[caption id="attachment_68939" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Rory McIlroy's triumph in June."]
JANUARY
It was not a quiet opening to the year, at least in terms of the first front page lead headline. "Fund furor" topped a story that detailed a growing battle in Washington over the future of the U.S. contribution to the International Fund for Ireland. Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, proclaimed his intention to introduce a bill that would "strike funding" for the fund, set up in the 1980s as a financial companion to the Anglo Irish Agreement.
As the year turned, excitement began mounting in anticipation of the 250th New York St. Patrick's Day Parade. In the opening days of the month, Mary Higgins Clark was presented with the grand marshal's sash at a ceremony in Manhattan. Also honored in New York, at the National Arts Club, was Chieftains front man Paddy Moloney who was presented with the institution's Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Music.
In sports, Larry McCarthy was elected to a second term as chairman of the New York GAA while boxer John Duddy, the "Derry Destroyer" delivered a blow to his many fans by announcing his retirement from the ring.
With the Irish economy in dire straits and a general election looming, Taoiseach Brian Cowen had to fight off opponents in his own party before it was confirmed that he would lead Fianna Fáil in the general election. In an extraordinary twist, Cowen would end up quitting as party leader but remaining in his prime ministerial post.
With the declaration by the British government that the 1972 Bloody Sunday victims were innocent, it was decided that the 2011 commemoration march would be the last.
As the Heineken Cup moved into its final phase, Leinster were emerging favorites to capture Europe's biggest club rugby title. They would ultimately capture the trophy. Golfer Padraig Harrington was looking good in Abu Dhabi but a ball marking mistake ultimately led to his disqualification.
FEBRUARY
The month opened with embattled taoiseach Brian Cowen announcing that he would not be running for re-election. The Dáil was formally dissolved and a date of February 25 was set for the general election. Micheál Martin became
Fianna Fáil leader, this after he had earlier quit his post as foreign minister.
Mary Higgins Clark was not the only woman grand marshal choosing sensible walking shoes. Mae O'Driscoll was warming up to lead the Brooklyn parade and Attracta Lyndon the Bergen County parade in New Jersey. Republican congressman Peter King became chairman of the Friends of Ireland in Congress, thus succeeding Democrat Richard Neal.
With the general election campaign underway, various parties promised that at some point in the future Irish citizens living overseas would enjoy a degree of voting rights. Irish rock music lost a legend with the passing of guitarist Gary Moore. Ireland won their opening game in the Six Nations rugby championship by defeating Italy in Rome.
New York's mayor, Michel Bloomberg, apologized after a remark delivered at the American Historical Society which referred to "inebriated" spectators hanging out of the society's window during the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Ireland stumbled against France in the second Six Nations game at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
As had been the case for some years, there was little movement on immigration reform in the early days of 2011. By way of an example of the inertia, a front page Echo report focused on the band "Screaming Orphans," the members of which, despite having a U.S. citizen mother and a father who served in the U.S. Army, were unable to secure green cards. In a hint of things to come, Dublin footballers topped Cork in a National League clash at Croke Park. The Echo announced its annual 40 Under 40 award winners.
Irish voters went to the polls and the result was a coalition government of Fine Gael and Labour with the former party's Enda Kenny as new taoiseach.
MARCH
With the month of parades came reports that President Obama could visit Ireland, most likely in May. Ireland beat Scotland in rugby in Edinburgh but were less than convincing in doing so.
New York teachers, Irish American ones in particular, were furious after the city's Department of Education mandated parent teacher meetings on the evening of March 17th.
Despite pleas and lobbying on its behalf, the Senate and House of Representatives voted to axe $17.5 million in support for the International Fund for Ireland in 2011. The death took place in New York of John Concannon, for many years one of the most prominent of the city's Irish American archivists and historians.
