Sean McClorey

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The Crowning of Miss Smiling Irish Eyes

Thanks to all who joined us March 14 for the Crowning of the new Miss Smiling Irish Eyes, Katelyn Wood and our very own Kirsten Carr (in red). Here are some pictures from the event.

St. Patrick's Day Award & Pictures

We want to thank everyone for joining us at the St. Patrick's Day Parade this year! We are happy to announce that our Division, AOH 32, Carengie won The Sinon J. Robeson Award (Best Marching Irish Men). Andd, more good news! The Best Commercial Float was won by our brothers of Division 32, the Brother's Riley and All Pro Painters. Congratulations everyone!

We'd also like to congratulate the Bell School of Dance for winning The Grand Marshall Award (Best Overall Entry). To view a full list of awards/winners visit the Pittsburgh Irish Network's Parade site.

Here are a few pictures from the parade to whet your appetite. There will be more to come or you can check out the Pittsburgh Irish Network's Parade Pictures in the meantime.

Irish Song - The Dying Rebel

Sung By: Patsy Watchorn

Irish Joke of the Week

While being interviewed for a job, the personnel manager said to the Donnelly brothers:

'We're going to give you a written examination. Ten questions. Whoever gets most right we'll hire.'

Papers were produced and the boys set to work answering the general knowledge questions. When the time was up the personnel manager collected and marked the papers.

'Well,' said he, 'you've both got nine out often, but I'm giving Denny the job.'

'Why's that?' asked Bernie.

'Well,' said the manager, 'you both got the same question wrong, but he had 'I don't know this' and you had 'Neither do I!'.

Irish History - Mar. 30 - April 5

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 30
1493 - Kildare, who has been suspected of supporting Perkin Warbeck, is given a general pardon
1603 - After a long battle against English rule, Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, submits to Lord Mountjoy at Mellifont. O'Neill is pardoned; the Treaty of Mellifont ends the Nine Years War
1798 - Privy Council proclaims Ireland in state of rebellion and imposes martial law
1824 - Thomas Devin Reilly, journalist and editor, is born in Co. Monaghan
1851 - A census shows the population of Ireland to be 6,552,385: it has declined by one-fifth since 1845. The number of Irish in England and Wales has increased by 79% in the past decade. Nearly a quarter of Liverpool is now 'Irish'. Over 18% of the people of Glasgow and Dundee are Irish-born - 6.7% of Scotland as a whole
1873 - Richard Church, of Co. Cork, soldier and "liberator of Greece," dies in Athens
1880 - Birth of playwright Sean O'Casey in Dublin
1896 - An Irishman wins an Olympic gold medal for the first time, when John Pius Boland triumphs in tennis
1920 - Jack White, journalist and author, is born in Cork
1922 - Craig-Collins Pact is signed in London. Irish Free State formally recognizes Northern Ireland government
1926 - Actor Ray McAnally is born in Buncrana Co. Donegal
1930 - David Staple becomes joint president of the Council of Churches for Britain & Ireland
1972 - The Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act comes into force decreeing direct rule from London. Brian Faulkner, prime minister of Northern Ireland, resigns
1979 - Airey Neave, shadow Northern Ireland Secretary and opposition Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland, dies when a bomb explodes in his car as he is driving out of the House of Commons car park. Two groups, the Provisional IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, claim responsibility
1998 - According to a major report published on this date, almost 9,000 jobs will be lost with the abolition of duty free next year; it also indicates that travel costs from Ireland to Britain will increase by £16·70 while travel into Ireland will increase £14·30
1998 - The chairman of the Northern peace talks, Senator George Mitchell, praises the commitment of the political parties as representatives continue negotiations into the night
1999 - Talks led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to break the decommissioning logjam end in deadlock
2001 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to his Kinsealy home after spending nearly two weeks in hospital
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visits Co, Louth to see at first hand the devastation wrought by the first outbreak of the disease in the Republic; he warns that tough restrictions will remain in place for months. The photo shows Mr. Ahern using the foot dip before meeting officials of the Department of Agriculture
2001 - Aer Lingus workers stage a one-day strike over pay at Dublin Airport. The 3,000 striking staff, members of the SIPTU trade union, are protesting against their rates of pay in comparison with other Aer Lingus workers
2003 - Thousands of anti-war protesters join a peace march through Dublin city centre, in the latest of a series of demonstrations calling for an end to the military action against Iraq. Irish public support for US foreign policy has dropped sharply since the days after the September 11 attacks, an opinion poll shows. Three out of four adults are unhappy with President George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq situation, according to the Milward Brown poll.

March 31
1711 - Seven women from Island Magee, Co. Antrim are imprisoned and pilloried for 'bewitching' a woman named Mary Dunbar, who has experienced strange fits and visions
1790 - A quarrel between John Philpot Curran (MP for Kilbeggan) and Robert Hobart (MP for Portarlington) results in a duel in which Hobart allows Curran to fire and then refuses to return fire
1855: Charlotte Bronte, daughter of an Irish-born father (Patrick) and eldest of the Bronte sisters, dies during pregnancy
1859 - The independent Irish party splits and the Tenant League breaks up
1871 - Birth in Dublin of Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin and co-signatory of Anglo-Irish treaty
1896 - Women become qualified for election as poor law guardians (welfare administrators) under the Poor Law Guardians Act
1901 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 4,458,775; this is the last census to be taken on the basis of baronies
1903 - Jack Doyle, boxer and singer, is born in Cóbh, Co. Cork
1920 - British parliament accepts Irish "Home Rule"-law
1922 - Birth of actor Patrick MaGee in Co. Armagh
1926 - Jeremiah Newman, Bishop of Limerick and writer, is born in Dromcolliher, Co. Limerick
1952 - Birth of comedian Dermot Morgan in Dublin
1966 - Contingents from Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish and Scottish liberation movements march behind IRA at 50th anniversary of Easter Rising
1998 - At the Stormont peace, politicians fail to pass the first hurdle set for them by negotiations chairman Senator George Mitchell
1998 - According to a poll released on this date, almost four-fifths of people in the North will vote "yes" for compromise in a referendum if the political parties at Stormont agree to a deal
1998 - After a four-year hiatus, MTV returns to the screens of Irish Multichannel subscribers
1999 - Ireland is selected as the location for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. It will be the first time the event has been staged outside the US.

April 1
1329 - From April onwards there are risings by the native Irish in various parts of Munster and Leinster, and reprisals against them. This will continue into 1330
1716 - The first Doggett Coat and Badge sculling race takes place on the Thames; one of the oldest sporting fixtures in the British sporting calendar, it is founded by Thomas Doggett, an Irish actor and theatre manager
1730 - Samuel Boyse, MP for Bannow, dies as a result of a duel at the age of 33
1776 - Irish-born Edward Hand is appointed a Brigadier General in the Continental Army
1839 - St. Clair Mulholland, Union Civil War General and Medal of Honor winner, is born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim
1848 - Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1911 - The Titanic is launched in Belfast
1919 - DeValera is elected president of the first Dáil Éireann
1935 - Death of Francis Arthur Fahy from Kinvara, Co Galway, who wrote the ballad Galway Bay
1966 - Death of writer Brian O'Nolan, also known as Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen
1986 - US sub Nathaniel Green runs aground in the Irish Sea
1998 - The European Commission serves notice on the Government that Ireland faces prosecution in the European Court on charges of damaging the environment and failing to provide secure habitats for some of our most endangered bird species
1999 - One thousand people, the entire population of Belmullet in Co. Mayo, are evacuated from the town following a fire in a rubber factory
2000 - John Dennehy, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science, makes academic history by being elected Chairman of the Education Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for a three year period. He is the first Irish person to be appointed to this position
2001 - One of Irish television’s most familiar faces, Brendan O’Reilly, passes away. The 71 year old former television and radio broadcaster and commentator had been ill for a number of months
2001 - The Department of Agriculture orders the slaughter of all the remaining 15,000 or so sheep in the Cooley Peninsula, Co. Louth
2002 - Loyalist thugs posing as Glasgow Celtic supporters are hunted by police after a series of attacks in flashpoint north Belfast.
2003 - Veteran actress Pat Leahy, 66, collapses on the set of Fair City

