I was just speaking there with one of the good people who runs the Irish Voice.
It was good to catch up and hear their plans for 2024.
As regular readers might recall, the IV is a free newspaper that services the multi-generational Irish in Scotland.
Of all the parts of the diaspora in the anglosphere, Scotland has been something of a centre of excellence for nativist hostility to anything Irish.
As the strapline in Minority Reporter would style it.
Modern Scotland has a bad attitude toward her own Irish.
One of the central aspects of that has been the role of the local media in Fair Caledonia.
Consequently, the community needs its own voice.
Hopefully, 2024 is the year that the Irish Voice moves into a new landscape.
The plan is for the free monthly newspaper to achieve charitable status.
In order to do that, they have to clear off a small overdraft, pay back a Covid loan, etc.
The GoFundMe page is currently at £7.4k.
They need to reach the £10k figure.
As my Irish Voice person said, getting to that amount would be “a game changer”.
With charitable status, the Irish voice would, for example, be able to apply for the Irish Government’s Emigrant Support Programme.
I finished the WhatsApp call by sharing a pic of the Cornerback of Seoul.
When I awoke ‘neath an Irish sky this morning in Dún na nGall, my phone reminded me of this moment in my son’s life.
There he is in 2019, delighted with himself.
Wherever we go, we Irish remain, well, Irish.
For some in modern Scotland, that is still a problem.
So,in the land that gave the world the Famine Song and an elected politician can sneer about “plastic Irishmen” without any consequences, the community needs its own Voice.
The Mhairi Black story was an important scoop for the Irish Voice.
Indeed, it is how this journalist learned about the honourable member’s bit of punching down at Paddy.
Going forward, the good people at the Irish Voice have a serious role to play if they can get the required status.
Indeed, for all of my sixty-five years, that is something that my community in Scotland has not had:
Status.
The beautiful memorial to An Gorta Mór at St Mary’s in the Calton is proof enough that the Irish community in Scotland is resilient and self-aware.
It is just the rest of Scotland that has to catch up and finally recognise that people like your humble correspondent actually exist.
Is Éireannach mé.
In the age of diversity awareness, it truly is remarkable the way in which Scotland’s Irish community continues to suffer from official gaslighting in Fair Caledonia.
The tartan establishment needs to be called out and the Irish Voice is a key part of that process.
Please help them if you can.
The GoFundMe link is here.
Donation sent
Donation made Phil 🇮🇪💚
Many thanks Laurie
A very worthwhile cause whose voice shouldn’t be suppressed, happy to contribute. One Irish voice that does need to be silenced is that of Joe Biden , his wholehearted support of the Zionist regime while supplying the bombs that enable genocide is shameful for a man that should understand exactly the eradication of a people through brutality , ethnic cleansing and starvation.
Good worthwhile cause I’m in x
Many thanks
We All must keep positive and believe that change can happen, being a realist I know from my own personal experience how Un-Fair-Caledonia is with its own Irish. However, not believing will get exactly what it deserves. Nought. I believe it possible because everything is possible. It’s the only positive way forward, there’s been many false dawns but resilience is required.
IF I had to put a wager on it, well; it’d be small. But the odds are long in this one.
James Dornan’s motion to will hopefully be the catalyst for it.
Great picture of the memorial Phil,
Many thanks.
HH 🍀
Donation sent from this London Scot.
Many thanks Tam