IT seems that the row at the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick that we referred to last week was much more widespread than we reported.

We stated that Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume was booed and insulted from the floor when he mentioned Senator Hillary and former President Bill Clinton and their role in the Irish peace process.

We reported it as a fairly minor incident, but now, however, we have been contacted by many who were at the dinner who tell us that it was far more than that.

Among those shocked at the behavior of the crowd were Edward Cardinal Egan and a representative from the Irish government. Egan told confidantes that he has rarely been so embarrassed.

What a way to treat a Nobel Prize winner, and one who has given his life to bringing peace to Northern Ireland. It appears Hume tried to defuse the situation by breaking into a song about his native Derry but to no avail. 

Long time attendees report that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan faced the same hostility when he spoke at the dinner a few years back.

It’s time the Friendly Sons got a grip. Maybe a copy of the First Amendment on each table next year might do the trick. 

The notion that any Democrat, or someone who praises a Democrat, is not allowed free speech is deeply harmful to the organization. 

What is it about these angry white men that they go ballistic at the mention of President Clinton’s name or that of his wife, Hillary? It’s not as if between them they don’t have their share of Monica Lewinsky-type relationships going on. Some are even acquainted with Manny Lewinsky, if you get our drift.

We really have enough of angry white men, especially as they specifically ban women at their dinner. There are many fine members of the Friendly Sons, including this year’s chairman, Fordham Law School dean Bob Reilly. 

But their names are besmirched by the yahoos who show up and insist on booing speakers and refusing to accept that people do have divergent views. This is playing into the Irish stereotype on St. Patrick’s Day in the worst way possible.

GOP/Dems Split on North?

WILL Mitchell Reiss’s recent sharp criticism of Sinn Fein result in a partisan approach to the issue of Northern Ireland in the U.S. election?

It is clear that already sharp battle lines are being drawn and that Republicans, in particular, are deeply worried that such might be the case.

As one leading Democrat remarked to this column last week, “There is no way Reiss would make that kind of pointed criticism of Ian Paisley or the British government. It smacks of the old special relationship between the British and the U.S.”

Many are pointing the finger at Eric Green, Weiss’s number two, who was seen as anti-Sinn Fein when he served in the U.S. Consulate in Belfast. “Green is seen as the hands on guy with the experience in Northern Ireland,” said the Democrat. “Reiss has a lot of other responsibilities.”

The idea of a split between the Democrats and the Republicans on the issue is bad news for those who have labored mightily to keep a united American front with great success. 

No doubt John Kerry’s people are certainly keeping an eye on the current dispute. Kerry’s statement on Ireland was not slow to criticize Bush and the belief is that he will not be reluctant to again, especially at the Democratic convention in Boston when he will attend at least one Irish event in his honor.

John Lennon’s Irish Bugs

YOKO Ono, John Lennon’s widow, will have some interesting observations in an upcoming Irish Times interview about her late husband’s pro-Irish positions.

Ono is going to Ireland in May to open an art exhibit, with proceeds to go to Amnesty International. It was through her relationship with actor Gabriel Byrne that she agreed to attend the exhibit.

Ono is asked in the interview about Lennon’s pro-Irish Republican sympathies, and apparently reveals that she and John were convinced that their phones were bugged during the time they lived at the Dakota residence in Manhattan together, because of his thoughts. She says that more than once they were told that their phones were bugged by experts that they brought in. 

Lennon, of course, had an FBI file as thick as a phonebook, and Ireland was not the only controversial cause he was interested in. But it seems he did have a special place in his heart for the land that his grandparents emigrated from.

Death of Dr. Michael Lyons

THE Irish community has lost one of its great doctors with the death last week of Michael Lyons, a cancer researcher who first connected the dots between smoking and lung cancer.

He was a young scientist at Glasgow University some 40 years ago and in 1959 published the first work on free radicals in cigarette smoke, which is still widely quoted today.

Lyons was a native of Cork, and just this St. Patrick’s Day was present to receive his award at the Top 100 Irish Americans event hosted by our sister publication Irish America magazine.

Lyons continued his cancer research at Rockefeller University in New York, and was a lover of Irish literature and the Irish language. Ironically he died of lung cancer after a lifetime of chomping cigars. 

Those who knew him well loved him. Our sympathies go to his wife Yvonne and their four children.