DOMHNAIGH -- On July 14, 1798, brothers John (left) and Henry Sheares, who were both lawyers and United Irishmen, were hung,…

From Bram Stoker to Oscar Wilde; Ireland boasts many names of great writers. As a big fan of Irish culture, I invite you to take…

Tomás Malone, aka Seán Forde, looked down at the gaping hole in the roof of the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks and hurled in another Mills bomb, hoping that this time he would see the roof explode in flames. They had thrown several gasoline-filled bottles into the gaping hole already from their…

I'm a musician by trade but have also worked a good bit in documentary film over the last few years. Hy Brasil, as well as being the title of my new album, is an island from Irish mythology. "That shadowy isle" appeared on maps until the 1860's until they realised that it wasn't there at all, as…

The story of…

Being on the twelfth day of…

A tale of two connected July 4^th celebrations, 6 years apart

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (or P S Gilmore), from Ballygar, County Galway, was an emigrant like a million others fleeing the famine in 1849. By 1872, Gilmore was Ireland's best known face in America. Musician,…

As the July 4th holiday approaches, sadly as with many of our other holidays, the true meaning of the day is lost a midst ballgames, cookouts, and fireworks. We forget that on that hot July of 1776 fifty six men came together to pledge their “lives,…

Strawberry season has just arrived where I live in the Northeast. The season is over almost as quickly as it arrives, so I grab as many as possible and eat, bake, or freeze them as fast as I can. As the Fourth of July approaches, they’re especially colorful in red, white and blue scones, treats you…

One of the most iconic figures that emerged out of the Easter Rising was Michael Collins. Born in 1890, he was the third son in a family of eight children. Some sources would suggest that the Collins family were part of a very ancient clan who were widely spread over County Cork. 

Collins' father did not marry…