Monthly Archives: April 2013

Willie’s emigration centennial: Day 1 of 12

AN INTRODUCTION…

I never met Willie Diggin. My maternal grandfather died 18 years before I was born.

Growing up, I learned two basic facts about the man. He was an Irish immigrant from County Kerry, just like his wife, Nora, my grandmother. He died at a young age while operating a streetcar in downtown Pittsburgh in December 1941, right after the Pearl Harbor attack and days before Christmas.

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Undated photo of Willie Diggin, probably from the early 1920s.

Not much was said about Willie during my 1960s boyhood up until Nora died in 1983. Another 15 years passed before I began thinking about him while pursuing Irish citizenship through registration of foreign birth.

That document in hand, I traveled to Ireland for the first time in May 2000. I met relations in Dublin and drove to Cobh, formerly Queenstown, to stand on the dock where Nora and Willie emigrated in September 1912 and May 1913, respectively.

On my trip I also visited the small house near Ballybunion village where Willie was born in 1894. It is owned by a relation who has welcomed me inside on several occasions.

Hanging next to the front door is an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus bearing Willie’s name and that of his parents and 10 brothers and sisters. It is dated May 6, 1922, during the Irish civil war.

I have also walked along the Shannon estuary where Nora was raised near Ballylongford and Carrigafoyle Castle. The feeling of connection to my Irish roots stirs deep in my DNA every trip back to north Kerry.

But I really did not begin to understand Willie’s life until I discovered a newspaper clipping about his death. Some preliminary research resulted in my January 2009 story for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which published the original news story.

My heart sank a little reading the brief because as a reporter I’ve written dozens of similar items about the abrupt public deaths of men and women not usually in the news. Get a few details in the paper, but keep it short. You always know there’s more to people’s lives than the circumstances of their death.

This was an understatement. Though my story fleshed out more details about Willie than the 1941 news brief, it was far from a complete picture of his life. Fortunately, several readers gave me new leads about Willie as more genealogical and historical records was becoming available online.

My introduction to my grandfather was just beginning.

Four years later, I have compiled a biography of Willie titled, “His Last Trip: An Irish-American Story.” Over the next 11 days I am sharing more details about this man I never met, but whom I finally have gotten to know.

Willie was not a famous person or a hero in the popular sense. Like tens of thousand of other Irish emigrants, he was a decent, hard-working fellow who established the foundation of a new life in America for his family and future generations. He never got to see those fruits.

In that regard, his life deserves to be celebrated at this centennial of his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.

Tomorrow: QUEENSTOWN

Visitors to Ireland increased during 1st Q of 2013

Travel to Ireland was up 7.4 percent during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the previous year, the country’s Central Statistics Office has reported. Visitors from North America spiked nearly 17 percent during the period compared to 2012.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said the agency:

…mounted its biggest ever St Patrick’s promotion with over 70 iconic landmarks across the world turning green to mark St Patrick’s Day. This year, The Gathering Ireland 2013 and Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013 present tremendous opportunities for us to shine a spotlight on the island of Ireland around the world.

Officials also said that having Easter fall at the end of March instead of in April helped to swell first quarter visitors. The second and third quarters are typically attract the most visitors to the island.

Tourism is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, contributing almost 4 percent of GNP and providing employment for over 200,000 people, Tourism Ireland said.

Meanwhile, perhaps reflecting the still sluggish national economy, the number of Irish residents traveling outside the country dropped by 2.1 percent compared to the same three-month period in 2012.

“Irish Pittsburgh” author Patricia McElligott speaks April 28

Patricia McElligott, who produced Irish Pittsburgh for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series, is speaking and showing photos from her book at the Sunday, April 28th meeting of the Catholic Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.

The event begins 2 p.m. at St. Paul’s Seminary, O’Connor Hall, 2900 Noblestown Road in Crafton.

For those of us far from Western Pennsylvania but with deep Irish and Pittsburgh roots, McElligott has fashioned a must-have pictorial book. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in its review:

Many of today’s Irish residents can trace their roots to immigrants fleeing the great potato famine of the mid-1800s. They came to work in the iron and steel mills, mines and railroads, while the women toiled as domestic servants in such large numbers that “Bridget the Maid” became a staple on stage and film. The newcomers settled in the Point, the Hill District, Homewood and the North Side. Combatting anti-Irish and anti-Catholic prejudice, they paved the way for their children who went on to dominate politics and the Catholic Church, also rising to the heights of sports, entertainment and business.

