The path to the United States Supreme Court is a winding one and there is no certainty that the nine justices will end up considering the tangled legal weave that is the Boston College archives case. But if the case does ever reach the full court it will remind many of the Joe Doherty case which did make it to [...]

Three leading Irish American organizations supporting the campaign to have withdrawn the subpoenas directed at Boston College in the Troubles archives case have reached out to the university in an effort to forge a common front. As things stand, archivists Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre have been appealing one aspect of the overall case as it relates to an initial [...]

Campaigners against “barbaric” blood sports such as fox hunting are planning a mass rally in Dublin to call for tougher laws. The government is preparing the Animal Health and Welfare Bill, and animal rights activists are urging politicians to impose heavy penalties for those partaking in blood sports. Current laws governing hunting, hare coursing and other rural activities deemed cruel [...]

  COLOURFUL TD Mick Wallace could face trouble if he tries to return to a group representing independent members of the Irish parliament. Wallace, famous for eschewing suits and ties in favor of scruffy pink shirts and earrings, was forced to resign from the Dail Technical Group back in June after being found to be a tax cheat, this after [...]

A leading Ulster Unionist is expected to announce he is leaving the party after controversial comments he made on homosexuality. Ken Maginnis, now Lord Maginnis, lost the party whip at Westminster earlier this year after comments he made during a Radio Ulster interview in which he called homosexuality “unnatural and deviant.” Lord Maginnis was MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone for 18 [...]

At this stage it’s something of a political hardy annual, though perhaps more annual than hardy. Sinn Féin is the latest Irish political party to plunge into the matter of votes for the diaspora, an issue that was last widely discussed in the late 1990s when Fianna Fáil promised across the board voting rights for the Irish overseas, only to [...]

The medals were comparatively small and came in gold, silver and bronze varieties. The trophy was silver and huge. The combination electrified an Ireland in need of a good summer boost. Katie Taylor’s Olympic gold medal, John Joe Nevin’s silver, and the bronze medals won by Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan and Cian O’Connor at the London Olympics were, by historical [...]

BOSTON —  James “Whitey” Bulger, the 82-year-old Irish-American mobster who is charged with participating in 19 murders, will take the stand in his own defense and will claim that he had immunity for many of his crimes, his lawyer said Monday in federal court. “Our client, James Bulger, has made it clear that he is going to testify at this [...]

Times might be hard in Ireland, but there are places in the world where they are much harder – Somalia for one. And with that in mind Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, announced €3 million in “life-saving assistance to Somalia” during a recent visit to the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The funding will provide food, shelter [...]

There was an angel on his shoulder, an Irish angel. And standing around him unseen were the spirits of generations of Irish cops who have stood in harm’s way. This might well be the explanation, along with a bullet proof vest, as to how Brooklyn, New York native Brian Murphy took nine bullets from crazed gunman Wade Page, who unleashed [...]