Category Archives: Politics

Car bombs raise terrorist threats in Northern Ireland

UPDATE:

“No matter ‘how scaled down’ the New IRA is, there will always be dissidents married to the idea of the ‘long war’ and prepared to ‘carry the flame’ of violent republicanism from one generation to the next, regardless of the contrary views of the overwhelming mass of the population.” Nice roundup piece by Gerry Moriarty at the Irish Times. … A 66-year-old man has charged with several crimes in the Dunmurry episode.

ORIGINAL POST:

An April 25 car bomb explosion outside the Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, police station appears similar to an attempted attack on the Lurgan police station in March. The bomb did not explode in the earlier episode.  No one has been killed or injured.

Nationalist and unionist political leaders have condemed both episodes, which are being blamed on dissident Irish republicans. Whether the attacks signal a new upsurge in paramilitary violence remains to be seen. The annual tensions of the unionist community’s marching season and bonfires begin in two months.

HIATIUS: I am traveling and working on other projects. New posts will be infrequent through the spring and summer. Reach me from the contact form on the “About Me” page. Thanks, MH

Ireland’s 1926 census released to the public

HIATIUS: I am traveling and working on other projects. New posts will be infrequent through the spring and summer. Reach me from contact form on the “About Me” page. Thanks, MH

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More than 700,000 digitized pages of 1926 Irish Free State census return sheets have been released by the National Archives of Ireland. The sheets show names and individualized details such as religion, education, and occupation. They are a gold mine for historians and genealogists.

I located my relations in less than a minute. Begin your search here.

January 1926 US newspaper headline over Hearst story about census on both sides of the Irish border.

The 1926 census was the first headcount in Ireland since 1911. The 15-year stretch included the First World War (1914-1918), Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), and Irish Civil War (1922-1923).

“Matters were too disturbed in the country from one end to the other in 1921–the date of the last British census–for such an operation to be possible at all in Ireland,” Hearst’s International News Service explained to American newspaper readers in a January 1926 story. The return of the census signaled “another hopeful sign of the better relations between the long divided sections of Ireland, growing out of the amicable settlement of the boundary dispute, that they can agree to take their censuses on the same day, that is engage in the peaceful pursuit of counting heads instead of breaking them.”[1]”Irish Census To Be Completed Soon”, New Castle (Pa.) News, Jan. 20, 1926, and other papers.

Continue reading →

References

References
↑1 ”Irish Census To Be Completed Soon”, New Castle (Pa.) News, Jan. 20, 1926, and other papers.

‘America and Ireland at 250’ focus of Feb. 4 Georgetown conference

Georgetown University’s Global Irish Studies program and other partners will explore 250 years of US-Irish relations during the 7th annual “Bridging the Atlantic” conference. I will live blog the Feb. 4 event from the university’s Capitol Campus in Washington, D.C.

Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee, TD, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address. Panel discussions include “America 250: American Lives, Irish Legacies”, “Revolutionary Routes Across the Atlantic: 1776 and Beyond”, “The New Worlds of 21st Century Irish-America”, and “Re-imagining the ‘Green Wave’: Cultural Visions of Ireland in America.”

Panel participant rosters and registration found here.

Georgetown’s conference partners include the BMW Center for German and European Studies, in association with the Embassy of Ireland, the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast, and the Northern Ireland Bureau.

One of the panels at last year’s Bridging the Atlantic VI conference.

More Americans move to Ireland to flee Trump

Rosie O’Donnell isn’t the only American who has emigrated to Ireland to escape the realm of Mad King Don the Con.

Nearly 100 US citizens (94) sought formal political asylum in Ireland last year, up from 22 in 2024. The figure was 18 in 2023 and 13 in 2022, according to Irish Department of Justice data cited by the Irish Times.

Citizensinformation.ie, an Irish government website, provides this information about applying for asylum.

Another 9,600 US citizens moved to Ireland without seeking asylum protection in the 12 months to April 2025. That’s nearly double the 4,900 who immigrated to Ireland in the previous 12 months, the Times reported, citing data from the Central Statistics Office.