Ireland stunned England by defeating them in the Cricket World Cup. Ireland's rugby players were not so lucky, losing to Wales in Cardiff in a game dominated by a controversial decision to allow Wales a try that wasn't. However, Ireland would finish their Six Nations campaign by ultimately matching the cricketers with a win over England. Boxer Andy Lee survived several rocky rounds to come out the winner against Craig McEwan at Foxwoods in Connecticut.
Fair weather greeted grand marshal Mary Higgins Clark and huge crowds of parade marchers and spectators as the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade marked 250 years. Congressman Joe Crowley called on the GOP leadership in Congress to revive funding for the IFI. Irish soccer players pulled off a win in Dublin, the Republic beating Macedonia 2-1 in a European Championship qualifier.
APRIL
Northern Ireland was rocked by the murder in Omagh of PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr, who died after a bomb detonated under his car. The condemnation of the murder was virtually universal. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the act as an "appalling murder."
The McAllister family in New Jersey secured another year's reprieve from deportation. Prince Albert of Monaco visited Ireland but the thoughts of most were by now turned to the confirmed visits of President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth in May.
Rory Mcilroy looked like a winner in the Masters at Augusta, but the Sunday back nine holes ended his challenge. Fr. Sean McManus of the Washington D.C-based Irish National Caucus launched his memoirs in Dublin Castle.
The latest discoveries at the Duffy's Cut archeological dig outside Philadelphia included the revelation that the remains of at least one of the Irish immigrants who died there in 1832 was a woman. The Irish Echo hosted the Top 50 Small Business Awards at the Manhattan Club in New York.
Irish banks looked like they might need more bailout money but Ireland's response to its debt crisis was at least being praised by its lenders.
Cork overcame an 8-point deficit to beat Dublin in the National Football League decider in Croke Park. The Echo reported that an error by the New York Department of Buildings helped Anglo Irish Bank in its campaign to raise $50 million in Ireland for two properties that it falsely claimed could be converted into commercial hotels.
MAY
The USS Michael Murphy was launched in Maine, the destroyer being a tribute to Long Island Navy SEAL Michael Murphy who died in combat in Afghanistan and was subsequently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The death, at the hands of Navy SEALS, of Osama Bin Laden, brought a sense of relief and closure to many 9/11 families.
The 1981 hunger strikers were remembered on the 30th anniversary of the deaths of Bobby Sands and nine other republican prisoners.
Dublin hurlers overcame
Kilkenny and captured the National Hurling League title at Croke Park. The Northern Ireland Assembly elections left the DUP and Sinn Féin again in control of the North's government. There was outrage after the Massachusetts teenagers who had bullied Phoebe Prince to the point that she committed suicide were given light sentences.
Hundreds of members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians gathered in New York City to mark the 175th anniversary of the order's founding. The U.S. economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, announced his resignination from the post. History was made by the arrival of Queen Elizabeth in the Republic, her first ever visit south of the border.
Boston College was served with a subpoena seeking transcripts of oral history testimonies related to the Northern Ireland Troubles, and given to its archives under a guarantee that they would remain sealed so long as the interviewees lived.
The extraordinary Irish reception for Queen Elizabeth was matched before the month was out by the welcome for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Former taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald died aged 85. Limerick southpaw Andy Lee continued his winning ways in Illinois.
JUNE
It was seemingly dead in the water but U.S. funding for the International Fund for Ireland was being given another chance, in part by being allowed to elude the dreaded Capitol Hill tag of "earmark." Belfast marked the 100th anniversary of the launch of Titanic.
The U.S. Navy approved a planned memorial to its first flag officer, Commodore John Barry, at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The project was being spearheaded by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. the Echo hosted its annual New York-New Belfast conference in New York.
Boston College filed a motion opposing the U.S. Subpoena aimed at requiring it to turn over archived material from its files on the Troubles. Former Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, succumbed to cancer aged 52.
His Masters misery consigned to the bottom of the bag, Rory McIlroy roared to glory by winning the U.S. Open at the Congressional Club in Bethesda, Maryland. McIlroy's win was being seen as a huge boost for Irish golf and tourism in general.
