February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The carrier will be starting up a link between Philadelphia and both Shannon and Dublin. It began taking bookings for the new service last week.
“We are pleased to be moving forward with out new service to Dublin and Shannon, markets that will present excellent business and leisure travel opportunities for our customers in Philadelphia and its 123 connecting destinations,” U.S. Airways vice president Douglas Leo said.
Leo said that he wanted to acknowledge the assistance of Tourism Ireland and Aer Rianta, the Irish airports controlling authority, in setting up the new service.
Jim McGuigan, Tourism Ireland’s executive vice president for North America, said that the agency is looking forward to working with U.S. in expanding the market out of Philadelphia.
U.S. Airways filed with the DOT for permission to operate an Irish service in early December.
GILMAN’S PEARSON PLEA
Days before he wound up his 30-year congressional career, Rep. Ben Gilman wrote President Bush on behalf of Brian Pearson, the Tyrone man who is a member of the “deportees” group.
“As my 30-year tenure as a member of congress draws to an end, I respectfully request your assistance in an ongoing matter involving one of my constituents, Brian Pearson of Pearl River,” Gilman wrote Bush.
Gilman requested that Pearson be granted a green card so that he could take the necessary steps to becoming a U.S. citizen.
“Mr. Pearson’s current status is totally unsatisfactory in light of the fact that he had previously been granted ‘political asylum and permanent residency status.’ Closure on his case is long overdue,” Gilman said.
IAR HONOR THREE
The Irish-American Republicans group has announced three honorees for its 6th annual awards event. The three are Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell, William F. Plunkett, Jr. and Stanley Q. Casey.
The three will be presented with their awards on Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Irish Radio Network Studios in Manhattan.
Treadwell chairs the New York State Republican Committee and was formerly Gov. Pataki’s Secretary of State. IAR said in a statement that Treadwell was being honored for his efforts to reach out to grassroots organizations such as IAR.
Plunkett is an attorney and founding partner in the law firm of Plunkett and Jaffe. He is active in many Irish-American organizations and is an advisor to President Bush in the area of Faith Based Initiative programs. Plunkett is also an IAR board member.
Casey is a partner in the law firm of Richardson, Mahon, Casey and Rooney and is a member of several Irish-American organizations.
Past IAR award recipients include Rep. Ben Gilman, John Cahill, New York Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue, Grant Lally, Jack Irwin, Jeff Cleary and Rep. John Sweeney. Anyone wishing to attend the awards event should call (518) 209-1916.
JERSEY HIBS FOR DERRY MARCH
The New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians will be sending a delegation to Ireland as part of its Fourth Annual Bloody Sunday Peace Mission at the end of this month.
Fifty members of the order will be flying to Ireland on Jan. 29 to take part in the annual Bloody Sunday Commemoration in Derry.
“0ur fourth annual trip this year will bring 50 Hibernians from New Jersey to walk in the Bloody Sunday March commemorating what happened on Jan. 30, 1972 where soldiers from the British Army’s 1st Parachute Regiment opened fire on demonstrators…killing 13 and wounding a number of others,” Bill Young, AOH state president and Jack Sullivan, state vice president, said in a joint statement announcing the trip.
REFORMED GERRY?
School kids in Brooklyn are reading about Gerry Adams, leader of Northern Ireland’s Protestants. The goof is contained in a social studies textbook entitled “Human Heritage: A World History,” published by McGraw Hill. The Daily News reported that the book describes Adams as a “Protestant leader.”
The News corrected the record, noting that Adams was in fact “the Catholic firebrand who heads Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army’s political wing.”
EIGHT MILLION VERY BIG ONES
The American Ireland Fund has passed the $8 million mark in its contributions to fund-aided projects in Ireland. According to the AIF’s latest figures, 350 projects to date have shared $8,040,439 collected by the fund to support peace, reconciliation and community development in Ireland, North and South.
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CORRECTION: CELTIC SUPPORTERS
A report last week concerning the participation of New York area Glasgow Celtic supporters stated that New York supporters alone would be marching in this year’s New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The supporters will in fact be drawn from the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut supporters club. The report also wrongfully gave the impression that Glasgow Celtic had been founded and run as an exclusively Catholic soccer club. Celtic was formally constituted as a social and sporting club in 1887 and established in 1888 by Brother Walfrid, a member of the Marist order. The club was intended at the time as a focal point in the effort to combat hunger and poverty among Irish immigrants in Glasgow’s east end. The club was not founded as an exclusively Catholic organization and its membership rolls were opened to people of all faiths from its inception. Celtic’s “social charter” specifies that membership is open to people of all religions and races.