Irish Massachusetts

Officials from Tourism Ireland welcome the announcement by the Irish Government about the re-opening of travel to Ireland. Ireland’s adoption of the EU’s new Digital Covid Certificate, which will enable more seamless travel among EU member states, is good news for everyone in the tourism and hospitality industry. Ireland will begin the scheme on 19 July, meaning that travellers from EU member states bearing the pass – which attests that the holder has either been vaccinated, has had a negative test for COVID-19 or has had the virus – will then be able to visit Ireland without the need for a test or quarantining.  Tourism Ireland also welcomes the commitment to extend the Digital Covid Certificate to vaccinated visitors from other countries – including Great Britain and North America. Tourism Ireland has been actively planning for the restart of international travel. The organisation is now ready to roll out a significant promotional kick-start campaign to entice and welcome back in...

The newly restored Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial across from the Massachusetts State House, is being unveiled to the public on Friday, May 28 and through Memorial Day Weekend. The  iconic public monument just underwent  a $3 million restoration over the past year. Visitors may sign a restoration book at the Memorial from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from May 28-31. The restoration of the bronze memorial was carried out at Skylight Studios in Woburn, Massachusetts, led by sculptor Robert Shure and his team of specialists. Additional stone work restoration was done in Lenox. The restoration initiative was led by a unique partnership that included the National Park Service, City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Friends of the Public Garden and Museum of African American History. First unveiled on May 31, 1897, the Shaw Memorial pays homage to the 54th Black Infantry Regiment of Boston, considered one of America’s most significant Civil War memorials.   It was the firs...

The wildly popular Aer Lingus College Football Classic is returning to Dublin on August 27, 2022, as American football powerhouses Northwestern and Nebraska get ready to meet at Aviva Stadium. The 51,700 seat stadium is the primary home of the Irish rugby union team and the Republic of Ireland football team.  Aer Lingus Chief Commercial Officer David Shepherd said, “Today’s announcement is a welcome beacon of hope for travel on both sides of the Atlantic. As proud sponsor of the Aer Lingus College Football Series, we look forward to flying the Northwestern Wildcats, Nebraska Huskers and their respective delegations to Ireland next summer, and to promoting our airline to our valued US market.”  Tourism Ireland welcomed the announcement. Chief Executive Niall Gibbons said, "The announcement of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic for August 2022 is really good news. As we get ready to restart international tourism to the island of Ireland, the game between the Northwester...

Titanic Belfast   and the   SS Nomadic , among the most famous ships in the world, are reopening in Belfast, Northern Ireland on  Thursday, May, 27, 2021.   Named the World's Leading Tourist Attraction at the prestigious World Travel Awards in 2016, Titanic Belfast stands on the historic Titanic Slipways, the very place where RMS Titanic was designed, built and launched in 1912.   There is no bigger story, and no better place to hear it told than in the spectacular building which has welcomed more than six million visitors from 145 different countries since she first opened her doors exactly 100 years later. The self-guided  Titanic Experience  is the most authentic way to discover the sights, sounds, smells and stories of the ship – now with a themed one-way tour route.   On entering, visitors are greeted with a panoramic eagle eye view down Belfast Lough and the actual slipways on which both the Titanic and her sister ship the Olympic slipped in...

  The Boston athletes who triumphed in the first Modern Olympics in Athens, Greece were feted by an enthusiastic crowd of family, friends and supporters with a reception in their honor at Faneuil Hall, followed by a banquet at the Vendrome Hotel on May 13, 1896.  Local poet Henry O'Meara wrote a special tribute, "To Our Laureled Sons," which was recited and later sung by Irish tenor Joseph White.   The team's manager was John Graham, and the track and field athletes were Thomas E. Burke, Ellery H. Clark, Thomas P. Curtis, W.W. Hoyt and Arthur Blake, representing the Boston Athletic Association ; and James Brendan Connolly , representing the Suffolk Athletic Club in South Boston.   Connolly had remained in Europe after the Olympics and was not at the celebration.   Attending the banquet with other dignitaries were Governor Roger Wolcott and Boston Mayor Josiah Quincy , according to a story in The Boston Globe.   For more information...