Author: Noreen Bowden

Clients of the London-based Aisling Return to Ireland Project are the focus of an exhibition in one of Dublin’s leading galleries. The portraits of five of men and one woman now showing at the Molesworth Gallery will be sold at auction later this month in an effort to raise money for the project. The portraits… Continue reading Emigrants’ portraits exhibition to benefit London project

A new series of Irish Studies books will include emigration and the diaspora in its explorations of the concepts of Ireland and “Irishness”. In the words of publisher Peter Lang (oxford) Ltd, The Reimagining Ireland series  “interrogates Ireland’s past and present and suggests possibilities for the future by looking at Ireland’s literature, culture and history… Continue reading New Irish Studies books series to incorporate emigration and diaspora

US-Ireland Alliance founder Trina Vargo and her colleague, George Mitchell Scholarship Director Mary Lou Hartman, are calling for a reestablishment of the US-Irish relationship  that would move beyond ethnic politics and into a new spirit of international partnership  based on shared priorities.  They write in today’s Irish Times in an article “Building a new relationship… Continue reading US-Ireland Alliance seeks links based on shared priorities, not ethnic ties

The Irish unemployment rate hit 6.7% in October, a ten-year high. Economists are forecasting that unemploment will average 8.5% in 2009, the highest rate since 1997. See the full report from the Central Statistics Office at CSO.ie.

RTE will not be launching its Diaspora TV service before St Patrick’s Day 2009 as had been promised. The broadcaster says it must push back the launch until later in the year, because it must cut costs. The station, sometimes called RTE International, will be aimed at the 850,000 Irish-born people in the UK. It… Continue reading RTE postpones launch of Diaspora TV