April 2
1871 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 5,412,377; only 285 Jews are recorded in the census
1902 - Premiere of Yeats' Cathleen ni Houlihan starring Maud Gonne
1914 - Cumann na mBan, Irish women's Republican movement, is founded
1970 - Several days of rioting following Easter rising commemorations end on this date
1972 - Radio na Gaeltachta goes on the air for the first time and is launched by Eamon De Valera
1973 - Special Powers Act replaced by Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act
1998 - Dissident republicans, aligned to the 32 County Sovereignty Committee and a Louth-based former IRA Quartermaster are said to be behind a massive explosives find in Dun Laoghaire
1998 - Mentally exhausted and following the advice of his doctor, Christy Moore announces in an open letter to fans that he is taking a year off from live performances
1999 - More than 170 staff at the biggest Dunnes Stores branch in the west of Ireland are suspended in a row over a worker facing dismissal because she sampled food at the delicatessen counter
2000 - Westlife make pop history with five consecutive British number one chart hits
2002 - Linda and Declan Fleming win the second largest individual jackpot in Lotto history - £5.26 million
2003 - Protestors against the war in Iraq clash with gardaí outside the Dáil.
2003 - Pat Leahy, star of Fair City for eleven years, dies of kidney failure

April 3
1793 - Dionysius Lardner, scientific writer and lecturer, is born in Dublin
1798 - Writer John Banim, who was praised by Yeats as a writer who tried to "make one see life plainly," is born in Kilkenny
1807 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, resigns as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief
1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Young Irelander, journalist and promoter of Canadian Federation, is born
1843 - Birth of James McCudden, WWI ace
1846 - Death of Michael Moran, aka Zozimus, balladeer and storyteller
1900 - Queen Victoria arrives at Kingstown for a three-day visit to Ireland
1946 - Birth of Ruari Quinn, former Labour leader
1951 - Birth of Michael Morris, jockey, winner of the 1977 Irish Grand National, trainer, and son of Lord Killanin
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announce that with ''realistic negotiation'', agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process could be reached by Thursday's deadline
1998 - Witnesses for the new inquiry into Bloody Sunday launched on this date in Derry, will not be offered blanket immunity from prosecution, according to the presiding chairman of the tribunal
2000 - Thousands of gallons of diesel oil are pumped off a storm-stricken Dutch barge which ran aground on a sandbank in Bray Harbour, Co. Wicklow
2000 - At the Special Criminal Court, John Gilligan denies having any involvement in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin
2001 - The Government agrees to a £2 million package to bail out the financially troubled Jeanie Johnston famine ship project
2001 - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson changes her mind about stepping down from the post on foot of a pledge that funding and staffing problems in her office will be addressed
2001 - It is announced that towns and villages within the current foot-and-mouth exclusion zone in Co. Louth have been barred from this year’s national tidy towns’ competition
2001 - Farm leaders from North and South meet in Dublin to pursue an agreed objective — the highest animal health status for all of Ireland.

April 4
1774 - Death of Oliver Goldsmith
1818 - Mayne Reid, pseudonym of Thomas Mayne; soldier, journalist, and writer of boys' stories, is born in Ballyroney, Co. Down
1933 - Paddy Hopkirk, international rally driver, is born in Belfast
1934 - Birth of novelist and journalist Mary Kenny
1951 - The Catholic hierarchy condemns the "Mother and Child" plan for free medical services, fearing the consequences of health education for women. Dr Noel Browne, Minister for Health, resigns; the scheme is abandoned on 6 April
1951 - Birth of singer and actress Adele King, better known as Twink
1952 - Gary Moore, rock guitarist, is born
1966 - Pirate Radio Scotland changes name to Radio Ireland
1994 - Riverdance appears in public for the very first time at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin
1999 - Sinn Féin warns that the peace process stands in crisis over provocative demands for arms decommissioning
1999 - The annual World Irish Dancing Championships come to an end in Ennis
2001 - Former employees and staff join three generations of the Barry family in a celebration of 100 years in business for a firm which has become an Irish institution
2001 - Dublin-born Butch Moore, the first singer to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, dies after a very short illness
2001 - The Supreme Court strongly criticizes the State’s failure to provide official Irish translations of laws and important legal materials.
2007 - History is made as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and DUP leader Ian Paisley shake hands for the first time in public prior to their milestone meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin.

April 5

1806 - William Dool Killen, ecclesiastical historian, is born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins defeats the Spanish at the battle of Maipo River, Chile

1855 - The Dublin-Belfast railway line is completed

1869 - Birth in Dublin of Margaret Tennant, née Abraham; trade unionist and campaigner for improved working conditions
1900 - Spencer Tracy, the son of an Irish father, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1916 -Patrick Pearse denies rumors of a possible rising to Irish Volunteer Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill
1938 - Bill Attley, trade unionist, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1961 - Death of Oscar-winning Irish actor of stage and screen Barry Fitzgerald. Born in Dublin in 1888, he pursues an acting career at the Abbey Theatre and then heads for Hollywood where he becomes Paramount's resident Irishman in such films as "Going My Way" for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His finest works are under director John Ford, including "How Green Was My Valley" and the "The Quiet Man."
1962 -Guinness formally adopts the harp as its symbol
1975 - L'escargot, ridden by Tommy Carberry, wins the Aintree Grand National
Art Print by G. Isom from All-Posters
1998 - All sides in the Northern peace talks talk up the chances of a new peace agreement as Stormont sources reveal that both Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair will fly to Belfast for the final hours of talks on Thursday
1998 - Cannabis worth £2 million is seized during a dramatic early morning raid by members of the National Drugs Unit (NDU) in Ashbourne, Co Meath
1999 - More than 300 Co. Waterford people armed with gloves and plastic bags brave a driving mist and head for the hills for the annual Clean up the Comeraghs campaign
1999 - The first major event of the Loyalist marching season a controversial Apprentice Boys parade along the predominantly Nationalist Ormeau Road in Belfast - passes off peacefully
2000 - Debbie Walsh and Jennifer McCarthy are shown at the opening of 'the father of the modern day submarine' exhibition in Cobh heritage centre. This year is the 100th anniversary of the commissioning of the first US submarine invented by John Phillip Holland from Liscannor, Co. Clare
2000 - Marine Minister, Frank Fahey, announces new moves to protect Irish fishing vessels from harassment outside the 12 mile limit
2001 - Gardaí attempt to trace the origin of a herd of Friesian cattle found roaming without ear tags on a roadside at Rosadrehid in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary
2002 - Forty-four young police graduates march their way into the North's history books as they become the first fully-fledged members of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
2003 - Attended by the entire cast of Fair City, the popular RTÉ television soap in which she starred for 11 years, the funeral of veteran actress Pat Leavy takes place at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ballyroan, south Dublin.

Sources: Irish Culture and Customs,
The Celtic
League, Irish
Abroad, The Wild Geese

7th Annual Irish Memorial 5K Run

Experienced runners as well as novices will gather at the Irish Memorial at Front & Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 6, and run through the streets of Old City, including some of the beautiful historic district and Penn’s Landing, and back to the majestically landscaped site of the Irish Memorial.

Runners will enjoy a fast, flat, and scenic course while supporting the beautification and maintenance of the spectacular memorial by renowned sculptor Glenna Goodacre, Philadelphia’s tribute to the Great Hunger. The run also supports the development of educational materials detailing the significance of the Memorial in American history.

The Irish Memorial is a symbol and record for generations of children of An Gora Mor, the starvation that devastated Ireland in the mid-19th century. Installed in 2003, the memorial is one of Philadelphia’s and the nation’s most treasured cultural destinations.

The 5K Run, traditionally held in March, has been moved to the first Sunday in April due to previous years’ inclement weather.

Registration starts at 7:00 a.m. $20 pre-registered and $25 on the day. The race starts at 8:30 a.m. Register online at www.active.com.

For more information call 271.760.0230, email irishrun@comcast.net or visit www.irishmemorial.org.

We realize that many of you will not be able to attend, but if you'd like to help the cause you can send donations to:

Irish Memorial
Michael McCloskey, Race Director
2005 Country Club Drive
Doylestown, PA 18901a

Please make checks payable to The Irish Memorial

Irish Song - Song for Ireland

Mary Black singing Song for Ireland

Irish Joke of the Week

A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, “I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I’ll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back.”

The room is quiet, and no one takes up the Texan’s offer. One man even leaves.

Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. “Is your bet still good?” asks the Irishman.

The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses, drinking them all back-to-back.

The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, “If ya don’t mind me askin’, where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?”

The Irishman replies, “Oh… I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first.”

