Quinn is Echo’s Irish American of the Year

She is the first woman speaker of the council and the first openly gay holder of that post.
To understand how one person can peerlessly traverse the demands of Quinn’s job is made easier by watching Quinn in action, this if you can keep up with the pace she works at.
The Irish don’t have a word for pizzazz but anyone who has seen the fast-talking, faster-moving, sharp-suited Quinn make an entrance might well suggest we’ve just found one in the persona of Christine Quinn.
After all, this is the woman who charmed a smile from the famously stern-faced Ian Paisley, whose fire and brimstone approach to the issues embraced by the speaker proved no match for her infectious laugh.
And it’s not all sizzle and no steak for the high-flying politician who has made a series of helpful interventions in the Irish peace process in recent years.
Quinn has made New York City Council a mandatory stop on the well-worn path bringing ministers from Northern Ireland’s new power sharing government to the U.S.
Quinn personally knows all the major players in northern politics having attended the groundbreaking investment conference in Belfast in May past.
As much an Irish republican as an American Democrat, she has vigorously advocated the core Irish demands of justice and peaceful unity while arguing that the return for U.S, support for the peace process has to be greater equality and a complete end to discrimination in Northern Ireland.
Of course, being nice never buttered no parsnips in politics. Speaker Quinn has been tested in the white-hot furnace of Big Apple politics.
Stumbling over the fund for community groups affair, she recovered to lead the controversial council battle ensuring Mayor Bloomberg a third run for office next year.
Pundits presume Quinn’s own name is on the Gracie Mansion mailbox short list when Mayor Bloomberg, a firm ally of the speaker, steps down – this after a little matter of next year’s election, of course, going Mayor Bloomberg’s way.
A frenetic constituency activist, Speaker Quinn, who traces her Irish heritage primarily to counties Clare and Cork, is happiest on the stump, highlighting injustices, arguing for better public services, helping New Yorkers maintain a foothold on the ladder of success in these turbulent economic times.
Born to public service, Speaker Quinn is a consummate politician on the most demanding political stage of all: New York City.
She is a worthy recipient of the greatest honor the Irish Echo can bestow in this, our 80th anniversary year. As such, we are proud to proclaim Christine Quinn as our Irish American of the Year.