Search Results for 'Ronald Reagan'

On January 1 1984, President Patrick Hillery officially launched the Quincentennial, a year long celebration of 500 years of civic independence unique in western Europe. In 1484, a number of Galwegian merchants persuaded King Richard III to grant the city a charter which made the town a mayoral city. In the same year Pope Innocent VIII granted them the power to nominate their own warden and priests.

James Michael Curley - four times mayor of Boston, twice elected to the House of Representatives, one term as Governor of Massachusetts, and two terms in jail, was the son of County Galway parents who emigrated as children to the US in the 1860s. The stories told about Curley are proverbially legion. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter rarely let an Irish politician go without asking if they had any stories about James Michael Curley. (The one president who shunned anything to do with Curley, was president John F Kennedy. But more about that in a moment).

The iconic Ashford Castle hotel and resort in Cong, Co Mayo has been sold this week to a United Kingdom based hotelier group for €20 million after a period of receivership.

In the last few years Speed Camera vans have become a familiar, if not entirely popular, sight on Irish roads.

In the last few years Speed Camera vans have become a familiar, if not entirely popular, sight on Irish roads.

The Irish-American vote used to be a sure thing. If you were Irish-American, you voted Democrat. It was as simple as that. When I was growing up in 1950s Chicago, Republicans were like another species. An analogy from Baseball. As a Chicagoan, you supported either the White Sox or the Cubs. It was a tribal thing. My family were White Sox fans. So I was a White Sox fan. Cubs fans, on the other hand, were weird. Why would anyone support the Cubs? In much the same way, Republicans were weird too. Why would anyone support the Republicans? If you were Irish-American, even to pose the question bordered on the ridiculous.

It was Ronald Reagan who first introduced me to John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy. Well, indirectly. I’ll get back to that in a minute.

Galway’s St Patrick’s Brass Band will celebrate its 100th birthday with a special concert in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church tomorrow at 7.30pm.

Tomorrow will see former Galway Mayor and Galway West TD Michael D Higgins become the ninth president of Ireland. It will be a proud day for everyone from the city and county he has called home for the last 50 years.

Tomorrow will see former Galway Mayor and Galway West TD Michael D Higgins become the ninth president of Ireland. It will be a proud day for everyone from the city and county he has called home for the last 50 years.