wednesday and promises to highlight the plight of the Irish undocumented in the U.S. Martin, who arrived in Washington Wednesday for a four-day visit, is expected to discuss the issue of the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish with members of both Houses of Congress later today.

Controversial documentary maker Michael Moore says his Irish American background has a lot to do with his work; "that we’ll be judged by how we treat the least among us -- and that the rich man is basically up to no good.”

The father of a Belfast man who was murdered by a Loyalist paramilitary group in 1997 has secured his plea to have a U.S. congressional hearing into his son’s murder next month.

Christina Ryan-Kilcoyne doesn’t normally advertise her dance classes. She doesn’t normally have to. “I’ve never had to advertise before,” says the fair-haired teacher from Co. Clare, who came to the U.S. in 1988 and set up a dance school in Pennsylvania. “The kids just used to come. But this year my beginners’ class is down by half.”

British journalist Martin Sixsmith has uncovered a nightmare story about what happened to a 3-year-old Irish boy who was taken from his mother in 1955 and sold for adoption by Irish nuns to a family in the U.S. In 1952, an 18-year-old woman called Philomena gave birth to her first child in a convent in Roscrea in

Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck have a big fan in Michelle Bachmann as the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota gushed about the two political pundits in a recent interview.

With Gallery: Dan "The Da Vinci Code" Brown has just written a book about them, and now a court case in Belfast could unearth some of the most closely-guarded secrets about the one of the most-secret organizations in the world: the Freemasons. The ultimate fraternity, the Freemasons have been around since the end of the 16th century, and rumors abound that some of the most-famous men in the world, from presidents to politicians, count themselves as members.

Chris Dodd could face a takedown or two in the Connecticut Senate race as former WWE CEO Linda McMahon has stepped into the political ring to challenge him.

Irish man Vince Keane from Ballyhaunis County Mayo is helping U.S. President Barack Obama to try and overhaul the health care system in the

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.

It was his handshake I’ll never forget, solid and strong. The event was an Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) rally in Washington D.C. in March 2006. Although I was slightly intimidated by the enormity of the situation and those all around me, I was somewhat comforted by the presence of Senator Ted Kennedy and his vivacious handshake.

Thousands of mourners lined the rain-swept streets to say farewell as the hearse carrying Kennedy left Boston's famous "Mission Church" in Roxbury.

Senator Edward Kennedy - who freely acknowledged that his own family would not be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. now - was a real champion for the undocumented Irish.

No family has dominated American politics more in this century than the Kennedys, a clan which influenced the shaping of a nation to a degree rarely matched.

Sen. Ted Kennedy died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77. Kennedy had fought brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to.

Chicago-based Merchandise Mart mogul and political heir Chris Kennedy has told supporters he will not run for the Senate seat in Illinois left vacant by Roland Burris.

The second part of our annual summer feature on the questions U.S. naturalization candidates can be asked during a citizenship interview, as provided by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Here are the last 50, with acceptable answers. For more information on naturalization, visit www.uscis.gov.

Stella O'Leary: Recently in The Irish Times, writer Niall Stanage declared the demise of the Irish vote in America. Stanage, from a Unionist background, may be working with an image of an earlier time, when all Irish American political needs were met by political dynasties, the Kennedys, the O'Neills, the Dodds, and in Chicago, the Daleys.

Undocumented Irish immigrants in the U.S. are cautiously optimistic about immigration reform after President Barack Obama said he would provide a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal immigrants. Speaking in Mexico yesterday, President Barack Obama said he wanted to provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family's public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the rights of the mentally disabled, died Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement. She was 88.

The hopes of the Irish undocumented rose today amid reports from Washington that activists have stepped up their efforts for comprehensive immigration reform. They are calling on President Barack Obama to introduce legislation this

The O'Carrolls go back to the third century King Oilioll Olum of Munster. Their name derives from Cearbhaill, who was the Brian Boru in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf. Cearbhaill means warlike champion and the O'Carrolls have lived up to the name.

Her husband may be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but Jane Sullivan Roberts is an amazing success story all her own.

Soledad O'Brien talks to Cahir O'Doherty about growing up on Long Island with Irish and Afro-Cuban roots, and her highly anticipated new follow-up series "Black in America 2" debuting on CNN this week.

It just isn’t the New York Mets’ season is it? Nothing seems to have gone the way they’ve planned and now they’re sitting eight games behind their archrival Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East.

On any given day a young County Mayo man can be found chauffeuring tourists around Central Park on the back of his rented Pedi-cab, winning them over with his charm and wowing them with his in-depth knowledge of the city.

U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney has revealed that President Barack Obama “definitely” plans on traveling to Ireland in the near future.

Filming is ready to begin on Steven Spielberg’s next movie, “Lincoln,” starring Ballymena-born actor Liam Neeson. In a role that’s set to be the Irish actor’s greatest to date, Neeson will play U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in the biopic opposite Sally Field, who will portray his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln.

President Barack Obama promised a complete overhaul of the immigration system at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. today.

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Provost Dr. John Hegarty, University College Dublin (UCD) President Dr. Hugh Brady and Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) chairman John Hartnett met in Dublin on June 15 to announce a new partnership in technological innovation.

In a bid to cut costs during weak economic conditions and in response to a decrease in consumer demand, Aer Lingus has announced cuts in services between the U.S. in Ireland during its upcoming winter schedule.

Since their album came out in March, The Script has had their music played on VH1 and in a number of television soundtracks. That buzz has caught the ear of none other than Sir Paul McCartney, who has tapped them to support his return to the old Shea Stadium site on July 17 and 18.

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.

Alec Cobbe, Irish art restorer and heir to the Cobbe family’s art collection, visited the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2006 and saw a painting that was accepted as a portrait done during Shakespeare’s life until it was debunked about 70 years ago. Cobbe recognized it as a copy of a portrait in the collection he had inherited in the 1980s, depicting a handsome and lifelike figure that had previously never been identified as Shakespeare. The Cobbe original portrait, by an unknown artist, has now been dated at around 1610, six years before Shakespeare’s death in 1616.

President Obama's Irish roots: Click Here Full text of President Obama's recent speech at Notre Dame: Click here

Raymond McCord, the Belfast man who was in Washington last week seeking justice for the murder of his son by a Loyalist paramilitary group in 1997, was disheartened with the cold reception and lack of answers he got from the British Embassy.