Inside File A sea of green ink

By Ray O’Hanlon

"It’s a great day for the Irish." Sure faith and be..be…be….be, whatever, it was and to be sure. New Yorkers were reminded what a great day it was about to be last Thursday when the New York Post came out with a pre-St. Patrick’s Day supplement with the "great day" bit splashed across the top of page one. Deep inside the Murdoch organ, readers could lay hands on a St. Patrick’s Day special supplement with all sorts of goodies, ads for this and that, some editorial content, photos of Parade Grand Marshal Kevin Cahill and, of course, the legendary parade line of march, what was once published free here but now comes to he-who-pays-most with a hefty pricetag. Ah, the passing of those sweet, innocent days.

Anyway, "IF" is off the track here. One can only wonder why the Post didn’t fill the editorial pages with, say, its top ten Post editorials on Ireland during the 1990s, you know, the ones that read like they were penned in Downing Street. Ah sure, it’s a great day . . .

On Friday, the Post redeemed itself somewhat with a straightforward "Happy St. Patrick’s Day." The Daily News played the local Irish angle down. No surprise really. Matters Irish are not so fashionable in the post-Pete Hamill Daily Planet. Still, it was interesting to note how the coverage in the "Hometown Paper" largely avoided the paper’s hometown. The coverage on St. Patrick’s Day itself concentrated on Irish immigrants returning to Ireland, the Celtic Tiger economy, the crisis facing the Catholic Church in Ireland and that other crisis facing the wee peace process in the North.

Events on this side of the pond, the big parade included, looked like afterthoughts. Still, the News remembered its roots on Saturday with upfront page two and three coverage of the parade, the Rudy-Hillary battle and the absence of Cardinal O’Connor from the steps of St. Patrick’s.

The Post devoted two Saturday pages as well, though a bit deeper into the paper.

The New York Times, oft-criticized for treating its back yard like a foreign port in a storm, featured parade photos on Saturday’s page while the Metro Section lavished a fair bit of valuable ink on the parade, particularly the political subtext to the big march. The Times also had a good color photo of some little Irish dancers walking up Fifth Ave. in tears from the cold. Poor wee scraps!

Last hurrah in D.C.

As expected, the last St. Patrick’s Day of the Clinton era resulted in the level of the muddy Potomac rising a few inches due to the wet eyes of those who sensed the passing of a unique, green-tinged era in D.C. Among the dry-eyed brigade, there was also a whiff of the last days of the Roman Empire, a mood which encouraged some to party especially hard. The British and David Trimble, clearly appreciating the moment, were on their best behavior. Some troops out of Belfast and Trimble indicating that he would tolerate a timetable before IRA decommissioning was guaranteed to please. Bertie Ahern, by various accounts, was in outstanding form at the White House bash. Indeed, some tell "IF," Bertie stole the show. The taoiseach certainly expressed the fears of not a few when he wondered aloud, not entirely jokingly, if the visitors from Ireland could manage to secure a hall for a bit of craic in D.C. next year.

Irish foreign affairs minister Brian Cowen — a future taoiseach in the opinion of some — was also prominent. "Biffo" apparently held the editorial board of the Washington Post in thrall for the better part of an hour during his stopover, so much so that not a note was taken by any of the board’s members! "IF" also heard that SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon lashed into a certain British member of the said board over recent editorials none too friendly to Irish American political leaders and the White House. Smokin’ Seamus!

At the end of the day, all roads led to the White House and later the residence of Irish Ambassador Sean 0 hUiginn. The White House crowd was very noticeable for being, shall we say, Hillary-heavy. Al Gore was obviously left to his own devices being a big boy now and all. He was little in evidence.

President Clinton had opened his heart at the American Ireland Fund dinner the night before the big day but, according to some reports, looked a little zoned-out by the end of the 17th. And who would blame him. "IF" would give a year’s supply of shamrock to know what his plans are for March 17th 2001. Pizza in Tierra del Fuego?

Flight of the intruders

It must have been some craic on that Aer Lingus flight to New York last week, the one with half of Sinn Féin aboard as well as Irish foreign affairs minister Brian Cowen and his Fianna Fáil entourage. Republicans galore at 30,000 feet! Other flights out of London were equally full of unionists while the SDLP brigade also used Heathrow as a launching pad. This begs the question. If all these North and south pols can get together in the upper troposphere, why not at ground level? Perhaps the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly and governing Executive, if they ever reconvene, should hold all their sessions on transAtlantic flights. If they did, you could be sure of one thing. There would be no walkouts.

Absent line

While the New York Post has been the primary host for the line of march over the last couple of years, it has also been carried by Catholic New York, the official weekly newspaper for the Archdiocese.

But not this year.

The line was noticeably missing last week from the CNY issue immediately preceding the parade. CNY’s Managing Editor Tom Woods told "IF" that CNY had not actually approached the parade committee seeking the line; nor had the parade committee offered the line to CNY.

"There was no request made by us and no overture from them. But there’s no hard feelings," Woods said.

Still an all, you would think that the committee might have taken five minutes off from its abacus to at least inform CNY that the line wasn’t on its way as it was last year. Perhaps CNY has sinned egregiously too, unbeknownst to itself.