Far from the links, the worst rioting in many years broke out in Belfast. A number of Irish joined a class action law suit after many were told they had won coveted U.S. diversity visas only to be later told they had not.
Ending a 16-year international manhunt, legendary Irish American gangster James "Whitey" Bulger was arraigned in a Massachusetts courtroom after his earlier arrest in California.
JULY
Legally blind Arizona native Adam Devell fulfilled his wildest dream when he played with U2 on stage during the band's Nashville concert. on a separate note, the year would later end with the Irish band still standing tall as the world's biggest touring rock act.
A growing band of candidates was emerging in the Irish presidential race.
Hundreds of Hibernians from all over the Empire State converged on Pearl River in Rockland County for the AOH and Ladies AOH Biennial State Convention. Across the Hudson, there was a wreath laying ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the unveiling of the Westchester County Great Hunger memorial.
Hard on the heels of Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke chalked up a win for the ages in the British Open at Royal St. George's. Clarke's win was the sixth major success by an Irish golfer since Padraig Harrington won the Open at Carnoustie in 2007.
First a computer glitch, and now a House committee voted to shut down the annual diversity visa lottery. The program remained just about the only way that Irish people could immigrate legally to the U.S.
There was some uproar after Taoiseach Enda Kenny delivered a critical broadside at the Vatican in a Dáil speech, this over the Cloyne report into clerical child abuse. The Vatican responded by recalling its Dublin nuncio. It was announced that the Millrose Games, long a favorite track gathering for Irish middle distance runners, would be moving uptown to a new Manhattan venue with former Irish miler Ray Flynn running the effort to promote the event.
AUGUST
The Brehon Law Society weighed in behind Boston College in its resistance to the U.S. legal effort to unlock its Northern Ireland Troubles oral history archives. Federal investigators would soon respond by requesting even more material than in the original subpoena.
Hugh Carey, the last surviving member of the Irish American political group known as the Four Horsemen, and the former governor of New York, died aged 92.
Forty years after they were locked up without trial, former internees in Northern Ireland announced that they were going to sue the British government. Kilkenny qualified for their sixth All Ireland hurling final in a row and would be facing Tipperary.
Mark McGovern, a 22-year-old Gaelic football player who went into a coma after being struck off the ball during a game in San Francisco in June, finally recovered consciousness.
The LA Galaxy soccer team signed a new star, Ireland's Robbie Keane. Irish immigration reform advocates met with White House staffers in Washington. The Irish echo hit the streets even after the same streets were rocked by an earthquake centered in Virginia.
SEPTEMBER
The Duffy's Cut dig was now focusing on the last individual grave on the site. Most of the Irish railroad workers who perished there in 1832 rest in a mass grave. Despite dire predictions of power outages and flooding in lower Manhattan, the Echo went to print despite Hurricane Irene.
Dublin made it into the All Ireland football final, so ending a 16-year final drought. Kilkenny, meanwhile, overcame Tipperay and thus scored their fifth victory in six successive hurling finals.
The Echo marked the tenth anniversary of 9/11 with a special commemorative issue.
The paper reported that the Irish Korean War website was covered by ads. Hardly had the ink dried on the issue than the ads vanished from the site.
The Irish rugby team opened its account by beating a hard battling USA side in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Old rivals Dublin and Kerry were paired in the All Ireland football final and it would be the Dubs who would win, thus securing their first title in 16 years.
The Irish presidential race suddenly became a lot more interesting and competitive with the candidacy of Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness. The Echo paid tribute to the labor movement with its inaugural Irish Labor 50 awards. Ireland stunned the fancied Australians in the Rugby World Cup.
On a visit to the U.S., Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore indicated that the Irish government was looking at new ways to secure greater legal access to the U.S. for Irish citizens.