Numerous media outlets have reported surges in the number of US citizens who have applied for Irish passports since President Trump returned to the White House last January. RTÉ appears to have been one of the first to use the term “Trumpugees.”

Of course, it’s difficult to fully escape from Trump. His tariffs and other policy decisions have economic and political consequences in Ireland and the rest of the world. In September the Irish Open will be at held at Trump International Golf Links Ireland, in Doonbeg, County Clare.

The Trump golf and hotel operation has sought planning permission to build-wait for it–a new ballroom. That’s right, why just erect such a gathering place adjacent to the White House in Washington when you could also add one to the Clare coastline. A permit decision from Clare authorities is expected by late February.

The entrance of Trump’s Doonbeg golf course in County Clare during my July 2016 visit, while he was campaigning for his first term as US president.

Who leaked the 1925 Irish Boundary Commission report?

In early November 1925 the Irish Boundary Commission concluded a months-long review of the partition between the six unionist counties of Northern Ireland and the 26 nationalist counties of the Irish Free State. Before the commission could present its recommendations, however, the Morning Post in London published a detailed report about its work, including a map that purported to show proposed changes to the border.

Joseph R. Fisher

Journalist and lawyer Joseph Robert Fisher (1855–1939), the Northern Ireland representative of the three-member commission, was “head of the suspects” in the leak to the newspaper, historian Geoffrey J. Hand wrote more than four decades later. The County Down-born Fisher had worked for several British papers, including correspondent for The Times in Ireland during the war of independence (1919–1921). It is unknown whether he passed the Boundary Commission’s work product to the Morning Post, or if this was done indirectly through his correspondence with pro-unionist politicians and loose chatter with Tory journalists.[1]See Geoffrey J. Hand, “Introduction” in Report of the Irish Boundary Commission, 1925. [Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1969], xviii. Also, “Fisher, Joseph Robert” … Continue reading

Hand speculated “someone of lesser rank” among the commission staff might have been the source of the leak. Contemporary newspapers suggested the Morning Post obtained the report through the printing firm hired to put the material in final presentation form.[2]”Irish Boundary Crisis Stirred By Newspaper”, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 4, 1925. Regardless of the source, the damage was done. The British and Irish press quickly confirmed the Morning Post’s reporting was substantially correct: the Boundary Commission’s recommendations largely favored unionist.

Notably, the proposed changes did not reassign the border counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh to the Free State, as Irish officials had expected since the Boundary Commission was created as part of the December 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. Free State representative Eoin MacNeill resigned from the commission after the leak, though it is believed he originally agreed with its proposals.

The American press was slower to cover the leak and the border controversary. US big city dailies and wire services had moved on from the drama of the Irish war against Britain and subsequent civil war. London-based John W. Owens (1884-1968) of the Baltimore Sun produced some of the best coverage.[3]Owens later became editor of the Baltimore Sun. He won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He wrote:

The Irish boundary dispute between the Free State and Ulster now bids fair to become sufficiently complicated and dangerous to satisfy the subtlest Irish combatants or the most inveterate prophets of Irish futility. …

The cause of the latest upheaval is this: On November 7 the Morning Post published a forecast of the Ulster-Free State boundary, which the boundary commission is expected to declare some time before the first of the year (1926). This forecast was favorable to Ulster, which hitherto had been fearing the worst and talking correspondingly at regular intervals.

If one examines the map, as pointed out by the Post, there is nothing in the changes to cause a great row. The space between the old line and the forecast of the new line is seldom really appreciable, often barely perceptible. The net balance of the predicted changes is hardly larger than one good-sized election district in Maryland. But the Free State got the worst of it. More than that, the Post account referred to most of the territory gained by the Free State as wild and sparsely settled.[4]”League Of Nations May Have To Settle Irish Boundary Spat”, Baltimore Sun, Nov. 25, 1925.

This map of the 1921 border between Northern Ireland (Ulster) and the Irish Free State also showed “probable” and “doubtful” changes proposed by the Irish Boundary Commission. It was leaked to the Morning Post, London, which published the map and narrative descriptions on Nov. 7, 1925.

