March 2014 - News about Ireland
The Wall Street Journal reported on the boom in the technology sector in Dublin. One such Irish technology firm is set to begin training 44,000 UN workers in the area of cyber-security.
The Financial Times reported that unemployment fell in Ireland for the sixth quarter in a row, while retail sales in January grew by 8.9% on those of 12 months previously – the biggest yearly rise since May 2005.
Tourism Ireland has announced the latest selection of famous international sites “going green” for St. Patrick’s Day, including the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the London Eye, Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building.
Plans for a pep rally and tailgate party to precede the Croke Park Classic between the University of Central Florida and Penn State in Dublin on August 30 have been announced.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a speech by Ireland’s Ambassador to the US, Anne Anderson, on the Irish perspective on comprehensive immigration reform. The Ambassador also spoke to Capitol File Magazine about serving Irish food.
A new website has been launched for the Irish community in Charleston at www.charlestonirish.com.
Visitors to Ireland this month will be able to purchase their very own Connemara Pony!
And it seems James Joyce’s famous riddle about how to cross Dublin without passing a pub may finally have been solved...
Upcoming Events
We are set for a huge month of Irish events across the US south-east to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! Parades will take place in Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Huntsville, Little Rock and many other cities and towns across the region on Saturday March 15. New Orleans hosts a series of parades over the weekend, with major parades following on Monday March 17 in Savannah and Charleston. We look forward to our Irish communities turning out in force!
Ambassador Anne Anderson will deliver the keynote address at the free-to-the-public Celtic Cross Ceremony at Robert Emmet Park in Savannah from 1pm on Sunday March 9.
Ireland’s Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar TD, will visit Atlanta and Savannah for St. Patrick’s Day. The Minister will deliver the keynote address at the Irish Chamber of Commerce St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast at 7.30am on Friday March 14 at the Capital City Club in Atlanta. You can reserve your place at www.irishchamberofatlanta.com.
The Minister will also speak at the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta event to commemorate 150 years since Fr. Thomas O’Reilly of county Cavan helped ensure the survival of churches and other key buildings in downtown Atlanta.
Award-winning Irish singer and violinist Sharon Corr plays the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta on Sunday March 9.
Additional Irish concerts over St. Patricks’ Day in Atlanta includes the Michael O’Neal Singers at Roswell United Methodist Church on Friday March 14 and the Buddy O’Reilly band at Eddie’s Attic on Sunday March 16. Fadó will include traditional music and dance as part of its family day events on Sunday, March 16.
Irish natives Donal Fleming and Karen Leonard along with their daughter, Ciara – an eighth-grader and cancer survivor - will be shaving heads in Fadó on Friday March 14 to raise funds to help cure childhood cancers. The annual St. Baldrick’s event has raised more than $865,000 since 2002, a superb achievement! A similar event will take place at Meehan’s in Sandy Springs on Saturday March 15.
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Tampa on Saturday March 15 include a food drive to help those in need in the city.
Poet and publisher Andrew McNeillie will read from his latest collection, “Winter Moorings” and talk about his friendship with Seamus Heaney in Emory University’s Woodruff Library at 3.30pm on Tuesday, March 4. The major Emory exhibition on “Seamus Heaney: The Music of What Happens” is also now open to the public in the Woodruff Library. The exhibition includes Heaney’s handwritten poems and drafts and recordings of some of his finest works read by actor Liam Neeson and writer Salman Rushdie.
Tipperary-based poet and writer Richard Tillinghast will read from his latest collection of essays, “Finding Ireland”, at the Academic Success Center at Clemson University in South Carolina at 4pm on Monday, March 10. All are welcome.
And the 2014 Atlanta GAA Golf Classic will take place in the Heritage Golf Links on Saturday May 10.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
If there are Irish events you’d like us to highlight in future newsletters, please let us know through our Contact Us page