Irish History - Mar. 23 - Mar. 29

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 23
1847 - Choctaw Indians collect money to donate to starving Irish Hunger victims
1889 - Robert Gibbings, illustrator and writer, is born in Cork
1893 - Birth in Dublin of Cedric Gibbons, designer of the coveted Oscar statuette and winner of eleven Academy Awards himself
1917 - Birth of singer Josef Locke (Joe McLaughlin) in Derry
1951 - On this date, Shannon Airport is the base for a rescue operation after a USAF C124 aircraft crashes into the sea - some wreckage is found 450 miles off the west coast, but all 53 people on board are lost
1971 - Chichester Clark resigns as Prime Minister and is replaced by Brian Faulkner
1976 - The EEC rejects the Irish government's application for derogation from its directive for equal pay to men and women
1998 - Ian Paisley lead his party back to the Northern Ireland peace talks for the first time in eight months — but only to protest at the re-entry of Sinn Féin following its suspension over IRA involvement in two murders
1998 - History is made in Galway when all vehicles are banned from the city's main thoroughfare, Shop Street, and its adjoining arteries. The streets are closed to traffic from 11am to 7.30pm as part of a pedestrianisation programme to tackle traffic problems in the city's narrow streets
1999 - Under the terms of the Good Friday peace agreement, IRA prisoners, Paul Kavanagh, Thomas Quigley and Gerard McDonnell are freed after a High Court judge rejects a legal challenge by British Home Secretary Jack Straw to keep them in jail
1999 - The British government signals its growing impatience with the decommissioning deadlock when it issues a legal challenge to the release of Brighton bomber Patrick Magee and three other IRA prisoners
2001 - Gardaí arrest 12 protesting students as thousands of secondary school pupils take to the streets all over the country demanding an end to the ASTI teachers strike
2001 - At the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day Auction, the hottest collectable is Bono’s handmade Black Fly shades, which fetches £4,000
2002 - At high tide, thirty-nine whales are washed onto Aughcasla Strand, in the Dingle Peninsula.

March 24
1603 - James VI of Scotland comes to the throne of England, as James I, following the death of Elizabeth I on this date
1796 - The Insurrection Act imposes curfews, arms searches, and the death penalty for oath-taking
1866 - Birth in Co. Cork of light-heavyweight boxing champion, Jack McAuliffe
1909 - Death in Dublin of John Millington Synge. The plays of Irish peasant life on which his fame rests are written in the last six years of his life. In 1904, Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory found the famous Abbey Theatre. Two Synge comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), are presented by the Abbey players. The latter play creates a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's bitter humor.
1945 - Birth of actor Patrick Malahide; born Patrick G. Duggan, to Irish parents living in England
1953 - Queen Mary dies at 86
1958 - Dawson Stelfox, architect and mountaineer, is born in Belfast
1968 - An Aer Lingus plane, the St. Phelim, crashes into the sea near Tuskar Rock, Co. Wexford, with the loss of all 61 passengers and crew
1972 - Stormont parliament and government are suspended and direct rule from London is introduced; William Whitelaw becomes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1995 - For the first time in 25 years, Britain halts all routine army patrols in Belfast
1998 - The Prison Service in Northern Ireland confirms that five Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners are now on hunger strike at the Maze jail to protest a security crackdown following the savage murder of loyalist remand prisoner David Keys
1999 - Anti-blood sports groups call on Minister Silé de Valera to refuse to renew a licence to the country's last remaining stag hunt
2000 - Dubliners face traffic chaos as the bus drivers’ dispute threatens to escalate into an all out strike
2002 - Twenty-one whales are rescued after stranding themselves on a Kerry beach; with the other whales forming a circle around her, rescuers are thrilled to observe one of the whales giving birth minutes after being pulled back out to safety
2003 - Veteran actor Peter O’Toole is awarded an honorary Oscar for a career which has spanned more than 40 years.

March 25
1635 - A shower of hailstones, with stones as large as four inches in circumference, is reported in Castletown, Co. Offaly; a hen is killed and a woman is injured
1738 - Irish harpist and composer, Turlough O'Carolan, dies at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co. Roscommon
1735 - Birth of James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden and politician
1831 - Arthur Kavanagh, politician and progressive landlord, is born in Borris, Co. Carlow
1840 - Birth of Myles Keogh in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. Soldier in the US army, it is said by the Sioux that he is the last man killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, where his horse is the only US survivor
1846 - Michael Davitt, known universally as "The Father of the Land League", is born in Straid, Co. Mayo
1847 - Pope Pius IX issues an encyclical called "On aid for Ireland"
2000 - David Trimble narrowly beats off a challenge to his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party casting doubt on its unity and the future of the Northern Ireland peace process
1920 - The first 'Black and Tans' (auxiliary policemen) officially arrive in Ireland
1946 - To mark the centenary of Michael Davitt's birth, a major celebration is held in Straide, Co. Mayo, primarily at the request of a personal friend and executor of his will, Mr. Dennis O'Rourke of Dublin.
An attendance of over 12,000 includes Eamonn De Valera, Hugh Delargy, M.P. as well as surviving members of the Davitt family, Dr. Robert Davitt and Miss Eileen Davitt. The occasion is covered live by the BBC
1963 - Captain Terence O'Neill becomes Northern Ireland Prime Minister after Lord Brookeborough resigns
1998 - New constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland that include cross-border bodies with executive powers and a new Northern Ireland Assembly are revealed by the British and Irish Governments
2001 - More than 1,200 animals are slaughtered in counties Meath, Wexford, Carlow and Laois as a precautionary measure against foot and mouth disease
2001 - Ballymun, a northside suburb in Dublin, is transformed into the Bogside for the filming of Bloody Sunday, a movie which promises to piece together the controversial events of the 1972 parade. More than 2,000 locals take part in the scenes, including some of the original marchers from Derry
2002 - An international report ranks Ireland 28th in the top 30 healthiest countries - behind Slovenia, Malta, the Czech Republic and Portugal
2002 - At an international conference in Co. Antrim, Dr Andrew Cooper of the University of Ulster warns that Ireland is shrinking. Every year an estimated 750 acres of coastline is swallowed up by the sea and the situation is likely to get worse unless urgent action is taken
2003 - Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue launches the Value Menu Restaurant Guide which will offer meals at record low prices.
Participating pubs, restaurants and hotels will give customers the choice of meals at fixed prices of €10, €20 and €30.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of the Annunciation to Our Lady.

March 26
1787 - The Tumultuous Risings Act imposes penalties for rioting and for interference with the collection of tithes
1838 - William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian and philosopher, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1854 - Harry Furniss, caricaturist, is born in Wexford
1856 - William Massey, New Zealand statesman and Prime Minister from 1912 to 1925 is born in Limavady, Co. Derry/Londonderry
1922 - An IRA anti-treaty army convention announces it will no longer accept the authority of Free State Minister for Defense Richard Mulcahy
1931 - Death of Tim Healy, former Home Rule politician and first Free State Governor-General
1999 - SDLP leader, John Hume reveals that he intends to donate all of his £280,000 Nobel Peace Prize money to charity and victims of violence in Northern Ireland
2000 - A German couple miraculously escape with their lives when the light plane they are flying crashes to the ground at Galway Airport
2001 - Violence erupts at a number of demonstrations against the ASTI teachers’ strike
2002 - Hillary Rodham Clinton makes her first official visit to Ireland as a US Senator. The trip is to promote trade between Dublin and New York state
2002 - The Farm and Speciality Food Market at St George's, Belfast Ireland's becomes the first group to win the top prize in the Ballygowan/Irish Food Writers' Guild Food Awards.
2007 - DUP leader Ian Paisley and and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams commit themselves to forming a powersharing executive by May 8th after engaging directly for the first time at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair hail this first meeting and agreement as a historic, reconciliatory and transforming moment in British-Irish history.

March 27
1599 - Robert Devereux becomes Lieutenant-General of Ireland
1625 - Charles 1 becomes king of England, Scotland and Ireland
1650 - Kilkenny surrenders to Cromwell
1725 - The first number of Faulkner's Dublin Journal is published
1766 - First publication of The Vicar Of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
1782 - A Whig administration comes to power in Britain
1839 - Birth in Glenavy, Co. Antrim, of John Ballance, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The eldest son of a tenant farmer, John is not interested in farming and goes to Belfast to stay with his uncle. At eighteen, he goes to Birmingham and earns a living in the ironmongery business. At twenty-four, he marries Fanny Taylor. Her poor health encourages the couple to leave for New Zealand in the hope that the better climate would help her. John establishes the Evening Herald, later called the Wanganui Herald. During the Maori Wars of the 1860s, his editorials in the Herald often challenge aspects of military policy relating to land disputes with the local Maori. His activities as a journalist lead quickly and easily to a career in politics. He enters Parliament in 1875 and make his reputation in the spheres of the economy and land use. He holds office as Colonial Treasurer (1878), as Minister of Lands, Native Affairs and Defence(1884-7) and as Liberal Premier (1891-3). He has good relations with the Maori people and solves many of the land problems they face. He is instrumental in giving women the vote making New Zealand the first country in the world to do so
1872 - Mary MacSwiney - Maire Nic Shuibhne - Irish patriot, is born. Educated in the Ursuline Convent, she later trains as a teacher at Cambridge University. She teaches in Cork where she becomes a founding member of the Munster Women's Franchise League and a member of the Gaelic League. In 1914, she helps found Cumann na mBan and becomes president of the Cork branch for which she is interned after the 1916 Rising. As a result of her imprisonment, MacSwiney loses her job as a teacher and in 1917 she and her sister Annie found St. Ita's School for girls in Cork City where all subjects are taught in Irish. In 1917, she joins Sinn Féin and in 1918 she is elected to the First Dáil for Cork. MacSwiney is Vice-President of Cumann na mBan when that organisation votes 419 to 63 against supporting the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. MacSwiney is appointed to the Cabinet of the Second Dáil in 1922 and is twice imprisoned during the Civil War, undergoing a twenty-one day hunger-strike in Mountjoy Gaol and a twenty-four day hunger-strike in Kilmainham Gaol
1999 - A major rail disaster is averted by the quick reactions of a train driver, when a 40ft articulated lorry ploughs through a bridge and falls onto the railway tracks below — straight into the path of an on-coming train. The train driver manages to stop the train — carrying an undisclosed number of passengers — just 200 yards from the crashed truck
2001 - Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble kicks off his election campaign outside his party headquarters in Belfast with a massive poster of himself
2001 - The cross border cull of thousands more sheep in the south Armagh north Louth areas, where Ireland’s only two cases of foot and mouth have occurred, gets underway
2002 - A copy of the Cork Examiner, a golf club, flowers and national media awards are among gifts presented at the funeral of one of Ireland's best known newsmen. More than 1,000 people pack the Church of the Immaculate Conception, The Lough, Cork, to pay their last respects to Fergie O'Callaghan, editor of the Cork Examiner for 18 years before his retirement in November 1994.

