I am told that there has been a significant increase in the number of Newsletter subscribers. For new readers, you are very welcome, and to long-term supporters, thank you.
Let me start from the beginning, “a Chairde” is the Irish Gaelic way to address a letter, and it simply means “friends”.
So, friends welcome, and let me introduce myself. I am Sinn Féin’s representative to North America. Sinn Féin is the largest party across all of Ireland. We are an Irish Republican Party dedicated to building a united Ireland and a republic declared during the Easter Rising of 1916.
The party was established in 1905, and the name Sinn Féin translates roughly as “Ourselves Alone”. The name reflects the aspiration for an independent Ireland rather than an isolationist approach, as we work with others nationally and internationally to build Irish Unity.
Sinn Féin is the largest party and is in government in the North of Ireland, where our Vice President, Michelle O’Neill, is the First Minister. In Dublin, we are the largest party of opposition, and our party President, Mary Lou McDonald, is the leader of the official opposition in the Dáil.
My position is unique in Irish politics; there is no other party that works closely with supporters in the US and Canada on a day-to-day basis. I report to our party president.
Before taking on this role, I worked with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in various roles, including Sinn Féin Director of Communications. I grew up in Belfast in the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s and now work out of an office in Dublin when I am not in the air or on the ground in the US or Canada.
I took over this role in 2020 from the late, great and sorely missed Rita O’Hare. This unique role reflects both the strategic importance of the US and Canada to the cause of Irish Freedom and our view that the Irish abroad are very much a part of our nation.
North America has shaped Ireland as much as the Irish have built America and Canada. Every revolutionary period in Irish history relied on the support of our “exiled Children”. There would be no Easter Rising or Good Friday Agreement without you.
We are now at a point in our History where Irish Unity is within this generation’s grasp.
The Good Friday Agreement provides a peaceful and democratic pathway to Unity through referendums in the North and the South.
For supporters of Irish Unity, our shared objective is to secure and win the referendums as promised in the Agreement, despite British and Irish Government indifference.
Together, we can fully implement the Agreement and allow the people of Ireland to define their future.
Your first step in playing a part in delivering a United Ireland is in signing up to this newsletter and becoming informed and active.
Let me know if there are any issues you would like me to write about and keep informed by following Friends of Sinn Féin on their socials.
Have a great weekend.
Is mise,
Ciarán
Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America
Pic of Day: Bronx Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (third from left holding banner) with Bronx AOH Members Denis Boyle, Martin Galvin, Timmy O’Donoghue and Thomas O’Donohue who carried the “England get out of Ireland” banner in the Yonker’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade last weekend. Also pictured are two unidentified members of the Assemblyman’s staff.
O’Neill and Little-Pengelly ‘shoulder to shoulder’ on violence against women.
First and deputy First Minister spoke to media separately on tackling violence against women and girls.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill speaks on work to end violence against women
By Rebecca Black and Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association
March 24, 2026 at 5:49pm GMT
Northern Ireland’s First and deputy First Ministers have insisted they are working shoulder to shoulder to tackle violence against women and girls despite separate media appearances.
Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly were speaking following the murder of two women this month as well as the conviction of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of his pregnant partner Natalie McNally at Belfast Crown Court.
A murder investigation is ongoing following the death of Amy Doherty in Derry at the weekend, while a man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Ellie Flanagan in Fermanagh earlier this month.
Ms. O’Neill told reporters at Stormont: “enough is enough”.
Ending violence against women and girls is a focus of a major government strategy.
Ms O’Neill said she believes in the ongoing work, but described an “ingrained problem in our society”.
“We knew that two years of a strategy isn’t going to turn around the problems, you only have to look at the shameful history of this place as to how women have been treated down through the decades, as recently as the Magdalen laundries,” she said, adding that some of the ongoing work includes with young people and across the justice system.
“But we’re trying to turn around a generational problem, and unfortunately I don’t think we’re going to do that in two years, in the next number of weeks we’re bringing the next stage of our plan to the Executive.
“We have a job, all of us collectively as a society, in terms of ending violence against women and girls.
“Enough is enough.
“It needs to be an ongoing conversation, we need to challenge the misogyny we see every day, we need all of us to work together to collectively turn the misogynistic element we have out there in our society.
“We have a huge problem.
“It is a fixable problem but it is going to require all of us working together.”
Ms O’Neill also commended Ms McNally’s family for “using the most harrowing experience of their life” to raise awareness around violence against women and girls.
Asked by media why she was not standing beside Ms Little-Pengelly for the comment, Ms O’Neill said the two would later speak together at an event with 600 young people, and insisted “all of our shoulders are to the wheel”.
Pressed again on why they were speaking to media separately about the issue, she responded: “There is no issue to see here.
“This is about me coming out to firstly offer my condolences to the McNally family, and offer my love and my support to them on the back of the outcome of the case yesterday, but also because of the day that is in it, and that we’re about to head off and do different events.
“There is nothing to see here, we’re all committed to tackling this work and I think that is what we should all keep focusing on.”
Speaking separately at Parliament Buildings, Ms Little-Pengelly welcomed the conviction of McCullagh.
