‘We’re happy to be here despite missing home’

Many Irish in the US would love to return for Christmas, but some can’t risk it, writes John Riordan in New York

FOR almost four decades, broadcaster Tommy Smyth has acted as a go-between for Irish immigrants in New York and their families, friends and villages back home.

More well known for his role as a football commentator in the US for the sports giant ESPN, he is also a key member of the Irish community in the Empire State.

On Christmas Day, the north-eastern radio station LMFM will once again broadcast his two-hour radio show for the many Irish who can’t make it home for Christmas.

Some of it was recorded last week in Woodlawn’s Rory Dolan’s Pub on the Yonkers side of McLean Avenue while he also interviewed expats at the Armagh and Cavan County Association annual dinners. Almost 60 people proved keen to send an audio postcard home for the festive season.

“I’ve seen the waves of immigration through doing this,” says Smyth.

“In the 1970s, people were going back to Ireland and then 10 years later it was bad again, back on an upswing.

“You have to remember that, back then, the phone call home was a three-day event. I would call Tom McNamee’s pub in Knockbridge and ask them to try and get my mother in there to take a call two days later. You’d never be sure she’d receive the message in time for the following day so you had to go the extra day.

“It’s different for people now of course. There is much more technology. But I still see the effect on people’s households back home. The whole parish will hear these calls and it starts conversation. It’s still an amazing way to reach people.”

While not everyone feels comfortable talking on air, worried that their immigration status might not be helped by broadcasting messages to the media, he still manages to get people to open up.

One woman hadn’t seen her parents in 10 years. Her father passed away earlier this year but she couldn’t risk going home. She used her time on air to appeal to her mother to visit New York to see her three grandchildren.

“I feel sorry for the all the people who are afraid of doing this with me. I know they want to go on radio but it’s such a tricky situation for them. I appreciate what they go through.

“People want to listen in and find out how people are doing. And we had a bigger story this year. I had Larry Lynch from Louth on talking about the effects of Hurricane Sandy. He works for the transit company but he has an accent that people will relate to when they hear him on LMFM.

“It’s not a radio show, it’s a coming together.”

Not much build-up

For Eileen McMullan, a bar worker in the Upper East Side, this will be the seventh Christmas in a row she has spent away from home.

“The good thing about Christmas in Ireland is the atmosphere leading up to it,” she says. “It’s not as much of a build-up in New York. I think it starts at a good time in Ireland. It gives you more of a chance to get ready.

“I sold mortgages at home and at the moment you can’t sell your own house, never mind a mortgage. I’m a big Christmas fan. I’d love to go home for Christmas but it’s just not happening at the moment because of the visa situation which is ridiculous.”

Her sister Maureen will visit her and her brother Seán who also lives in New York. “I’m really excited about that. She’s been here a couple of times but never for Christmas. She’s going to get a bit of a shock when she arrives. The hype in Ireland is much bigger. It’s one day off here and you’re back to work the next day. I’ll take her ice skating at Rockefeller Center and all the rest of it. But I’ll have her here, that’s the main thing.”

First year away

Colum Quirke, 23, from Clogheen in Co Tipperary, works for the Irish-American building contractors JT Magen.

He has never been away over the festive period but he is delighted that his girlfriend Marie Costigan, will be joining him in Queens, where he lives.

“It will be the first year that we will not be with our families. I wanted to try to get home for Christmas but graduation is too close and I can’t take too many days off. We’ll both be flying home in mid-January together to graduate from Waterford IT; me in construction management and Marie in health science.

“Our plan for Christmas is to do all the NYC Christmas things, ice skating, see The Rockettes and maybe even catch a New York Knicks basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day.

“One thing I have noticed is the generosity of our American friends here. I’ve been offered Christmas Day dinner from three different friends who know we are alone for Christmas.”

He says he’ll miss the buzz in Clogheen and asked to send best wishes to his family and friends, many of whom are going home but others who are staying in their adopted countries.

Pints with the lads

Paul Whelan, 29, from Tulla, Co Clare, works with Reidy Group Contractors in Midtown Manhattan and will miss the hype, but also going for a few “sneaky pints with guys who you haven’t seen in a while or who have ventured elsewhere”.

“Obviously I will miss my folks and family. It’s my niece’s second Christmas and, to be fair, my mum pulls out all the stops and we have a great dinner on the day itself.

“This will be my first one in New York although I have been in Sydney for Christmas Day. I remember jumping on a bus in Sydney and it was full of Irish folk going to Mass. One of the girls rang home and she got so upset talking to her mother that about five or six other girls started bawling with her.

“It is a tough day to be away from family but that was my lesson learned: Keep away from bus loads of 20-something emotional Irish girls.”

It’s no fairytale

In Washington DC, Kevin Bates from Tramore and Micheál Gee from Dungarvan, both 26-year-old chartered accountants working for CrossCountry Consulting, will spend their first Christmas away, having both moved to the US in October.

“Our first plan for the day is to find a church for Christmas Day Mass,” says Kevin.

“Also we are cooking the Christmas dinner this year and having eight guests over to our house — all CrossCountry employees, two Irish based in Philadelphia, two Irish based in DC, three South Africans, and a Zimbabwean.

“We’ll miss St Stephen’s Day at home with old friends and New Year’s Eve with the UCC Commerce Class of 2008 in Ballybunion. Micheál’s sister Sinéad got engaged since we got here and he hasn’t seen her since.

“Nobody here has heard of ‘Fairytale of New York’ and we are getting tired of explaining why it is such a good song. Nobody uses the term Christmas, it’s the ‘holidays’. But it’s great to experience a different culture at this time of year and we are really happy to be here despite missing home.”