March 28
1646 - Peace between the confederates and James Butler, the Marquis of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, leads to a split within the confederation, i.e. between confederates and royalists
1719 - John Cairnes, son of David Cairnes, former MP for the city of Londonderry, is killed in a duel in Newcastle, England
1772 - An Act to repress Steelboy disturbances in five Ulster counties is passed
1820 - Sir William Howard Russell, war correspondent, is born in Tallaght, Co. Dublin
1874 - Joseph McGarrity, Irish patriot, is born in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone
1879 - Terence MacSwiney, Irish patriot and Lord Mayor of Cork, is born
1881 - Birth of Martin Sheridan, "the world’s greatest athlete", in Bohola, Co. Mayo. Although largely unpublicised, Sheridan’s achievements in field athletics undoubtedly put him amongst the greats: in three successive Olympics he wins 5 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze, and sets up 16 world records
1932 - Birth of Richard Burke, Fine Gael politician and EC Commissioner
1944 - Birth of Nell McCafferty, journalist and feminist, in Derry/Londonderry
1955 - John Alderdice, Alliance Party leader, is born in Ballymena
1957 - Death of Patrick "Jack" B. Yeats, Ireland's leading painter of the 20th century
1970 - Easter rising commemorations lead to rioting and the first fighting between the British army and Provisional IRA
2000 - Wildcat action by certain SIPTU rail workers in support of their National Bus and Rail Union colleagues quickly exacerbates the dispute; as the strike appears to worsen, commuters can expect another day of chaos in getting to work. On a lighter note, sales of bicycles in Dublin have soared
2001 - The Government expresses serious concern about another potential outbreak of suspected foot and mouth in Co Louth
2003 - A Dublin woman pays 8,500 euros for two tickets for Ireland’s Grand Slam showdown with England. With interest in the game at fever pitch, Ann Higgins secures her seats for one of the biggest games of the year during a charity auction on the Marian Finucane Show.

March 29
1613 - A charter incorporates Derry as the city of Londonderry and creates the new county of Londonderry
1793 - Charlotte Brooke, author of Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry, dies
1850 - The SS Royal Adelaide sinks in a storm with the loss of 200 lives
1859 - First publication of The Irish Times
1869 - James MacNeill, Governor-General of the Irish Free State from 1928 to 1932, in Glenarm, Co. Antrim(May have been March 27)
1873 - Peig Sayers, Blasket Island storyteller, is born in Dunquin, Co. Kerry
1898 - The Registration Act allows women and peers to vote in local government elections 1901 - James Stephens, Fenian leader, dies
1913 - Birth in Dublin of actor Niall MacGinnis 1924 - Charles Villiers Stanford, composer/writer, dies
1933 - Birth in Belfast of singer Ruby Murray. In the early part of 1955 Murray has five singles in the Top 20 at the same time, an extraordinary record that lasts until the emergence of Madonna in the 1980s. A few of Murray's many hits include 'Let Me Go Lover', 'Real Love', 'Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye' and 'You Are My First Love'
1998 - Provisional IRA chiefs meet to discuss their ceasefire which has been rocked by the defections of up to a dozen Provo volunteers who quit the organisation to join the hard-line Continuity IRA
1998 - A fresh debate on film censorship is set to erupt with the new edition of Lolita being submitted to the censor, Séamus Smith
1999 -The IRA agrees to identify the graves of nine of the 20 disappeared persons, murdered and buried in secret since 1970; but their leadership holds out on decommissioning
1999 - Fishing skippers sign contracts for 17 new ultra modern fishing vessels valued at almost £30 million under the Government's whitefish fleet renewal programme
2000 - A live grenade, dating back to either the First World War or the War of Independence, is found in a ditch just yards from the entrance gate to a secondary school in Cork. The Mills 36 grenade is rendered harmless in a controlled explosion by army bomb disposal experts from Collins Barracks
2001 - Members of Louth County Council bring in goats for burial after being shot by Irish Rangers in the Cooley Mountains to help contain the spread of foot and mouth disease.
2001 - Many major tourist attractions reopen to the public with the easing of restrictions due to the foot and mouth disease scare
2001 - A new survey, carried out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that out of 22 Western countries, Ireland lies third behind the US and Poland for illiteracy rates
2002 - During a simple, poignant service in Dublin's Unitarian Church, 3,600 victims of the Northern Ireland conflict are remembered
2007 - U2 frontman Bono accepts an honorary knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II with one condition — “don’t call me Sir”. The award is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music and humanitarian work. The front man believes his new title — Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) — will help him secure talks with world politicians to advance the battle against Third World debt. “An award like this actually really helps me get through a few doors I wouldn’t get through and that’s the truth, that’s the way the world is,” he says.

Sources: Irish Culture and Customs,
The Celtic
League, Irish
Abroad, The Wild Geese

Happy Blessed Easter To All

Hope you all have a blessed Easter Weekend.

Here are some wonderful Irish Easter Customs you may want to start with your family and friends taken from a good Web site called the Celtic Attic.

Also, check out the home page of the Diocese of Pittsburgh for some nice family activities too such as some very special Masses and blessings for your children's Easter baskets.

Here is what the Celtic Attic says.

In Ireland, people dance in the streets on Easter Sunday. The dancers compete for the prize of a cake.

In Ireland Easter is a very sacred time of fasting and prayer. On Easter Saturday at church hundreds of small candles are lit off the Paschal candle that has been blessed by the priest. On Easter Sunday a quiet meal is eaten at home. Traditional Easter meal of leek soup and roasted spring lamb.

Little Easter houses are built in some parts of England as well. These are filled with coloured eggs. The eggs are rolled down a hill in a competition before they are eaten.

Irish Easter Customs

• Clean house thoroughly Inside and out-whitewash applied.
• Obtain New clothes.
• Good Friday-do no work on the land just in the house.
• Fast More than is Required on Good Friday.
• Good Friday- Plant a small amount of crop seed to bring blessing on it all.
• Shed no blood on Good Friday, work no wood, hammer no nail .
• Maintain quiet on good Friday from Noon till three P.M.
• Visit church-take off shoes-good Friday. Visit holy wells and graveyards.
• Do not fish with nets or lines on Good Friday no fishing boat puts out to sea alternatively gather bia tragha-shore food-seaweed and shellfish for the Main meal.
• Cut your hair on good Friday to prevent headaches in the year to come-trim finger and toe nails.
• Water from the holy well will have curative properties on Good Friday.
• A child born on Good Friday and baptized on Easter Sunday had gift of healing. (if a boy he should go into the ministry) die on good Friday go right the heaven.
• Eggs laid on Good Friday-Mark with cross and each eat one on Easter Sunday. Eggs Hatching on that day will produce healthy chicks.

Easter Saturday

• Have Holy water blessed.
• Drink three sips of holy water each for health. Sprinkle on everything for good luck.
• Bring cinders from the Paschal fire to be blessed.

