By Paddy McCarthy
My Out&About this week contains some past and future events that I know will very much interest you that have been brought to my attention by readers and supporters of The Irish Examiner USA who are very well known in the Irish community, including Hilary Beirne, Dan Dennehy and Michelle O’Mahony, and I am so happy to bring them to you.
Before I get to them though, I would like to wish all our readers and supporters a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!
This note came to me from Dan Dennehy, Vice President of the Council for American Ireland Relations Inc.: “Can you please share with your friends information about the CFAIR event on December 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm that will be held at Gossips on 9th Avenue? We are honoring NYS Senator Tim Kennedy, and Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen. This is our first fundraiser in several years and we appreciate the support of our honorees in accepting and all who attend and support this event.
“Our organization The Council for American Ireland Relations Inc. was formed in the early days after the Good Friday Agreement, by Irish American leaders who had participated in the process that led to the groundbreaking Agreement and among CFAIR’s purposes are: To act as not profit organization, to aid, lawmakers, elected officials, business groups, and immigrant organizations, and understanding, Irish culture Irish Government, and the current cross-border government initiatives, known as the Good Friday Agreement; Sponsoring individuals to travel to various universities in Ireland including Queen’s University, University College Dublin, and Dublin City University and to meet with community leaders in Ireland and N. Ireland to further American Ireland relations. On behalf of Chairman Brian O’Dwyer, President Michael Carroll, Treasurer Ed Brady and myself, I thank you for your support.”
The Irish Examiner USA is totally behind supporting this event for Senator Tim Kennedy and the Transport Workers Union International President, the great John Samuelsen so come out and support the Council for American Ireland Relations as we do.
For details and reservations contact Nessa at (929) 669-6604 or email CFAIR.ORG@gmail.com.
I got the following from Hilary Beirne, Chairman of The New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and he is so excited that I want to let all the readers of my Out&About column see how happy he was, so here we go. He said: “I am absolutely delighted and so honored to be in Boston to receive a Golden Bridge Ambassador Award this evening. I would also like to congratulate all the honorees who received awards at the Irish consulate.”
On the night he announced, that after attending and hosting many meetings since speaking at the 2023 Global Irish Civic Forum in April, and with a lot of encouragement and support both in Ireland and abroad, it is his intention to put his name forward in the next Seanad (Senate) elections in the National University of Ireland (NUI) constituency.
He continued: “The conference in Boston is about promoting the connection between the US and the Northwest of Ireland and I was able to speak to the audience about the need for REAL engagement of Ireland’s citizens abroad.
“I would especially like to congratulate fellow honoree Rosina Gallagher from NY and thank the Donegal County Council for their support and nomination this evening. A big thank you to CEO and publisher of the Irish Echo Connla McCann, editor Ray O’Hanlon and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, publisher of the Belfast Media Group titles and the Irish Echo for hosting the event, and a special thank you to the Consul General of Ireland in Boston Síghle FitzGerald for a wonderful evening.
“Thank you to all who travelled to Boston to support Rosina and myself the 15th annual Golden Bridge conference in Boston which is supported by Derry city and Strabane district council, and the Donegal County Council. Go raibh mile maith agaibh.”
So now Hilary might also be a Senator in Ireland, wouldn’t that be something!
Here is another great story that I have to let you in on as well. I have been talking to someone who worked here in New York and decided to head back to Ireland with her husband a few years ago. Michelle O’Mahony, who was very well known here in New York City has her new book coming out on November 24 called ‘Famine of Cork City’.
‘Famine in Cork City’ tells a story of a house of horrors during the Great Irish Famine. The Irish Famine continues to be a widely written about emotive subject. As we approach the 180th anniversary of An Górta Mór in 2025, this second edition seeks to highlight the plight of the inmate in the Cork Union Workhouse (now St. Finbarr’s Hospital). Thousands fled to the dreaded workhouses desperately hoping for some relief to survive the devastation in the streets outside.
The life of the inmate is placed under a microscope in this publication. Michelle delves deep into all facets of workhouse life with research into their diet, medical issues, sociological and economic life of the workhouse. It explores the tragic effects of the famine as they unfolded in the city.
Originally designed to hold 2,000 people, by the height of the Famine the Workhouse housed an estimated 7,000 inmates in unbelievably horrific conditions. In documenting the workhouse experience, each chapter also includes statistical analysis of the facts and figures of the Famine in Cork Union Workhouse.
Michelle O’ Mahony, OM History Consultant, is passionate about history and her mission is all about “Unlocking the Past” for her clients. Michelle offers bespoke history consultancy services to private and corporate clients in addition to the heritage and tourism industries.
As a bespoke history consultant, she is dedicated to infusing her love of all things history into all her projects, making history as relevant and accessible as possible for her clients, whether it be bespoke research for a family history or an ancestral query, house history, preparing interpretative signage, themed historical events and conference organization or delivering historical lectures.
Michelle is a published author and historian with 25 years’ experience in the world of history, has many links with museums, curators & depositories and other professionals in history, heritage and archaeology. She is dedicated to the preservation and conservation of heritage and history.
