PDX HI Turns Three
PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT Volume Three - Number Fifty-Three – 4 June 2025
More than an email. Less than a newspaper. Delivered early on the first and third Thursday morning of every month. Published by The Portland Hibernian Society.
As the PDX HI slides into its third year, thank you for letting it into your email box twice a month. Ideally, you’re finding stories worth reading. At the very least, you’re not blocking the newsletter, and we appreciate that.
PDX HI NOW ON SUBSTACK
To raise Irish awareness on a larger scale, I’ve set up a site – Gallagher's Celtic Corner – on Substack, a new platform for writers and others with something to say. The Irish American presence is minimal. To remedy that I’m now posting six days a week (Sun. - Fri.). Some of the stories in the PDX HI will link to GCC. Choose the FREE Subscription option. As a reader of the HI you are entitled to a FREE subscription for life. There will be stories here at the PDX HI that will appear here only. Yes, PDX HI Exclusives.
STATE OF THE SOCIETY
May was membership month. Treasurer Tim Hennessy is compiling the numbers and will brief the steering committee this evening. There will be an update at the Bloomsday Meeting on June 19th. Go raibh maith agat to all of you supporting this cause. For the rest of you, it’s okay to take the membership plunge any time.
BLOOMSDAY MEETING JUNE 19
James Joyce still shows up as one of the most popular Irish persons in America. Not bad for a writer born in Dublin in 1882. For writing a novel considered by many the best book ever written in the English language and winning the Nobel for Literature, he has his day. Ulysses is set on June 16, 1904 - Bloomsday. Hibernian David O’Longaigh is responsible for our annual local celebration of the novel (difficult) and the man who wrote it (also difficult). Join us at Kells Restaurant (212 SW Second Avenue in Portland) on June 19 at Six p.m. for readings, a little revelry and Irish desserts. Free and all are welcome.
Ireland’s West Coast Consul General Micheal Smith (right, third from bottom) meets with representatives of the local Irish community May 15 at Kells Brewery. (Photo by Garrett McAleese)
INTERESTED IN BECOMING AN IRISH CITIZEN?
It’s possible to become an Irish citizen if you’re related to the right people. CG Micheal Smith came to town to announce that the Irish Consulate in San Francisco will send staffers to Portland to answer your questions and get you started on the process later this month. Details.
GERRY ADAMS 1 BBC 0
It was Breaking News over the weekend when, after fewer than eight hours of deliberating, a jury in Dublin handed Gerry Adams a victory in his defamation suit against the BBC. Millions of viewers around the world who knew little if anything about Gerry Adams before the series Say Nothing might have been surprised.
THE LONG AND THE SHORTS OF IT
The PDX HI knows a newsworthy controversy when it spots one. Only in Ireland: Shorts not Skorts blared the headline in the May 15 PDX HI. One week later here was the header in the New York Times: After More Than a Century in Skorts and Skirts, Ireland’s Camogie Allows Shorts. Those who decide what women wear when they play GAA games had to hold off a rebellion. A vote, held by a Special Congress in Dublin’s Croke Park, was approved by 98 percent of delegates. GAA players will now be permitted to choose between shorts or skorts during official play. It’s a long article but if you’ve got the NYT subscription, it’s informative.
SPEAKING OF CROKE PARK - NFL BRINGING ITS SHOW TO DUBLIN
The NFL has the travel bug. It likes to send teams to foreign countries. It’s Ireland’s turn on Sunday, September 24. Ireland’s favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, will take on the Minnesota Vikings. A hypothetical road trip is pondered. No expenses paid.
THOSE HIGHLY EDUCATED IRISH
Ireland's movers and shakers were all over social media the other day publicizing the news that Ireland has a higher percentage of college graduates than a ton of other countries. “Ireland punches high on the chart — a good indicator of the opportunity that building a new Ireland would have for people here," said one leading Irish tech capitalist.
SILICON VALLEY (CA) SILICON FOREST (OR) SILICON ISLAND (IRE)
The unemployment rate in Ireland is just above 4%. Thirty years ago, it was 15%. Tech has been a huge part of this narrative so Ireland is now branding itself the Silicon Island. “Ireland could support up to 34,500 new semiconductor roles by 2040,” Minister Peter Burke said at the campaign launch. Currently, 20,000 people in Ireland work in that sector.
DUBLIN AND CORK ARE WHERE IT’S AT TECH-WISE
Galway’s got a small share of the industry, but the lion’s share of corporate taxes paid by tech firms and income taxes paid by those who work for them come from Ireland’s top two metros. No surprise there. But this stat shows how much Cork and Dublin dominate the Irish national economy: Ireland took in 39 billion euros in business tax receipts last year. 35.5 billion of that came from the Big Two.
QUOTE OF THE DAY FOR 5 JUNE 2025
“A life making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.” George Bernard Shaw Like Joyce (and Seamus Heany and Samuel Beckett) Shaw was a Nobel Laureate. He was a vegetarian. Asked why, he said, “Cabbage is less expensive than venison.”)
Bill Gallagher