The Irish-born journalist William H. Brayden (1865–1933), correspondent for the Chicago Daily News, also provided American newspaper readers with extensive coverage of the Boundary Commission, before and after the Morning Post’s scoop. See my earlier exploration of his work:

Emergency meetings between the Free State, Northern Ireland, and the British government were held in London through early December. The three parties agreed to keep the existing border in place, making no changes. The Free State’s obligation for World War One debt and pensions was erased in exchange for dropping its counterclaim of over taxation during the period.

The three parties agreed to suppress the public release of the report, with 20 copies stashed in a British government vault. Other copies were destroyed.[5]Cormac Moore, “The Boundary Commission–The Fallout” in History Ireland, Vol 33, No. 6 (November/December 20250), pp. 39-42. The report was finally released to the public in 1969, with the introduction by Hand, the historian. He wrote:

Who was responsible for the Morning Post ‘leak’?’ Was it deliberately calculated and, if so, what was the object ? Perhaps, as the years go by and tongues are loosened and desks unlocked, these questions will be confidently answered. As things stand, only suspicions can be offered.[6]Hand, “Introduction.”

More than 50 years later, the identity of the leaker remains a mystery.

References

References
↑1 See Geoffrey J. Hand, “Introduction” in Report of the Irish Boundary Commission, 1925. [Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1969], xviii. Also, “Fisher, Joseph Robert” in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
↑2 ”Irish Boundary Crisis Stirred By Newspaper”, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 4, 1925.
↑3 Owens later became editor of the Baltimore Sun. He won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.
↑4 ”League Of Nations May Have To Settle Irish Boundary Spat”, Baltimore Sun, Nov. 25, 1925.
↑5 Cormac Moore, “The Boundary Commission–The Fallout” in History Ireland, Vol 33, No. 6 (November/December 20250), pp. 39-42.
↑6 Hand, “Introduction.”

Catherine Connolly inaugurated Ireland’s 10th president

Catherine Connolly has described her 64 percent election victory as “a powerful mandate” by Irish voters “to articulate their vision for a new Republic”; one that is not, as some critics charged during the campaign, “too far out, too left.”

Catherine Connolly at inaugural.

Connolly’s Nov. 11 inauguration as the tenth president of Ireland took place in St. Patrick’s Hall at Dublin Castle, the seat of the British government in Ireland until 1922. The position of president was created by the national constitution of 1937. Connolly is the third woman to hold to position. She acknowledged Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, who were both in attendance.

Connolly said she and her supporters overcame “insurmountable challenges” to win the Oct. 24 election. She continued:

We were led to believe that it was too great a leap, that our ideas were too far out, too left, at odds with the prevailing narrative. In shared conversations all over the country, however, it became evident that the dominant narrative did not reflect or represent people’s values and concerns. Time and time again, people spoke of how it served to silence, to other, to label, to exclude and to stifle critical thinking.

Along with that however, along with meaningful engagement, we saw the emergence of hope, we saw the emergence of joy, along with the courage and determination of people to use their voices to shape a country that we can be proud of.

Connolly’s vision for the Republic is a place where “diversity is cherished, where sustainable solutions are urgently implemented and where a home is a fundamental human right.” Ireland faces significant challenges regarding immigration (and right-wing opposition to it), climate change, and a shortfall of affordable housing.

Connolly has said she would like her first official visit as president to be to Northern Ireland.

“I would like to see a united Ireland in my term as president. I will use my voice in every way possible for that vision to be a reality,” Connolly said during her campaign, according to the Irish Independent.

In brief comments during her inauguration address, she called for “inclusive and open dialogue across the island in a manner that highlights and recognizes our similarities and respects our differences.”

Northern Ireland Assembly First Minister Michelle O’Neill of the pro-reunification Sinn Féin party, and party president Mary Lou McDonald, attended the ceremony. Their support was critical to Connolly, who campaigned as an independent.

