Public Employee Press

Irish Heritage at DC 37

Members and guests enjoyed lively music and dancing —as well as a tasty meal — at DC 37’s 15th annual Irish Heritage Celebration.
The March 2 event at DC 37 highlighted the contributions of Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans to the U.S. labor movement and culture.

“Every year, we work harder and harder to make this a successful celebration,” said Irish Heritage Committee Chair John Townsend, a DC 37 vice president and member of Dept. of Environmental Protection Supervisory Employees Local 1322.

People at the event enjoyed a time-honored corned beef and cabbage meal and a program of traditional dances and music. Members and guests sat at tables with green tablecloths and the hall was decorated with white, green and orange balloons and cardboard shamrocks.

In welcoming remarks, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts noted how Irish labor activists and leaders played a crucial role in building up the labor movement in New York City, where Transport Workers leader Mike Quill used to keep residents, politicians and business owners on edge with strike threats as contract negotiations neared a boiling point, typically toward New Year’s Day.

DC 37 itself has benefited from key Irish staffers, including Associate Director Eddie Maher in the 1960s and today’s Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan, Assistant Director Moira Dolan and Assistant to the Executive Director Colleen Detroy, Roberts said.

Roberts extended her thanks to Committee Co-chair Bernadette O’Leary Enzmann, a management analyst at DC 37, for coordinating the celebration. The committee honored Enzmann for her years of dedicated work ensuring that the events were a success.

Father Christopher Keenan, a Local 299 member and a Chaplain at the Fire Dept., gave the invocation, offering an Irish prayer. The Knights of Columbus Pipe Band, O’Malley Irish Dance Academy and Jerry Piper Band performed.

— Gregory N. Heires