Loyalist for Irish Senate?

WILL Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern appoint a leading Loyalist to the Irish Senate next week?

The buzz in Dublin is that Ahern will use one of his 11 nominations to the Senate to appoint Glen Barr, the former leading figure in the Ulster Defense Association and now a long time peace activist, to the upper house of the Irish Parliament.

It is not without precedent that an Irish leader would appoint someone from Northern Ireland to the Senate, but the choices in the past have all been moderate Nationalists such as Seamus Mallon, or outstanding figures such as Gordon Wilson, who displayed enormous grace after he lost a daughter during the tragic IRA Enniskillen bombings.

Barr, however, might not be all that controversial a choice if he is chosen. He has long left his Loyalist days behind and has escorted figures such as Senator Edward Kennedy and President Bill Clinton around his neighborhood in Derry when they visited. He has also been involved in a peace center in Europe.

The choice of a Loyalist would be a striking one, however, and shows just how far the situation in the North has come. Such a suggestion even a few short years ago would have been utterly dismissed.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Alan Kelly, a new Labor Party senator based in Tipperary. Kelly is brother to Declan Kelly, head of business communications company FD here in New York and a major player on the Irish American scene.

Falling Dollar Bad News

THE plunging American dollar is very bad news for the Irish economy according to one expert, economist and writer David McWilliams.

McWilliams is best known for his book The Pope's Children, which accurately described the generation that grew up in Ireland after Pope John Paul's visit in 1979. He has long been considered one of Ireland's most formidable thinkers.

For months now he has been negative on the future of the Irish economy. Writing in The Sunday Business Post (www.sbpost.ie) this week McWilliams predicted that the falling dollar could lead to major reevaluation by American multinationals about their Irish operations.

That is because the cost of Irish labor and operations has become prohibitively expensive as the dollar falls in what is essentially becoming a long term devaluation.

As McWilliams points out, "We are heavily dependent on America. It is our largest trading partner. It is our largest inward investor. More than 93% of Irish exports come from multinationals, and the majority of them are American.

"We have oriented our economy towards the mid-Atlantic and, for all intents and purposes, corporate Ireland is a province of corporate America.

"To flourish and appear cheap to U.S. investors, we need a strong dollar. However, now we have a weak dollar. As a result, Irish workers are beginning to look extremely expensive."

The upshot, of course, could be that American multinationals begin looking for other locations. From the Irish end it is not all bad news though. This year over 350,000 Irish will come to America mainly to shop, and they will find their euros stretch further than ever before.

O'Malley Quotes MacGowan

HOW often do you hear a U.S. governor quote Shane MacGowan lyrics rather than "Danny Boy?" Probably never.

Until last week, actually. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley was in town to accept an award at the Wall Street 50 event hosted by our sister publication Irish America magazine. O'Malley is just 43 and a rising star, and he proved why in his remarks to a roomful of Wall Street titans.

He has a grasp of Ireland and the history there that is unique among American politicians. As the leader in his rare spare time of a Celtic rock band called O'Malley's March, he is familiar with the new soul of Ireland as well, hence the MacGowan quotes.

Asked about his Celtic rock band, O'Malley says he has not been playing much but adds, "We have recorded the guts of an underground CD. It's called Banished to the Basement, but we don't know if it will ever see the light of day."

O'Malley has aligned himself with Senator Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election, and it is clear his role will be to corral those ethnic Catholic votes that are so vital in key swing states.

There is no question he has the talent and ambition to play a large role for Clinton. He'll hardly be banished to the basement in any event.

New Bid to Save Church

NEW Yorkers fighting the proposed demolition of 158-year-old St. Brigid's Church in downtown Manhattan will rally in front of the church on Friday morning, July 27 to mark the one-year anniversary of its ordered destruction by the Archdiocese.

An injunction handed down by the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division has prevented the archdiocese from completing the demolition. Supporters of St. Brigid's, who have been active in their opposition, hope that this latest rally will remind the archdiocese and city officials of St. Brigid's historical significance, as well as demonstrate overwhelming community support for its preservation.

Among those expected to attend are New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn who is an avid supporter of the plan to save the church. Quinn, a likely mayoral candidate, is certainly pressing the right button on this issue with many concerned Irish Americans.