Emma Little-Pengelly, deputy first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly and a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, declined to attend the inaugural. She cited earlier commitments for Remembrance Day, which commemorates the armistice ending the First World War. The DUP declined to send a representative to the inauguration. Ulster Unionist Party assembly member (MLA) Steve Aiken was the only unionist politician who said he would attend.

Connolly acknowledged Ireland’s “large and growing diaspora.” She did not directly reference the United States.

Read Connolly’s full inaugural speech.

Nine and ten: Outgoing Irish President Michael D. Higgins on Nov. 5 welcomed President-elect Catherine Connolly to her new office at Áras an Uachtaráin.  Both photos from president.ie.

Connolly cruises as Irish voters protest

  • Update 5:

Some American press coverage of Connolly’s win:

The winner.                  Daniel Carey photo

“Ireland, in a cautionary rebuke to the governing establishment, has voted overwhelmingly to elect an outspoken leftist to the country’s mostly ceremonial presidency — a landslide victory for an independent lawmaker who has accused NATO of ‘warmongering’ and built her campaign on demands for economic justice at home and fury over the plight of Gaza abroad.” —  Washington Post, via London.

“Independent socialist Catherine Connolly swept to a landslide victory Saturday to become Ireland’s next president, dealing a record-breaking rebuke to the two center-ground parties of government. — Longtime Ireland correspondent Shawn Pogatchnik of Politico.eu, via Dublin.

“Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly, who secured the backing of Ireland’s left-leaning parties including Sinn Féin, has won the country’s presidential election in a landslide victory against her center-right rival.” —  Associated Press, via London

As of 8 a.m. Eastern, Oct. 26, the New York Times had no coverage of the election result. The Times finally reported the election results Nov. 2.

Update 4:

Catherine Connolly is officially the tenth president of Ireland. She secured 63.36 percent of the first preference tally, a total of 914,143 votes, compared to 29.46 percent for Heather Humphreys and 7.18 percent for withdrawn candidate Jim Gavin.

Nearly 214,000 voters submitted spoiled ballots, almost 13 percent. That dwarfs the slightly more than 1 percent  of spoiled ballots in the 2018 and 2011 presidential elections. The 46 percent turnout slightly exceeded the last election.

Connolly will be officially inaugurated on Nov. 11.

Update 3:

Leftwing independent TD Catherine Connolly is cruising to an overwhelming victory as Ireland’s tenth president. Heather Humphreys has conceded.

Connolly has secured roughly 64 percent share of the vote based on incomplete results, according to the Irish Times and other media. Humphreys is bumping along around 30 percent, and withdrawn candidate Jim Gavin about 7 percent.

But the biggest story of the election is that disgruntled voters, unhappy with the choices, have spoiled an unprecedented number of the ballots, currently estimated at 13 percent. (This is not included in the percentage totals above.) … Results are still being tabulated.

Connolly is cruising. These signs near the DART station in Dun Laoghaire.                                    Michael Doorley photo.

Update 2:

Polls have closed in Ireland’s tenth presidential election under the 1937 Constitution. Counting will begin Saturday morning and the winner could be declared quickly if pre-election polling, which strongly favors Connolly, is correct. Here are some key numbers to watch:

  • 1.2 percent; spoiled votes in the last presidential election in 2018. A significantly higher number this year could signal widespread disenchantment with the two candidates.
  • 12.5 percent; first-preference vote threshold for Fianna Fáil to recoup some of its election expenses for nominating Jim Gavin, who dropped out of the race but remained on the ballot. Irish elections are capped at €750,000; campaigns can claim a reimbursement of up to one third that amount.
  • 15-19 points; the margin of Connolly’s lead in three pre-election polls.
  • 44 percent; turnout in the 2018 presidential election, or just under 1.5 million voters. Early totals suggest turnout will be lower, perhaps under 40 percent.
  • 55.81 percent; outgoing President Michael D. Higgins’ first preference share in the six-person 2018 contest.
  • 822,566; Higgins’ first-preference vote total, enough for the 50 percent plus one needed to secure reelection.
  • 3.6 million; eligible voters, about 300,000 more than the November 2024 general election.