“It has been a very long journey, very upsetting journey, Natalie was a young women with her entire life in front of her and the terrible murder of her and her unborn child was absolutely appalling,” she said.
“I want to pay tribute to the McNally family.
“I know that they would take some comfort from the verdict, but of course nothing can undo the terrible violence that happened to Natalie.
“I also know the McNally family have been incredible in the work that they have done since the murder of Natalie, they’ve been incredibly brave and stepped forward to try and ensure that this should not happen to another woman or girl.”
Asked about not speaking in a joint appearance with Ms O’Neill, Ms Little-Pengelly said were united against violence against women and girls.
“We have stood shoulder to shoulder at absolutely every opportunity in terms of this strategy,” she said.
“It makes me really angry every time I hear about the murder of a woman in Northern Ireland, I think that it should make all of us really angry when we hear that.
“We want to end violence against women and girls, the level of violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland is just completely unacceptable.”
Earlier Justice Minister Naomi Long said violence against women and girls is a “particularly difficult” problem in Northern Ireland.
Ms Long said the region remains a “patriarchal society” where there is still a “lot of sexism, chauvinism and misogyny”.
Ms Long paid tribute to Ms McNally’s parents Bernie and Noel, who attended every day of the trial.
She told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme they had been “so dignified throughout this whole ordeal”.
Ms Long added: “The pain they have gone through is unimaginable and it has been further compounded as they have been going through all of this that they have had to sit through such an ordeal in court.
“I am glad they have got the justice that they and Natalie deserve.”
Ms Long said she believed society and politicians needed to “do better” with regards to violence against women and girls.
She said: “Sitting here with 30 women killed in six years, we have to say that pain that the McNallys have gone through is a pain that many families are going through, too many families.
“We want to do more to try and address these issues.
“In the last mandate we brought forward new legislation to deal with many of the issues, we are bringing forward further legislation in this mandate in the Department of Justice.
“We are also bringing forward policy that we hope will offer additional protections to women who may be at risk of domestic violence and abuse.
“But it is not just about what justice can do, because by then there are already victims and pain has been caused, it is about how we change the conversation in society, how we change the dial in terms of the vulnerability of women and girls to this kind of predatory behaviour and how we actually create a society that women and girls, and men and boys, are safe on our streets, in their homes and able to go about their lives without the constant fear of being victim to someone who has set out for violence or aggression.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think we are there yet.”
Asked if violence against women was a Northern Ireland problem, the minister said: “I don’t think it is a Northern Ireland-only problem, but I think it is a particularly difficult issue in Northern Ireland in what we do have is a wider prevalence of violence against women and girls.
“I think there are lots of reasons for that.
“Northern Ireland remains a very patriarchal society, abuse of women generally is still accepted.
“There is still a lot of sexism, chauvinism, misogyny in our society.
“If it is called out by women the abuse that they take, whether it is online or in person, is extreme.
“We also have, coming out of a post-conflict society, a higher tolerance for violence, higher levels of PTSD and other risk factors which could allow people to become perpetrators.
“When we look at some of the research that has been done, the connection between domestic abuse and concentrated paramilitarism in communities also exacerbates some of these harms in that people are either, at the very basic level, afraid to report what is happening to them, afraid of being seen to be engaging with the PSNI where that is frowned upon.”
Irish language TV station, TG4’s show “Iniúchadh” examines falling enrolment, shrinking GAA numbers and the growing strain on remote communities across rural Ireland.
Irish Central Staff
Mar 25, 2026
Investigative journalist Kevin Magee
A new investigation by Kevin Magee examines how rural decline is reshaping daily life, with the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation warning that more than 70 primary schools could face pressure if current trends continue. The program also hears from GAA leaders and rural development experts who say Ireland’s overall population growth is masking sharp losses in its most remote areas.
More than 70 rural primary schools are at risk of closure if the current trend of rural depopulation continues, according to Ireland’s largest teachers’ union, the Irish National Teachers’ Organization (INTO).
The prediction is made by the General Secretary of the INTO, John Boyle, in an edition of TG4’s flagship current affairs program “Iniúchadh” TG4, which examines the impact of rural decline in remote parts of Ireland.
The documentary “Bánú na Tuaithe” (“Rural Depopulation”) presented by the award-winning investigative journalist, Kevin Magee, and airing on Wednesday, March 25 at 9.30 pm, explores the pressing question: Is rural Ireland really dying?
According to the latest data from the Department of Education and Youth, the number of children enrolling in primary schools across the country fell by 6,470 in 2025.
Eleven primary schools have closed permanently since June 2025 due to falling rolls, with others now facing an uncertain future. According to the INTO, the problem is getting worse.
Speaking in Irish, Mr Boyle said: “If things continue the way they are, more than 70 schools will come under pressure. These small schools are located at the heart of the area, at the heart of the community, and if they close them, like the post office and other places, there will be no heart left in these communities. It is therefore extremely important to the Irish National Teachers’ Organization that the government properly supports small schools.”
One obvious solution is to decrease the teacher-pupil ratio in specific schools that are under threat, according to Mr. Boyle.
