First ever Sister City in Ireland for Oregon
PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT - 25 June 2026
More than an email. Less than a newspaper. Weekly newsletter of the Portland Hibernian Society. Delivered every Thursday.
Southern Oregon coastal town has sister in Ireland. It’s time to meet the family.
Who knew? More than two years ago formal Sister City ties were established between Bandon in Coos County Oregon and Bandon in County Cork Ireland? Fortunately, a few key people knew. So, today (June 25) down along the coast, more than two dozen of Bandon’s best citizens are meeting at the law offices of Robin Miller to make this Sister City relationship happen. Their mission: Creating meaningful exchanges between the people of Bandon, IRE (Pop. 8,196) and Bandon, OR (Pop. 3,290) across 760 miles and eleven hours of flying time. This is kind of a big deal. No other town, city or county in Oregon has a sister in Ireland. Ireland locales have hundreds of such relationships around the world but mostly in France. It’s a great story. Exclusive continuing coverage in the PDX HI – Bringing together Ireland and Oregon one Sister City at a time.
Bandon, Oregon.
Another Bloomsday in the books
As we’ve been doing every year since the turn of the century, Portland Hibernians gathered for their take on the written word with an emphasis on the ones James Joyce wrote. Ulysses especially. Read here what was read and see some pictures with captions from (belated) Bloomsday on June 18, 2026 at Kells Restaurant in Downtown Portland.
Could today be the hottest day ever in Ireland?
HEAT WAVE IRELAND – RECORD EXPECTED TODAY. Temperatures could break the national record of 33.3C on Thursday. (That’s only 92 degrees Fahrenheit here in Greater Portland. But there’s hardly any AC in Ireland.) From RTE. Met Éireann meteorologist Matthew Martin said temperatures are forecast to reach 32 degrees, but conditions could push them even higher. “If it stays really sunny in the west through tomorrow afternoon and evening, you couldn’t rule out it tipping up to 33.5 degrees,” he said. “But it’s still uncertain whether it’ll break the record, which is 33.3 degrees.” The current maximum temperature record is 33.3 degrees, set in Kilkenny on June 26th, 1887.
Two Knights had a very bad week
Sir Keir Starmer stepped down as Prime Minister. The leader of Labour said “No mas” after the charismatic Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, rose up from the North to challenge his leadership. Read here how this relative unknown (outside England at least) is knocking on the door at Ten Downing. Street. English politics and Irish poitics intersect.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, longtime face of Unionists in the North of Ireland, is a knight no more. King Charles will have to approve his self-de-knighting (made up term). Donaldson, the now-disgraced leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (Loyalist) was convicted of “historic sex crimes” in a Newry courtroom this week. “Donaldson was this week found guilty at Newry Crown Court of 18 historical sexual offences, including one count of rape, against two women when they were children... he was informed by Judge Paul Ramsey to expect a “lengthy sentence”.
Camenot
RFK Jr. Will have to carry the Kennedy torch alone in Washington D.C. for at least two more years. Jack Schlossberg, only grandson of JFK, finished a distant third in a New York City Democratic Congressional primary. Some good history here from Newsweek.Though it reads like an obit for the Kennedys in Politics. For a family that once seemed almost uniquely capable of turning celebrity into votes, it was a striking result.
This is Soccer City says Irish journo up north
Your man from the Irish Times assigned to Seattle for the duration of the World Cup finds the Emeral City to be a fine place for soccer er football. And life. Here’s his dispatch.
Did the Tartan Army really drink all the beer in Boston?
Did you hear the one about how bars in Boston were running out of beer because the Tartan Army, ultra supporters of Scotland’s national team, were in town; kilted up and thirsty. “One spot tripled its St. Patrick’s Day numbers and still ran out,” ran one report. A couple of late night hosts couldn’t resist.
“And, finally, apparently bars in Boston are running out of beer because of all the Scottish soccer fans in town for the World Cup. It’s a bit of a wake-up call when people from Boston are like, ‘You drink too much.’” — JIMMY FALLON
“Boston ran out of beer? But how will they get the children to sleep?” — JORDAN KLEPPER
“And, by the way, it’s not just bars. There’s no beer in any of the places in Boston that serve alcohol: restaurants, taverns, libraries, hospitals, A.A. meetings.” — JORDAN KLEPPER
Zero alcohol? Guinness gets it.
Have you tried the 0.0% Guinness? A surprising number of punters I know have. “Not bad. Not the real thing. But not bad if that’s your drink,” seems to be the consensus. The NY Times reporters who rank everything under the sun tasted tons of NA beers and decided Guinness 0.0 isn’t just not bad. It’s the best. “A chorus of “hell yeah” echoed around the table as we took our first sips.” Hmm. Oregon brewer Deschutes also did really well in these rankings. (Paywall!)
Jeffrey Donaldson has spent his first night behind bars in Maghaberry Prison.
