cúisle mo chroí

I believe I may be the only person interested in live-tweeting the New York New Belfast Conference which begins today, but so be it! As someone who is interested in the post-conflict regeneration of the North of Ireland, absolutely loves Belfast (and New York!), I’m really looking forward to this conference. I’m also [...]

Now that I can finally say I own a computer, I am finally getting around to writing a post about my participation in and my thoughts about the recent United Ireland forums hosted by Sinn Féin in New York and San Francisco. That’s a picture of me at the mic taken by my [...]

These documents were sent to me recently concerning the recent debates at Stormont and the House of Commons about the treatment of the Belfast Visteon/Ford plant employees. Though they are heading towards a settlement deal, it comes at a great cost, for there will be no jobs or pensions for anyone.
The two [...]

Sinn Féin’s Paul Maskey today commended the Visteon workers for their dedication in their struggle to secure fair terms following the sudden closing of the Belfast plant. Watch the video above for a story of the plant closure and the occupation that followed from the perspective of the workers.

This afternoon I am off to New York, where aside from visiting long lost friends, I will be attending tomorrow’s Index 30 luncheon on Wall St, hosted by The Irish Echo. Mary Louise Mallick, Deputy Comptroller of NY State, whom I had the good fortune to meet in Belfast last May, will receive the [...]

For the past few weeks, I have been spending my Friday mornings around the corner at the Selma Café. “Selma” actually stands for the Soule-Eberwhite-Lutz-Madison-Affiliation, an Old West Side Ann Arbor neighborhood association, whose purpose is to “provide a forum for neighbors to come together and exchange information, ideas, goods, and services in order [...]

Found this lovely image of the Visteon protest in north London with a NY Times article about the future of Britain’s economy.
The podcast from Monday’s Building Bridges Radio interview with Visteon-Ford workers is now available for download by clicking here. The interview is the first segment after the headlines, and is actually quite [...]

Dear friends and comrades,
Please take a moment to sign the online petition in support of the Calcast workers sit-in in Derry and distribute it as widely as you can.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/calcast/petition.html
The workers, who are members of the UNITE trade union are demanding a fair redundancy payment. A few of us visited the factory on Monday evening, just [...]

It’s in!  The following is a statement from Congressman Richie Neal (D, MA), Chairman of the Friends of Ireland group in the House, in support of tomorrow’s Cultural Economy Conference in West Belfast:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 7, 2008
CONTACT: William Tranghese (202) 225-5601
 
STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN RICHARD E. NEAL
CHAIRMAN OF THE FRIENDS OF IRELAND
ON THE CULTURAL ECONOMIC [...]