Cooking Up a Hooley in the Kitchen: Scones Anyone Can Make
December 26, 2024
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I am much more of a savory person. Yet, oh my goodness do I love scones!
They are perfect because they are …
Donnybrook: Irish Election 2024
- iIrish Admin
- December 26, 2024
- Edited 19 hours ago
Table of Contents
The results are in for the Irish Election, with 174 seats representing 43 constituencies (districts) up for election. Fianna Fail (48), Sinn Féin (39), Fine Gael (38), Social Dems (11), Labor (11), Independents (23) and People before Profits (3). Eighty-Eight (88) is the magic number to assemble to constitute a majority.
historic enemies Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will continue their coalition government, with FF’s Micháel Martin being the Taoiseach. FF and FG have publicly stated they would not join Sinn Féin to form a coalition government.
The two historic constitutionalist parties have never really said why they would not join into a partnership with Sinn Féin. The two historic parties have much in common, much at stake to respond to each of their establishment supporters and maintain the cozy status quo.
While Sinn Féin did not make the breakthrough they were hoping for, they have established that they are a force that is here to stay. Still, Sinn Féin did move the ball forward by increasing their number of seats, more than in any Dáil in over a century.
The jockeying to assemble a new governing majority will be entertaining to watch. Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said, “we will continue to fight for the people and continue to be the party of reconciliation and reunification.”
Felonious Monk
American Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composters of all time. However, he was not on the ballot in last month’s Irish national elections (RIP 1982).
But, alleged Irish mobster, Gerry “the Monk” Hutch, was running for Dail Eireann in Dublin Central’s district. He took almost 10 per cent of the vote and came close to taking the fourth seat in the district.
The Monk has been linked to two of Ireland’s largest bank robberies and was associated with drug dealer Eamon Kelley’s crime organization early in his career. Now a days, The Monk is heavily invested in Dublin real estate.
Some wags suggested if Felonious Trump can be elected than why not Felonious Monk? Monk allegedly earned his nickname by an Irish journalist, who claimed Hutch led a very ascetic lifestyle given his many riches. Maybe next time.
Green Season Kick-Off
February 1, 2025, will be the date of the annual St. Brigid/St. Patrick celebration dinner. This event has become the new kick-off to the “High Holy” season, starting with the feast of St. Brigid on February 1st, and culminating with the Feast of St. Patrick on March 17th.
These two saints, along with St. Columbkille, are the patron saints of the Island of Saints and Scholars. The Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians are the sponsors of this event.
In addition to celebrating our patron saints, the mass and dinner celebrate and honor the Hibernian of The Year and the local honorees of the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland (i.e. The Parade Committee), as follows: Shannon M. Corcoran, Parade Grand Marshall; Mary Murphy Joyce, Irish Mother of the Year; Katie Schmitt, Inside Co-Chair; Michael Conkey, Outside Co-Chair. (“Hibernia” is the Latin word for Ireland).
This year the event is at the West Side Irish American Club in Olmsted Township, Ohio, please contact LAOH member Anne Gaffney (216) 952-5488 or [email protected] for tickets ($65.00 each). The event starts with mass at 4:30P.M. with dinner to follow.
This will be a double celebration of St. Brigid, as the theme of the 2025 Cleveland Parade is: “Celebrate the Life of St. Brigid”. Cleveland will celebrate it’s 183rd annual parade at 1:04 P.M. on March 17th. All are welcome.
The Russians are Coming
The Irish Naval Service had to shadow the Russian Subsea spy ship, The Yantar, off the coast of Dublin in the Irish Sea last month. The Ruskies claim the Yantar is merely a ‘research’ ship. However, Janes defense magazine identifies the Yankar as a spy ship with mini subs designed to map and/or destroy underwater communication cables and natural gas transmission lines.
The Western nations of good will cannot let our guard down on Czar Putin’s attempts to rebuild Imperial Russia. With Putin’s buddy returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we must push all the harder back against Russian aggression.
The Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs stated: “As part of the EU, we are providing Ukraine with humanitarian, political, financial and non-lethal material assistance. With active Irish support, the EU has initiated the largest ever package of sanctions against the Russian leadership.”
Lesotho & U.K.
Lesotho (South Africa) and the U.K. are the only two countries left in the world with a hereditary element to its parliament. The new U.K. labor government has promised to complete a package of parliamentary reforms that would end hereditary membership in the U.K. House of Lords.
The pending bill will deliver the largest constitutional change to Parliament in a quarter of a century. Removal of hereditary peers would end the practice of certain families being granted membership into Parliament by virtue of birth.
The landmark legislation will remove the right of the remaining 92 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. Of course, no one from Ireland sits as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords, are you surprised?
Farewell Oz Tour
This was the label given to King Charles and Queen Cammilla’s trip Downunder by those advocating for Australia to remove King Charles as head of State and become a Republic. The King’s recent visit renewed calls to end the formal relationship with the Monarch as head of State.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for a referendum on the Republic but has yet to set a date. King Charles continues to be the head of state for 15 countries, including the six gerrymandered counties in the North of Ireland.
Gerry Faust
Fighting Irish football lost its biggest fan this past fall with the death of Gerry Faust. The University of Notre Dame du Lac astonished the college football world in 1981 by naming high school coach Gerald “Gerry” Anthony Faust as Dan Divine’s replacement as head football coach.
Ohioan Gerry Faust helped create and lead the football program at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School. Faust served there from 1962 to 1980, and had a 174-17-2 record, a stunning .902 winning percentage. He was selected as the National High School Coach of the Year in 1979.
Faust played football at the University of Dayton but had always longed to be with the Blue and Gold in South Bend. He served as ND head coach from 1981 to 1985, with a winning record, but that was not good enough for Notre Dame’s high expectations. While not the winningest coach at Notre Dame by far, his strong faith, authenticity and dedication to the Fighting Irish earned him a place of honor in the long a storied program.
Find this and other John Myer’s Donnybrook columns HERE!
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John Myers
*John is an attorney in Cleveland. He can be reached at [email protected].
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