OCTOBER
With seven candidates in the ring, the month that would end with an Irish presidential election began with some spirited debate between the seven, five men and two women. Boxer Andy Lee scored a big win over Bryan Vera in Atlantic City. Ireland beat Italy to qualify for a Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash with Wales. Sadly for the team in green, Wales won the encounter.
There was an astonished reaction in Northern Ireland and beyond as the British government ruled out an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Instead, the government opted for a review of the case to be conducted by a barrister.
The New York St. Patrick's Day Parade committee announced that NBC Television executive Francis X. Comerford would be grand marshal of the 2012 parade. The Irish Echo Irish Law and Order Top 50 awards event was held at the Irish Consulate in Manhattan with Yonkers Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett the main honoree.
Mary McAleese marked the end of her two terms as Irish president as voters went to the polls to elect her successor. When all the votes were tallied, it emerged that her successor would be Michael D. Higgins, the Labour Party candidate.
Aran Islands native Ciaran O Conghaile, 36, known to his friends as "Kiwi," died after being gunned down outside his home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Tom Kennedy, for many years the public face of Aer Lingus in New York, died aged 90. Ireland was badly hit by severe weather with flooding in many areas, most notably Dublin.
NOVEMBER
Ireland beat Australia in the first of two International Rules tests, this one played in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy came out tops in the Shanghai Masters golf tournament.
After being inaugurated ninth president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins embarked on his first official visit, his destination being Derry. Three score and six years after he won them, Brooklyn's Arthur J. Walsh finally pinned on his world War II medals at a ceremony at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY.
The New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians raised objections to the possibility that Thomas Nast, the 19th century journalist and illustrator, might be elevated to the state's hall of fame, this despite Nast having been virulently anti-Irish and Catholic.
Northern Ireland's attorney general ordered new inquests into the deaths of ten people killed by the British army in West Belfast in 1971 in what became known as the Ballymurphy Massacre. The Echo held its annual Golden Bridges conference in Boston.
A Bronx community board approved the renaming of a borough street in honor of the late human rights attorney, Frank Durkan. The Irish government announced that it would no longer have a Rome-based
ambassador to the Vatican.
Ireland's soccer team beat Estonia in a first leg European Championships qualifying playoff. Ireland won the second clash in Dublin and so won entry to the 2012 championships.
Believed to be the last surviving Irish Republican Brotherhood member living in the U.S., Cork native Patrick Motherway died in Queens, NY aged 104. Baby Elie Madden was flown from Dublin to Boston on an Irish Air Corps jet for treatment for a rare medical condition. Unseasonably warm weather resulted in an extended excavation of the Duffy's Cut site in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
DECEMBER
Congress passed a bill allowing for more annual green cards, but there was little in the measure for the Irish. The Irish government unveiled a budget that held little seasonal cheer.
Rory McIlroy followed his success in Shanghai by chipping in at the final hole to win the Hong Kong Open. Commissioner Edmund Hartnett announced that he would resign as Yonkers top cop at year's end.
Senator Charles Schumer announced a bill that would provide 10,000 E-3 visas a year for the Irish. The long campaign to preserve and reopen historical St. Brigid's Church in Manhattan looked set to reach fruition with an official reopening set for sometime in 2012.
Ireland's Fionnuala Britton beat the field to win the European Cross Country Championship in Slovenia. The prospect for Irish E-3 visas rose higher with Senator Scott Brown introducing a bill of his own. It differed from Senator Schumer's bill in that it did not contain a waiver for the undocumented.
A federal judge in Boston ruled against Boston College in the matter of the subpoena seeking the opening of the Jesuit university's oral history Troubles archives.
A Dorchester teenager was charged with the murder of Aran Islands native Ciaran O Conghaile. Journalist and author Pete Hamill was named the Irish Echo's Irish American of the Year, succeeding Massachusetts congressman, Richard Neal. The year ended on a positive note for the Irish economy with figures showing a rise in tourist numbers over 12 months for the first time in four years.