“They have to support small schools, and they can do that by reducing the number of children in classes. The class sizes in this country are larger than anywhere else in Europe,” he said.
In addition to its impact on schools, the documentary examines how rural depopulation is affecting cultural and sporting life in parts of Ireland, following what the GAA termed “the decimation and erosion of rural life.”
South Kerry GAA board carried out an analysis of the decline in school enrolment numbers in its area. It was calculated that there has been a 41 per cent fall in the combined primary school population at 13 national schools in the 28-year period from 1993 to 2021. The board has predicted that certain clubs “will have major difficulty fielding underage teams” in the future.
South Kerry GAA board chair Joseph McCrohan said: “If you want to measure a GAA club and you want to measure what’s going to happen to a GAA club in the next number of years, take a look at the primary school. If you’ve kids in primary school, you’ll have football teams, hurling teams. If you don’t, you’re in trouble. ”
This year, five south Kerry clubs, Reenard, Waterville, Dromid, Cahersiveen and Valentia had to join together to field an under -14 boys’ team.
GAA footballer Caoimhín Ó Fearghail from Cashel GAA in Newtowncashel in County Longford told the programme that seven players or 30 per cent of the team that won the Longford County Intermediate Championship in 2009 are now living abroad.
“Lots of the lads have gone to Australia, America and Canada. Every rural club is struggling for numbers, and the club is worried about that — that people will want out or that they will emigrate,” he said
According to the latest 2022 census figures, the population of Ireland was 5.149 million, up 8% on the previous 2016 figure.
Sustainable rural development expert Professor Mary O’Shaughnessy from Cork University’s Business School says overall population growth figures can mask the extent of population decline in some rural areas.
“The population in Ireland is at its highest since the 1850s and when we look at the population distribution, we can see that there’s been population growth in both urban and rural areas. But when we look at it more closely , what we do find is that the rural areas that appear to have grown are those that are closest to urban centers or closest to our cities.
“But there continues to be a decline in the numbers of population in rural regions that are more remote, that are more peripheral, that are particularly located along the western seaboard, and that are also in some parts of rural Midlands as well,” said Professor O’Shaughnessey.
Irish American org calls for protection of Christians after priest killed in Israeli strike.
The AOH has called upon the US Ambassador to Israel to officially condemn the killing of Father Pierre al-Rahi, a Catholic priest in southern Lebanon.
IrishCentral Staff
@IrishCentral
Mar 19, 2026
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), the oldest and largest Irish Catholic organization in the US, has written to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, urging the US to address the killing of Father Pierre al-Rahi in Lebanon and reaffirm protections for Christian communities in the Middle East.
Neil F. Cosgrove, Political Education Chair of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, sent a formal letter to Ambassador Huckabee following the death of Father Pierre al-Rahi, the Maronite Catholic priest who was killed in Qlayaa, Lebanon, on March 9 after Israeli tank fire struck a residential building where civilians had taken shelter.
According to local officials, Father al-Rahi had rushed to assist parishioners whose home had been struck moments earlier.
Cosgrove noted in his letter that Father al-Rahi’s last words to the international community, spoken just a day before his death, serve as a testament to the tragedy of this killing: “None of us carries weapons. All of us carry peace and goodness and love.”
Cosgrove said: “Father al-Rahi died doing what priests have done for centuries—running toward danger to minister to those in need.
“When clergy and civilians of any faith are killed, the international community has a duty not only to speak, but to ensure these acts are neither ignored nor repeated.”
In his letter, Cosgrove noted that the death of Father al-Rahi follows several other incidents involving Christian communities in the region, including the December 2023 killing of Nahida and Samar Anton within the Holy Family Parish compound in Gaza, and the July 2025 Israeli tank strike on that same church that injured parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli and killed three elderly civilians. In October 2024, the Melkite Catholic Church of St. George in Derdghaya, Lebanon, was destroyed in a missile strike that claimed multiple lives.
Cosgrove wrote: “The Christian community of the Middle East are currently being attacked on two fronts and find themselves in a precarious position from which they cannot flee.
“In southern Lebanon, faithful Christians like Father al-Rahi have refused evacuation orders because of a justified fear that if they abandon their ancestral lands, they will be seized by other parties—specifically Hezbollah militants who seek to take over Christian homes for military use.
“Similarly, in the West Bank, Christian communities like Taybeh are besieged by extremist settler groups who have already torched churches and cemeteries in a blatant attempt to purge the land of its non-Jewish residents.”
Cosgrove continued: “The Hibernians believe that the United States has a special and solemn duty to protect these vulnerable and innocent communities, who serve as essential mediators and providers of social services for all in the region.
“The current silence from our government regarding the martyrdom of a priest serves only to embolden those who believe that Christian lives and holy sites are mere ‘collateral damage.’ There have been frankly too many apologies when Christians have been killed and no sign of remediation.
“As a non-partisan organization dedicated to the defense of the Church and freedom of religion, we ask that you use your office to officially condemn the killing of Father al-Rahi and demand concrete guarantees for the safety of Christian villages and institutions.
“History will judge us not only by the wars we fight but by the ancient communities we allowed to vanish under our watch.”
