The Hill News

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit (Happy St. Patrick's Day).

St. Patrick’s Day â€" or as it is in the U.S. â€" St. Patrick’s week - is an important point of celebration of all things Irish in far flung places around the globe.

I have met the Irish diaspora in the U.S., in Canada and Mexico; in Europe and the Middle East; and in South Africa and Australia. The Irish are everywhere. All those I have met have had the same love of their ancestral home whether they are fourth of fifth generation, or newly arrived.

The St. Patrick’s celebrations are an opportunity to reconnect. To celebrate all things Irish while reminding Irish Americans and others in the diaspora, that Ireland still suffers from many of the problems that forced them or their grandparents or great grandparents to leave Ireland in the first place and that we need their help to change that.

This is especially true in Washington where Ireland has many friends within! the republican and democratic parties. In good times and bad, and in dangerous times they stayed with the peace process.

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