Best Roadhouse This Side of Austin - Irish American News

June 2008 IRISH AMERICAN NEWS 7Claire O’Connor receives the cup when LoyolaUniversity won the State Championship.campaign and answered questions, “of courseI will help Ireland.” She talked about the “GoodFriday Agreement of 1988” which her husband,then President Bill Clinton, and his worthyrepresentative during the talks, Senator GeorgeMitchell, helped to hammer out the agreement,“For me,” she said, “a lot of the work was at thegrass-roots working below the leadership withpeople who worked and lived in the variouscommunities of Ulster (Northern Ireland).”“Ten years after that agreement, we are clearlyon the right track. But we cannot becomecomplacent and let our guard down. There arestill the enemies of peace all around, so we haveto remain actively engaged in peacemaking,”she said. She also pledged, if elected, to help allof Ireland in promoting economic partnershipwith Ireland on many matters.Senator Clinton talked about the morethan 50,000 Irish undocumented aliens inthe United States, saying that she believed in“Comprehensive Reform” and as presidentwould work with the Irish Reform Movementand other ethnic groups in providing a path tolegislation for such people.With the outcome still in doubt as we go topress, it is very important that we advocate andwork for Senator Clinton’s election. She is theonly one of the three with global experience tobring about a change of direction in the unfortunatestate of our own country today.Facts About IrelandIn 1840, the Young Ireland Movement wasformed with Thomas Davis as one of its leaders.Like the United Irishmen, they expressed aconcept of nationality, embracing all that livedin Ireland regardless of creed or origin. A gallantattempt to stage an insurrection failed in 1848, buttheir ideals strongly influenced later generations.Prior to that period, war in Europe in 1815 hada drastic influence on the economy. It led to hugegrowth in farming and tillage to supply the army.When it ended, the change from tillage to pasturecaused a lot of unemployment. The populationincreased and reached eight million by 1841.Failure of the potato crop (the staple meal of thatperiod) in 1846, 47 and 48 resulted in a terriblefamine reducing the population by at least twomillion due to hunger, disease, and emigration toother countries like Britain and America.The latter half of that century witnessedcampaigns for national independence and landreform. The Irish Republican Brotherhoodknown as the Fenians was founded in 1858.Among the leaders of the Fenians were JamesStephens, a Kilkennyman, and John O’Leary.The Fenians staged a gallant uprising in 1867,but were defeated by a much superior power.However, the IRB continued in existence.The strained relationship between landlordsand their tenants led to the leadership of MichaelDavitt who founded The National LandLeague. The League aimed to secure basicrights for tenants, with leadership by CharlesStewart Parnell who began the basis of HomeRule in 1885. Gladstone, the English PrimeMinister, introduced a bill to grant Home Rule,but it was defeated. Parnell died in 1891.On Saturday, November 1st, 1884, a groupof gaels met at Hayes Hotel in Thurles, Tipperaryand founded an organization, the GaelicAthletic Association, which was intended topromote not only the culture, games, language,song and music of Ireland, but was also intendedto uplift the spirit of the Irish people beforethe country became another British shire.The association promoting the games of hurlingand Gaelic football with the Gaelic Leaguepromoting the language of the people, soon beganto show results as every little town and villageformed it’s own clubs. They marched forwardto contest their games against other parishes, asmusicians played the stirring songs and music ofIreland and little by little the spirit was lifted withMichel Cusack and Maurice Davin leading.Arthur Griffin founded the Sinn Fein politicalparty. With a policy that Irish members of Parliamentwithdraw from Westminster, England andestablish an independent party with close linksto the IRB. The Dublin Labor Dispute of 1913produced another group named the Irish CitizensArmy, which was socialist, not separatist.In 1916 the Irish Volunteers, a gallant group ledby Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, althoughoutnumbered and ill-equipped, fought a gallantuprising against the might of the British empire,and for one week, held their own on the streets ofDublin. The British executed the leaders in a deedthat shocked freedom-loving people all over theworld. So much so, that in the general election of1918, Sinn Fien totally defeated the Irish ParliamentaryParty. Eamon DeValera headed the firstDail or Parliament. In the War of Independence1919-1921 a truce agreed to independence for 26counties, with 6 counties under British rule. Thisagreement resulted in the tragic Civil War.