Posted by Jim on September 21, 2018
Hello All,
This Saturday is the Great Irish Fair in Coney Island. Our Hall will be running a photo Booth/ Hibernian Membership table. We need volunteers particularly from our Baile na Gael membership as well as our LAOH & AOH members from Brooklyn. The photo booth is being run to raise funds to keep our Hall open. Many of the Hibernians from Brooklyn signed up for membership in our Hall but as of today only a small amount have volunteered time to make sure our Hall remains open. This is your opportunity to to log in some volunteer hours. The Fair set-up begins at 8am, Fair Mass starts at 9:30am, Fair is open til 9pm. Please call me if you can help our Hall and volunteer some time at the Fair, several hours or all day if possible. Call Mary Hogan 917 699-9290.
Brooklyn Hibernian Home of the Irish
Posted by Jim on
FDNY EMERALD SOCIETY 62ND ANNIVERSARY DINNER DANCE
Honoring UFA Vice President LeRoy McGinnis, Engine 266, and UFOA Former Treasurer Eddie Boles, Ladder 59. The Dinner Dance will be held at The Original Antun’s in Queens Village on Friday, November 2nd at 7:30 pm. To advertise in the Souvenir Journal, checks must be returned no later than October 19th to Emerald Society, FDNY, 48 Grissom Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10314. Ad prices are $250 for a Gold Page, $ 200 for a Silver Page, $150 for Full Page, $100 for a Half Page and $50 for a Quarter Page. For further information, please call: Steve Rogers 917-584-4569.
ON THE ARM BREAKFAST AND FREE QIGONG CLASSES AT FRIENDS OF FIREFIGHTERS
Wednesday, October 10th
Friends of Firefighters
199 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Breakfast: 8-11 AM
Morning Qigong Class: 11 AM-12:30 PM
Evening Qigong Class: 7-8:30 PM
In lieu of their regularly scheduled On the Arm Breakfast, Friends of Firefighters invites you to join them for a special Food Healing Breakfast prepared by Retired Firefighter and Certified Qigong Instructor Jonathan Henderson (with a little help from Pete and Tony Cat of course) on Wednesday, 10/10, anytime between 8-11AM. Jonathan will be sharing his inspirational story of healing from his 9/11-related illnesses, anger issues and use of prescription medications. At 11AM, he’ll lead a 90-minute class focused on practicing gentle movement (Qigong), self-applied massage, healing breath work and mindfulness (meditation). The class will be mostly seated, but standing practices can be done seated if necessary. No previous experience required; the class is designed for beginners and beneficial to all, whether you need healing, want more energy or are looking for a way to feel better. If you can’t make it to the morning Qigong class, Jonathan will be back at the firehouse that same evening to lead a 90-min class at 7PM. Healthy snacks will be provided. This event is FREE for FDNY members, active and retired, and their families. If interested in attending either Qigong class, please RSVP to Marlo at 718-643-0980 or info@friendsoffirefighters.org.
Posted by Jim on
There is another possible scenario that hardline unionists might go for instead of a united Ireland: a re-partitioned Ireland.
Michael Bearra @IrishCentral September 20, 2018
As the last 40 years have shown, with a greatly increasing Catholic population, the Unionist majority in Northern Ireland is fading.
Figures from 2016 showed 44 percent of working-age adults are Catholic while 40 percent are Protestant, and among the over 60s demographic 57 percent are
A new Northern Ireland border? Image: Michael Bearra.
Protestant and only 35 percent are Catholic. Among schoolchildren, Catholics are at 51 percent compared to 37 percent Protestant.By 2021, the anniversary of the founding of the Northern State, there will likely be a Catholic majority which will only increase in the years following.
The Good Friday Agreement has called for a border poll and there may be one as early as 2022, say some experts. Catholics of voting age will hold a demographic advantage.
Unionists are hoping that many Catholics, especially in the middle class, will vote to stay in the union. Others predict that a nationalist majority will vote for a united Ireland, pointing to the fact that the vote in Northern Ireland elections still splits strictly along religious lines.
The issue has come front and center again because of Brexit and the uncertain future of Northern Ireland.
There is another possible scenario that hardline unionists might go for: a re-partitioned Ireland.
Looking at how that appears on a map, it is clear the unionist numbers predominate in the eastern part of the state while nationalists are far more prominent in the western part. Unionism would desert every place west of the Bann river, bar Coleraine in Derry.
There is immediately one huge flaw; West Belfast, a Catholic enclave deep in unionist territory, would require West Berlin status at the very least. The nationalist area is known as the Glens of Antrim also would be surrounded.
Hardline unionists, including the DUP leader Arlene Foster, have said they will not live in a united Ireland. With the exception of former DUP leader Peter Robinson, no unionist political figure has indicated any sense that they are considering the prospect of a united Ireland.
Given successive British government’s continued reliance on unionist parties to stay in power, there is no guarantee that a similar demand to 1921—this time a repartition of Ireland—may not take place.
