Imagine the headline: ‘The art world was shaken by news that the work of Italian artist, Salvatore Garau, had been stolen just hours after it was shipped to its anonymous owner for display. It was due to be put on private display for the first time since its record breaking sale just days ago’. The […]
The internationally-renowned uilleann piper and maker Leo Rowsome has been honoured by a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque on the street where he lived and worked until his death in 1970. Born into a piping family in Harold’s Cross, Leo Rowsome was the third generation of an unbroken line of uilleann pipers, who went on […]
Vincent F Pintado’s Old Celtic Dictionary is a first of its kind, bringing together the fruit of 30 years of labour. This is the first time all these ancient Celtic words have been researched and brought together in one volume. Along with the dictionary, an inter-Gaeilig chart is included at the back. This chart shows […]
The first record of a hurling match describes an epic encounter that took place in 1272 BC between the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha Dé Dannan at Maigh Tuartha near Cong in County Mayo. Hardly a stronghold of the modern game, Maigh Tuartha is nevertheless part of the rich body of lore that relates the […]
PODCAST: Listen to John Aidan Byrne, Irish commentator based in New York, talk with CHUCK COLLINS, on his new book on The Wealth Hoarders, How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. Collins has just ripped the lid off this secret industry, laying out how the super wealthy hide their fortunes and escape tax liability. Chuck […]
Sa bhliain 1844, tháinig aicíd nua ar na prátaí i Meiriceá Thuaidh. An aicíd dhubh a bhí ann. Níorbh fhada gur shroich sí an tír seo. I mí Mheán Fómhair na bliana 1845 tugadh faoi dheara í den chéad uair, i bPort Láirge agus i Loch Garman. Mí ina dhiaidh sin bhí sí tar éis […]
On this Day: 8th May 1916, Éamonn Ceannt, Michael Mallin, Seán Heuston and Cornelius Colbert were executed. On Sunday, 7th May, 1916, Éamonn Ceannt was informed at 4 p.m. that he was to be shot at 3:45 a.m. the following morning. Upon receiving this news Ceannt requested writing materials, and wrote his last words to […]
In her biography of the 1916 proclamation signatory, Joseph Plunkett, Honor O Brolchain tells a fascinating story. A Dublin jeweller on the afternoon of May 3rd 1916 was attending to a young lady who was purchasing wedding bands. She bought two rings but seemed very upset. When he asked her what the matter was she […]
“There’s nobody living that can tell anyone where to put the grace notes,” Joe Éinniú once told an interviewer. The best songs had to be learned over years of listening, and sung with great passion and deep feeling. He preferred the laments – Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire, Anach Chuain, Úna Bhán – the great Conamara […]
PODCAST: Listen to John Aidan Byrne, Irish commentator based in New York, talk with conservative activist, AUSTIN RUSE, on his new book on why loyal CATHOLICS in US face a brutal assault because of their faith. Despite that, it’s a great time to be a faithful Catholic, Ruse says. UNDER SIEGE: Conservative activist, […]
One of the most intriguing and enigmatic of great Irish people is a man only known to us as Iohannis Scotti, or Eriugena. Both names merely signify that he was Irish, his real name or what part of Ireland he was born in, are a mystery. He was born here sometime between 800 and 825AD […]
It is not surprising that cultural and political theorists like influential Slovenian philosopher, Salvoj Žizek, are already mapping out the societal changes they believe, or hope, will follow the socio-economic devastation of successive lockdowns. It is clear that governments all over the world have bought time at a cost unprecedented in peacetime. There will be […]