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Donegal to honour American
philanthropist
22.09.15
US philanthropist
Loretta Brennan Glucksman is looking forward to
coming to Buncrana this week where she will receive
this year’s Tip O’Neill Diaspora Award.
The award ceremony, in the Inishowen Gateway Hotel
on Friday evening, will be the centrepiece in a
weekend of events marking the life and times of the
late Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Tip
O’Neill, an illustrious grandson of Inishowen
emigrants.
Ms Glucksman, who has worked tirelessly to promote
Irish culture and to establish strong ties between
America and the island of Ireland, is eager to
return to her roots. Her grandfather, David Brennan
was originally from the east Inishowen fishing port
of Greencastle.
“I haven’t been up to that part of the world for
over two years now; that was for the late Seamus
Heaney’s funeral. I’ll only be in the county for
three days but I’m looking forward to it and
certainly a meeting with the O’Neill Clan. |
“I only knew Tip very
peripherally, I was working in television at the end
of his speakership but I did get to know his family
much better as they had become involved in the
American Ireland Fund. His daughter Susan runs our
Washington gala every year and of course his son
Tommy is on our board of directors,” she said.
Ms Glucksman was raised in an Irish neighbourhood in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. She enjoyed a career in
academia and later in the media before moving into
her philanthropic endeavours which placed her in
such a pivotal position in Irish-American affairs by
successfully rallying much-needed support. She has
often been described as a steadfast champion of all
things Irish and Irish American. |
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Loretta Brennan Glucksman. |
She is very conscious
of the need to underpin continuous economic progress
here.
“I remember the stories my grandparents used to tell
about sending the packages back to Ireland and that
was an economic support system in its own way I
guess. It certainly has become much more
sophisticated in the decades since then."
She paid tribute to the work of John Hume over the
years and added she believes he ought to receive
more recognition for the crucial role he had played
in getting peace to work in Northern Ireland.
Ms Glucksman is also encouraged by the future and
aware the world is now a very different place to
when her grandparents emigrated
“One of the worst casualties of the financial
disaster of 2007 was that it did dent the confidence
of some people. During the early 2000s we were all
told we can do anything we want but no you can’t, it
doesn’t always work out like a fairytale but that
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying."
“I think that spirit is definitely still there in
the Irish and it will take a lot to shake it out of
them - I don’t know if that’s even possible but I
think there is still a feeling of optimism that I
sense when I am in Ireland," she added. |
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