Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone (20 June 1763 – 19 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen, and is regarded as the father of Irish republicanism and leader of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. He was captured in Buncrana on 3 November […]
Dr Peter Boylan has been all over the media this week, flogging his new book in which he pats himself on the back for helping to legalise abortion. The tome, with the ominous title, In the Shadow of the 8th, is apparently hitting the market just in time for Christmas. Nothing proclaims the birth of Baby Jesus like a book […]
Australian aged care is in crisis It’s hunting season on Australia’s aged care providers. After numerous complaints of abuse and undercover media investigations, the Federal Government formed a Royal Commission to investigate the quality and delivery of aged care. Some of the stories emerging at public hearings have been sickening. Earlier this week, the distressed […]
Willie James Pearse – Uilliam Seamus Mac Piarais – was an Irish republican executed for his part in the Easter Rising. He was a younger brother of Pádraig, a leader of the rising; Willie was very devoted to Pádraig and the brothers had a very close relationship. Pearse inherited his father’s artistic abilities and became […]
On the night of 14 November 1920, during the War of Independence, 28-year-old Fr. Michael Griffin, was taken from his home – by men suspected to be Black and Tans – and was never seen again. On 20 November, his body was found in an unmarked grave in a bog at Cloghscoltia near Barna; he […]
ON THIS DAY: 12TH NOVEMBER 1971: RTÉ bans several patriotic ballads including Dublin In The Green and The Patriot Game Lyrics of the The Patriot Game Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing, For the love of one’s country is a terrible thing. It banishes fear with the speed of a flame, […]
As we discussed last week, the challenge of a declining Russia is one of the stories of the 21st geopolitical century. But directly to Russia’s west is another area of the world that is suffering demographic decline: East and Central Europe. Many of these countries’ demographic woes we have discussed before, but we have not really […]
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House on […]
A HUGE temple, once surrounded by about 300 huge posts made from an entire oak forest, was discovered directly beneath the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. The Discovery Programme, set up under the auspices of the Heritage Council, carried out a survey of the Hill of Tara between 1992 and 1996 using sophisticated technology, […]
A federal judge this week voided the Trump administration’s “conscience rule,” which had made it easier for health care workers to avoid helping with abortion or other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds. “Wherever the outermost line where persuasion gives way to coercion lies, the threat to pull all HHS funding here crosses it,” […]
Pádraig Mac Piarais (Padraig Pearse) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary; he who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Following his execution along with fifteen others, Pearse came to be seen by many as the embodiment of the rebellion. Pádraig, his brother Willie, […]
ON THIS DAY: 9TH NOVEMBER 1791: Napper Tandy convenes the first meeting of Dublin’s United Irishmen. The first meeting of the Society of United Irishmen Dublin at the Eagle Tavern in Eustace Street. Attended by such figures as Theobold Wolfe Tone, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, William Drennan and James Napper Tandy. #gript