DOMHNAIGH -- On August 24, 1968, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marched from Coalisland to Dungannon in County…

Welcome to August a significant month in Irish history. Here are a few examples, August 1 is the ancient feast of Lugnasad – the Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest. Begun by the De Danann god, Lugh, in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu, it included religious…

We Irish artists, descended, as we undoubtedly are from the tribe of Dannan, an ancient breed of mystics, are tasked with the unenviable mission of walking the invisible, fine line. It is a gift that enables us to transcend the mundane, and experience the world as we see and feel it, and know how it should be. We have…

To the Irish-American community, to Civil War historians and to local history in general, and to all who care about truth, heritage, and the stories of those who came before us, we lost one of our greatest champions. Joseph G. Bilby passed away this week, and with him, we lost more than a man. We lost a…

Avoca Cafés and restaurants, with 14 locations throughout Ireland from Mount Usher in County Wicklow to Moll’s Gap in County Kerry, serve luscious lunches, dreamy confections, and sweet treats to eat-in or to take- away. Even some of the best cooks in the country supplement their own baked goods…

            It may be a cliché, but everyone really is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! Aran knits, tweed caps, and shamrock-emblazoned scarves come out of the closet on the 17th. If you’re cooking, that means your treasured Irish recipes emerge, too, ones that everyone loves and expects on the most celebratory day on the…

It was mid-afternoon of July 22, 1864, and the Confederate infantry of General Cheatham’s Corps of John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee was breaking through the Federal…

At the Commemorative mass for Anne Devlin in St. Catherine's Church, Meath Street, Dublin on Sunday 14 September, 2014 I gave the following Eulogy:

"As we celebrate this decade of centenaries, it is easy to forget those who went before, and without whom many of these events would not have happened.

One such person was Anne Devlin, in…

     In my latest cookbook, Delicious Ireland: Forty Years of Fabulous Food, I wrote about experiencing my first Irish breakfast: “We all treasured Ireland for reasons of our own, but none of us thought much about the food then — except breakfast, perhaps, when we would sit down with…

Most of the stuff in my novels comes from my imagination but I owe a fair amount of what I write to a pub called The Rocking Chair where there’s such a variety of characters that you’d need to be brain deaf not to pick up some nuggets. …