“A nice thing to find in one of the largest bookshops in the city. And in one of the main streets of Dublin, no less.”

Dan slammed the book on the manager’s desk.

Mr. Molloy looked at the book. “My good man, there is no way we would have that book for sale,” he said.

“It was with the Greek literature.  Any young student could have…

The real Jimmy Gralton in 1944

By Donal Ó Drisceoil

Jimmy Gralton returned to Leitrim from New York in June 1921, just as the Anglo-Irish war was coming to a close. That conflict between…

Gracie Allen was born to George Allen and Molly Darragh, who were of Irish Catholic extraction. The Darraghs are listed as being from County Antrim with Gracie’s father, Patrick, born in 1833 and married Margaret Peggy McKillip from Ballymoney, County Antrim. The Darraghs were from County Antrim. Gracie’s father, Patrick, born in…

Fionn mac Cumhaill is a main character from ancient Irish legend from the 3^rd century AD. He was a warrior, a chieftain, a poet and seer. Often referred to as Finn McColl, Finn MacCoul, Finn Mac Cool, Finn McCul, Fin McCool or Fionn…

One day during our just completed two-week vacation to Ireland my wife, Lindy, and I had another of those thoroughly enjoyable “only in Ireland” experiences that make traveling there such a joy. We stayed in a 200-year-old cottage in the little town of Ardfinnan…

The distance between Inverin and Clifden is approximately sixty kilometers. It’s a visually inspiring hour-long ride through undulating midlands with grass as soft as velvet, gray stone walls that split the landscape, and bubbling intermittent streams as you glide along a two-lane road that cuts through a…

When the Black and Tans were first deployed in Ireland in March 1920, they soon proved themselves to be a pretty brutal bunch. They were liberal with the use of their rifles, were often drunk and even engaged in arson and robbery.

The Tans were ex-servicemen, many of them scarred from their time in the…

The Cormack Brothers is a 111-minute feature film completed this year, shot in Tipperary.  It tells the story of two brothers wrongfully hanged for murder in 1858 after a local land agent was shot and killed.  They were reburied in 1910 in their home parish of Loughmore. 

Made on a micro budget, with the support of the parish…

Well, you just have to listen to Davy Spillane's music before you answer my question. Here's a short video that I created of my recent solo exhibition in Áras Éanna on…

I gaze upon a lonely beach, two figures walking all alone,

Slowly the sun settles in the west, remnants of daylight shone.

From my vantage I see two shadows moving on the beach,

Strolling slowly just within darkness’ reach.

I watch the pair moving slowly along,

And listen carefully, I can hear their song.

A lifetime of love and…

"Hey boy, who am I going to leave these hands to when I’m gone?”

A long silence…then the words were repeated, louder and more animated.

“I say, who will I leave them to, eh? I think I’ll leave them to science.”

Again, the words fell on deaf ears and were greeted with total silence…

Those immortal words were uttered by my father, Mal, as he…

Ireland’s Protestant Unionists 1800 - 1923:

A Persecuted Minority

or Strident Anti-Assimilationists?

As the centenary of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising approaches, many questions as to how to proceed with the …

Book Review                                 

The true nature of poetry is to first give us an insight into the heart and consciousness of the poet, then the collective consciousness of the society…

Walking tours on the historic campus of Trinity College Dublin are definitely interesting to studious visitors of Dublin.

(Left: Parliament Square, Trinity College from the Graduates Memorial Building - photo by …

Photographer Darren McLoughlin has lived in fair Dublin for 15 years and says walking, and more walking, is how he’s really gotten to know his city.…

Ireland's "Wild Atlantic Way" usually refers to the rugged conflux of seacoast and mountains to be found in the western counties. But in the city of Galway, "The Wild West" takes on a different connotation.

Galway, known throughout history as a trading center, has…

Did you know that there is a tunnel running under Parnell Square in Dublin's city centre? Indeed, if the truth be told, there is probably a network of tunnels down there. How do I know?  Well, believe it or not, there’s an entrance to this tunnel under no. 5 Cavendish Row, where Olivier Cornet…

This will be my first blog post here on The Wild Geese. Be gentle with me! I'm only part of this flock since October last year and am just about stretching my wings to fly now. To be honest, I have "flown" before. In the mid 90s I ventured to Herefordshire , England…

Every couple of years this man would come to Loughrea, County Galway and set up shop on the footpath outside Molloy's Harp Bar on Main Street. He was an itinerant blade grinder, or knife sharpener.

Folks would get wind he was in town and quickly a queue would…