This summer, driving through Connemara, I pulled into Sraith Salach, (Willow Stream) as Recess is now officially called, on the N59 Galway Clifden Road. All Gaeltacht villages throughout Ireland now only have the Irish name, though it caused such a furore in Dingle/ Daingean that they made an exception. The village consists of a shop, pub and marble shop. My friends were…

In June of 2013, Chetham's LIbrary in Manchester, England published an album, containing about 120 excellent prints of coastal scenes of rural Galway. Many of them were dated to 1879.  Founded in 1653, Chetham’s Library in Long Millgate, Manchester, is the oldest public library in…

The image above on the left is a detail from Richard Bartlett's A.D. 1602 map of Ulster showing the inauguration of the O'Neill chief/king at Tullyhogue, County Tyrone. Bartlett has been called, "…

Sixteen Films screenwriter Paul Laverty (pictured at left) has called out CIA chief John Brennan, seeking an apology from him "for all the misery and murder that the institution has caused around the world." The former human rights lawyer was speaking in Effernagh, County Leitrim, at an August 16 commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Irish government's expulsion of…

The Wild Geese's Ryan O'Rourke recently paid a visit to Ó Máille's Original House of Style in Galway City to talk with its owner, Anne Ó Máille.  Anne has been called the "Guardian of…

I just saw a great film about "The Greatest," another person of Irish descent, titled The Trials of Muhammad Ali.  The documentary doesn't delve into Ali's Irish roots.  It focuses mainly on his conversion to Islam and his resistance to the draft during the Vietnam War.  It's a fascinating story, and the film…

Mícheál Ó Foighil (left) manages Coláiste Lurgan, the Irish language summer camp for teens, located just around the corner from our house.  You may have heard of Lurgan because of their wildly successful music videos, some of which have been posted on The Wild…

NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT: RFE INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD O'RAWE

Drawing in your audience with an alluring description of the tunes you will be playing is a wonderful addition to the art of music. We had the pleasure of seeing the great Brendan Begley recently at the Harcourt Sessions in Dublin and he shows just how important this is when doing a live…

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John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interviews author and journalist Ed Moloney (EM) who provides updates on the Boston College case and comments on the possible presidential candidacy of Peter King. (Eliza Butler (EB) also comments.) The Transcript…

The following is a transcript of the LIVE members' chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Monday with Producer and Director Valerie Lapin Ganley.  Some editing has been applied for clarity.…

Have you heard that the Irish language is dying, spoken only by a few old men and women on the fringes of the western seaboard?

Watch these videos made by the young people attending Irish summer courses at Coláiste Lurgan in Indreabhán (County Galway). …