By Mike McCormack, AOH National Historian

One of the closest times that the Irish ever came to independence from the Crown happened when Irish Catholics and Protestants united in a brotherhood of purpose for the benefit of all.  It was inspired by the American Revolution and the brotherhood was called The United…

Mary (Mollie) Gill, Murphystown, Dundrum - first President of Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael from 1923-1941

Frances Mary Josephine Gabriel Hurley, Ballybrack - released from the North Dublin Union on 29 September 1923

Dollie Jeffares, Grove Cottage, 7, Grove Ave, Blackrock - released from the North Dublin Union on 29 September…

National Museum of Ireland Kathleen Clarke

DOMHNAIGH -- On Sept. 29, 1972, Kathleen Clarke, wife…

In September, after one of my occasional trips to Boston, I decided to take a detour to investigate The Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University. Friends had told me about the collection hosted at the library on the Hamden Connecticut campus, until last September, when it moved into its own building, located about a mile from the main campus.

The two-story,…

I posted a story yesterday about the Blind Irish Fiddler aboard the Bounty.

That story is part of a series - DIASPORATIONAL - featuring historical figures from the Irish Diaspora; Politicians, Hollywood stars, activists, writers.

All of the posts can be seen here on my blog

"Silence Exile Cunning ... Maple…

(My dad was a lorry driver for Bord Na Mona, the Irish Peat/turf development board, and I was asked to write a remembrance of those times for their pensioners' magazine. Thanks to his job I was able as a kid to travel over most of Ireland to deliver equipment and spares from their central stores, now the HQ, in Newbridge, Co.…

Our Irish-themed crossword puzzles are among the most popular features in The Wild Geese community.  This time around, we focus on the most visited tourist destinations in Ireland, as recorded by Fáilte Ireland.  This list may come in…

Say the word "mutiny," and it is a fair bet that most people will immediately think Bounty. Maritime history is filled with tales of desertion and revolt against a ship’s captain, some bloodier than others, but none…

The Irish Pub is an absolute gem of a movie that should be seen by everyone.  In an age when we are hooked by the latest box sets from HBO, Netflix or RTE, this film stands alone as the finest example of documentary film making that has come our way in quite a…

I've been working on the promotion of "Brendan at the Chelsea" sent to Off Broadway by Belfast's Lyric Theatre, starring Adrian Dunbar as the notorious Dublin writer Brendan Behan when he lived at the equally notorious Chelsea Hotel in New York in 1963.

It's been a great project working…

Things that have started running through my mind, such as why so many people have started to bash Gabriel Byrne so harshly. Bash him over what his thoughts are over the Catholic Church. Which indeed Mr. Byrne is right about in terms of the fact that, the Catholic Church is as a whole, a corrupted institution no?! The Catholic Church indeed remains a corrupt institution--I mean if one looks at things like "The Tudors," "The Borgias," "Pillars of the Earth," or indeed even the current…

1588 ~ Streedagh Strand ~ County Sligo.

Some of King Philip of Spain's Armada run in to treacherous stormy waters and are pushed into the West coast of Ireland. The ships are crushed on the shore with many Spaniards losing their lives.

The beach is strewn with bodies some dead, some half alive, and some staggering around dazed.…

From "History of the Irish Rebellion of 1798," published in 1799 The battle of Ballinamuck, after which Bartholomew Teeling was captured.

MÁIRT -- On September 24, 1798,…

I believe the portrait at left is Nicholas Gray.

Nicholas Gray was an attorney in Co. Wexford, Ireland and in 1795 married Elinor Hughes. His life changed dramatically when he took part in the 1798 Rebellion as the Secretary to the Rebel Council of Wexford and also as Aide -de-Camp to Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey in 1798.  Mrs Patricia De Bernardi was a genealogist who…

There is an interesting facebook group called friends of Merlin Woods. Merlin Woods is  a lovely green area on the outskirts of Galway city.The woods have already been decimated by houses built during the Celtic Tiger madness and now there are plans to build  a road through the woods. Galway is  a lovely city but the city fathers do not have any forward planning for anything and would not think decide about destroying this woodland.  Some nice pictures on the site and a petition that needs…

No matter that I have not met Gabriel--forget that for but a few moments as I explain myself.

Well first off-because so many people think it's odd that I a 23 year old just…

Gabriel Byrne’s review of “What Fresh Lunacy is This?: The Authorized Biography of Oliver Reed, by Robert Sellers(August 03-Books-Book Reviews),” is such a phenomenal review with such rawness-that I am amazed so many just seem to go on disregarding Gabriel’s writing from experience, from the heart and soul and disregard him as a person thinking something to…

Enigmatic, Soulful, Egoless....

Gabe

Ageless

Brilliant

Rugged

Intense

Enigmatic

Loving

Brooding

Young at Heart

Real

Nice

Egoless…

Just an emmm update I recently put on my post for my Byrneperfection Blog http://byrneperfection.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/actor-gabriel-james-byrne-afraid/

So, is that emm how the Claddagh ring works? Hmm....>.> 

<em>Gah! I had it all mixed up and person above me didn't have it exactly right either! Gah!</em>

Totally Single: …

Alright so I decided to share some more vids from…