Easter Sunday

• Butchers have mock funeral for a herring symbolizing end to abstinence.-whip the herring, have a procession involving the herring.
• Go to church and then herring procession.
• Go up at sunrise to view the sun dancing with joy.
• View the reflection of the sun in a pail of water and move it so the sun appears to dance.
• Do something with eggs. Give them, color them
• Have a Cludog or cluideog ritual-children collect and cook eggs and other food in a structure which they make on the edge of the farm-roasted eggs.
• Brightly dressed Tobies go from place to place to demand the eggs of Easter Singing, dancing dressed in bright colored rags.
• Keep shells of Easter eggs for the May bush. 9.Roll eggs to race them.-may be Presbyterian custom.
• Have feast on Easter-Kill a cow if you can-
• Take down the Spoilin meith na hlnide-little piece of meat pinned up at lent and burn it giving house a rich smell
• Have a Cake Dance. Cake being the prize for best dancer. Easter cake dance-a pruthog.
• Go to a "Sunday's" well-have a bonfire.

Irish Pancake Recipe:

Basic Batter Ingredients:
100g flour Pinch salt
1 egg 150ml milk
Oil to fry

Method:
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and beat in the egg using the back of a wooden spoon.
Slowly add the milk and beat in gradually to avoid lumps. Beat for a few minutes to entrap air. Leave in the fridge to chill.
Heat a drop of oil on the frying pan, ensure the pan gets really hot. Pour on a little batter to coat the base of the pan. Cook for approx. 2 minutes.
Toss the pancake and cook for about 1 minute or until golden brown.
The pancakes can be served with lemon, icing sugar, fruit or savoury items.

Easter Dinner

The Easter Sunday dinner is similar to the Christmas meal. It usually consists of a turkey or lamb, along with potatoes and vegetables. Desert can be anything, but usually children stuff their faces with their chocolate Easter eggs!

AOH 32 Communion Breakfast Deadline

I'm passing along the following urgent message from our good brother Tom Welch. Here it is.

Yo, everyone!

March 20 (this Thursday) is the deadline to get reservations and money to Tom Welch for the Division 32 Communion Breakfast at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 30, at John Graf's Priory on the North Side.

We still have plenty of tickets for the event at which our Hibernian of the Year and our Service Award winner will be named and honored. John himself will emcee.

Please consider joining us for what Father Jerry O'Shea recently identified as the most important event among our annual events - the one that welds our spiritual lives to our fraternal activities.

Tickets are $24 for adults, $15 for ages 7-16 and $9 for ages 1-6. Bring your mother-in-law, your bus driver, your tax auditor. You never can tell; the chunky old fat guy wearing shades at the front table could be Jack Nicholson. Plus you cannot pay at the door - all guests must be prepaid.

Email Tom or call him at 724.693.9904 if you need more information, or mail your check today to him at 325 Battery Drive North, McDonald, PA 15057.

Please get in touch with Tom ASAP because we sure hope to see you on March 30.

Irish Leader Ahern Meets President Bush

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern made his traditional St. Patrick's Day visit to Washington, D.C and said, "I believe the United States and Ireland will always enjoy an indelible bond." President Bush stressed Ireland's success in the Northern Ireland peace process and pointed out this would be his last St. Patrick's Day as president. Read the entire story here.

AOH License Plates

Here is an AOH License Plate form:

For more information contact:
Jim Williams, Coordinator, AOH License Plate Project, Dauphin County, Division I
and, Director, District III, Ancient Order of Hibernians
717-533-3879 (home); 717-503-8931 (cell); 717-534-2764 (fax)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A Note From Fr. Tom - Big Easy Bound

Brothers,

I will be going to the National Convention in July and will be taking my car, a leased 2006 Chrysler 300. (By the way it rides great). I would probably be leaving on Tuesday, July 22 and would be getting into “The Big Easy” on Wednesday in time for all of the activities on Wednesday evening. I was wondering if two or three of the brothers would like to drive down with me. Perhaps someone does not like to fly or perhaps you would like to drive for some other reason. The reason that I want to take my car is the fact that I need someone to drive my car back to the Burgh after the convention is over.

Here we go again – I am the Chaplain on a Cruise Ship to Norway and will be leaving for Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon, the day after the close of the convention. (I know being a Chaplain on a cruise is a hard job, but someone has to do it). I am driving to New Orleans because I always take my mobility scooter on the cruises and I will be bringing it with my car lift to New Orleans. Then I will be able to take it on the plane with me to New Orleans. (I already checked with United and they said that it was okay).

We would be stopping on Tuesday night somewhere around the half way point. So please let me know. I would be happy to have the Unity and Fraternity of some of my brothers with me on the trip to New Orleans and the Charity of someone driving my car back to the Burgh.

I assure you we won’t get lost. I just bought a Tom-Tom GPS which was on sale at Target. It works great! So the brothers would be traveling with Father Tom and Tom-Tom.

Thanks to all – Please let me know if any of you are interested. With every blessing and best wish – Father Tom O'Donnell

Irish Song - Quartet Medley

The Modern Mandolin Quartet plays a medley of three Irish songs

Irish Joke of the Week

One night on the small, dark Irish country roads an Englishman and an Irishman were driving recklessly and collided, demolishing both of their cars. Amazingly, the two men emerged from the wreck unscathed. Astonished by their luck, both agree to put aside their dislike of each other from that moment forward.

The Irishman at this point fetches a bottle of 12-year-old Jameson from his car and hands it to the Englishman who gratefully accepts it, removes the top and hefting the bottle in a toast, cries, “May the English and the Irish live forever in peace and harmony!”

Still shaky from the wreck, the Englishman takes several hearty swallows, draining a good half of the bottle before handing it back to Paddy.

“Eh, no thanks,” says the Irishman, “I think I’ll just wait for the Garda to get here.”

Irish History - March 16 - 22

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 16
1618 - Richard Archdekin, Jesuit, educator and missioner to Ireland, is born in Louvain
1640 - Charles I's second Irish parliament meets
1690 - French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1789 - Francis Rawdon Chesney, soldier and explorer, is born in Annalong, Co. Down
1815 - William Reeves, Church of Ireland bishop and antiquary, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork
1828 - Patrick Cleburne, American Civil War Confederate General, is born in Cobh, Co. Cork
1839 - John B. Yeats, painter and father of William Butler and Jack B. Yeats, is born in Tullylish, Co. Down
1865 - Irish-born Martin Murphy, one of the greatest pioneers of early California, dies
1955 - Singer Ruby Murray scores five simultaneous hits in the British charts
1959 - RTÉ interviews Ireland's first bangarda, Mary Brown from Roscommon
1960 - The P & O liner Canberra (45,000 tons) is launched in Belfast
1988 - At Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast, a gunman kills three mourners and injures at least 50 people attending a funeral for IRA members Mairead Farrell, Daniel McCann, and Sean Savage shot dead in Gibraltar
1991 - Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade
1995 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams meets President Bill Clinton for the first time
1998 - In Washington, at the American/Ireland Fund dinner, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern bluntly tells Northern political leaders to display the courage necessary to make far-reaching compromises over the next fortnight to rescue the peace process from the dangers of failure
1998 - Beef exports from Northern Ireland are to resume after a three-year ban stemming from the BSE crisis
2000 - Hundreds of sprigs of shamrock are airlifted from Ireland by the RAF to Irish regiments of the British Army around the world in accordance with a decree issued by Queen Victoria 100 years ago. It is exactly 100 years since the queen decrees that all Irish regiments of the British Army wear a shamrock in their head dress on St Patrick’s Day to commemorate the bravery of Irish troops during the Boer War
2000 - Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, announces that more troop withdrawals are likely over the coming months
2001 - President Bush, Sinn Fein's President Gerry Adams, center, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, right, watch Irish dancers perform at the White House in Washington. Ahern meets with Bush and discusses the 1998 power-sharing deal that has brought a tenuous peace in Northern Ireland. Standing behind Bush is National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, left.
2001 - Kilmainham residents protest against a planned office development in the heart of an historic part of Dublin
2001 - Irish Defense Minister Michael Smith, center, waves the Irish flag as he celebrates St. Patrick's day with other Irish peacekeepers at Camp Shamrock near the southern village of Tibnine
2003 - More than 1,500 performers create a Mardi-Gras atmosphere on the streets of Limerick for the 33rd International Marching Band Parade and Competition.

