text:
Since moving here in 2015, my husband and I have managed to make our way through all that (although we're still occasionally stumped by where to find some of those "once-in-a-blue-moon" purchases), and I've realized a few things along the way. In many ways, Ireland has been exactly what I imagined. There are pubs with no televisions and a focus on conversing with the person in front of you; there's a bit of favoritism toward fresh – and locally sourced – foods; the roads are terrible and it takes forever to get from Point A to Point B.
But some things, I didn't expect.
The most noticeable thing is a massively different sense of scale and time. Sitting in countless U.S. history classes, we're taught about the high points in American history. Focal points here are different – I expected that – but the way history is viewed is still completely mind-blowing.
Read More: Why my husband and I packed up our lives and moved to Ireland (PHOTOS)
In the States, the events of even a few decades ago are officially History. That means World War Two happened ages ago, World War One is even more distant, and the Civil War and the American Revolution seem so far in the distant past that they might as well have happened eons ago.
I expected much the same to be true here, that there would be an immoveable, unmistakable sense of the time that has elapsed since one monumental, historical event or the other. If anything, I figured it would be even more drastic with just the sheer amount of history the country has.
I was pretty wrong.
Attitudes toward the passing of time here are completely different. A U.S. student might have a vague notion that a great-grandparent served in WWI or WWII, but Irish families still remember their relatives from the Easter Rising as though they were still sitting around the dinner table. They still tell stories about that time that Great-Great-Aunt Mary rode her bicycle from Kildare to Dublin (isn't she crazy?) and they still remember being regaled with stories about the 1839 Night of the Big Wind, even though that night was felt by family members who are long gone.
In the U.S., there were more people I grew up with that had only the most vague recollection of even their own grandparents, and there were plenty of people who had only the foggiest notion of their own aunts and uncles.
"Old" in the U.S. is a few hundreds years, and having spent a lifetime in that frame of mind I was fully expecting to find the same thing here. But here, the house we're living in is older than the U.S. itself, and that's not uncommon. It's humbling, really, to think of the generations that have lived in the same home you're in now, to think of the holidays that have been spent there, the stories that have been told around the fire, and the people who lived out their days here before there was even such a thing as electricity.
You can feel it, too, especially on clear nights. With the closest neighbors kilometers away, the night sky is unlike anything I had ever seen in the States. I never expected that to be so different here, either, but it is. It's grander, somehow, more sprawling and endless and epic.
It was only when we moved that I found out there was a sort of disconnect between the idea of age and actual history, and history here is on such a grand, sweeping, yet very personal scale that it's difficult to understand until you see just how items and events that are hundreds and hundreds of years old touch modern life, each and every day.
Seeing it as a tourist is much different than feeling it as a resident, and it still constantly surprises and delights me.
Originally from Attica, New York, Debra Kelly is a freelance writer and journalist who has seen most of the U.S. during her travels. Ready for something new, she's now living in the wild hills of Connemara with her husband and plenty of animals. She is a frequent contributor to Urban Ghosts, Listverse and Knowledgenuts.
Conor Fitzsimons, the grandson of Ireland's first Hollywood Superstar, has bestowed almost all of O'Hara's memorabilia on the museum. Among the items to go on display is O'Hara's Oscar and other international awards, costumes and accessories from many of her films, as well as dresses and accessories she wore to major Hollywood events and broadcasts, and personal effects such as her collection of Meissen china.
For more than a quarter of a century the life of Maureen O'Hara and the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum was intertwined, and the special relationship will now continue after her death.
The Hollywood star was first introduced to Foynes by her late husband, pilot and airline owner Captain Charles Blair. He flew in and out of Foynes during the Flying Boat days, 1939 to 1945, and it would be more than 30 years later before his wife would join him in Foynes when he landed in his own Sandringham Flying Boat in 1976, and returned in 1978.
In 1988 when the idea of a museum for Foynes was first reached O'Hara, who by then had a residence in Glengariff County Cork. The star was suggested as a potential supporter of the project and it was Founder and Manager of the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum Margaret O'Shaughnessy who was tasked with contacting the feisty Dubliner.
"I was given her telephone number in Glengariff so I called her, I was terrified. But I needn't have been. She was wonderful and fully supported the idea and promised to do all she could to promote it, O'Shaughnessy said.
