The Last Hurrah

Over the last ten episodes of The Last Hurrah, Liam and Scott have spoken to a wide range of journalists, activists, politicians and academics with differing viewpoints on the past, present and future of Irish America.

In the final episode of the season, Liam and Scott discuss the key takeaways from their conversations and delve into the unique insights given by our guests. They also ask what it means to be Irish American in 2021 and discuss how this special relationship has developed in the 21st century. Lastly, they look forward, discussing the key moments that may pose a challenge or opportunity to Irish America in the future, including Brexit, Northern Ireland, and the Joe Biden presidency.

Marion McKeone is the US correspondent for the Sunday Business Post. Before that, from 2000-2009, she was the US editor for the Sunday Tribune. She has also written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Irish Times. She broadcasts a regular US slot on Today FM’s ’The Last Word’ and is a regular contributor to RTE Current Affairs programs discussing US politics, foreign policy, and major news events. Marion has covered all of the major political events in the United States from 9-11 to the Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies.

In this episode of The Last Hurrah, Liam and Scott talk to Marion McKeone about her experience covering 9-11, how a global minimum tax corporate tax would effect Ireland, and the future of the US-Irish relationship.

Kevin Cullen is an author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He has written for the Boston Globe since 1985 where he served as local, national and foreign correspondent before becoming a columnist. Kevin spent more than 20 years covering the conflict in Northern Ireland and in 1994 was honoured by the Overseas Press Club of America for his interpretive reporting from Northern Ireland.

In 1997, Kevin was appointed the Boston Globe’s Dublin bureau chief, covering the peace process in Northern Ireland full time. He was described by the Irish Times as “the most informed American journalist on Irish affairs,” while The Independent of London called him “the most astute observer of Irish affairs in American media.”

In 2001, Kevin returned to Boston where he joined the Globe’s investigative team which won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 for exposing the cover up of sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests. He is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice.” In 2014, he won the Mike Royko Award as best columnist chosen by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

In this episode, Liam and Scott speak to Kevin about his life as a journalist, Boston politics, and the future of Irish American politics in the US. 

Trina Vargo is the president of the US-Ireland Alliance. She was employed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and served as his foreign policy adviser during the critical years of the Northern Ireland peace process. Working directly with political leaders in Northern Ireland, the Clinton Administration, and the Irish Government, Vargo served as a key behind-the-scenes player in the Northern Ireland peace process, including the granting of a visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to visit the US in 1994.

In 1998, Trina founded the US-Ireland Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to consolidating relations between the US and the island of Ireland and building that relationship for the future. She's also the author of the book Shenanigans: The US-Ireland Relationship in Uncertain Times (2019).

In this episode, Trina speaks to Liam and Scott about her career, the current state of Irish-American relations, and what lies in store for the future. 

Ted Smyth has had distinguished careers in government and public affairs in Ireland and the United States. He was an Irish diplomat from 1972 to 1988 serving in Portugal, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. He participated in the Northern Ireland peace process, serving in the Department of the Taoiseach as Deputy Director of Government Information Services, advisor on Northern Ireland, and in the Secretariat of the New Ireland Forum. He was head of Press and Information in the US from 1976-1981 and, later, held the roles of Chief Administrative Officer at the Heinz Company and Executive VP of Corporate Affairs at McGraw Hill Financial. Ted is currently Vice President of the Advisory Board at Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, and Chairman of the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin. 

In the seventh episode of “The Last Hurrah”, Liam and Scott talk to Ted Smyth about his career as an Irish diplomat in the United States during the Carter and Reagan administrations, the importance of Irish soft power, and the role of Irish America in the election of Joe Biden. 

Joan Walsh is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and a CNN political contributor. She is also the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America, which the Philadelphia Daily News called “one of the best books of 2012 – and even more relevant now.” In the book she “charts growing political divisions in the US through the story of her extended working-class New York, Irish Catholic family”. The book is “a family and political memoir that maps the fears and the aspirations of white ethnic Americans.”

In the sixth episode of “The Last Hurrah”, Liam and Scott talk to Joan Walsh about her Irish Catholic family and childhood, the divisions within Irish America and the future of Irish America and the Democratic Party. 

Ray O'Hanlon was born in Dublin, is a graduate of University College Dublin, and worked with the Irish Press newspaper group before moving to the United States in 1987. O’Hanlon’s particular beat has long been the immigration issue and his 1998 book, The New Irish Americans, is considered a definitive account of the battle for immigration reform waged by the Irish Immigration Reform Movement and other Irish-American organizations in the late 1980s and early ’90s. His new book, Unintended Consequences: The Story of Irish Immigration to the US and How America's Door was Closed to the Irish, will be published by Merrion Press in April 2021.

In this episode, Scott and Liam speak with Ray about Irish American politics since the  1990s and look at how the political dynamics of "Irish America" have changed over the years. 

James R. Barrett is a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently scholar in residence at The Newberry Library. Professor Barrett’s research interests include immigration and race and ethnicity in US cities. He is also the author of “The Irish Way”, a book of “social history” that examines “how the Irish took up positions of urban leadership in the late 19th century” and “how they had to adapt to growing numbers of other immigrants in the early 20th century”. 

In the third episode of “The Last Hurrah”, Liam and Scott sit down with Professor James R. Barrett to discuss why Irish Americans became so successful politically, why they were drawn towards the Democratic Party and why Irish American political power began to diminish in the first half of the 20th century. 

Former Congressman Joe Crowley of New York is “simply one of the most significant Irish American politicians of his generation.” After growing up in an Irish household in Queens, Crowley’s political career began in the New York State Assembly in 1987. 

He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1999 and, from 2017 to 2019, he served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth most powerful position in the House Democratic Party. A member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus and one of the Co-Chairs for the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs during his time in Congress, Crowley was—and continues to be—deeply involved in Irish American politics.

In the second episode of “The Last Hurrah”,  Liam and Scott sit down with former Congressman Joe Crowley of New York to discuss his Irish roots, Irish American political successes, and the future of the Democratic Party.