Update 1:

Voting is underway in Ireland. … Both candidates have cast their ballots: Catherine Connolly in Galway city, underdog Heather Humphreys in Monaghan. Outgoing President Michael D. Higgins has voted in Dublin. … Polls are open until 10 p.m. Irish time, or 5 p.m. US Eastern time. … The weather is cold and damp, with showers forecast in many parts of the country but periods of sun. … Election officials expect a low turnout.

Original post:

Irish voters on Friday will decide a two-woman contest for president. The candidates are leftwing independent TD Catherine Connolly, backed by Sinn Féin and Labour, and former Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys, a center-right establishment figure. Connolly is widely expected to win, based on polling and debate performances. But Irish voters have surprised political pundits in the past.

Ghost candidate: Gavin’s campaign signs are still posted in Dublin, and his name remains on the ballot. Daniel Carey photo.

In addition to monitoring Irish media coverage, I’ve reached out to family members in Kerry and Meath, as well as several Irish historian friends in Dublin to help assess the election. Some of their comments are attributed, others are kept anonymous on request.

In general, the Irish electorate is grumpy and dissatisfied with the binary choice. “Unenthused” is the word one of my correspondents used. “Resignation” was another. Historian and former public servant Felix M. Larkin wrote:

“My very personal take on the election is that we have been badly served by the establishment parties. The long-mooted Fine Gael candidate had to pull out because of health issues and, like Kamala Harris, Humphreys was parachuted in at the eleventh hour and was manifestly unprepared for the campaign. Fianna Fáil opted for a ‘celebrity’ candidate who was totally unqualified for the job and whose campaign imploded when past shenanigans as a landlord embarrassingly came to light.”

The “celebrity” candidate was Jim Gavin, the former GAA coach whose campaign was sidelined by the revelation that he failed to refund €3,300 in back rent to a former tenant. The tenant turned out to be a Sunday World journalist. Gavin withdrew from the race on Oct. 6, but his name remains on the ballot.

At least Ireland has been spared the spectacle of having far-right mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor in the race. He almost makes Donald Trump look like a choir boy.

Several of my correspondents said they will reluctantly vote for Humphreys, thus the possibility of a surprise outcome (HH instead of CC) mentioned at the top of this post. One of my relations is considering spoiling her ballot in protest.

Larkin said Sinn Féin and Ireland’s “responsible left parties” (Labour and the Social Democrats) seemed to back Connolly based on a strategy “to chase the chimera of a ‘United Left’ coalition for the next General Election. Did they ever think Connolly could win?  I doubt it, but the unimaginable appears to be about to happen.”

On press reports of Ireland’s ‘first’ president, 1938

(My next post will be the eve of the election, Oct. 23, with updates through election day until the winner is announced, probably Oct. 25 or 26. MH)

Irish voters on Oct. 24 will elect the country’s tenth president under the constitution their ancestors adopted in 1937. Irish language scholar Douglas Hyde was nominated as the first president in 1938 by the country’s two main political parties, avoiding a contested election.

“Not a word of English was spoken at the inauguration of the Protestant as the head of the Catholic state,” the Associated Press reported to American newspaper readers. Americans in several markets such as New York/New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. also were able to listen to a radio broadcast of the Irish language inaugural from Dublin.[1]”Dr. Hyde Inducted As Irish President”, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28, 1938, and other papers. Radio program listings in multiple papers.

Statue of Douglas Hyde in Co. Roscommon.

Nine of every 10 Irish citizens in 1938 were Catholic, and many aspects of the country’s political and social life were certainly influenced by the Church. But the new constitution that began to transform the 26 counties of southern Ireland from the Irish Free State, created in 1922 as a dominion of the United Kingdom, “did not declare Catholicism the state religion, to the disappointment of my zealous Catholics.” The 1937 constitution also did not declare an Irish republic, though the document defined the state as having 32 counties.[2]Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland. [New York: Overlook Press, 2005], 369-70.

