American Irish Historical Society leader on first anniversary

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County Kerry native Elizabeth Stack became executive director of the American Irish Historical Society in New York City in February 2024. The previous six years she was executive director of the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, N.Y. Before 2018, Stack taught Irish and Irish American History and was an associate director at Fordham University’s Institute of Irish Studies. She completed her PhD at Fordham, a Jesuit research university in the Bronx, N.Y. This Q & A was conducted by email as Stack approached her upcoming first anniversary of leading the 127-year-old organization. MH

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AIHS was closed for several years due to financial and legal problems, in addition to the COVID pandemic. New York Attorney General Letitia James appointed you and others to an interim board to right the foundering organization. Since your appointment as executive director AIHS’s has reopened its Fifth Avenue building and hosted many events. Give us your assessment of your first year. What are your successes? What still needs to be done?

Elizabeth Stack

ES: My first year as executive director has been an exciting and rewarding experience, though not without its challenges! The primary goal has been to re-establish the Society as a vital resource for the New York public, and I am proud to say that we are making significant strides toward that. In our first year, I hosted 63 events, both in-person and virtually, covering a diverse range of topics. These events have not only sparked enriching conversations but have also helped us begin to build a thriving community around the Society.

We had to almost start from scratch – we have a new website and are undergoing a new membership drive. We post daily on social media, and have answered queries from researchers, while also opening the building for tours. It was necessary to hit the ground running, and also try to assess the archives, do necessary maintenance on the building, and get the infrastructure back up. But I felt it was important that the Society was seen to be active again as quickly as we could be.

We are committed to making the AIHS a place where people feel welcome to learn, share, and connect. Our goal is to ensure that our doors are always open, and that the Society serves as a space for both education and community engagement. While we’ve accomplished a great deal in our first year, there’s still work to be done. This year we will continue to expand our programming, strengthen our partnerships, and build on the foundation we laid in 2024.

Some specific plans or scheduled events for 2025?

ES: We are kicking off 2025 with a talk on ‘The Rise and Rule of Eamon De Valera’ with David McCullagh, RTE journalist, on Jan. 14. De Valera’s personal and political connection to New York makes it a fantastic discussion to kick off the new year.

We’re also excited to host a fantastic exhibition from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield at the Society from January to May. The exhibition showcases a powerful mix of historical and contemporary artworks that dive into the lasting impact of the Irish Famine. It’s a great opportunity for visitors to connect with themes of loss, cultural erosion, and the devastation of that time. Plus, we’ll be holding several talks throughout the five months, exploring both the exhibition and the broader history of the Great Hunger.

We’ve also got some exciting events coming up in collaboration with Irish universities and cultural organizations. These events will help strengthen the academic and historical connections between Ireland and the United States, offering a great opportunity to deepen our shared understanding.

We intend to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby in April as well as the 1916 Rising. I am hoping that this year we can utilize more of our own archives when telling these stories, and I plan to host more talks on the history of the Society and its holdings.

Any surprises from your first year at AIHS that you can share with our readers?

ES: The most unexpected challenge I’ve encountered during my first year at AIHS is the complexity of managing such an iconic building. While the grandeur of our mansion on 5th Avenue, right across from the Met, is truly breathtaking, it comes with its fair share of obstacles. The size and age of the building brings significant operational costs, and the maintenance required to preserve its historical integrity is no small task. Our technology is subpar and there are various physical limitations to what we can do here. It’s been a constant balancing act.

The American Irish Historical Society mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

There have been numerous columns written on both sides of the Atlantic about the “end of an era” for traditional U.S.-Irish relations and Irish American identity. These pieces are usually pegged to the end of Joe Biden’s presidency, the secularization and modernization of Ireland, the growing diversity of Ireland and Irish America. As an historian as well as AIHS director, what are your thoughts about the transatlantic relationship (political, social, etc.). How would you describe contemporary Irish America? What is the role for the AIHS in the twenty-first century compared to its founding in the late nineteenth century?

ES: Irish American relations have always evolved, and while it’s true that we’re seeing some shifts today, these changes are part of a long history of adaptation and growth. The AIHS has always played an important role in this dynamic relationship, from being involved with the Irish independence movement in the early 20th century, through to collaborating with Irish and Irish American academics and artists, and we continue to do so today. We have strong ties with key organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Emerald Guild, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Emerald Isle and other immigration centers, and the Irish Repertory Theater, which serve as pillars of the community and help preserve our cultural heritage – and we are supported by the Irish Consulate too.

