To the people at the top, a short message to say that the reporting by one of your assets (TV3 Ireland) on the health of Irish Minister Brian Lenihan was perceived by the majority of Irish viewers as cheap, disrespectful, and tasteless. Irish people on the whole tend to put a high value on life, and using information about someone’s personal state of health to report a so-called ‘scoop’ isn’t well received. One wonders if there is pressure on TV3 to improve financial performance, and whether the UK model of moulding audiences into acceptance of lower standards is part of a strategy. Your address, Pall Mall, London, is historically associated with Gentlemen’s Clubs and Fine Art – that doesn’t sit well with what is perceived as a crude tabloid style. (In case you are unaware of what you are associated with). If Doughty Hanson want to make profit from the Irish market we’d appreciate it if you could ensure your media assets offer consistent value and decent standards to Irish society in return. If you want to be gentlemen you might ask your Director of News at TV3 to issue a sincere apology to Mr Lenihan and his family. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is probably the most technically advanced tracking facility in the world. If someone wants to know what’s happening in the air, or in space, NORAD provides the answers. The full might of the organisation has been on ‘red’ alert over the last few hours as they monitored unusual airborne activity – the worldwide delivery of Christmas presents by Santa himself! 
Here at diaspora headquarters we managed to break through their defence systems and download data about Santa in Ireland! Here is what we found… Timecheck : GMT – 00:20 – Santa arrives in Ireland from Iceland having delivered 1,362,948,863 presents so far…. 
Timecheck : GMT – 00:21 – Santa leaves and heads off towards the Azores having now delivered 1,363,054,183 presents… 
We fed these figures into our super-dooper data analysis machines and can confirm that Santa brought 105,320 presents to our little Island. He’s a lovely man, but we’re a bit confused as to why he dropped them all off in Shannon! Only NORAD and Santa himself can answer that one! Update: NORAD have confirmed that some of Santa’s Elves worked tirelessly through the night visiting all the houses in Ireland – so hopefully lots of happy little people this morning (and some big ones too!) Merry Christmas all – and a happy new year.  A strange article for diaspora.ie? maybe not… Last week we had the pleasure of listening to Michael Kelly talk to a room full of people whilst waving a vegetable in the air. That was the day I realised a Cork grown Irish garlic wouldn’t be a strange thing at all! Michael worked for ten years in the IT industry in Dublin, but these days lives life as a freelance writer, bestselling author and broadcaster. One of his books, ‘Tales from the Home Farm’, is a guide to producing food in your back garden, and it was the passion he expressed about self-sufficiency that caught me.  GIY Ireland was started by Michael and it’s all about bringing people together and giving them the confidence and ability to grow their own food. The website is a focal point for sharing information, and the story centres round the 40 GIY groups that have already established themselves in various parts of Ireland over a few short months.
It’s a great venture that benefits everyone who gets involved, and i’d recommend you visit the GIY website and have a read yourself. Here? well i’m already been doing a bit of learning and 2010 will see the advent of prize winning Ballydehob garlics! And the diaspora..? Michael is racing round Ireland helping groups get set up so jumping on planes could be tricky (but hey, you could always ask him!). What you might do though is see what he’s up to and think about whether it’s a model that could work where you are. Well done Michael, and I suspect if you thought 2009 was busy….! The 23rd United States census takes place on April 1st 2010. The census has many objectives, such as deciding the number of congressional seats allotted and the amount of federal money allocated to each region, but our main interest is obviously the Irish aspect. America’s ethnic make-up is changing, and there’s some debate about whether the sense of one’s Irish heritage is weakening or in fact getting stronger. The next US census may help clarify the picture. Previously recorded numbers of Irish race were as follows, and whilst there’s an overall dip it will be interesting to see if 2010 produces results nearer to the 2000 census or (as maybe more likely?) the numbers recorded in 2008. - US Census 1990 – 38,735,539
- US Census 2000 – 30,524,799
- American Community Survey 2006 – 36,495,800
- American Community Survey 2008 – 36,278,332
The latter two surveys do not include Scots-Irish ancestry, who are counted separately, and who account for at least five million additional Americans. (I’m not sure if the Censuses follow the same rules but will update this post if I find out, or if someone can let me know.) There’s various factors involved here: - The changing political scene in Northern Ireland over the last decade,
- The current initiatives from a range of Irish political parties to engage with the diaspora,
- The stronger online presence of Irish-American communities (e.g, IrishCentral.com),
- The possibility of a Global Irish Network and increasing business links,
- The discussion about the ‘undocumented Irish’,
- and more recent emigration being some obvious examples. How these impact on the ‘ebb and flow’ is hard to quantify but maybe trends will give some indications.  In one way it would also be interesting if generational levels were recorded as it would be good to see how many 3rd 4th and 5th generation Irish see themselves as such. On the other hand it’s positive that this isn’t differentiated and that one’s right to a sense of heritage isn’t challenged.
If you’re Irish-American what do you think. Do you feel your heritage is still as important today as it was in the past? The national flag of Ireland is a vertical tricolour of green, white, and orange, and it’s proper proportions are 1:2 (the width is twice the height). It has no formal meaning in the Irish Constitution however is generally perceived as the green representing Catholicism, the orange Protestantism, and the white an enduring truce between the two. It was presented as a gift to Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848 by a group of French women sympathetic to the Irish cause, however it was not until the 1916 Easter Rising when it was raised above the GPO in Dublin that it came to be regarded as the national flag. It was adopted in 1919 by the Irish Republic during the war of independence, and subsequently by the Irish Free State (1922–1937), and gained official status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. The Department of the Taoiseach takes responsibility for the flag in an advisory role and specifies the guidelines for it’s use. They also specify the exact colours of the green and the orange. The Irish Flag as it should be (feel free to copy and use)…
For reference the hex codes for the colours are: Green – #009B48 (Pantone: 347)
White – #FFFFFF
Orange – #FF7900 (Pantone: 151)  The Green Flag and the Irish harp.
The Irish harp first appeared on a green flag in 1642 when Eoghan Rua O’Neill, leading the armies of Ulster, was waging a rebellion against English rule. The Society of United Irishmen proclaimed the harp as Ireland’s national symbol through its use in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and with the passage of time the green flag and the golden harp became a symbol of the Irish nation. Learn more… Wikipedia Flagspot.net | Give us the news, we’ll pass it onIf you have a story to tell, launched a new business, got an initiative off the ground, or just have some good news with an inspirational nature let us know and we'll pass it on. |
