An Irish passport: Your friend with benefits
PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT 23 April 2026
More than an email. Less than a newspaper. Weekly newsletter of the Portland Hibernian Society. Delivered every Thursday.
Next meeting. May 21, 2026. Seven P.M.- Kells Restaurant - 112 SW Second Ave - No host dinner at Six P.M. Presentation and discussion following. Free dessert. JFK Trivia too.
Hibernian Pat Casey will summon his professorial resources to share with us an inside look at JFK's trip to Ireland 53 years ago. (The President is pictured here in Dublin.) In retrospect, a trip by the first Irish Catholic POTUS to the land of his ancestors is a no-brainer. But Pat will use his research and presentation skills to show us it wasn't a done deal until the President insisted on visiting Ireland. As you can see from the crowd size, JFK's "homecoming" turned out to be a triumph. Learn more. Join us on May 21 - Seven P.M. Kells Restaurant
On that same trip to Europe in 1963, JFK paid a visit to Pope Paul VI. The current clash of titans, Pope Leo v. President Trump, is developing News, here's a look back at relations between the White House and the Vatican and how American Catholics are processing the current row.
Oh, the places you can go...
If you're sold on the benefits of having an Irish passport and think you might qualify for one but still haven't connected the dots, SAVE THE DATE: MAY 14. The Consulate General of Ireland is coming to Portland on Thursday May 14 to host a Passport Clinic and Pop-Up Consulate at Kells Pub 112 SW Second Ave. You can book a one-on-one session with the pros from Post Street, consulate staffers who handle citizenship, passport and work visa questions all the time. Slots at the Clinic are limited and available by appointment only, to book a slot please email irishnetworkportland@gmail.com. Be sure to mention that you read about this in the PDX Hibernian Independent.
You won't need a visa.....
An Irish passport is considered one of the best in the world. It allows you to travel to 185 countries without a visa. With an American passport you can only travel to 179 countries but who's counting besides Jason Bourne. Irish citizens don't need a visa to visit China or Brazil. Americans now do. Of course you have to be accepted to the Irish Foreign Birth Registry before you can even apply for an Irish passport.. To find out if you qualify for Irish citizenship check here. If you do, make a date at Kells on Thursday, May 14.
From San Francisco to Saudi Arabia
Micheal Smith, Ireland's Consul General down south, will be making the last of many visits to Portland on May 14. Smith will be leaving his diplomatic post By the Bay. As the PDX HI reported back on Nov. 11, Smith, who’s been serving the Western United States for the last 3 years, will move to Riyadh, having been named Ireland’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Oman. ALL ARE INVITED to a Micheal Smith Send Off Upstairs at Kells the evening of May 14. Details to come.
"A bucket-list event – and you’ll need buckets of cash to go" blared one headline in Ireland
This is a pretty big deal for Ireand. The 100th anniversary edition of what is arguably the biggest event in golf takes place at JP McManus's Co. Limerick resort from September 13-19, 2027 with prices for competition days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 17-19) set at €499 ($583.77 at today's rates) per day. Bucket list? Sorry, my bucket's got a hole in it. Here's one way to look at Ireland not making it into the World Cup this year. Since there's no need to spend thousands of dollars following the Boys In Green across the Atlantic, well-endowed Irish fans can stay home and spend big on tickets for the Ryder Cup. Tickets go on sale in Ireland tomorrow and look like a bargain compared to outrageous World Cup prices.
Doing well is the best revenge
We’ve come a long way. While few of us can document any blatant discrimination our family faced for being Irish and Catholic, there’s always been an undercurrent in some sections of American society. Does the D in DNA stand for discrimination; designated for second class citizen status at some point? Do you think that sign above is real? It's not. But the bias in hiring was. Here's the story.
Ireland without Guinness
That’s what happened this week in 1980. Guinness is to Ireland as orange juice is to Florida. Only more so. Taps ran dry due to a strike at the St. James Gate brewery in Dublin. In the west of Ireland the last deliveries of Guinness took place a week ago and almost half of the pubs and hotels in Galway city are out of draught Guinness, reported RTE. Brendan O’Brien reports from Cork where there were alternatives to Guinness,"the local Murphy’s and Beamish stouts are doing well. Murphy’s in particular are finding it hard to cope with the increase in demand."
Our revenge for NINA is laughing at Simpson's episodes written by famous Irish American Conan O'Brien.