Ray O'Hanlon

3 days ago | irishecho.com | Anthony Neeson |Gerry Adams |Ray O'Hanlon

A vote on President Trump's ambassador pick for Ireland has been delayed after Democrats boycotted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing late last week. Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Thursday May 8 to advance several of President Trump’s ambassador nominees, an act of rebellion against Republican efforts to quickly confirm Trump’s picks, The Hill newspaper reported.

1 week ago | irishecho.com | Sean Creedon |Geoffrey Cobb |Ray O'Hanlon

Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost is the newly elected Pope. The College of Cardinals voted four times before white smoke appeared from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. The new pope has taken the name Leo XIV. A graduate of Villanova University, Prevost has been based in Rome for a number of years. His roots are on Chicago's South Side. “Peace be with all you,” were his first words to the crowd in a packed St. Peter's Square.

1 week ago | irishecho.com | Ray O'Hanlon |Jay Mwamba |Daniel Neely |Geoffrey Cobb

Ironically, the artist who best captured the subtle and ephemeral beauty of the West of Ireland was an outsider. Belfast-born Paul Henry painted canvases that are regarded as the best canvases ever painted of the region. No artist influenced Irish and international perceptions of rural traditional life and the landscape more than he did. Earlier artists had painted Irish landscapes, but these scenes looked like paintings in England or France.

1 week ago | irishecho.com | Ray O'Hanlon |Jay Mwamba |Daniel Neely

Cliona Ward, an Irish woman who has been legally resident in the U.S. for 30 years but who was recently detained by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, has been released. The release followed a May 7 hearing in Tacoma, Washington where Ward, 54, was being held. Last month she was detained by federal authorities at San Francisco International Airport after returning from Ireland where she had visited her father, who is in ill health.

2 weeks ago | irishecho.com | Ray O'Hanlon |Gerry Adams

Peter Mallon Walsh, who died on April 18, 2025, was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He would also want to be remembered as a poet, writer, singer, performer and bar owner. He loved music, literature and, of course, track. He spent his quiet moments with either a book or pen in hand at his home in Watermill, N.Y. In his less quiet moments, Peter’s spirit and voice could turn any taproom or gathering into a grand performance as his poems and songs took flight.