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.