I have always loved these words and what they aspire to, from the 1916 Proclamation:

The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts,…

"Shane O’Neill – 'The Grand Disturber' of Elizabethan Ireland" is Brian…

On July 3, 1998, An Taoiseach Bertie Aherne, T.D., unveiled a plaque on The Kingsbridge Inn to commemorate the bicentenary of "The Races of Castlebar." This event, as well as the publication of Thomas Flanagan's “The Year of the French" in 1979 and the subsequent filming of this novel some years ago, have increased an…

DOMHNAIGH -- On November 29, 1895, Denny Lane (right), author and poet, and member of the revolutionary Young Ireland party, died in Cork. Lane was born in Riverstown, near Glanmire in County Cork, in 1818. Denny attended Trinity College, Dublin. While a student there, he met fellow student Thomas Davis, a…

Language is a window into the soul.

This saying helps to explain why I have (unsuccessfully) tried to learn Irish Gaelic -- to better understand the Irish people. In one lesson early on, it was explained that Irish has no system to show possession. In other words, Irish has no words for "my" as in "my book," or "his" as…

Where dear Sandusky’s waters glide

From storied falls, through meadows wide,

By verdant hills on either side

To seek Lake Eiries’s famous tide:

On proud Fort Stephenson

 --- From the poem “Fort Stephenson,”

by Captain Andrew…

'The Fenian' is an epic production currently in the making, and we're excited to be able to share our story with you all, on The Wild Geese.

Development work on the upcoming feature film began in April 2014 and we look forward to sharing future updates…

SERVES 8

This pudding is reminiscent of an Irish “brack,” where the fruit is first soaked in either tea or whiskey. On a recent winter visit to Dublin, I discovered this version studded with rum-soaked raisins, sultanas, and holiday fruits like dried cranberries and chopped apricots. Instead of traditional white bread, it’s made with brioche. For an extra boozy…

From the air, in the dark 5:00 morning, Dublin is nothing more than a sheet of lights floating on water, glowing like a Christmas tree. I press my face to the glass, feeling the cold seep onto my forehead. The first time I saw Dublin, the sun was rising over the Irish Sea. The water was glossy and sugary pink, a confection for…

On the morning of the 19^th, George Plunkett, the ranking officer that night, visiting from GHQ, no doubt aware of the withdrawal from Durrow and other engagements due to want of ammunition, recommended a return to the ambush site to secure supplies possibly left from the night…

Above, this map shows the spread of the 'Black Death.'

A silent, unseen killer, born on the arid plains of Central Asia, attached itself to the rampaging Mongol armies, and traveled with them purposefully, along the Silk Road, arriving in the Crimea in 1343. The killer then boarded the myriad of…

Dean Mulroy is the kind of guy who needs room to roam and access to the stars, which is why he lived way back in the bog behind the house I rented in Inverin. Only a certain kind of guy would want to live as he did. At the time, he was unimpressed with technological conveniences, including a telephone, and the first…

If you're looking for great Irish books, CDs or movies, please have a look in The Wild Geese Marketplace Bookstore -- there are all kinds of great Irish books on History, Genealogy, Travel and Military History. If you are looking for Irish films and documentaries or great Irish music, there is…

So many of the stories which come to us out of Ireland are, quite simply, sad. From James Joyce's "The Dead" to Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," we read of people who are, if not figuratively, then literally, impoverished. It is a lovely…

Wheels hit runway, and the Airbus lands on Irish soil, once again.The familiarity of the place is all around me. I make sure to go around the roundabouts on the left side and continue southeast towards Wexford and the artistic event that recently took place in that ancient city. The Wexford Festival is an annual event where opera singers and others get together in formal settings and fringe events to bring visual and musical…

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, has just published four new folios of research into the period of The Irish Famine under the collective title Famine Folios.

These compelling essays take a fresh and…

In Irish mythology, a "thin place" was a divider between the physical, tangible world and the "otherworld" of dreams, the afterlife, and other unseen but very real dimensions hiding behind the veil of reality. Thin places could be actual places or they could be seasons of change. The night of Samhain (sow-in), the Celtic…

Edward Joseph Flanagan was born in 1886 in Leabeg, County Roscommon, to John and Honoria Flanagan, both fluent Irish speakers. He was the eighth child in a family of eleven children.

Pictured, above, a scene from the "Boys Town" movie with Spencer Tracy as Father Edward Joseph…

What followed next was a scene that has occurred numerous times when Irish rebels were faced with the question of what to do with an informer. Irish history and literature are replete with references to this scourge of failed rebellions. Liam O' Flaherty's character Gypo Nolan betrayed his former…

They say the best business is grown in a recession -- where labour, rents and expectations are cheap, but equally venture capital, support and credit is short. To straddle that gap comes the new sidepreneur -- someone who has…