My maternal grandfather, Willie Diggin, was among Pittsburgh’s early 20th century Irish immigrants. He left County Kerry and came to the city in May 1913. He did not achieve fame, but nevertheless established a firm foundation in America for his family and subsequent generations.

Starting May 1, I will explore his life in a 12-day series of blog posts titled “Willie’s Emigration Centennial.” I hope you will please give it a read.

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Fianna Fail to debate “church gate” collections

There’s been a lot of reporting about Ireland becoming a more secular country in general and Catholics “fleeing the church“ in particular.

But if fewer people are attending Mass and other religious services, Fianna Fail apparently hasn’t got the message. The republican party founded by Eamon De Valera and other opponents of the 1921 Free State Treaty continues to collect money outside of churches.

The Irish Independent reports:

The lucrative money-spinner outside mostly Catholic chapels across the country netted close to a quarter of a million euro for the party coffers last year alone. The cash has made a huge contribution towards halving Fianna Fail’s bank debts since being ejected from government [in 2011].

Now some party members want to stop so-called church gate collections.

“It’s about time political parties gave up church collections,” the Independent quoted Galway County Councillor Malachy Noone. “It is not the place to do it. It is not in the best of taste.”

Supporters of the practice said it doesn’t align the party solely with the Catholic church. “We are not fussy what church we collect outside, we will collect outside any church,” another party official told the newspaper.

Party leaders are set to debate the issue at a weekend conference in Dublin, just as they also prepare to begin their annual three-month church gate collection across the country.

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1998 FF ”church gate” ad from Irish Election Literature blog

Willie’s emigration centennial: Ballybunion News

The first two weeks of May marks the centennial of my grandfather’s emigration from Ballybunion to Pittsburgh. During that period this blog will retrace his journey and explore highlights of his life in Ireland and America.

The celebration has begun in the April 19 issue of the Ballybunion News, which has just published my short story about Willie Diggin. Many thanks to editor Gerald Walsh for publishing the piece, which appears on page 12.

Please sign up for Ger’s free weekly publication and follow @BallybunionNews on Twitter.

“Willie’s emigration centennial,” my expanded 12-day serial about Willie, begins May 1 on this blog.

Too much hate and killing in the past, and the present

Which quote about Margaret Thatcher is from the Irish republican, which from the Ulster loyalist?

“Oh God, in wrath take vengeance upon this wicked, treacherous, lying woman.”

OR

“It’s a pity we didn’t kill her 30-plus years ago.”

The first quote is from Ian Paisley Sr., or Lord Bannside as he’s known in his dotage. He said it 25 years ago, days after Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Norman Hamill writes in the Derry Journal.

The second quote is from Willie Gallagher, an Irish National Liberation Army prisoner during the Troubles. He said it this week during an unseemly Thatcher funeral “celebration“ in Derry’s Bogside.

The Irish Examiner linked events of the past to what happened this week in London, Derry and Boston:

Margaret Thatcher has not been fondly remembered in this country. She was a very British politician who essentially did not like the Irish, and if we are fair, it is hard to blame her.

Irish people killed her advisor, Airey Neave, with a car bomb within the precincts of the British parliament in 1979. He was a British war hero, as was Louis Mountbatten, who was murdered the same year while boating in Sligo with his grandchildren. That was as savage an affront to humanity as the outrage in Boston.

So enough killing for this week. God knows there was too much in the past. And let the dead, no matter who they are, rest in peace.

Remittances to Ireland on the rise again

Among my trove of letters from Irish relatives is a January 1921 correspondence to my uncle in Pittsburgh from his father in Ballylongford. With news of home and developments in the fight for independence, it acknowledges receipt of a postal order for 3 English pounds.

The amount was equivalent to about $12 at the time, or roughly my uncle’s weekly wage as a streetcar motorman. With 92 years inflation, that $12 is worth about $150 today, or 114 Euro.

“Your prosperity in America is a great consolation to me, your generosity and kindness since you left home,” the father wrote from North Kerry.

