James Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that a full public inquiry would take place into the matters surrounding the Kincora Scandal. The Kincora Boys’ Home was a boys’ home in Belfast, that was the scene of serious organised child sexual abuse, causing a scandal and attempted cover-up in 1980, with credible allegations […]
The level of poverty in Ireland was evidenced by further comments from O’Connell: “The last Population Returns of 1841 showed that, out of the whole rural population of Ireland, 46 per cent lived in a single room; the entire human family and the pigs occupied the same apartment together. The next fact was, that of […]
Many foreign tourists to this country are more than surprised to learn that the bones of St Valentine are to be found as relics in one of Dublin’s most beautiful, historic and mildly intriguing Catholic churches, that of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, otherwise known as Whitefriar Street Church on Aungier Street. […]
As reported in the Leinster Leader Newspaper on the 10 February 1917, an explosion occurred in the Naas Carpet Factory and several young female employees were injured. As penned in the article: A rather serious accident occurred in the Naas Carpet Factory on Monday morning last resulting in injures to several of the girls employed […]
In July 1534 Thomas FitzGerald, acting Lord Deputy of Ireland and the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, attacked Dublin Castle. Thomas and his followers wore silk fringes on their helmets thus giving this event the name “The Silken Thomas Affair”. The attack on the Castle, the seat of power in Ireland, had […]
On 30th January 1972, British Parachute Regiment shot dead civilians in a civil rights march in Derry city. It sent shockwaves through Britain and Ireland and people south of the border were angry and distraught. The first night 50 people picketed the British embassy, but on Monday morning walkouts took place at factories in Shannon […]
Thomas MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, to Joseph MacDonagh, a schoolmaster, and Mary Parker. He grew up in a household filled with music, poetry and learning and was instilled with a love of both English and Irish culture from a young age. A member of the Gaelic League, he was a teacher and […]
Feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare – Naomh Bríd – (c. 450 – 525) one of Ireland’s patron saints. She was an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and foundress of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare, which was famous and revered. Her feast day is shared by Dar Lugdach, who tradition says was […]
ON THIS DAY: Bloody Sunday – 14 civilians were shot dead on the streets of Derry by the British Parachute Regiment on 30th January 1972. They had been taking part in a civil rights march against internment without trial. 26 civilians were shot; 13 were killed outright while the death of another man happened four […]
This Sunday sees the 50th anniversary of the murders of 14 innocent civilians who were shot dead by soldiers of the British Parachute regiment during a civil rights march in Derry on January 30, 1972. Thirteen died that day, with one man, John Johnston dying later from injuries. The killings sparked a wave of outrage […]
Today, the Cork Fenian Society will host a commemoration to mark the 200th anniversary of Cath Chéim an Fhia (Battle of Keimaneigh), a battle between Irish tenant farmers – organized in secret, agrarian reform societies known chiefly as The Whiteboys and The Rockites – against the British militia in 1822. On a frigid January 22 […]
ON THIS DAY: 22 January 1925: Birth of Raymond Crotty, Economist, writer, academic, political activist and farmer who advocated against Ireland’s membership of the EU Raymond Crotty was born in Kilkenny into a family of 5 brothers and 5 sisters. While a student in St. Kieran’s College he began breeding pigs in his spare time, […]