March 17
1777 - Patrick Brontë, originally Brunty; clergyman and father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, is born in Ballynaskeagh, Co. Down
1800 - Charles James Patrick Mahon, high-ranking soldier in Russia, Turkey, South America and France; duellist; & politician, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1794 - Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer, is born in Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone
1820 - Patrick Edward Connor, Union General, is born in Co. Kerry
1852 - Patrick Sheehan, 'Canon Sheehan', priest and writer, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1853 - The Ossianic Society is founded to preserve and publish manuscripts of the Fionn cycle
1858 - James Stephens founds the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin
1864 - Charlotte Milligan Fox, collector of folk music, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1877 - Michael O'Hanrahan, author and revolutionary, is born in New Ross, Co. Wexford
1889 - Harry Clarke, artist, known chiefly for stained-glass work, is born in Dublin
1899 - First issue of Gaelic League's An Claidheamh Soluis is published
1903 - St Patrick's Day becomes a bank holiday
1944 - Birth in Northern Ireland of Pat McCauley, rock drummer for Them
1951 -Scott Gorham, hard rock guitarist, is born
1964 - Joe Cooney, Galway hurler, is born near Loughrea
1976 - Birth in Dublin of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately
1997 - President Bill Clinton sharply increases the pressure on Northern political leaders to make concessions following a White House declaration that they will throw away a chance in a lifetime if they fail to settle an agreement by May
1998 - Frankie Curry, a top loyalist dissident, is gunned down by the UVF in revenge for the killing of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson
1999 - From Malin Head to Mizen Head, up to a million people turn out for St Patrick’s Day parades.
2001 - For the first time, Queen Elizabeth II sends a special St. Patrick's Day greeting to President Mary McAleese
2001 - Publicans in Westport, Co. Mayo call time on hen and stag parties. Bar owners in Westport, Co Mayo say the revellers are no longer welcome and will not be served in the town’s 44 pubs
2001 - Thousands of bargain hunters pack the RDS for the biggest ever Irish International Antiques and Fine Art Fair
2002 - In Dublin, an estimated 500,000 people line the parade route for the pinnacle of the €2.5 million St. Patrick's festival weekend
2003 - Two police officers and a paramedic are injured as sectarian fighting breaks out in flashpoint areas of Belfast
2003 - Snakes, sea monsters, Vikings and samba bands provide the sparkle in St Patrick’s Day celebrations around the country while the saint himself supplies the weather - warm and sunny in most areas.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint.

March 18
1736 - The Irish House of Commons condemns tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle
1800 - Harriet Smithson, actress and wife of the composer Hector Berlioz, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1801 - Ambrose O'Higgins, Viceroy of Peru, dies in Lima
1825 - In accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act, the Grand Orange Lodge advises its members that further meetings would be in violation of the law
1932 - The order outlawing the IRA is allowed to lapse
1949 - Birth in Belfast of Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, snooker player and two time world-champion
1952 - Pat Eddery, jockey, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1998 - The funeral of Hugh Coveney, politician and former Lord Mayor of Cork, takes place at St Michael's Church in Blackrock
1998 - Founder and executive director of the Chernobyl Children's Project charity, Adi Roche, is awarded the Frantsysk Skrayna Order by Belarus's envoy to Britain and Ireland, Uladzimir Shchasny. It is the country's highest honour and the first time it has been given to a foreigner
1999 - The funeral of murdered human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, takes place at St. Peter's Church in Lurgan
2000 - The end of a 30 year ban fails to bring huge numbers of people out to see the controversial cult movie, A Clockwork Orange
2000 - Geneva-based financier and professional gambler, JP McManus jumps almost 20 places to 13th in The Sunday Times Irish rich list, with an estimated worth of more than £300 million.

In the old Celtic calendar, today is Sheelah's Day. In ancient Ireland, it was an annual festival to honor the fertility Goddess known as Sheela-na-gig. Naked Sheela-na-gig figures appeared in Irish churches constructed before the 16th century, but most were defaced or destroyed during the prudish Victorian age.
According to some sources, the origins of "drowning the shamrock" have also been traced to this date. In the eighteenth century, William Hone reported on the celebrations surrounding Sheelah, who has been variously identified as the wife, mother, or other relative of St. Patrick - noting that, the people of the day "are not so anxious to determine who 'Sheelah' was, as they are earnest in her celebration. All agree that her immortal memory is to be maintained by potations of whisky." At the end of the day, the faithful would then take their shamrocks and drop them into their respective glasses before downing the contents.

March 19
1642 - Charles I's 'Adventurers' Act' offers confiscated Irish land in return for investment in the reconquest
1821 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Richard Francis Burton, adventurer, writer, swordsman, scholar and explorer
1824 - William Allingham, poet and diarist, is born in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal
1861 - Joseph MacRory, Catholic Primate of all Ireland and cardinal, is born in Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone
1920 - Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin and inventor of the famous "Flying Column, is killed by Black & Tans disguised as policemen. The inquest into his death returns a verdict of wilful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and the British government
1921 - Tom Barry and the West Cork Flying Column routs a superior force from the Essex Regiment at Crossbarry
1924 - Death of Charles Villiers Stanford, composer and author
1928 - Birth of actor Patrick McGoohan
1988 - Two British soldiers who drive into a Republican area of Belfast during a funeral procession, are seized and killed
1998 - The country's beef industry takes a further blow following strong indications from the Department of Agriculture that Co. Clare is to be included in the beef export ban to Russia
1998 - The Maze prison crisis deeps after the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) issues a death threat against warders.The terror gang warns it will specifically target prison officers working in H6 unit over allegations of mistreatment
2000 - The Irish and British governments begin an all out effort to build on the positive signal from Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, and rescue the endangered Northern Ireland peace process
2000 - As many as 250,000 people line the streets of Dublin to watch a spectacular fireworks display which caps off four days of celebration as the grand finale of St Patrick’s Festival
2000 - Thirty five bands from the United States, Japan, Northern Ireland and across the country take part in the Limerick International Marching Band Competition, Ireland's biggest band parade
2001 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey is in critical condition in a Dublin hospital after collapsing at his home
2001 - Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, announces that she is stepping down from her post, saying she thinks she can do more outside the "restraints" of the UN system
2003 - Co. Clare takes top honours at the CIE National Awards of Excellence.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Joseph.

March 20
1761 - Robert Simms, a founder of the United Irishmen and proprietor of the Northern Star, is born
1780 - Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, is born in Monaseed, Co. Wexford
1884 - Tomás MacCurtain, revolutionary and Lord Mayor of Cork is born in Ballyknockane, Co. Cork
1914 - After 60 cavalry officers at the Curragh resign their commissions - an incident known as 'the Curragh mutiny' - the War Secretary states that the army will not be used to coerce Ulster into Home Rule
1927 - Birth in Dublin Zoo of Cairbre, the lion used to introduce Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer films
1928 - William Sydney Callaghan, Methodist clergyman, is born in Dublin
1964 - Brendan Behan, writer/poet, dies at 41 in the Meath Hospital from complications caused by diabetes and alcohol
1971 - Brian Faulkner succeeds James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
1989 - Senior RUC men, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, negotiating cross-border security co-operation in south Armagh, are ambushed and shot dead by the IRA
1993 - Two bombs explode in Warrington, Cheshire. A three-year old child is killed and more than 50 people are injured; another child dies of his injuries later. The IRA admits responsibility
2001 - Thousands of second level students across the country take to the picket lines to protest the nationwide strike by teachers
2003 - Hundreds of anti-war protesters gather outside the Dáil to protest the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.
2006 - Eczema gene identified in study led by Irish doctors. The findings are regarded as hugely significant as the first steps towards finding a cure. The study was led by Dr Alan Irvine, a consultant paediatric dermatologist at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, and Prof Irwin McLean, a geneticist at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Dr Irvine is from Enniskillen and Prof McLean is originally from Ballymoney, Co Antrim.

March 21
1181 - John Cumin (or Comyn) is elected archbishop of Dublin and consecrated by the pope at Velletri on this date. He is the first Englishman to be appointed to an Irish see
1656 - Death of Bishop James Ussher. The Dublin-born cleric deduced from biblical studies the exact date of the Creation (October 23rd,4004 BCE), and the date of the end of the world: November 4, 1996. The Bishop had a cult following until then
1689 - Derry/Londonderry declares allegiance to William III
1763 - William James McNeven, physician, United Irishman and writer, is born in Aughrim, Co. Galway
1881 - The Peace Preservation Act, controlling possession and importation of arms, is enacted
1886 - Oscar Traynor, revolutionary, Fianna Fáil politician and Minister; football administrator, is born in Dublin
1970 - Dana (Rosemary Brown) wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with 'All Kinds of Everything'
1998 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins a gold medal in the World Cross-Country championships
2001 - Tests for foot-and-mouth disease are carried out on samples from sheep on a farm in Louth
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern strongly urges the release of the remaining Government funding to help complete the famine ship Jeanie Johnston
2001 - Hundreds of students gather outside Leinster House to protest the teacher's strike
2003 - The Government insists it is not a participant in the 50-member coalition of countries which the US says is providing support for the war on Iraq. The United States has published a list of 35 countries which make up its "coalition of the willing", but says another 15 members are providing back-up support and do not wish to be named.