Such remittances are back in the news. Citing figures from the World Bank, The Irish Times reports that Irish emigrants sent home 610 million Euro in 2012, or 160 Euro more than in 2009 and double the figure of a decade ago.

A London-based hedge fund manger had this to say in a September story in The Telegraph:

“The new norm for Ireland and others across Europe will be quite literally living on reduced means and relying on a quite different economic model from their recent pasts. Quite different but not, we must add, altogether new. Having not depended on remittances for many decades, Ireland, like Portugal, will come to rely on these once more.”

The 2012 remittance figure is about 0.5 percent of Ireland’s gross national income, or half the percentage as in the 1980s, according to the Times. Remittances accounted for 3 percent of GNI in the 1960s.

I haven’t located the percentage for the 1920s as the very poor Free State emerged from the struggle for independence and civil war. Appreciate any sources of such information or hearing stories about remittances to Ireland.

Irish constitutional panel calls for marriage equality vote

The advisory panel reviewing the Irish Constitution has recommended calling a referendum on marriage rights for same-sex couples. Irish Central reports:

The historic vote by the convention saw 79 percent of members vote to recommend that the constitution be amended in favor of same sex marriages with just 19 percent against and the remainder having no opinion.

A group of 100 elected officials and private citizens are reviewing the 1937 constitution.

The convention’s recommendation now goes to the Government for debate.  The Irish Times says a response is promised within four months.

Here’s a link to all the marriage equality submissions at the panel’s official website.

George Mitchell on Good Friday’s 15th anniversary

Numerous political figures played critical roles in securing the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. I’ve always most appreciated the work of former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations.

Here’s his 15th anniversary reflection, from the Belfast Telegraph:

It was a difficult experience but one that ultimately produced what I think is a good result.

When the agreement was reached I said publicly on that day and in the days that followed that in itself it did not guarantee peace or political stability or reconciliation but rather it made them possible.

Whether they would occur would depend upon the courage and commitment of the political leaders and people of Northern Ireland.

As we all know of course there were many problems, setbacks, issues over the past 15 years but they have worked hard to resolve them and I certainly believe, and I hope most people do, that Northern Ireland is a better place as a result of the agreement.

It’s undeniable not every issue has been resolved or problem solved. I also think it’s important not to hold Northern Ireland to an unrealistic standard that no other society meets. Every society has its problems.

We’ve got plenty of problems here in the United States, there are problems in other parts of the United Kingdom, there are plenty of problems in Ireland and the European Union and you could go all around the world and say the same thing.

On balance, I think Northern Ireland has made progress and I feel very honoured to have been part of it. I still come back to Northern Ireland often. I’m an American and proud of it but a large part of my heart and my emotions will always be in Northern Ireland and with the people there.

Readers interested in learning more about Mitchell’s role in Northern Ireland should pick up a copy of his 1999 book, Making Peace.

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 George Mitchell

Thatcher, no friend of Ireland, dead at 87

Irish republicans are unlikely to shed any tears today about the death of Margaret Thatcher. It will be interesting to see what statements are issued by Gerry Adams and others.

The BBC quickly posted this overview of her relationship with Ireland.

In Irish affairs Margaret Thatcher was a tough and uncompromising believer in the Union, and instinctively loyal to the security forces she saw as society’s bulwark against a slide into the anarchy of terrorism.

She was hated by republicans and despised them in return, and her blunt-speaking style won her few friends on either side of the border, even if many had a sneaking admiration for her status on the world stage.

We’ll update this post with more links through the day.

UPDATE 1:

Adams, quoted in the Irish Independent:

“Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as British prime minister. Working class communities were devastated in Britain because of her policies…”

UPDATE 2:

The Irish Examiner reports “measured praise” for Maggie from Irish leaders.

Here’s a good overview from Bloomberg:

Thatcher’s uncompromising treatment of the hunger strikers led only to an increase in terrorism and the ascension of the IRA as a potent political force. … Thatcher’s unyielding position was that public sympathy for the hunger strikers quickly morphed into political support for Republicanism. Bobby Sands, one of the strikers, was elected to the British House of Commons for Fermanagh-South Tyrone while imprisoned.