"When it was built she officially opened it on July 8th 1989 – the 50th anniversary of the first commercial passenger crossing of the North Atlantic. She became the museum's patron and remained so until her death on October 24th last year."
O'Shaughnessy continued "Each summer she would join us in Foynes for the Irish Coffee Festival which coincided with her birthday, so she would also celebrate her birthday in Foynes. We had a special celebration at the Dunraven Arms Hotel in Adare for her 80th birthday. All her family flew in for it.
"And in 1991 we hosted the European Premiere of her last major movie "Only the Lonely" with John Candy, Ally Sheedy, Milo O'Shea and Anthony Quinn, here in Limerick at her insistence," she added.
"When Maureen died last year I was invited by the family to attend her funeral in Washington DC, which I did.
"Now the family have decided to donate almost all her memorabilia to the museum and we are honored to house it in a new wing of the museum which is currently being designed," O'Shaughnessy concluded.
This Sunday a night of Hollywood glamour will be held in Foynes, the eve of the late actress's first anniversary, to celebrate her life and achievements, while also beginning the fundraising for the new wing of the museum.
The exhibition will open with a special celebration of her life with rarely seen footage of the actress and clips from her best-known films to provide a backdrop to a fashion show that will display some of her iconic pieces of clothing for the first time by models from the Holman Lee Agency. These items will later make up part of the Maureen O'Hara wing of the museum.
For more information on the exhibition visit www.flyingboatmuseum.com.]]>
His followers are only too happy to believe in Donald's outlandish nonsense. They are like the old Irish Independent Party which was known as "The Pope's Brass Band" because whatever the Pope said was good enough for them.
Pope Trump's urbi et orbi moment began when he entered politics peddling the patent and racist nonsense that Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim.
The proof he produced was absolutely zero, yet he managed to cross into the stream of American politics by peddling a racist lie.
He told interviewer Laura Ingraham on her show, "He (Obama) doesn't have a birth certificate or, if he does, there's something on that certificate that is very bad for him.
"Now somebody told me, and I have no idea whether this is bad for him or not but perhaps it would be, that where it says 'religion' it might have 'Muslim,' and if you're a Muslim, you don't change your religion by the way, but somebody said, 'Maybe that's the reason he doesn't want to show it.' I don't think so. I just don't think he has a birth certificate and everybody has a birth certificate."
"Somebody told me" is the basis for the belief it seems. So if a homeless man tells me the "end is near" I better believe him.
The theory worked so well for Trump that soon there were dozens more. Mexicans are rapists, Muslims celebrated 9/11 in New Jersey by dancing on rooftops. (He saw that with his own eyes.)
Next up on the conspiracy front was perhaps the most outlandish of all, that Senator Ted Cruz's father was part of the JFK assassination and was pictured with Lee Harvey Oswald.
His source was the National Enquirer, that paragon of true journalism, but Trump refused to back away until the story had done its damage.
In the San Bernardino shootings neighbors saw suspicious activities in the terrorists' homes (no such evidence exists.) And Syria was only sending young male refugees to America (another falsehood.)
In fact hardly a day goes by that there is not a conspiracy theory du jour.
Now comes the real doozy, a plot to deny him the election by thousands of unnamed conspirators.
His downfall had nothing to do with his terrible debate performances or his barely coherent grasp of important issues, of course. "They" are up to their tricks again.
Sadly, Trump has undermined faith in America in a corrosive way, and it is hard to know how damaging for the long term his rantings will be for the country.
The thought of this man in the White House is truly scary. Yet millions of Americans seem to be unable to wake up to the fact. What it says about our democracy is truly scary.]]>
Community groups from across five continents took part in the marathon conversation that finally ended in TG4 headquarters on Tuesday, October 18, after over a week of constant talk in our national language.
Kicking off at midday on Tuesday, October 11, Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) co-ordinated groups around the world as part of #Comhrá16 (meaning "Conversation16"), an attempt to break the record for the longest sustained conversation "as Gaeilge" ever.
Before coming to an end at 3.00pm on Tuesday, the conversation had involved over 1,050 people from 80 groups in ten different countries.
"Every single person who participated in the #Comhrá16 conversation and helped achieve this world record deserves huge praise and thanks," said Cóilín Ó Cearbhaill, President of Conradh na Gaeilge.