Some American news analysts framed Hyde’s selection as an olive branch to the six partitioned counties of North Ireland, which was roughly two thirds Protestant at the time.[3]In 1937, 30.5 % Presbyterian; 27% Church of Ireland; 4.7% Methodist. “Breakdown of population in Northern Ireland according to Religion, 1861-1991” at CAIN Archive. Catholics now outnumber … Continue reading But Hyde’s ascendance to the new figure head position of president did not reassure northern hardliners. The Ulster Unionist Party of Sir James Craig solidified its hold on power in the north during an election earlier in 1938. The Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement of that year, which ended a five-year dispute over tariffs and transferred control of several naval ports from Britain to Ireland, further reinforced northern recalcitrance.

Hyde’s religious affiliation was not the only thing that made him an unconventional choice. “Politicians usually want a practical man as the head of the state, but Dr. Hyde is a poet,” observed Milton Bronner of the Newspaper Enterprise Association. “The dominant cry in Europe is for young men as leaders, but the Irish chose Dr. Hyde, who is 78.”[4]”Aged Poet, ‘Enemy of None,’ To Be President of Ireland”, Pittsburgh Press, June 5, 1938, and other papers. For more on Bronner, see my post: “Could Maine potatoes have … Continue reading

Bronner’s analysis and other American press reports about Hyde’s inauguration noted his 1906-07 tour of the United States to raise money and awareness for the Gaelic League. These same stories mention that Eamon de Valera, as taoiseach, or prime minister, continued to hold the real political power in southern Ireland. But I have not found any American coverage that recounted de Valera’s 1919-20 U.S. tour as “president of the Irish republic.”

De Valera in 1937.

No such position or country formally existed at the time. De Valera’s real title was Príomh Aire, the chief minister or president of Dáil Éireann; the separatist parliament established in January 1919 by Sinn Féin candidates who won Irish constituencies in the December 1918 British general election. The title of president of Ireland was bestowed on de Valera by Irish American supporters to more easily convey his leadership position to American audiences.

In 1938, at least one letter to the editor writer in Ireland questioned the new title of Irish president, even if the American press missed the historical irony. The Dublin writer noted not only that de Valera had declared himself president in 1919, but also that Pádraic Pearse made the same claim at the 1916 Easter Rising. “Apparently we are now expected to forget that the Irish republic ever existed, or that the blood of Ireland’s greatest men was shed in its defense, and to regard the history of Ireland as commencing on the date of the enactment of de Valera’s new constitution.”[5]”President of Ireland” in “Our Readers’ Views On Topics Of The Day”, Irish Independent, June 27, 1938.

Afterward:

  • Full republic status came to the 26 counties of southern Ireland in 1949. The 1937 constitution’s claim on a 32-county state was amended in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
  • De Valera transitioned from taoiseach to president in 1959. He held the latter position until 1973.
  • The Irish Times has ranked Hyde as second best among the nine presidents of Ireland, with de Valera placed at seventh. See their list.

The two candidates vying for the Irish presidency later this month are Catherine Connolly, who was raised Catholic but describers herself as areligious, and Heather Humphreys, a Presbyterian by religious affiliation who describes her politics as moderate Irish republicanism rather than Protestant unionism. Connolly is a fluent Irish speaker, while Humphrey struggles with the language. As mentioned in the previous post, whoever wins the election will become Ireland’s third woman president.

References

References
↑1 ”Dr. Hyde Inducted As Irish President”, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28, 1938, and other papers. Radio program listings in multiple papers.
↑2 Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland. [New York: Overlook Press, 2005], 369-70.
↑3 In 1937, 30.5 % Presbyterian; 27% Church of Ireland; 4.7% Methodist. “Breakdown of population in Northern Ireland according to Religion, 1861-1991” at CAIN Archive. Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 45.7% to 43.5%.
↑4 ”Aged Poet, ‘Enemy of None,’ To Be President of Ireland”, Pittsburgh Press, June 5, 1938, and other papers. For more on Bronner, see my post: “Could Maine potatoes have relieved Irish hunger in 1925?“
↑5 ”President of Ireland” in “Our Readers’ Views On Topics Of The Day”, Irish Independent, June 27, 1938.

