Big debt owed to the Irish

LAST year's terror attacks on the World Trade Centre claimed the lives of 343 firefighters.

But more than half the firemen who died on September 11 belonged to the department's Emerald Society and were either Irish or proud to claim Irish extraction.

Now a new book is setting out to show the great debt New York has owed to Irish firefighters throughout the years.

Written by Terry Golway, himself an Irish-American, A History of New York's Bravest - The FDNY From 1700 To The Present records some of the moments and characters in the service.

He says the huge Irish presence in the FDNY was not really apparent until the 19th century when the fire department went from being a volunteer force to a professional one.

In 1898, the five New York boroughs merged, turning the FDNY into the biggest fire department in the world, with responsibility for protect-ing millions of Americans - and the true extent of Irish involvement became apparent.

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