March 22
1686 - With the return of a Catholic monarchy - James II - payments to the Catholic hierarchy are authorized; Catholics are appointed to government positions; replacement of Protestant by Catholic soldiers intensifies 1768 - Melasina Trench, writer, is born in Dublin 1829 - Sir Richard Sankey, soldier and engineer, is born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary 1841 - The Irish Emigrant Society is founded in New York 1848 - Birth of artist Sarah Purser in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin 1912 - Birth of actor Wilfrid Brambell in Dublin 1929 - Sixty-six horses run in Irish Grand National Sweepstakes; Alike wins the race 1979 - Two members of the IRA assassinate Sir Richard Sykes, British ambassador to the Netherlands, outside his residence at The Hague 1983 - Belfast-born and Dublin-educated Chaim Herzog is elected president of Israel. 1998 - Unionist leaders launch a fresh bid to have Republicans excluded permanently from peace negotiations 1998 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins her second gold medal at the World Cross-Country Championships 2000 - Over 2,000 student nurses walk out of hospital wards and lecture halls in a protest over tuition fees 2001 - The Government declares a national emergency in a bid to contain the country’s first foot and mouth outbreak in 60 years 2002 - At the Four Courts, the conviction of Paul Ward for the murder of Veronica Guerin, is quashed.

Sources: Irish Culture and Customs,
The Celtic
League, Irish
Abroad, The Wild Geese

Why Some Mexicans Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Click here to read an interesting story about the famous St. Patrick's Battalion of Mexico.

Read onward here.

Viva Los San Patricios!

Note from Dan Devinney

For many years now individuals outside the Irish community have been holding so called St. Patrick's Day Celebrations functions in and around our parade then have given those who wish to slander the Irish an opportunity to do so. As you know the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee and the City of Pittsburgh have made an effort this year to control this situation and return the family friendly atmosphere along the parade route. Some members in the news media have even tried to use this effort against us by creating the appearance that the City has had enough and is trying to rein in the Irish. Apparently while it is politically incorrect and in some cases illegal to attack certain groups it is still OK to slander the Irish.

I hesitated to send out a communication concerning this issue until recently when I heard a rumor that certain news media groups were sending out crews along the parade route in an effort to capture photographs that could once again be used to attacked the Irish. Apparently they plan to belittle our efforts to eliminate the anything goes atmosphere that others have tried to inject into our parade. It is impossible for me to determine whether or not this rumor is true.

However, I would hate to see them use a member of our order who was harmlessly sipping on a beer watching the parade as their poster child to say "See it was all just a smokescreen they really didn't mean it". Anyone who knows me knows I love to have a good time and I do not mean to take the fun out of the day I only ask that we honor the requests of the Parade Chairman and our own Brother, Jim Green.

Have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day.

Daniel P. Devinney
President, AOH Allegheny County Board

2700 Smallman Street, Suite 200
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4720
Telephone: (412) 338-2711
Telefax: (412) 338-9965
www.kcdlawfirm.com

St. Paddy's Day Party Concordia Club

Courtesy of the Brothers Riley - Party is on March 15!

Brother John Graf and Family on NBC's TODAY Show

In addition, here's a wonderful related story in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Finally, please check out the March 17th issue of People Magazine with another story about John Graf's family. It's the issue with Drew Barrymore on the cover! If you can't find one, ask Chris Cahillane to lend you his copy!

Click here for more information about the Little People of America.

Click here too - this wonderful organization was created from an informal gathering led by famous actor and little person Billy Barty.

Miss Smiling Irish Eyes on KDKA - March 11

Miss Smiling Irish Eyes Jocilyn Delaney (Brother Bill Delany's niece)will appear on KDKA-TV's Pittsburgh TODAY Live Show on Tuesday, March 11 at 9:00 a.m.

In addition, our late good Brother Bob Carr's daughter Kirsten was selected to the court of Miss Smiling Irish Eyes. Kirsten has marched with Division 32, carrying the flag of County Clare (purchased in the name of her father Bob) since his death. Bob would be thrilled beyond description at the news, but we know he's smiling down on Kirsten and his fellow AOH Brothers who permitted her to march with us for these past years.

This show will broadcast live from the Home Show at the Convention Center. KDKA has asked that we provide as many folks as possible for the live audience. Anybody who would like to attend must be at the Convention Center by 8:40 a.m. Enter through the main tunnel in the center of the building. Let the guards know that you are there for the show and they will direct you where to go.

We hope to see you there!

Irish Song - It's a Great Day for the Irish

Here's Judy Garland with "It's a Great Day for the IRISH!" Have a great St, Patrick's Day Parade week!

Irish Joke of the Week

A US police officer was on exchange in County Tipperary in Ireland with the Garda as part of a new law enforcement program between the two countries. One day the sergeant informed him they’d be stopping cars looking for suspicious characters.

The day was going along with nothing to report until an older man pulled up in a small Ford van. He seemed agitated and the American officer was immediately suspicious.

“Where are you travelling to today?” asked the officer. The older man angrily mumbled something the officer couldn’t understand and tightened his hands on the wheel. The alarm bells went off in the officer’s head and he reached for his baton, backing away from the car and saying,

“Sir, I can’t understand you - could you please step out of the vehicle.” At this the man became quite angry and turned to the officer, yelling at him,

“I SAID I’ve just come from KILLING A MAN and now I’m off to KILL A BOY!! Now *&^% off and let me on with me business!!”

The officer immediately arrested the older man on suspicion of murder and brought him in for questioning. Instead of the praise he expected, the Irish Garda sergeant uncuffed the suspect as soon as he saw him and, after just a few words, let him go with an apology before sternly taking the American officer aside.

“That man is Paddy O’Loughlin,” said the sergeant, “he’s well known to ourselves, runs a local delivery business - he’s harmless.”

“But - what about his confession to murder?!” protested the yankee officer. The sergeant hefted a tired sigh.

“Paddy might not be a very polite man - and he shouldn’t have yelled at you - but you really need to learn the names of the local areas here.” The sergeant then pointed to a map on the wall where the American saw his mistake.

The American officer had stopped Paddy directly on his daily route between Kilnaman and Killaboy, County Tipperary.

Irish History - March 9 - 15

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 9
1771 - Birth in Dublin of Thomas Reynolds, United Irishman whose information enables authorities to arrest Leinster Committee in 1798 1825 - The Catholic Association is dissolved in accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act
1914 - Prime Minister Asquith offers a compromise on Home Rule - electors in the North could vote to be excluded from an independent Ireland for six years
1932 - Éamon de Valera is elected President of the Executive Council of Ireland
1973 - The people of Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly to remain within the United Kingdom. In a referendum on the future of the province, 591,280 people or 57% of the electorate vote to retain links with the UK. A boycott by the Roman Catholic population means only 6,463 vote in favour of a united Ireland
1982 - Charles Haughey becomes Taoiseach for the second time
1995 - Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh make a historic visit to Northern Ireland. For the first time, the Queen meets with the Roman Catholic Primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, as well as his Anglican counterpart, Archbishop Robin Eames
1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton approves a visa for Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams to enter the United States
1998 - Justice Brian Walsh, judge on the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, dies suddenly of a stroke. On his appointment in December of 1961, Justice Walsh becomes one of the youngest Irish Supreme Court judges. He serves for 29 years - the longest by a member of the country's highest court
1999 - The European Parliament calls for the legalisation of abortion in Ireland. The opinion, passes in Strasbourg by 321 votes to 122; it carries no legislative weight but provokes a storm of political controversy
1999 - A record price for land in the South East is set in Waterford when leading city developer Noel Frisby pays £725,000 an acre for land being sold off for Telecom Eireann.

March 10
1478 - John De La Pole, the Duke of Suffolk, is appointed lieutenant of Ireland for 20 years on this date, but does not take office
1653 - Sir Phelim O'Neill is executed by Parliament forces in Dublin, after refusing to state that Charles I authorized the 1641 rebellion
1810 - Birth in Belfast of Sir Samuel Ferguson, Celtic scholar and a poet best known for his rendering of Irish legends in English verse
1883 - Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha, writer under the pseudonym 'An Seabhac' and promoter of the Irish language is born in Dingle, Co. Kerry
1888 - Birth in Dublin of William Joseph Shields, aka Barry Fitzgerald, actor
1894 - Ireland collects its first ever Triple Crown, defeating Wales in Belfast
1932 - IRA prisoners in the Free State are released
1945 - Birth of Donal Lunny, the founder of Planxty, the Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts
1966 - Death of Frank O'Connor, poet and novelist
1971 - Fighting erupts between Official and Provisional IRA in Belfast
1998 - After five wildly inaccurate missiles are fired with little warning at a police station in Armagh city, police accuse republicans of attempting mass murder. 100 people — many pensioners — are forced to flee their homes. Fortunately, no-one is killed or injured
2000 - Harland and Wolff’s last hope of saving the Belfast shipyard appear doomed after it is confirmed that Cunard’s £433 million contract to build the Queen Mary 2 has gone to French rivals
2002 - Former Circuit of Ireland rally champion Frank Meagher is killed in a driving accident in Co. Tipperary, between Cloneen and Mullinahone
2003 - The National Aquatic Centre opens in Abbotstown, Dublin. The water-park with its eight different fun rides and attractions is one of the most hi-tech in Europe and the pool complex is one of the most advanced Olympic standard facilities in the world
2003 - Tobacco manufacturers Gallaher announces a range of increases which sees the cost of several popular brands rise to nearly €6 for a packet of 20 cigarettes.