Despite the decline in emigration, Irish America remains vibrant and influential. Our membership demographic is probably mostly among the older generation, but I do want the Society to also engage with younger Irish Americans and recent immigrants. Many of today’s immigrants are educated and working in business or finance and technology, and they come from a different Ireland, so the old touchstones of the Irish story are maybe not as relevant for them. Ireland has undergone a remarkable transformation, and this shift is undeniably positive, although I think there is sometimes a sense of sorrow among the Irish Americans about how much Ireland has changed in the last twenty years or so.

The image of the poor Irish is firmly in the past. Today, Ireland’s global standing has strengthened, with over 500 Irish companies thriving in the U.S. alone and Ireland ranking as the 9th largest investor in the country. This reflects the nation’s newfound prominence on the international stage, particularly in sectors like business, technology, and culture. And in a post-Brexit world as the entire island of Ireland interacts with Europe and America, we are very proud to partner with Queen’s University and Ulster University on various talks and seminars.

In the arts, we’re seeing exciting developments too. Irish actors, musicians, and artists continue to make waves, and one of the most compelling examples is the success of Irish rap, especially groups like Kneecap. We also celebrate the global reach of Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing, which was adapted into a TV series. As a historical institution, this is something we are especially proud of, as it brings attention to critical chapters of Irish history and culture. Academics and journalists are tackling complicated subjects like the Magdalene Homes and adoption out of Ireland, and how Ireland is dealing with its own immigration experience, so the conversations we are having are dynamic and inclusive.

All of these developments suggest that the relationship between Ireland and the U.S. is not only changing but thriving, and it’s for the better. As we move forward, the AIHS must adapt and embrace these changes, helping to forge a new identity for Irish America in the 21st century. We’re here to celebrate that evolving relationship, while also carving out our own place in it—preserving the rich history of Irish immigration while embracing the future of Irish American cultural exchange.

Do you have any time for your own research? What topics of Irish or Irish American history most interest you these days?

ES: My primary research interest centers around immigration, particularly Irish emigration patterns. I am deeply interested in exploring how Irish emigrants shaped American society, both during their initial arrival and in the long-term. One of the key aspects I wrote about is the Immigration Act of 1924, which imposed strict quotas based on national origins and had a lasting impact on Irish immigration. The law drastically changed the landscape of U.S. immigration policy and is crucial to understanding the Irish experience in America during the early 20th century.

The Great Hunger is another area I’m still really interested in, especially having read recent works by Cian McMahon, Tyler Anbinder, and Anelise Strout. I’m particularly focused on how the famine and the resulting wave of emigration profoundly impacted the Irish American community. Charity, particularly how it was mobilized by Irish American communities to support both new immigrants and the broader social fabric, is another area of interest. I’m exploring how the Irish American community’s experiences as immigrants led them to advocate for others, and how attitudes toward immigrants in American society have evolved over time. I’m fascinated by the anti-Catholic rhetoric of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but also, I want to look at Irish American attitudes to other immigrants in more recent years. Lastly, American support for Irish independence is another area I would like to concentrate on, especially given the archives we hold here on De Valera’s visit in 1920 and the Friends of Irish Freedom.

Through my work at the AIHS, I’ve been able to rekindle my passion for these topics, and I look forward to continuing to explore the historical and contemporary impact of Irish immigration on both sides of the Atlantic.

Library inside the AIHS mansion in New York.

Remembering Jimmy Carter’s words on Northern Ireland

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Happy New Year. This first post of 2025 was going to focus on how Donald Trump’s return to the White House later this month threatens the Irish economy. The risk comes from whether Trump keeps his promises to cut corporate taxes and impose tariffs, either of which could incentivize US tech and pharmaceutical multinationals in Ireland to return production, jobs, and future investment to America. This could be a big blow to the incoming Irish government, which, like Trump’s administration, is still in formation.

Jimmy Carter discusses his cancer prognosis at the Carter Center, 2015. The Carter Center/M. Schwarz

But the Dec. 29, 2024, death of former US President Jimmy Carter, 100, deserves attention. Carter “had no Irish roots and never visited Ireland before or during his presidency,” Seán Donlon, Irish ambassador to the United States during the Carter and Ronald Reagan administrations, wrote in the Irish Times. “Nevertheless, his intervention in Irish matters in 1977 was hugely significant and opened the door for the constructive involvement of subsequent presidents in working for peace and stability on the island of Ireland.”