Michelle also let me know that New York firefighters gathered in Kinsale to remember fallen comrades. Pipers from the FDNY’s Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band played a lament at the ceremony last Thursday at the Garden of Remembrance, Ringfinnan, Kinsale, Co Cork. Pictures: Larry Cummins.
A weather-beaten New York Fire Department T-shirt was draped across a tree in memory of Michael Clarke, a firefighter killed when responding to the horrific 9/11 attacks, in a leafy Garden of Remembrance in Kinsale, County Cork while American flags adorned others in the Garden of Remembrance, where some 70 New York City firefighters and their families came to pay their respects to slain friends and colleagues.
The garden was created by Irish nurse Kathleen Murphy who lived in New York City and donated family land in Ringfinnan, Kinsale, where 343 trees were planted, one for every firefighter killed in 9/11.
Michael V Meyers, Assistant Chief of Operations with the City of New York Fire Department, visited the gardens on Thursday and said: “It shows how close we all are as Americans and Irish, to come here and have 343 trees named after our brothers and sisters who died at the World Trade Center, it’s incredible.
“I’m seeing a lot of familiar names; it brings you right back to that day.”
That day, the very worst of humanity brought out the very best, Meyers said: “Out of the 343 who died, I knew about 150 well, including my best man at my wedding and my college roommate.
“They responded that day. I got there about 20 minutes after the second blast. It was like something from a bad movie, a big vapor cloud was coming towards us.
“Folks were walking towards us with caked-on ash all over them — both first responders and civilians — like in a fog of war.
“That was about half a mile out. Once you got to the site itself, you just could not believe the devastation. I remember thinking: ‘Superman would have a hard time doing anything here’, it was all steel, with two 110-storey buildings collapsed.
“Unfortunately, there was no one to rescue that day. Only about four people were recovered from the World Trade Centre. The rest, we recovered bodies and body parts. That was the toughest part. Realizing 72 hours in there would be no rescues. We always say: ‘Never forget’, so it’s amazing to see people around the world not forgetting.”
Tom Cunneen, NYFD firefighter and pipe player with the NYFD’s Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band, played at every memorial service for the firefighters killed that day.
“It’s emotional to be here,” he said. “We played at every funeral and memorial for each of the 343 firefighters who died that day that this garden is a living memorial to.”
Mr. Cunneen lost people he grew up with, played sports with, and fellow firefighters in the attacks.
Colleague Durrell ‘Bronco’ Pearsall, the drummer in the Emerald Society Pipe Band, was killed that day after he responded with a specialist rescue unit from Queens.
Their “beloved chaplain”, Fr Michael Judge, was the first NYFD casualty that day when he died after rushing to comfort people in the immediate aftermath.
“We had an assignment to do, and everyone bravely did it,” said Mr. Cunneen. “I remember still putting out pockets of fire in adjoining buildings the next morning.
“It never made me feel prouder being an NYC firefighter. We came together as a city, and we came together as a country.”
Kieran Burke lost 40 close friends, colleagues, and civilians, in the attack that day. His best friend Mathew Burke died on the fourth floor of the north tower.
When Kieran’s home burned down later in Storm Sandy, a photo of the pair survived, found slightly singed in a pile of rubble. Kieran’s life was saved that day by his lieutenant who so incessantly rang the dispatch unit to say his team was ready to go that the dispatcher was annoyed and sent another unit instead.
“I was lucky,” he said. “So many people did not return that morning. I do my best to continue their memories.
“It’s extraordinarily important to have these memorials. “What happened that day was an attack on civilization, not just on America. At the World Trade Center alone, people from 87 countries were murdered that day. They were pure civilian targets.
“And it can happen again tomorrow, with complacency.”
Fellow NYFD firefighter Danny McEnroe got married just four days before the deadly attack and was in Florida with his wife when the news broke. They returned almost immediately to New York to help with the rescue efforts to be met with a deathly, eerie silence in the city.
“It was very ominous,” he recalled. “There was a lot of destruction. And it was so quiet.
“It’s great to be here and see what people have put together to remember the guys from 9/11. It’s pretty far away from the site on Wall Street. It’s a great show of support.”
Michelle, who helped to organize the event said that it was a “poignant and emotive day”, especially for the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band visiting Ireland as part of their 61st anniversary.
I am ending my Out&About with the sad news of the passing of a very well-known Cork man who I knew very well. Ben Dunne, of the famous Dunne Stores where it all started in Patrick Street, Cork, passed away at the age of 75 years of age. Rest in Peace.
Ben was an Irish businessman who is known for his involvement in the retail and fitness industries. He has been associated with the Dunne’s Stores chain, a major Irish retail company.
Dunne’s Stores is a family-owned business that operates a variety of stores, including supermarkets and clothing stores, across Ireland and the United Kingdom.
In addition to his involvement in retail, Ben Dunne is known for his contribution to the fitness industry. He established the Ben Dunne Gym chain, a network of fitness centers in Ireland.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was among those to pay tribute to Ben Dunne who was a “larger than life” businessman. Also, among those paying tribute was Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Hope to see you all again when I am Out&About and again, enjoy your Thanksgiving Day and I’ll see you all again next week.