March 11
1605 - A proclamation declares all persons in the realm to be free, natural and immediate subjects of the king and not subjects of any lord or chief
1812 - Composer William Vincent Wallace, best known for his opera, Maritana, is born in Co. Waterford
1858 - Irish revolutionary Thomas James Clarke is born of Irish parents on the Isle of Wight
1880 - On the last day of his tour of the United States, Parnell launches the Irish National Land League of the USA
1926 - Eamon de Valera resigns as head of Sinn Féin
1929 - Erskine B. Childers, diplomat, is born in Dublin
1951 -Ian Paisley co-founds the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
1953 - Birth in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway of Mary Harney, politician, leader of the Progressive Democrats and Tánaiste
1954 - Margaret (Gretta) Cousins, Irish women's rights activist, is born
1964 - Shane Richie, actor and game-show host, is born Shane Roche to Irish parents in London
1974 - Brothers Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn break out of Mountjoy Prison. Jailed in 1973 for a £67,000 heist at a Dublin bank - the biggest to date in Irish history - during their trial they claim they are M16 spies working for the British Government against the IRA
1995 - Gerry Adams arrives in New York
2000 - Emigrant Francis O’Neill, an American police chief who carried a Chicago gangster’s bullet to the grave is honoured at the weekend in his native West Cork where Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne unveils a life-sized memorial sculpture
2001 - Over 1,300 people pack the Cathedral of the Assumption to pay their last respects to the former Archbishop of Tuam, Most Reverend Joseph Cunnane, at his funeral Mass
2001 - Mr. Tony Luff, founder of the Galway Swan Rescue, coordinates a rescue operation involving dozens of volunteers in Galway city to save the lives of over 60 of the famous Claddagh swans after yet another oil slick surrounds the birds - just a fortnight after four are killed in a previous spill
2002 - Limerick-born Michael Collins, author of The Keepers of Truth, is named as one of seven writers competing for the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002, worth €100,000
2002 - Customs officers smash the biggest illegal oil laundering operation ever discovered in the State.The plant, near Dundalk, Co Louth, had the capacity to launder up to 300,000 litres of oil a week.

March 12
1295 - Richard de Burgh is released by the council in parliament at Kilkenny
1685 - George Berkeley, philosopher, physicist, mathematician, Dean of Derry and Bishop of Cloyne, is born in Dysart Castle, Co. Kilkenny. The university town of Berkeley in California is named in his honour
1689 - James II lands at Kinsale and proceeds to Dublin
1832 - Birth of Capt. Charles Boycott, despised English estate manager in Ireland, from whose name the word 'boycott' is taken
1873 - Gladstone's Irish University Bill is defeated
1875 - After being barred as an undischarged felon from taking his seat as elected MP for Tipperary, John Mitchel is re-elected on this date. He dies eight days later
1798 - Having been betrayed by Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster Directory of United Irishmen leaders is arrested
1860 - Michael O'Hickey, professor of Irish and Irish-language campaigner, is born in Carrickbeg, Co. Waterford
1930 - Pat Taaffe, jockey and trainer, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1944 - Britain bans all travel to and from Ireland in an effort to prevent news of Allied preparations for the invasion of France reaching the Germans
1974 - Billy Fox, MP for Co. Monaghan, is assassinated
2000 - National Tree Week ends with a mass planting of 5,000 trees at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin
2001 - Department of Agriculture vets are investigating another suspected case of foot and mouth in the North. Tests are carried out on a sheep taken from a farm in Augher to an abattoir in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, for slaughter.

March 13
1784 - Reform Bill in Irish House of Commons
1791 - Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man (part 1) - a reply to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and a major influence on Irish radicals - is published
1865 - Birth of Patrick Nally in Balla, Co Mayo. An athlete, he was a major inspiration in the founding the GAA in 1884 by Michael Cusack. The Nally stand in Croke Park is named after him
1922 - George Bernard Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh V" premieres in New York
1939 - At-Swim-Two-Birds, a highly experimental novel by Flann O'Brien, is published in London
1960 - Birth of Adam Clayton, bass player with U2
1973 - Birth of Ballybeg Prim, one of the greatest racing dogs of all time in Thurles, Co. Tipperary
1998 - Naval personnel question the crew of a British-registered flagship after a second day of intimidation of Irish trawlers off the South West coast
1999 - Over 250,000 people pack the streets around the River Liffey in Dublin to witness the largest fireworks display ever seen in Ireland
The event marks the start of a five-day festival to mark St Patrick's Day as well as the official launch of the Millennium celebrations
2000 -A multi million pound seizure of drugs in Holland results in the arrest of John Cunningham, one of Ireland’s most prolific career criminals
2001 - The Irish food industry is dealt a hammer blow as the United States and Canada ban Irish food imports, worth over £100 million a year, because of the foot and mouth scare
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie gives his strongest indication yet that the US will be able to use Shannon Airport regardless of UN backing for war in Iraq.

March 14
1705 - An English act permits direct export of Irish linen to American colonies
1732 - Birth of Sackville Hamilton, politician and civil servant
1738 - John Beresford, unionist politician, is born in Cork
1822 - Richard Boyle, civil engineer, is born in Dublin
1894 - William Earle "Moley" Molesworth, WWI Ace, is born
1902 - The Irish Association of Women Graduates and Candidate-Graduates, an organization open to those interested in promoting women's education, is launched
1962 - Eibhín Bean Uí Choisdeaíbh, Irish language folk song collector, dies
1973 - Liam Cosgrave is appointed president of Ireland
1985 - Schoolchildren claim to have seen a 'moving' statue in Asdee, Co. Kerry. Other reports come from Ballinspittle, Co. Cork. The faithful claim a miraculous event. Sceptics say it is an optical illusion
1984 - Gunmen shoot and wounded Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, in an attack in central Belfast. He is hit in the neck, shoulder and arm as several gunmen riddle his car with about 20 bullets. Three people travelling with Mr Adams are also wounded in the shooting No-one is seriously hurt and a fourth man escapes injury
1991 -The Birmingham Six - Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker - are released from jail after their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs are quashed by the Court of Appeal
1998 - Former Defence and Marine Minister Hugh Coveney falls to his death from a headland near Roberts Cove, Co. Cork
2002 - Roundwood House, Mountrath, Co. Laois is the only Irish establishment to make the list of the world's top 50 restaurants published by Restaurant magazine. It places at 42.

March 15
1672 - The first declaration of indulgence suspending penal laws against Catholics and dissenters is issued by Charles II
1764 - Charles O'Conor, antiquary and historian, is born in Belanagare, Co. Roscommon
1773 - Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer is performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London
1774 - Isaac Weld, author, is born in Dublin
1813 - In the British House of Commons, Sir Eyre Coote (the younger), MP for Ballynakill and Maryborough, proposes the abolition of flogging in the army
1852 - Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (née Persse), playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co. Galway
1904 - Birth of George Brent, actor, in Dublin
1878 - Sir Robert McCarrison, medical scientist and honorary physician to King George V from 1928 to 1935 is born in Portadown, Co. Armagh
1976 - The IRA is linked to a bomb that explodes on a London Underground train; the driver of the train, Julius Stephen, is shot dead while chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated the bomb. Ten other people are injured
1993 - Kitty Linnane, leader of the Kilfenora Céili Band, dies
1998 - The US Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, confirms she will leave her post after US Independence Day celebrations in Dublin on July 4
1999 - A prominent Irish civil rights solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, is killed by a Loyalist car bomb in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1999 - The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Jim McDaid, unveils plans to commemorate the Year 2000. Commencing on St. Patrick's Day, "The Party Starts Here," is the official title of a 21-month long series of events, which will link over 300 separate festivals
2000 - The censor lifts a ban on more than two thirds, or 400, of prohibited books following an appeal by the Labour Party. Only 187 books and about 270 magazines and newspapers now remain on the banned list
2001 - John Gilligan is found not guilty of the murder of Veronica Guerin; however, he is sentenced to 28 years in prison on drug-related crimes. The sentence is twice what most people expected and six years more than the previous longest sentence handed down for a drugs offence
2002 - Tesco's supermarket chain in Ireland announces that, unlike its British counterpart, it has no plans to start issuing the morning-after pill to Irish teenagers free of charge.

Sources: Irish Culture and Customs,
The Celtic
League, Irish
Abroad, The Wild Geese