Carter broke the mold of US deference to the UK on Northern Ireland as a domestic matter. He incurred opposition not only from London, but also from Foggy Bottom, headquarters of the US State Department. Even John F. Kennedy, famously the first Irish American Catholic president, toed this line, established at the time of partition by David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson.

Former Irish diplomat to Washington Ted Smyth told the Times there were two key factors at play in 1977: Carter’s natural inclination to see the North as a human rights issue, and the relationships that SDLP leader John Hume forged with US House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill and US Sen. Ted Kennedy, the late president’s brother. These two Irish Americans leveraged their roles in helping Carter achieve his legislative goals in Congress to push him into taking a position on Northern Ireland after nearly a decade of the Troubles.

Carter’s statement emerged on Aug. 30, 1977. In part, it said:

The United States wholeheartedly supports peaceful means for finding a just solution that involves both parts of the community of Northern Ireland and protects human rights and guarantees freedom from discrimination – a solution that the people in Northern Ireland, as well as the governments of Great Britain and Ireland can support. …  In the event of such a settlement, the U.S. Government would be prepared to join with others to see how additional job creating investment could be encouraged, to the benefit of all the people of Northern Ireland. (FULL STATEMENT)

While insisting the US would maintain its policy of “impartiality” on Northern Ireland, the statement opened the door to future involvement by saying the people there “should know that they have our complete support in their quest for a peaceful and just society.” The statement meant the Irish government for the first time was considered an equal partner with the UK. It promised economic aid if there was a solution.

Partial clip of an Associated Press story from page 6 of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 31, 1977.

It took another 21 years of diplomacy by three more American presidents (Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton) and numerous leaders on both sides of the Irish Sea to reach the Good Friday Agreement. The promised US economic aid “has been, and is being, delivered,” Michael Lillis, a former senior Irish diplomat noted in his Oct. 14, 2024, letter to the Times, shortly after Carter’s 100th birthday.

Carter made a private visit to Ireland in 1995, meeting with Irish President Mary Robinson at Áras an Uachtaráin. He extended his Habitat for Humanity work by building a house in the Dublin suburb of Ballyfermotin. He also found time for some fishing near Kilkenny.

As of publishing this post it is unclear what officials from Ireland, Northern Ireland, and/or the UK will attend Carter’s Jan. 9 state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Outgoing President Joe Biden, the nation’s second Irish American Catholic leader, will eulogize Carter, the longtime Sunday school teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga.

Trump, meanwhile, has nominated Edward Walsh, president of the Walsh Company in New Jersey, as the next US ambassador to Ireland. One of Walsh’s key qualifications appears to be his membership in the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. His views on Ireland are unknown. Walsh’s US Senate confirmation is likely to lag others nominated for more critical positions in the administration.

Regardless of what happens with future transatlantic relations, Ireland and Northern Ireland have lost a key American ally of the past in Jimmy Carter.

Best of the blog, 2024

It’s been a good year. My work included two public presentations, publication of my first entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, and a trip to Ireland. I reviewed important archival collections at University College Dublin and the New York Public Library. I donated archival material to the University of Galway. The site surpassed its 1,000th post on the way to this 12th annual roundup of the year’s news and content.

In April I presented “The American Press and the Irish Revolution” at the American Irish Historical Society in New York City. The one-hour talk highlighted my ongoing research on this topic. In October I presented my paper, “Ireland’s ‘Bloody Sundays’ and The Pittsburgh Catholic, 1920 & 1972,” at the American Journalism Historians Association’s annual conference in Pittsburgh, my native city. This paper and my other work are found in the American Reporting of Irish Independence section.

The DIB published my entry on Michael Joseph O’Brien. The Irish Catholic (Dublin) published my essay on “The ever-changing American Irish.” I have two longform pieces queued for 2025 publication in scholarly journals. One is a non-Irish subject. Detail once published.

1953 letter & shamrocks.

During my November trip to Ireland I donated some 50 family letters to Imicre, The Kerby A. Miller Collection, Irish Emigrant Letters and Memoirs from North America at the University of Galway. The database of scanned and transcribed letters went online in March 2024.

