Apple may make twin of Dublin

By Stephen McKinley

A possible twinning of New York City and Dublin is being discussed by New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Dublin’s lord mayor, Michael Mulcahy.

Speaking to the Echo on Tuesday, Mulcahy said that the suggestion came from Giuliani himself “about a week ago.”

“It is not necessarily a formal twinning,” said Mulcahy, “but more to make a formal friendship agreement. Our city councils would then have to approve it. I am personally in favor of it, I am very enthusiastic.”

Mulcahy said that he has recently started a program called “Shoulder to Shoulder,” which will arrange for the visit of 100 firefighters from New York to Dublin next May for what the lord mayor called “a respite holiday.” Dublin firefighters would also visit New York “in a show of solidarity.”

Mulcahy said that as Mayor Giuliani’s term of office ends Dec. 31, it was unlikely that a formal twinning would be approved by the city councils before then, but that a declaration of friendship could be announced by the end of the year.

The mayor’s office in New York had not returned phone calls as the paper went to press.

The twinning of the cities would recognize the long association between New York and Ireland, and would be an especially welcome recognition in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center.

Many of the firefighters, police officers and other uniformed personnel who died that day, as well as some of the civilian victims, had connections to Ireland through immediate family or ancestry.

And the twinning would further strengthen this bond in terms of business and trade, as Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg takes office at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1.

Although there has been some evidence of Irish criticism for U.S. foreign policy and the military action against Afghanistan, Ireland’s deep connection to New York and America was in full evidence after Sept. 11, when the taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, declared a National Day of Mourning on Friday Sept. 14.

“Between us there is great enthusiasm for this,” Mulcahy said, referring to himself and Giuliani. “We want to recognize the long historic links between our cities as well as solidarity after Sept. 11.”