The Emerald pipers and drummers were plying their musical trade New Year’s Eve in the County Kerry village of Portmagee, which sits on the mainland side of the bridge linking the county with Valentia Island.
Ceann Comhairle (speaker) of the D_il, John O’Donoghue, was on hand to welcome the seven Emerald Society members who had crossed the Atlantic at the invitation of Irish Consul General in New York, Niall Burgess.
“Your playing here tonight links you and your families in New York with your relatives and ancestors who stood here and marked the years end with their own celebration over many generations and indeed many centuries gone by,” said O’Donoghue.
“You have sent musical sparks into the night air and brought great color and excitement to greet the New Year in style. I want to thank you on my own behalf and on behalf of all of us here for making this journey to be with us. As your music was carried over the water, no doubt encircling Valentia Island, others who are not physically here with us are linked to our celebrations through your playing,” he said.
Four pipers and three drummers spent a week in the Valentia area but the highlight of their visit was the night in Portmagee when they played the role of banishing the old year, which was represented by a local man dressed in rags.
The Kerry visit was officially recognized by New York City Council and a formal proclamation was issued by Speaker Christine Quinn to Ceann Comhairle O’Donoghue.
The proclamation recognized the New Year’s event as another cultural link between New York and Kerry, and between the United States of America and Ireland.
O’Donoghue thanked Quinn and her colleagues for what he described as a very special gesture of good will.
“It also recognizes the public service contribution of the Emerald Society and the NYPD and it is a statement of the enduring links that have always meant so much to both our countries, and to our people on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
“I would like to thank Niall Burgess for his help in making all this happen. Niall could see that a colorful tradition celebrating the New Year with traditional mummers in costume, which has gone on here for 200 years by all accounts, could not be put at risk for the want of a piper.
“So NYPD to the rescue. And here we are a magical night of piping and pageantry that will give us all strength and a good lift to kick start the year ahead,” O’Donoghue said.