2023 NORTHERN IRELAND BUREAU BREAKFAST

Posted By: March 18, 2023

Andrew Elliott, Director of the NI Bureau, is from Kesh in Fermanagh; Fr. Sean McManus, President, of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus, is from Clonliff, in the parish of Kinawley; and the keynote speaker, Joe Kennedy, III, is the great-great-great grandson of Rosanna Cox, born circa 1835.

Fr. Ultan Mc Googhan, a historian, formerly Parish Priest of Derrylin, has written the definitive article on Rosanna Cox, says: “We can claim her as a Fermanagh woman, with Kinawley and Knockninny roots and to be even more parochial, we might call her a Teemore woman!

And, Fr. Gerry Comiskey, the former Pastor/ Parish Priest of Kinawley, attended as a guest of Fr. McManus at the NI Bureau breakfast.

Fr. McManus, who has done fairly persistent posting on Rosanna Cox, said: “I urged Joe III to make sure to visit the ancestral ruins of Rosanna’s birthplace in Teemore. He seemed genuinely interested. And I told him, with a smile, that everyone has heard enough of the Boys of Wexford; now we have to hear about the Girl from Fermanagh.

And. I told him I would put him in touch with Fr. Ultan and Fr. Gerry, who know the territory and the story very well.”

Fr. McManus concluded: “Paying due honor to the remarkable Rosanna Cox is even more appropriate now than ever since Joe III is the Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. And, everyone on the whole island of Ireland would love to see him paying filial respect to this great Fermanagh woman, God rest her.”