TWO weeks ago Niall O’Dowd, founder of the Irish American newspaper The Irish Voice, announced that it was to close after 36 years. The New York-based Irish Voice and the Irish Echo were the principle sources of news for decades for Irish Americans and new Irish immigrants moving to the USA. Now the Irish Voice is gone. But a far-sighted Niall O’Dowd realised some years ago the direction of travel for newspapers competing against the huge growth in online media services and founded the online Irish Central. Today IrishCentral.com gets over two million visitors monthly.
August 31 marked the 20th anniversary of the 1994 IRA ceasefire that paved the way for the ending of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the beginning of the Good Friday Agreement. This historic event is being celebrated all over Ireland and America as the world remembers this historic moment. Niall O’Dowd, co founder of
Irish America and founder of IrishCentral, offered nothing but jubilation when he recalled hearing the Angelus bell ring and realizing that the work that he and the rest of the Connolly House Group had done for over three years was finally complete. He said it was “a magnificent moment, for Sinn Féin, for Irish America, but mostly for Ireland.”