Gavin’s withdrawal upends Irish presidential race

UPDATE:

It’s legally too late to remove Gavin from the ballot. This means any votes cast for Gavin will still need to be counted and redistributed to the other two candidates under Ireland’s proportional representation with a single transferrable vote system. This could prove pivotal in deciding the winner.

“There’s even a fear in government circles that disillusioned voters angry with the choices on offer could vote for Gavin in protest, ‘electing’ a figure who’s no longer willing to serve as Ireland’s next ceremonial head of state,” reported Shawn Pogatchnik at Politic.eu. “That would produce a potential constitutional crisis.”

ORIGINAL POST:

Ireland will elect its third women head of state on Oct. 24 following the surprise withdrawal of Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin.

The race is now a head-to-head contest between independent TD (Teachta Dála, or member of the Dáil Éireann, similar to member of the U.S. House of Representatives) Catherine Connolly, 68, and former Fine Gael TD and government minister Heather Humphreys, 62. Connolly is on the political left, and supported by the Irish Labour (she is a former member) and Sinn Féin parties. Humphreys is a more center-right, establishment figure.

Gavin’s Oct. 5 departure announcement shocked the Irish electorate. In the few weeks since his nomination, the Irish Aviation Authority senior executive and former Dublin GAA football manager was revealed as an uneven and inexperienced campaigner. His credibility cratered over recent questions about owing back rent to a former tenant. That’s hardly a position of strength in a country with an ongoing housing crisis and a history of testy (sometimes violent) landlord-tenant relations.

Gavin was the personal selection of Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, who now will face questions about, and challenges to, his leadership of the Fianna Fáil party and the country.  Martin’s political chops are certainly much stronger than Gavin’s, so he might outlast this controversary, as he has others in the past.

Mary Robinson (1990-1997) and Mary McAleese (1997-2011; unopposed in 2004.) held the office of president for 21 years, followed by the two, seven-year terms of the departing Michael D. Higgins. The office is Ireland’s only national election except for occasional constitutional referendum questions.

Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish President’s House in Dublin. It was formerly known as the Viceregal Lodge, the home of the British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Irish Embassy USA changes location; loses charm, history

The Embassy of Ireland USA in Washington, D.C. has relocated from an historic early 20th century mansion to a recently renovated 1966 office building steps from the White House. The old location was the home of the Irish republic in the American capital for 75 years.

New home of the Embassy of Ireland USA.

“We begin to write the next chapter in the great story of Ireland-U.S. relations,” Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris said during the Sept. 25 ribbon cutting at the new  embassy offices at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Known as The Mills Building, the 11-story building was renovated in 2022. It is across the street from Lafayette Park and the two-block portion of Pennsylvania Avenue closed to vehicle traffic, between 17th and 15th streets.

Access to the White House is highly restricted to guided tour groups, though Irish dignitaries are welcomed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue every March. The grounds were officially closed by President Woodrow Wilson during the First World War. Fencing and other security measures began to appear during the 19th century.

The Munsey Building, shown in 1919, was demolished in 1980.

As many readers will know, the White House was designed by the Irish-born architect James Hoban. Fewer readers will know the first official offices of the Irish Free State in Washington were located in the Munsey Building, 1321 E. St. NW, between 13th and 14th streets, not too far from the new embassy. Timothy A. Smiddy represented the state until 1929. The Irish National Bureau produced the Friends of Irish Freedom’s weekly News Letter in the Munsey Building from 1919 to 1922. Éamon De Valera also kept an office there during his 1919-1920 tour of the United States.[1]See my November 2020 post, “Washington, D.C.’s Irish hot spots, 1919-1921“.

“This will be an excellent base from which to grow our vital political, economic and cultural ties with the US over the years ahead,” Harris said of the new Irish Embassy, according to an official statement. He emphasized that Ireland is the fifth largest source of foreign direct investment in the US, and that Irish companies have created more than 200,000 American jobs.