The letters I donated are primary between a daughter of my Kerry-born maternal grandparents (my aunt) and several cousins in Ireland. They are dated from the 1970s and 1980s. A few older letters between other correspondents are dated from January 1921 through St. Patrick’s Day 1953. I have been told the material will be uploaded to the public database sometime in 2025.

More highlights:

–Most popular post of the year: United Ireland in 2024? Fiction and fact

–Voters in the Republic of Ireland this year decided a constitutional referendum as well as local and European Union elections. The electorate there and in Northern Ireland also decided national elections with historical and contemporary implications. See:

–I toured Flanders fields in Belgium, including the Island of Ireland Peace Park (Photo below), and heard Fergal Keane “On war reporting and trauma, then and now” at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.

–I have visited more than two dozen St. Patrick’s churches in four countries. This year I finally walked inside the Basilica of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. (Photo below)

–Guest posts: Mark Bulik contributed an excerpt from his book, Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York; Felix Larkin provided John Bruton (1947-2024), an appreciation.

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My work often requires the assistance of librarians and archivists. Special thanks to the staff at the New York Public Library for their assistance in reviewing the Maloney collection of Irish historical papers and Frank P. Walsh papers; and at UCD with the Eamon de Valera papers and Desmond FitzGerald papers. Here in DC, I am grateful for the personal assistance and access to materials at the Library of Congress, Georgetown University Library, and Catholic University of American Library. This year I also received virtual help from the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library; Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse (N.Y.) University; the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota; and Iona University in New Rochelle, N.Y.

I am grateful to all visitors to this site, especially my email subscribers. Wishing happy holidays to all my readers.

Basilica of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

Round tower at Island of Ireland Peace Park in Belgium.

Remembering the Freeman’s Journal & Lartigue monorail

Two Irish business enterprises that ceased operations a century ago remain lively in the nation’s memory. The Listowel and Ballybunion Railway, a unique monorail, made its final journey in October 1924, ending 36 years of passenger and freight service in County Kerry. Two months later, the last issue of the Freeman’s Journal, a 161-year-old national daily, rolled off the presses in Dublin. The events were unconnected, but the railway and the newspaper shared a few touch points.

The well-established Freeman reported the monorail from its Leap Year Day 1888 opening and published the legal notices about the sale of its assets. The single-track train never made much profit, and the new Irish Free State government’s decision to exclude it from the railway nationalization scheme was a fatal blow. Many of the monorail’s passengers–whether locals or visitors–surely carried copies of the Freeman as they wobbled along the 9-mile, elevated rail from the market town to the seaside resort. More significantly, both businesses were attacked by anti-treaty republicans during Ireland’s civil war: the rail line because it was used to transport Free State troops; the newspaper because it editorialized against the “irregulars.”

The Lartigue monorail in Kerry opened on Leap Year Day in 1888. The line closed in 1924.

The Freeman reported that the Dublin judge who allowed the “famous” railway’s receivers to close the line “did so with regret,” as if to imbue the legal formality with a romantic resignation.[1]”Mono Railway To Go”, Freeman’s Journal, Oct. 8, 1924. The paper retold humorous stories of how operators had to balance passengers and livestock on each side of the pannier-style carriages. The monorail, popularly known by the surname of inventor Charles Lartigue, years after was recalled in verse and a few books. In 2003, the Lartigue Monorail museum opened in Listowel, including a replica model operating on a short stretch of track.

The Freeman’s cessation was compelled by “the conditions of the time,” its editors noted. But, they added, there remained “the consolation of good work done, of great aims accomplished, of a a nation freer and happier for the existence of an institution that now passes away and become a part–and an unforgettable part–of a victorious people’s story.”[2]”1763-1924” editorial, Freeman’s Journal, Dec. 19, 1924

The Freeman was certainly the more consequential of the two businesses. Its digitized archive is “said to be the most important newspaper source” for more than a century and a half of Irish political, commercial, and cultural life. Dublin historian Felix Larkin has noted the paper figures prominently in James Joyce’s Ulysses, while the attack on its equipment by anti-treaty republicans reflects today’s threats to the free press in many parts of the world. Larkin encouraged An Post to issue a special stamp commemorating the paper’.

Over the years this site has published several pieces about both enterprises, a few of which are linked below the photo for additional reading. Enjoy.