This map is what it looks like:
Posted by Jim on September 20, 2018
(718) 665-1800 September 20,2018
AMERICAN AOH TO MEET BALLYMURPHY FAMILIES
Calling the upcoming Ballymurphy Massacre Inquest “a fundamental test of Britain’s ability to give legacy justice”, Danny O’Connell, National Vice-President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, announced that he and National Secretary Jere Cole will be meeting with the Ballymurphy Massacre families in Belfast to pledge the support of the powerful Irish American organization to these families in their battle for truth.
AOH National Vice-President Danny O’Connell said:
“The AOH as a leading voice of the Irish in America, recognizes the upcoming Ballymurphy Massacre Inquest will be a fundamental test of Britain’s ability to give legacy justice.
“Since August 1971 the Ballymurphy families have maintained that 11 innocent people including a priest and mother of 8 children were murdered. They have fought for their legal right to testify in an Inquest about what they witnessed, and to cross-examine any witness who claims justification for these killings. They have met with repeated delays.
” Accompanied by National Secretary Jere Cole, I will be meeting the Ballymurphy families, to pledge American support in their fight for justice and truth. We are disappointed with the latest delay.
“We will receive a full briefing and see the locations of the killings with family members. We will report back to our membership across the United States, and to our elected representatives. The AOH will follow this briefing by monitoring the Inquest, and providing updates on the testimony to our members.
” Our Freedom for all Ireland Chairman has invited Carmel Quinn, a sister of one of the Ballymurphy Massacre victims to come to America and bring Ballymurphy’s story directly to our members in a multi-state speaking tour in November.
“These families are entitled to truth about the killings of their loved ones. The AOH pledges to help them in their long battle to get that truth and justice”
AOH Freedom for All Ireland Chair Martin Galvin added:
“In her Forward to the Consultation Paper, British colonial secretary Karen Bradley wrote legacy mechanisms ‘must seek to meet the needs of victims’ and ‘must be fully consistent with the rule of law’. She pledged to ‘reject any attempts to rewrite the history of the past’ or ‘displace responsibility from the people who perpetrated acts of terrorism.’
“The Ballymurphy Massacre families want truth. They believe British troopers ‘protected’ Ballymurphy by murdering 11 residents, including a Catholic priest and mother of eight. They say an Inquest will prove that Britain displaced responsibility by blaming the victims.
“If the evidence proves that the 11 killings were murders, how can Britain reject rewriting history with truth or escape shifting blame from exonerated innocent victims back onto British troops for murder and smearing the dead?” ENDS
Posted by Jim on
At the end of six weeks of campaigning, an official petition of recall
to remove North Antrim MP Ian Paisley over corruption allegations has
fallen just short of the number required.
Just before 2am on Thursday morning, it was announced 7,099 people had
signed the petition, 444 signatures short of the required number of
7,543, or 10% of the electorate in the constituency.
Under 2015 legislation, the Westminster parliament automatically set in
motion the petition of recall process after Mr Paisley was given a
30-sitting day ban from the Commons, the longest on record for any MP.
The ban was imposed after it was uncovered that Paisley had received
luxury holidays in return for lobbying then British Prime Minister David
Cameron not to support a UN probe into human rights abuses by the Sri
Lanka government.
As well as not declaring the holidays, the MP was found to have broken
Commons lobbying rules. The disgraced MP is the first in Westminster
history to face the recall process.
The petition took place under stringent “secrecy rules” which limited
public reporting on the six-week campaign.
There had also been strong criticism of the Electoral Office in the
North after just three centres for signing the petition were opened. The
public locations in unionist town centres made it difficult, and
potentially dangerous, for those signing the petition.
Responding to this morning’s announcement, Sinn Fein representative
Philip McGuigan said it was a “disappointing result” but “no endorsement
of Ian Paisley’s actions”.
He strengthened his criticism of the recall process after receiving a
bizarre warning from the PSNI over a social media statement that
referred to the potential “knife-edge” result. It was claimed by the
Electoral Office to be a violation of the secrecy rules.
“It’s regretful that the Electoral Office did not pay as much attention
to ensuring the people of North Antrim were afforded their democratic
rights because they clearly did not do enough to facilitate people who
wished to sign the petition,” he said.
“They had the option of opening as many as ten locations where people
could sign the petition, yet they inexplicably opted to go for just
three.
“The lack of an effective public awareness campaign and the restrictive
opening hours of the signing centres were also major problems.
“Nevertheless, the issues raised by this scandal are not going away and
neither are the questions for the DUP leadership.”
Mr Paisley’s family has held the North Antrim seat, a DUP stronghold,
for nearly 50 years. Despite rising opposition to Brexit and anger at
the DUP over unrelated corruption allegations relating to a cash-for-ash
green energy scheme, he was odds-on to win a by-election. However, the
failure of the recall petition has averted what would have been a bitter
and deeply embarrassing political contest.
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Robin Swann, who supported the recall, said
public confidence in politics had collapsed.
“I would caution Ian Paisley not to see this as some sort of victory or
endorsement of his actions in acting as a paid advocate for a foreign
government and bringing North Antrim and the House of Commons into
disrepute.
“Rather I would urge him to use the time that he has been suspended from
Parliament and the DUP, to reflect on the severity of what he has done
and the embarrassment he has brought on Northern Ireland.
“He should demonstrate some humility.”