February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The report, published this week and covering 2004, stated that Travelers were “regularly denied” access to premises such as pubs and restaurants and that Traveler families frequently experienced difficulties enrolling their children in school.
The report referred to Travelers as being “approximately 25,000 indigenous nomadic persons” who regarded themselves as a distinct ethnic group.
With regard to race issues, the report cited “racially motivated incidents involved physical violence, intimidation and verbal slurs,” against mainly Africans and Asians. It said that the majority of incidents of racist violence took place in public places and that such violence “continued to be a growing problem.”
The report stated that Ireland “might be a destination country on a limited scale” for trafficking in women and children. “Socially disadvantaged” women and children were most likely to be trafficking victims, the report stated.
BLOOMBERG FOR QUEENS PARADE
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg will be joined by other area politicians when he steps out this Sunday, March 6, in the sixth annual “inclusive” St. Patrick’s Parade in Sunnyside, Queens.
This year’s parade through the streets of Sunnyside and Woodside will honor community leaders Stanley Rygor and Mary Somoza, an Irish immigrant and long time advocate for the disabled, who include her twin daughters, Alba and Anastasia, who have cerebral palsy and have been quadriplegics from birth.
Rygor, along with his wife, Kathleen, is well known in Irish traditional music circles in Queens and beyond.
According to parade organizer Brendan Fay, this year’s parade will also salute several recently deceased Irish community activists. Bernadette McAllister, who died from cancer last May, republican activist George Harrison, and Frank Carvill, killed in Iraq while serving with the New Jersey Army National Guard, and for whom a street in Woodside is soon to be renamed, will be remembered during the parade.
“I’m delighted to be co-chair of the parade for 2005 whose 70 contingents reflect the diversity of the Irish community. Interested participants can still register on line at the parade Web site,” parade co-chair Barbara Ann Heffernan Mohr said.
The parade will assemble at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue at 12:30 p.m. For details, call (718) 721-2780 or go to the Web site www.stpatsforall.com.
KELLEY TO LEAD D.C. PARADE
Participants in this year’s Washington, D.C., St. Patrick’s Day parade will do well to practice their marching skills. The parade, which is set for Sunday, March 13, will be led by grand marshal P.X. Kelley, former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The choice of Kelley is something of a study in contrast to last year’s grand marshal, Derry-born actress Roma Downey.
Also being honored by the D.C. parade, which dubs itself “the Nation’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” is Washington’s archbishop, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick has been named as the parade committee’s Gael of the Year.
General Kelley was member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 1983 and ’87. He is chairman emeritus of the Irish American Partnership and was a pivotal figure in the creation of the capital’s World War 11 and Korean War memorials.
Kelley also helped secure posthumous American citizenship for 28 Irishmen killed while serving with the U.S. army in the 1950-53 Korean conflict.
The D.C. parade will start at noon on the 13th at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. Details are available at (202)637-2474 or www.dcstpatsparade.com.
A NEW IRISH SWEEPSTAKES
The U.S.-Ireland Alliance is offering a full scholarship to an Irish university. The group, which sponsors the Mitchell Scholarship program, is offering the scholarship in an online sweepstakes that runs through Oct. 31
This is the third year that the alliance has offered a scholarship prize.
The two previous winners attended the University of Ulster and Trinity College Dublin.
This year’s scholarship, which covers four years of board and tuition, is for Dublin City University. The 2006 scholarship will apply to the University of Limerick.
Details on how to enter are available at www.us-irelandalliance.org. The scholarship can be transferred to someone else and is redeemable for up to 18 years.
“An education at one of these outstanding universities can often be less costly than attending an American university of comparable quality,” Trina Vargo of U.S.-Ireland Alliance said. “We’re delighted to be able to give away a scholarship each year.”
The Web site sweepstakes replaces a previous system which consisted of entries being taken at an Alliance booth at Irish festivals around the U.S. during the summer months.