May 2024 launch of the Freeman’s Journal stamp with, left to right, Aileen Mooney of An Post; Catherine Munro, granddaughter of Martin Fitzgerald, the paper’s last owner; and historian Felix Larkin, chair of the Philatelic Advisory Committee. Photo taken in front of the O’Connell Street, Dublin, statue of Sir John Gray, owner of the Freeman’s Journal from 1841 until his death in 1875.

Freeman’s Journal

Lartigue monorail

References

References
↑1 ”Mono Railway To Go”, Freeman’s Journal, Oct. 8, 1924.
↑2 ”1763-1924” editorial, Freeman’s Journal, Dec. 19, 1924

Coalition talks begin for new Irish government

UPDATE 2:

“… the real story of this election is the hardening of the center-right bloc, hegemonic even with its historically much-reduced vote. It is still able to win enough seats, on low enough turnout, to continue flying the flag for the world of chambers of commerce, landlords, and big farmers who have so long dictated the pace of Irish politics, added to a more recent cast of tech giants. Today playing with anti-immigration rhetoric, they still hope that young Irish people doubting their prospects at home will continue to find a better future in emigration, rather than change Ireland itself.”–David Broder in Jacobin

UPDATE 1:

All 174 Dáil Éireann seats have been determined in Ireland’s general election. Fianna Fáil won 48 seats. Fine Gael, another traditional center right party, won 38 seats, one fewer than the 39 secured by left-leaning Sinn Féin. Independent candidates claimed 23 seats. Labour and Social Democrats each won 11 seats. People Before Profit-Solidarity won three seats; Aontú secured two; and the Green Party retained only one of the 12 seats it held in the previous government.

Micheál Martin

Negotiations to secure a majority coalition of at least 88 members–and most leaders would want some padding, too–have begun in private meetings and in media reports. FF’s Micheál Martin, likely to emerge as the next taoiseach, has said Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 is “an effective deadline” for Ireland’s government formation, Politico.eu reports.

Wired notes that Ireland’s election result bucks the global trend this year of far-right and populist parties and leaders making significant gains in Europe and the US. The losers are claiming the election was rigged and spewing other conspiracy theories on social media.

ORIGINAL POST:

Voters in the Republic of Ireland have signaled a desire for stability instead of change. They have returned center-right Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael party candidates who will need a third partner–likely Labour or the Social Democrats–to complete the next coalition government majority. Ireland’s Green party, smallest partner in the 2020-through October 2024 FF-FG coalition, faded in the Nov. 29 polling.

Ballots are still being counted in the country’s proportional representation/single transferable vote system. Voters can choose as many, or as few, candidates as they like in order of preference within each multi-seat constituency. See a detailed explanation.

A total of 174 representatives are being chosen to Dáil Éireann, an increase of 14 seats from the previous parliament. The number of constituencies has grown from 39 to 43, with each constituency having from three to five members. The expansion is based on the Republic’s growing population, now over 5 million.

Some highlights:

  • Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin; Fine Gale‘s Simon Harris, and Sinn Féin‘s Mary Lou McDonald have been re-elected to their seats in the Dáil. Martin seems best positioned to become the next taoiseach, or prime minister, with FF apparently heading toward the most seats.
  • Sinn Féin likely will be among the top three finishers, a better outcome than expected after taking losses in local and European Union elections this summer, then being roughed up this fall by several internal scandals. But the left-leaning united Ireland party will not be in position to form a coalition.
  • Gangland boss Gerry “The Monk” Hutch nearly secured the fourth and final seat in the Dublin Central constituency.
  • Voters in Limerick noticed that Maurice Quinlivan of Sinn Féin and Dean Quinn of The Irish People party were listed ahead of Willie O’Dea of Fianna Fail and the Social Democrats’ Elisa O’Donovan on their ballots. The deviation from alphabetical order could result in challenges to the result.
  • Two groups monitoring anti-social behavior and misinformation claim to have documented more than four dozen episodes of politically motivated violence, threats, or harassment against candidates or their canvassers in the weeks before the election.
  • The national turnout was just shy of 60 percent.

mage from An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission.

