Actress rejects US award over illegal Irish remarks

IRISH star of cinema and TV Fionnula Flanagan has pulled out of this year’s US-Ireland Alliance pre-Oscar awards in a row over the plight of the undocumented Irish in the US.

Ms Flanagan — who was set to be honoured by the US-Ireland Alliance — backed out in the wake of comments made by alliance president Trina Vargo about the undocumented Irish in the US.

In November, Ms Vargo sparked a firestorm of criticism when she attacked the work of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and said the undocumented Irish did not deserve support.

Ms Flanagan explained that she had been unaware of Ms Vargo’s comments, which included likening the Irish campaign to “putting lipstick on a pig”, when the alliance announced its award.

Speaking in the US this week, Ms Flanagan said she would “respectfully decline” to be honoured by the alliance when “it appears to have taken such a strong position against the most vulnerable of my countrymen”.

Ms Flanagan also cited her own experience as an “Irish illegal” in the US.

“I was broke, dreadfully homesick for my family and lived in constant fear of deportation. My time of living with such insecurity was relatively short.

“I can only imagine the anxiety and suffering of families who live thus for years. The experience made me very empathetic to the plight and suffering of all illegal immigrants.

“Over the years, when asked, I have lent my name and whatever support I could to a variety of organisations in southern California which have championed sanctuary and the rights of immigrants who come largely from Central America. Their struggle is not easy and the bias against them is horrendous,” said Ms Flanagan.

“I applaud the efforts of all the immigrant groups who are actively involved in lobbying the cause of their undocumented members. I applaud their respective homeland governments when they help to plead their case,” she said.

Ms Flanagan has been prominent in the movie and TV business since the 1960s. She was to be honoured by the US-Ireland Alliance at its third annual, Oscar Wilde: Honouring the Irish in Film, pre-Academy Awards party on February 21.

Ms Flanagan was expected to join Academy Award winner James L Brooks and actress Fiona Shaw at the ceremony.