Driving around Ireland definitely makes you hungry — and sometimes forgetful — so after a day of touring around West Cork I arrived without a reservation at The Fish Kitchen, a smallish restaurant in Bantry situated, appropriately, above a fish market. Call it the luck of the Irish, but …

LUAIN -- On August 19, 1504, the battle of Knockdoe was fought northeast of Galway by the forces of Gerald Fitzgerald, 'The Great Earl,' and his Anglo-Irish allies, against those of his son-in-law, Ulick de Burgh, or Burke of Clanrickard, husband of his daughter, Eustacia.…

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 11, 1744, during the War of Austrian Succession, the Irish Brigade of Spain fought at the battle of Velletri, in Italy, against an Austrian army commanded by Irishman Field Marshal Count Maximillian Ulysses Browne, of Limerick. The surprise attack of Browne's…

Colm Herron knows all about The Troubles. He lived through them. Protested his way through them. Now he reveals a slice of the chaos that pitted friends and neighbors and family against each other. In his current book, activist Anna leads naive teacher Robert through local battles and through the joys and complexities of his first-time-ever love. As…

I will arise and go

(After William Butler Yeats)



My people are a migrant clan

Prospering not by hook or crook or craft

But by diligent labour and an easy charm

Flung from one small corner

Across every wind-tossed sea

Mountaintop to valley floor

To lay a thousand roadways

Or stand on…

This year marks an uneasy halfway for me—I have been in Australia for as long as I lived in Ireland. So where does that leave me? The truth, I have come to realise, is somewhere in between. In Australia, I am regarded as Irish. My accent, parlance, even my ‘writing voice’ are often differentiated as such.…

MÁIRT -- On August 6, 1775, Daniel O'Connell , 'The Liberator,' one of the most influential men in Irish history was born near Cahirciveen, County Kerry. Raised by his uncle, Daniel learned the Irish language and Irish lore in Kerry. O'Connell did part of his schooling in France…

Back in October of 2017, I wrote an article titled “From Dunkirk to Nagasaki: The Long War of Dr. Aidan MacCarthy,” about a hero of WWII who…

This, the latest book by retired Lt Col Dan Harvey, represents an admirably huge amount of meticulous research and yet is highly readable. I had been aware that my own local regiment – The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry – had long connections with Ireland and that they…

We will show my Irish Institute award-winning 1877 production of John Maguire's "Honesty Is the Best Policy" on DVD.

The production won an Off-Broadway Award from The Irish Institute. Maguire's play focuses on the "No Irish Need Apply" period in New York City after the Civil War Draft Riots, about 12 year earlier.

My production has been included in the archives of the Theatre Collection at Lincoln Center, and archived with…

LUAIN -- On July 29, 1693, units of the Irish Brigade of France fought at the battle…

Down the hill from Francis O'Neill's homeplace of Tralibane, County Cork, is an 18th century stone bridge. If you closely read O'Neill's work, Tralibane bridge turns out to be personally very important to him, as a place and a tune. He wrote about the spot a number of times, particularly the "Pattern Dances" the community held there. No doubt this experience at a…

'The only position for women in the civil rights movements is prone.' 

     -- Stokely Carmichael, African American civil rights leader (1968)

'I have often said when Hillary Clinton…

Move over hot dogs, hamburgers, and steaks; make room for a whiskey-enhanced grilled lamb and delicious grilled tomatoes to go with it. With tomatoes coming into season in a big way, I think you’ll enjoy these new recipes to add to your grilling agenda for August and beyond.…

I have been asked many times about Galway, a city in the west of Ireland that I once called home, but I say nothing, not knowing where to begin. But the passing of a dear friend shed some light on my dilemma, and I now know just where to start this love story.

(Left: The Spanish Arch in Galway…

DOMHNAIGH -- On July 21, 1861, at the battle of 1st Bull Run, the first major engagement of the American Civil War, the…

Here is my new article about the Irish connections to Apollo 11 and the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. I hope you like it.…

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…

LUAIN -- On July 8, 1770, Mary Ann McCracken -- patriot, philanthropist and sister of United Irish martyr Henry Joy McCracken -- was born in Belfast. Mary Ann was the fiercely independent daughter of a Presbyterian sea captain. With her sister, Margaret, she started a small muslin business while only…