Some Irish books for holiday gift giving, or ‘yourshelf’

A Christmas tree sprouted in the lobby of my Dublin hotel during a mid-November visit to the Irish capital. In the U.S., the arrival of the Thanksgiving signals the start of the year-end holidays. Since books are a great gift to give others–or ourselves–below I provide details of a dozen titles that have found their way to my reading chair or caught my attention in the press this year. There is an emphasis on books that explore aspects of the Irish in America, or journalism. Descriptions are taken from publisher promotions and modified, as appropriate, by my own assessments. Books are listed in alphabetical order by author’s surname. Remember to support your local bookseller. Enjoy. MH

  • Atlas series, multiple editors, Atlas of the Irish Civil War. [Cork University Press, 2024] This title joins Atlas of the Great Irish Famine 1845-52, published in 2012, and Atlas of the Irish Revolution, 2017. With contributions from over 90 scholars, this book is a key resource for historians or casual readers and a must-mention for this list.
  • Mark Bulik, Ambush at Central Park: When the IRA Came to New York. [Fordham, 2023] The author provided this Guest Post excerpt in January.
  • Mary Cogan, Moments of Reflection, Mindful Thoughts and Photographs. [Crannsilini Publishing, 2024.] Mary publishes the popular Listowel Connection website. Her book is not available online, but she welcomes email at listowelconnection@gmail.com. “We’ll sort something out,” she told me.
  • Gessica Cosi, Reshaping’ Atlantic Connections: Ireland and Irish America 1917-1921. [Edward Everett Root, 2024] Uses U.S.-born Irish leader Eamon de Valera’s June 1919 to December 1920 tour of America to explore the varieties of Irish American identities and nationalist ideologies. Also probes the larger question of what it meant to be “ethnic” in the U.S. during and after its entry into the Great War.
  • Seán Creagh, The Wolfhounds of Irish-American Nationalism: A History of Clan na Gael, 1867-Present. [Peter Lang, 2023] Claims to be “the first book covering the entire history of Clan na Gael,” the U.S.-based revolutionary group supporting Irish independence and unification since the mid-19th century. The author also asserts there is “an academic bias in Ireland against the study and recognition of groups like Clan na Gael in the overall struggle for Irish independence.” Hmm. Kudos for Creagh’s effort, but his writing is awkward and the lack of an index reduces the book’s usefulness.  
  • Hasia R. Diner, Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews in America. [St. Martin Press, 2024] Despite contrary popular belief, Diner insists the prevailing relationships between Jewish and Irish Americans were overwhelmingly cooperative, and the two groups were dependent upon one another to secure stable and upwardly mobile lives in their new home.
  • Myles Dungan, Land Is All That Matters: The Struggle That Shaped Irish History [Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024] Examines two hundred years of agrarian conflict from the famine of 1741 to the eve of World War Two. Some great stuff for those of us with an interest in this niche topic, but at over 600 pages, this tome is probably not for casual readers. I found Dungan’s overuse of French and Latin phrases annoying.   
  • Diarmaid Ferriter, The Revelation of Ireland, 1995-2020, [Profile Books, 2024] In what might be considered a sequel or addendum to The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000, his 2005 overview, Ferriter explores the quarter century of developments on the island from the eve of the Good Friday Agreement to COVID.
  • Eamonn Mallie, Eyewitness to War & Peace. [Merrion Press, 2024] The Northern Ireland journalist details his experiences of covering the Troubles, from street violence to exclusive interviews with key figures such as Gerry Adams, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, John Hume, Ian Paisley, and Margaret Thatcher.
  • Timothy J. Meagher, Becoming Irish American: The Making and Remaking of a People From Roanoke to JFK [Yale University Press, 2023] Reveals how Irish American identity was forged, how it has transformed, and how it has held lasting influence on American culture. See my Irish Catholic essay on this book and William V. Shannon’s The American Irish, a foundational study of Irish America from 1963.
  • Thomas J. Rowland, Patriotism is a Catholic Virtue: Irish-American Catholics and the Church in the Era of the Great War, 1900-1918. [The Catholic University of America Press, 2023] How Hibernian Romanists combated U.S. nativists’ religious and social attacks, proved themselves as loyal Americans during the First World War, and directed the course of Irish American nationalism in the cause of their motherland’s fight for freedom. Rowland provides some good background details about Irish influence on the U.S. Catholic press.
  • David Tereshchuk, A Question of Paternity, My Life as an Unaffiliated Reporter. [Envelope Books, 2024] I attended a conversation between Tereshchuk and Irish activist and journalist Don Mullan in September at the American Irish Historical Society in New York. They shared their experiences of Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972, which Tereshchuk covered as a broadcast journalist. Tereshchuk revisits the event and other aspects of his life beyond Ireland in this memoir.