Leaving Embassy Row

The Irish Embassy was previously located at 2234 Massachusetts Avenue NW, on Sheridan Circle, part of the city’s historic “Embassy Row.” The semidetached limestone residence was designed by William Penn Cresson in the Louis XVI manner. Completed in 1909, it is known as the Henrietta M. Halliday House, after the widow of a wealthy businessman. It is unclear if she ever lived in the house, which was sold in 1911.[2]”Henrietta M. Halliday House (Irish Chancery)”, HABS No. DC-261, Historic American Buildings Survey, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service, U.S. Department … Continue reading

The former Irish Embassy in October 1924, with Irish and EU flags at right, Ukrainian flag draped from balcony.

The Irish government purchased the property for $72,000 in August 1949. At the time, Ireland’s presence in Washington was still described as legation. Three months later Irish Minister to Washington Seán Nunan welcomed Irish Minister of Agriculture James Dillon, who was visiting the city for an international conference.[3]”Society News”, (Washington) Evening Star, Nov. 30, 1949. In March 1950, John Joseph Hearne became the first Irish ambassador to Washington.

The property is assessed at $6,548,040, according to DC tax records. It is being sold by the commercial real estate firm CBRE, which says it has not set an asking price. The adjoining 2232 Massachusetts Ave. is being co-marketed by residential real estate firm Compass for $2,995,000. See their Oct. 6 press release. (This paragraph was updated from the original post.)

In December 2023, the Irish government purchased the nine-bedroom mansion at 2221 30th Street NW as its official ambassadorial residence. The $12.25 million sale price shaved more than $4 million off the $16.5 million list price. The state began renting the 15,000 square-foot mansion as it sold its former ambassadorial residence at 2244 S Street NW, known as the Frederic Delano House, after an uncle of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. That property sold for $8 million in March 2024.

Exempt & delinquent taxes

The new Irish ambassador’s residence had an outstanding District of Columbia tax bill of $33,502 as of Sept. 30. A notice of $153,910 in delinquent taxes and penalties was sent by the District to the Irish government in April. More than $30,000 in late fees and interest had been assessed since the property was purchase in December 2023. The most recent statement, dated Aug. 4, shows that no new assessments or penalties have been levied against the property, which suggests an exemption is now in place. The Irish Embassy could not be reached through its general telephone number.

Irish ambassador’s residence.

The former embassy property was exempt from taxes. More than 600 properties in the District owned by foreign governments accounted for $50.2 million in foregone tax revenue in 2019.[4]Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, May 2019, citing District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer 2018. The U.S. government owns some 2,800 properties exempt from District taxes, with an estimated market value of $52 billion, or $917.7 million in foregone property tax revenue annually. And then there are religious institutions, schools, and assorted non-profits, in addition to the District government’s own property, also exempt from taxes.

The Irish government’s tax-exempt status on other properties does not mean it automatically received a discount on a commercial lease, which I assume is the arrangement at The Mills Building. The U.S. State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions regulates such matters, which are more complicated than can be addressed here. Reciprocal treatment in the foreign country–in this case, the U.S. government in Ireland–is certainly a factor.

Personal note

On a personal note, I enjoyed visiting the former Irish Embassy on several occasions since I moved to Washington nearly 12 years ago. These opportunities came through my membership in Irish Network-DC, a professional and social group. The place certainly had the elegant feel of an earlier age, when the Society pages of DC dailies regularly reported the comings-and-goings of diplomats and other special guests. I visited the new ambassador’s residence once for an IN-DC event.

I live barely a five-minute walk from the now former embassy location. I enjoyed walking Irish visitors past the exterior, then continuing a few blocks further up Embassy Row to the small park centered by a statue of Robert Emmet.

At least Irish patriot remains in place.

References

References
↑1 See my November 2020 post, “Washington, D.C.’s Irish hot spots, 1919-1921“.
↑2 ”Henrietta M. Halliday House (Irish Chancery)”, HABS No. DC-261, Historic American Buildings Survey, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1978.
↑3 ”Society News”, (Washington) Evening Star, Nov. 30, 1949.
↑4 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, May 2019, citing District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer 2018.