Great travel deals for Americans

By Scott Mayerowitz and Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press
February 5, 2015
Scott Mayerowitz and Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press

Americans hoping to save on European goods thanks to a falling euro shouldn’t rush to uncork that bottle of French Bordeaux. There’s very little to celebrate. Unless you like travel deals.

Not since September 2003 has the euro traded this low against the dollar. Still, German sports cars, Belgian beers and the latest fashions out of Italy aren’t going on sale anytime soon. The reason? There’s simply too much demand in the US for any markdowns.

Aer Lingus backs takeover bid by IAG, parent of British Airways

By Shawn Pogatchnik,
 Associated Press
February 5, 2015
Shawn Pogatchnik,
 Associated Press

Aer Lingus planes are shown at Dublin airport, Ireland, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Aer Lingus said it supports a takeover bid by British Airways parent IAG, putting the Irish national airline with its trademark shamrock tailfins on course for foreign acquisition nine years after its privatization. AP Photo/Peter MorrisonAer Lingus planes are shown at Dublin airport, Ireland, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Aer Lingus said it supports a takeover bid by British Airways parent IAG, putting the Irish national airline with its trademark shamrock tailfins on course for foreign acquisition nine years after its privatization. AP Photo/Peter Morrison

DUBLIN — Aer Lingus said late last month that it supports a takeover bid by British
Airways parent IAG, putting the Irish national airline with its trademark shamrock tailfins on course for foreign acquisition nine years after its privatization.

The 11-member Aer Lingus board said it could recommend IAG’s latest bid of 2.55 euros ($2.85) per share, valuing the airline at 1.36 billion euros ($1.52 billion). It emphasized that the proposal required backing from the two biggest shareholders: rival Irish carrier Ryanair and the Irish government.

Peter Koutoujian Sr, dies suddenly; wake Jan 21 & 22, funeral Jan 23

By Ed Forry
January 19, 2015
Ed Forry

Former Waltham City Clerk Peter Koutoujian Sr died suddenly at his Waltham home on Friday, January 16, at the age of 77.
He and his wife of fifty-four years, Newton native Cornelia "Connie" (Cassidy) Koutoujian, were lifelong leaders in Boston's Irish American community, and were active members of the Knights and Ladies of Saint Finbarr (County Cork) and the Eire Society of Boston, among other Irish organizations.

How US Envoy Gary Hart helped restore the 1998 Peace Agreement

By Paul Galvin, Special to the Reporter
January 12, 2015
Paul Galvin, Special to the Reporter

US Envoy Gary Hart: Played key role in ending recent impasse.US Envoy Gary Hart: Played key role in ending recent impasse.Almost 17 years after the 1998 US-brokered Peace Agreement between the major UK/Irish parties that ended 25-plus years of civil war in northeast Ireland, many difficult issues remain unresolved that threaten to unravel the historic agreement. In an environment of still-segregated schools and walls still-divided neighborhoods with, as one reporter aptly noted, “generational narratives oversimplified and shockingly devoid of respect for other points of view,” many diplomatic veterans viewed this US diplomatic initiative to help achieve agreement as “mission impossible.”

But the most recent envoy to the UK/Northern Ireland, Gary Hart, did succeed in helping the parties to agree.
Central to the agreement is a devolved tax structure, funding for 60,000 new jobs, cross-community education, war victims’ compensation, and public sector reforms to be funded with $3.1 billion by the UK government. How did this happen?

Let me tell you about my favorite places to visit in Ireland

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
December 31, 2014

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
It’s well worth a trip up to Rossnowlagh in Co. Donegal to spend some time at the beautiful Sandhouse Hotel and Marine Spa on the Wild Atlantic Way and explore the area.It’s well worth a trip up to Rossnowlagh in Co. Donegal to spend some time at the beautiful Sandhouse Hotel and Marine Spa on the Wild Atlantic Way and explore the area.

My Dad used to say, “If it was supposed to be fun, it wouldn’t be called work.” I know he didn’t invent the saying, but it’s something I often repeat now to my adult children and watch them roll their eyes as I probably did when my Dad said it to me.
I think of that saying when writing this column for the Boston Irish Reporter because this is fun rather than work and lets me share favorite places and attractions.

Fear Itself: Gabriel Chevallier, and Patrick MacGill, and the Great War

By Thomas O'Grady
December 31, 2014
Thomas O'Grady

Just in time for the centenary of the Great War of 1914-18 (World War I), the publication in English of Gabriel Chevallier’s novel “Le Peur” (1930) is drawing deserved attention. Translated by Malcolm Imrie as “Fear” and available in the handsome New York Review of Books Classics series, the novel is clearly infused with Chevallier’s personal experience as an infantryman in the French Army during the Great War. Presenting the life of a soldier through extended passages inscribing equally the physical and the psychological trauma not just of combat but also of waiting for combat, it is a novel of unblinking witness.

Noone’s “Second Girl” in world premiere at The Huntington

By R.J. Donovan
December 31, 2014
R.J. Donovan

Ronan NooneRonan Noone
To find yourself preparing for the world premiere of a play you’ve written is a major undertaking.  To find yourself preparing simultaneously for the world premiere of two plays you’ve written is pretty much unheard of.
 
Yet that’s where Ronan Noone is at the moment.  His new play, “The Second Girl,” has its world premiere at the Huntington Theatre from Jan. 16 to Feb. 21.  Four months later, his “Scenes from an Adultery” will have its world premiere from June 6 to June 21 at New Repertory Theater in Watertown.  When the significance of this achievement is brought to Noone’s attention, he says modestly, “I’m very lucky.”

For Sean Gannon, ‘Music was something he could never really lose … and when it was good, he could put away his worries and just play his heart out.’

By Sean Smith
December 31, 2014
Sean Smith

The Irish music community in Boston, and well beyond, joined in grieving the death late last year of Sean Gannon, a member of one of the area’s most well-loved musical families.

Boston Irish Reporter’s Here & There

By Bill O’Donnell
December 31, 2014
Bill O’Donnell

Northern Ireland Talks Plod Onward – The talks to prop up the seriously troubled Northern Ireland political situation have seen the departure of Richard Haass and soon after followed British Prime Minister David Cameron. Enter Gary Hart, who may or may not be in the North of Ireland as this is going to press. There is serious business in progress and there is real concern in the North that the peace process, absent some top level corrective measures, could be in danger of collapsing. This is what has caught the attention of both the Irish and British governments.

Pages

Subscribe to Boston Irish RSS