    Some of the books listed above.

Pre-Irish & post-U.S. election letter from Dublin

DUBLIN–I arrived here days after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the U.S. presidential election and as Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris declared a general election date for later this month. The Irish Times headlines above prompted two quick thoughts:

  • Irish campaigns are mercifully shorter than the U.S election calendar.
  • Trump’s win not not only thrusts America into the unknown, but also Ireland and the rest of Europe and the world.

Both elections are main topics of conversation in the once low-slung capital, where church steeples, the 17-floor Liberty Hall (opened in 1965), and the decommissioned power-generating Poolbeg “Stacks” (taller than the office tower), once dominated the skyline. Today, the city is filled with construction cranes and scaffolding-wrapped buildings. At least a dozen residential and commercial towers with floor counts in the teens or low 20s are rising in the city, most on the south side of the River Liffey. That’s no match for the 58-floor Trump Tower and other U.S. skyscrapers, but a noticeable change from my first visit here 25 years ago.

Trump’s election is raising concerns in Ireland. A post-election Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll found 58 percent of respondents are “more worried about the future”, an 8 point increase from September. Just 28 percent said Trump’s return to the While House will make “no difference” in Ireland, while fewer then 20 percent answered “less worried” or “don’t know.”

Simon Harris, bottom poster.

My Irish family and friends, plus a random mix of taxi drivers, UCD library and archives staff, and political observers in the media, suggested the electorate is adverse to radical change. That seems to favor the two main center right political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which have been coalition partners since 2000. Harris, the Fine Gael leader, is favored to remain taoiseach, or prime minister.

Like the U.S., lack of affordable housing is a major domestic issue in Ireland. The biggest concern about Trump is related to his economic policies, especially trade tariffs. Irish Times columnist Cliff Taylor detailed how Irish exports to the U.S. in the first nine months of this year increased by 28 percent to €52.5 billion. He continued:

“From the U.S. point of view, the trade deficit with Ireland so far this year is more than €35 billion. The vast bulk of Irish sales to the US — 80 percent so far this year — are chemicals and pharmaceuticals, where Irish exports to the US surged by no less than one-third compared to the same period last year. To say the least, it was not a good time for this to happen. And the pharma sector — a big employer and taxpayer — looks exposed as the new administration examines why the U.S. has a big trade deficit with Ireland. Unlike most other big US companies here, it targets much of its exports back to the American market.”

While the Irish campaign season is shorter, it is not exempt from the daily rough-and-tumble of national politics. Michael O’Leary, the flamboyant and longstanding chief executive of Ryanair, made headlines for a swipe at the high number of teachers in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish legislature. “I wouldn’t generally employ a lot of teachers to go out and get things done,” he said in remarks endorsing the re-election of a candidate with private sector business experience. Let’s remember here the teacher backgrounds of Pádraic Pearse, Éamon de Valera, and other figures of Irish history and politics. For good measure, O’Leary also said the Green party needed to be “weeded out” of Irish politics.

Housing is a key domestic issue.

In another campaign flare up with historical overtones, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said it is unfair to demonize and force her party members to defend the actions of the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. “You don’t ask someone who was a baby in the 1970s about things that happened in the 1970s. That’s not a reasonable proposition, it wouldn’t be reasonably done with somebody from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil or the Labour Party,” McDonald said. She criticized the “Free State establishment,” a reference to the Irish Free State that emerged in 1922 and split republican separatists into civil war.

That’s rather tame stuff compared to calling your opponent “scum”, “fascist,” and the other insults slung between Trump and K. Harris during the too long U.S. campaign. But there are still a few weeks to go. I’ll write about the Irish election outcome at the end of the month.

Photo essay: Honoring Ireland’s Great War dead in Belgium

At Tyne Cot Cemetery near Passendale, Belgium, this Irish soldier’s name and regiment, religious and political identity, are only “Known Unto God” (script at bottom of headstone).

The sacrifice of Irish soldiers during the First World War, 1914-1918, was complicated by the unfolding separatist revolution at home. Over 200,000 Irishmen from the Catholic nationalist and Protestant unionist communities fought in the war. Upwards of 40,000 lost their lives, while tens of thousands more sustained physical and psychological injuries. Participation in the Great War was remembered in Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom after the 1920 partition, but ignored in the Irish Free State, later the independent Republic of Ireland.

