February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The Register web site reported: “Common sense seems to have sustained a sucking chest wound in Gulf War II with the news that the New York Monaghan Association decided against carrying its traditional banner in the New York St Patrick’s Day parade.”
The article on the web site explained that the marchers did not understand why they were being jeered.
“‘We had been receiving some jeers and comments as we assembled for the parade in New York and we couldn’t understand why. Until someone from the Louth Association pointed out the similarity,'” a person named John McKenna was quoted as saying.
The article continued: “Naturally, there are around 100 million direct descendants of Monaghan folk currently resident in the U.S., and there’s nothing they like more than a bit of Big Apple-style celidh and an opportunity to toast the assault on Baghdad with a few pints of Guinness.”
The Monaghan Society president Anne-Marie McQuaid said: “None of this happened. We looked on the web site and saw this totally untrue article and now we are just seeing what we can do about it.”
She added: “This is dreadful. We have picture of us marching on the beautiful day [March 17th] with our banner. I just don’t understand where it’s coming from or why.”
“I don’t think this is a nice thing to do,” she continued. “We have sent them something to see what they will do about it.”
Attempts to contact the Register (www.theregister.co.uk) were unsuccessful.