DOMNAIGH-- On the morning of Nov. 1, 1920, two masses were celebrated at an altar that 18-year-old IRA member Kevin Barry had constructed in his jail cell in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin. Barry was then led…

If you have missed the ongoing conversation about the need to preserve the tradition of the parade in New York, and to protect the role and the voice of its many affiliate groups, it's worth looking up the many places where the dialogue continues. There is a petition to help focus the…

Saturday was busy. I was still jet lagged, but I had no choice. Today was a big day. Everyone was walking to Streedagh Strand to pay tribute to the Spanish Sailors and later the festival marquee would rock some music. Triona arrived mid morning and we rehearsed in the hall. We decided that she would sing Eleanor’s aria and I would do the Lament. Two really sad songs, I would have to cheer everyone up with a video from the show “Feed the Queen”. Triona commented about my calmness. There was…

I broke my own rule. I never go on vacation or take a trip (yes, they are different) during holiday season. I would rather stay at home and catch up on repairs and maintenance. Circumstances dictated I visit Ireland in August in 2015. It seemed the entire population of the world had the same idea.

The Wild Atlantic Way has been receiving a great deal of media attention. It is the world's longest defined…

While in Ireland during what laughingly passed as a summer in 2015 I spent time doing maintenance at a graveyard. Three of us spent a few hours mowing and strimming Rath Graveyard near Ballyvaughan in County Clare. Well, I did the mowing and my companions hogged the strimmers. There was only a limited area where mowing…

Holy wells can be found all over Ireland -- and evoked in our minds, as well. As children, we would pick the daisies and buttercups, and place them by a well. Or, if we happened to be playing in someone’s garden, we would dig a well, and pour water into it, placing the daisy and buttercups by the stones we would place…

He would have stood out anywhere, and standing in front of the entrance to a boutique hotel in Spiddal, wielding a black walking cane with an ivory handle two paces before him made him glaringly incongruous to everything I’d come to know about the western coast of Ireland. He wore a three-piece suit on his…

RIP Maureen O'Hara

http://news.yahoo.com/actress-maureen-ohara-dies-aged-95-183235805.html

Hello all:

I am usually hesitant to read a book unless I know a bit about it. Assuming many of you have a similar habit, I post here a few lines from the first chapter of The Lockwoods of Clonakilty. One of the major themes in the…

LUAIN -- On Oct. 26, 1771, John (Juan) MacKenna  (left), who would rise to fame in South America, was born in Clogher,…

I'm seeking some background on John Boyle O'Reilly and his life in Boston, particularly his involvement with the Irish community then (including the Catalpa Affair). I have uncovered some wonderful inks between…

Having taken John Murphy into custody, the Black and Tans headed back to Dungarvan, via Cloncoskoran, with a Ford motorcar preceding the tender transporting the soldiers and the prisoner.

Read Part 2, The…

No matter how good a cupcake is, when you are expecting a full dessert, it can be disappointing.

Which was my reaction on seeing the award-winning (very) short film "Spiorad na Samhna -- Spirit of Samhain," advertised as exploring “the origins of Halloween in Ireland.” By…

PRESTON, England – Bridget Nolan was born on September 12, 1884 in Ireland. During her lifetime, she battled poverty, found love and witnessed the births of several grandchildren, including author Mary Thorpe. Thorpe pays tribute to her grandmother and immortalizes her grandmother’s lifetime in her book, “That’s Just How it Was”…

Picture courtesy of Guinness Archives: Left to right, back row J. Brigden, S. Geoghegan, F.West, J.Parr, L.Witz, P. Fleisher, G.H.Sayer, Swanson, G.S. Green.

Doctor Arthur Price, Archbishop of…

The Last Torch is set in 16th century Ireland, where survivors of a shipwreck from the…

Bulmer Hobson did not enjoy iconic status in the Irish history books, nor did he enjoy any real recognition in the Free State Government -- he has in fact, quite literally been confined to the margins of Irish history. Yet on all aspects of early 20th century Ireland, Hobson's name can be found in all the footnotes. He…

Are you a witch, or are you a fairy

Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?

So went a popular children’s rhyme in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. I can hear the echo of those words spilling from young lips all the way to here. In amongst the childish…

Born in the land of Saints and Scholars, our Irish monastic settlements are a very important part of our Irish heritage.

New in stock, this beautiful '…

O! farmer, strong farmer!

You can spend at the fair

But your face you must turn

To your crops and your care.

And the crowds at the fair,

The herds loosened and blind,

Loud words and dark…