The Island of Ireland Peace Park in Messines, Belgium, near Ypres, is not only a memorial to Irish soldiers of both communities, but also an attempt to bolster wider reconciliation among the Irish people. It might be the most important lieu de mémoire of Irish history outside of Ireland. Some might argue that designation belongs to the many An Gorta Mor (Great Famine) memorials outside of Ireland, which represent the mid-19th century diaspora. Comments on this point of debate are welcome.

Paddy Harte and Glenn Barr, nationalist and unionist politicians from the Republic and the North, respectively, conceived of the peace park project. At the November 11, 1998, dedication, (seven months after the Good Friday Agreement) former Irish President Mary McAleese apologized on behalf of the Republic for the south’s “national amnesia” about the war. She was joined by Queen Elizabeth II and King Albert of Belgium as Irish and British military bands and pipers played a lament. Two years ago, at its 25th anniversary, the park joined nearly 150 other locations in Belgium and France as a USESCO World Heritage site commemorating the Western Front.

A 110-foot-tall Irish round tower is the park’s most distinctive feature. It is made from the stones of a former British Army barracks in Tipperary, a work-house in Westmeath, and each of the island’s other 30 counties. Specially placed windows illuminate the tower’s interior at 11 a.m. every November 11, signifying the armistice that ended the war in 1918.

All the photos in this post are from my October 2024 visit to multiple war sites in the Flanders region. Many thanks to Quasimodo Tours.

Peace Park dedication plaque and Flanders fields in the distance.

Round tower at Island of Ireland Peace Park.

Map at the Hooge Crater Museum shows Irish regiments and insignia.

Unknown soldier of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Unknown soldier of the Royal Irish Rifles at Tyne Cot.

BULLETIN: Trump’s win could impact Irish election, economy

Donald Trump’s U.S. election win has introduced new uncertainty into Republic of Ireland elections, now set for Nov. 29. Irish officials fear that Trump’s protectionist trade policies and corporate tax cuts could put U.S. foreign direct investment and Irish jobs at risk. That’s on top of wider worries about the European economy, Russian aggression on the continent’s eastern front, and Irish domestic concerns. I’ll be in Dublin Nov. 9-16. Watch for my reports. MH

Revisiting O’Brien’s ‘Irish Pioneers in American Journalism’

On April 12, 1924, the Gaelic American newspaper of New York City published the first installment of a series titled “Irish Pioneers in American Journalism.” It was written by Michael J. O’Brien, a County Cork immigrant and historiographer at the American Irish Historical Society, also based in the city.

Michael J. O’Brien, circa mid 1910s.

“While the fact is generally recognized that for many years men of Irish blood have occupied a conspicuous place in American journalism, few are aware that in this field Irishmen were engaged more than a century ago, and that they exerted a certain influence in moulding the public opinion of their time time,” O’Brien wrote in his introduction. He acknowledged the “meager sketches” of 18th century Irish journalists were based mostly on information from their respective newspapers.

O’Brien’s series appeared weekly in the Gaelic American through the end of July. This was the same period the paper’s editor, exiled Fenian John Devoy, made his triumphant return to Ireland as the fledgling Free State government recovered from the civil war. Each date below is linked to the corresponding installment of O’Brien’s series. (Thanks to Villanova University’s Digital Library, which provides online access to the Gaelic American from 1903 to 1928.)

April 12 * April 19 * April 26

May 3 * May 10 * May 17 * May 24 * May 31

June 7 * June 14 * June 21 * June 28

July 5 * July 12 * July 19 * July 26.

O’Brien apparently had more to say about Irish contributions to American journalism. At the end of the July 26 installment, the Gaelic American published two conflicting notes: One said, “To Be Continued Next Week.” The other, “As Mr. O’Brien is now on his vacation, this most interesting series of articles will be discontinued for the present.” But the series did not return in subsequent issues.

More about O’Brien (1870-1960) can be found in my new profile of him for the online Dictionary of Irish Bibliography. I’m delighted to make this first contribution to the DIB, flagship research project of the the Royal Irish Academy.

O’Brien’s series debuted on the front page of the April 12, 1924, issue of the Gaelic American.