Sir, – Rosita Boland interviews and writes about a number of Irish Americans from my hometown of Boston who have never been here and don't know much about Ireland in 2016 ("How Irish America Sees Ireland", October 22nd).
It’s an interesting piece. And indeed, I know some “Boston Irish” who are similarly uninterested in their ancestral home. But I know many, many more who are very close to and knowledgeable about this country. They visit their home counties multiple times a year to see friends and family; they are active participants in the myriad Irish organisations, such as the GAA, in Boston; and they follow Irish sport, politics and current affairs online every day.
Perhaps the story of the nominally Irish American is one worth telling. But the story of Irish Americans who have not forgotten where they come from is more compelling by far. In my experience, they are the clear majority.
Ms Boland’s piece will primarily serve as more fuel for the fire for those who deny the power, vibrancy and transatlantic connectedness of Irish America. That’s a profound shame.
– Yours, etc,
LARRY DONNELLY
School of Law,
NUI Galway.
Sir, – I read with interest Rosita Boland’s article on “How Irish-America Sees Ireland”. It centred on Americans of Irish descent living in Boston. The piece was cogent and offered testimonials for its premise. Yet, I did not find it a compelling or even complete analysis of an Irish-American view of Ireland.
I did not find its voices representative of many Americans with Irish ancestry.
Locating this study in Boston seemed an incomplete and too convenient venue for canvassing views.
The Irish-American experience is identified often with US cities having many Irish immigrants, such as Chicago, New York and, yes, Boston. I would contend that the Irish American voice resides elsewhere. Go 1,000 miles south of New England to the Carolinas or 1,000 miles west to St Louis for an authentic viewpoint. Immigrants fleeing the Famine found work there, too. That is the real Irish America.
Boston is a wonderful town, yet some of the citizens interviewed presented an insular and out-dated view of Ireland. Even their diet is atypical. Corned beef and cabbage is a delicacy of the northeast, perhaps predating the arrival of Irish immigrants. Irish-American families I know in other regions were raised on roast beef and sherry.
The Global Irish Media Fund may wish to centre future articles in this series on St Paul, Minnesota, where the Irish-American writer F Scott Fitzgerald lived or in New Orleans, where author John Kennedy Toole taught.
– Yours, etc,
KATHLEEN DEMARCO
Atlanta,
Georgia.