Painful Days for Irish Expatriates

Peace. That’s what Gerry Mackey has prayed for in the nearly 30 years since his brother-in-law fell victim to strife in Northern Ireland.

Even now, as a new wave of violence threatens a fragile peace accord, Mackey, who owns the Harp Inn in Costa Mesa, refuses to give up hope for his homeland.

The fate of a historic peace pact was thrown in doubt after last week’s deaths of three brothers, ages 9 to 11. They were victims of a firebombing blamed on sectarian extremists, an act that shocked many who were long numbed to the violence in Northern Ireland.

For days after the crime, Mackey and others in Orange County’s small but close-knit community of Irish expatriates anxiously watched developments unfold overseas. They stayed close to the radio and CNN. They scoured newspaper reports and ran up phone bills with costly calls to their relatives.

And they pray, Protestants and Catholics alike, that the deaths of three little towheaded, freckle-faced boys will somehow deliver peace to Northern Ireland.

“Maybe this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise,” said Vince Loughnane, head of Claddagh Foundation in Newport Beach, a nonprofit organization for Irish immigrants. “Of all the people that have given their lives for peace and freedom, maybe these three children will be the final sacrifice.”

Unlike Boston and New York, where many of the area’s Irish congregate in neighborhoods, Orange County’s estimated 100,000 Irish expatriates and descendants are dispersed, and their numbers are growing, said Jerry O’Keefe, Anaheim Hills resident and national director of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, an Irish fraternal, social and civil rights organization.

But they are still fiercely united by their concerns for the fate of Northern Ireland. Many sympathize with Northern Ireland’s Catholics: When Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, visited California two years ago, he stayed in Orange County, O’Keefe said.

The latest bout of violence came at an especially sensitive time for Northern Ireland’s Catholics, many of whom refer to July as the Mad Month. It’s when marches are held commemorating the 17th century military victory by Protestant King William of Orange over the Catholic King James II.

Tension spilling over from an annual Protestant march blocked in Northern Ireland were blamed for last week’s firebombing.

The anger in Charlie Downey’s voice was palpable as he spoke from a stool at the Harp Inn. The Belfast native bitterly recalled how his relatives feel victimized during the so-called marching season.

“Ireland is a sad country. We are always living in the past,” he said.

This time of year also brings back painful memories for Mackey, 55. Nearly 30 years ago, on Aug. 14, 1969, his brother-in-law John Gallagher was shot dead--one of the first casualties in a renewed outburst of violence commonly referred to in Northern Ireland as “the Troubles.”

Since then, the Northern Ireland native, who also owns Durty Nellie’s bar in Costa Mesa, has prayed for calm. When an unprecedented peace referendum won voter approval there earlier this year, he was overjoyed by what he and a majority of Irish Catholics and Protestants hoped would be a new era.

Then the boys were killed.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed that this does not evolve into a blood bath,” Mackey said.

Now Mackey said he is praying every day, still hoping the peace process will continue.

“The majority of people want peace. There is definitely no going back. . . . It can only be built upon; it cannot be torn down.”

But Andy Finnerty, a Cypress resident who was born and raised in the western end of the Republic of Ireland, is only cautiously optimistic.

“To defuse the situation is very difficult, needless to say,” he said. “I’m very hopeful, and I have a feeling it will last. But there are no celebrations yet.”