Willie Clancy was born into a musical family in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare. His parents both sang and played concertina, and his father also played the flute. Clancy’s father had been heavily influenced by local blind piper Garret Barry. Willie started playing the whistle at age 5, and later took up the flute. He first […]
99 years ago the Government of Ireland Act passed through both houses of parliament in London. The Act divided Ireland into two territories, “Southern Ireland” and “Northern Ireland”, each intended to be self-governing. “Northern Ireland” as defined by the Act, amounting to six of the nine counties of Ulster, Down, Derry, Armagh, Antrim, Fermanagh and […]
Thanks to a much less rigid regime compared to China’s, Vietnam never managed to completely destroy its demographic future, despite falling for the population control trap.
In the December Scientific American, brain expert Christof Koch takes up the question of whether a machine will ever manifest consciousness. This seemingly abstruse issue may arise in actual systems sooner than we think, and so considering it is worth doing before it happens.
If you don’t get your kid a cell phone this Christmas, you’re a veritable Scrooge forcing your child to remain in the dark ages. But before you jump on the cell-phone band wagon, consider the pros and cons
Seventeen years ago today, Fr Paddy McCafferty’s made a powerful call to Irish bishops on the cover-up sexual abuse of children. This Christmas he shared these memories to help others similarly suffering, to give them hope to find some healing. ******** For me personally, the weekend of December 13th to 15th in 2002, was momentous. […]
I find it very interesting when I read left dissension. Growing up and learning about politics the biggest influence on me was the Troubles and I identified with that in a Nationalist sense: Irish good, English bad kind of way. I’ve always thought the media were biased, and I had a pre Celtic Tiger social […]
The Department of Justice’ public consultation on reviewing the legislation on hate speech comes to a close on Friday the 13th. (You can make a submission or answer a survey here) No more suitable day for the shambles of a process that it has been. In parallel, the Irish Human Rights Commissioner Emily Logan stated […]
ON THIS DAY: 12TH DECEMBER 2001: Nuala O’Loan, Police Ombudsman for the North of Ireland presents report to relatives of the Omagh bombing victims As the Police Ombudsman for the North of Ireland, Nuala O’Loan met with and presented the relatives of the victims of the Omagh bombing with a report into her findings into […]
Saint Finnian of Clonard was a member of Clanna Rudhraighe from the Ulaid in the vicinity of New Ross. According to some sources, Finnian studied for a time at the monastic centre of Martin of Tours in Gaul. Tours was noted for its austerity. He later went to Wales and continued his studies at the […]
France is experiencing a 6th day of strikes against upcoming pension reform initiated by President Emmanuel Macron. Over the last week, trains have been cancelled, metro lines shut down completely, and a third of schools in Paris closed. Yet, despite the disruption, the strikes have a high level of public support. People are upset because […]
The dispute between Israel Folau and Rugby Australia may have ended last week but it was only one of the more prominent cases involving religious discrimination with many other incidents in Australia and overseas receiving far less, if any, media coverage. The substantial harm experienced by victims of religious discrimination supports the need for effective legal protection and the […]