Buíochas le gach duine a ghlac páirt sa churiarracht #Comhrá16 i mbliana! #Gaeilge á labhairt ar-líne ar fud na cruinne do 170 uair a'chloig pic.twitter.com/POlcU8ipfa— Conradh na Gaeilge (@CnaG) October 18, 2016
"Language connects people, and #Comhrá16 brought groups from the four corners of Ireland and overseas together to take on this challenge. Ní neart go cur le chéile – there is strength in unity."
Read more: Proof the Irish language is far from dead, from the Aran Islands to Dublin
Streamed live over www.snag.ie for the week, the conversation heard from Irish-speaking representatives in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia, breaking the previous record of 169 hours of talk established in 2014.
First attempted by Conradh na Gaeilge in 2013, each year the 24/7 conversations have brought the community of international Irish speakers together to celebrate the language.
"#Comhrá16 was great for raising spirits and having lots of fun with the language, and we were delighted that so many international groups on five different continents participated in this year's Irish-language world record attempt," said Julian de Spáinn, General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge.
"Both Irish-language and Gaeltachta groups got involved in this year's world-record attempt, with third level Irish-language societies, schools, GAA clubs, Is Leor Beirt conversation circles, radio stations, educational institutions, branches of Conradh na Gaeilge, and many more community groups around the world chatting as Gaeilge for #Comhrá16."
Read more: The only official Gaeltacht outside of Ireland is in Ontario (VIDEOS)
Among those who took part were a group of Gaeilgeoirí from Toronto, set with signs to advertise what they were doing. The group was organized by Éilís Keegan, who is teaching Irish in St. Michael's College, the University of Toronto as part of the Ireland Canada University Foundation program. The program places Irish teachers in Canadian universities for a year, similar to the Fulbright program to the US that also places Irish teachers in a selection of universities.
Gaeilgeoirí Toronto i mbun #Comhrá16 - Toronto Irish Speakers taking part in the longest conversation world record attempt #Gaeilge #Ceanda pic.twitter.com/WDQEx9p5ES— GaeilgeoirigCeanada (@GaeilgeToronto) October 14, 2016
Other groups to take part included:
The Irish School in Sydney
Míle buíochas do Scoil na Gaeilge i Sydney a bhí linn ar #Comhrá16 ar maidin! #Gaeilge Fógra deas @gaeilge24 le feiceáil ar chúl! pic.twitter.com/QUjfrZC6N5— Seachtain na Gaeilge (@SnaGaeilge) October 17, 2016
Gaeltacht sur Seine (The Gaeltacht on the Seine, a group in Paris, France)
Tá muid fós beo ar https://t.co/txeAgFjB58 #Comhra16! Grma @SnaGaeilge 🇫🇷☘ pic.twitter.com/X1KPU3Wvic— Gaeltacht sur Seine (@GaeltachtSeine) October 15, 2016
Los Angeles
Slán & beannacht ó Chathair na nAingeal #comhra16 #úuf ó Rírá;) pic.twitter.com/SPGgd3kxZn— tuigim (@Tuigim) October 16, 2016
Hong Kong
Bhí oíche álainn again le chairde nua agus an-sásta bheith páirteach i #Comhrá16! Anois táimid tosaithe! @CnaG @GlobalIrish @bisonasasta pic.twitter.com/cAKII14ttr— Ireland in Hong Kong (@IrelandinHK) October 13, 2016
And Manchester, England
Tá muid ag dul i líonmhaireacht #Comhra16 @CnaG pic.twitter.com/6CKdMUPdpP— Mcr Irish Language (@MancIrishLang) October 11, 2016
Comhghairdeas ó chroí libh! (Massive congratulations!)]]>
The Lough Inagh Lodge hotel, located in Connemara, Co Galway, won the award of Funniest Manor House Hotels and Irish Country Hotels video for their promo 'The Lonely Dog of Inagh,' featuring two adorable dogs.
The privately-owned hotel, which is located on the shores of Lough Inagh and is surrounded by dramatic mountain ranges, was named by Campbell's Ireland Guide as the "Pet Friendly Hotel of the Year" for 2016.
Watch the hilarious video below:]]>
Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Peter found a box of old letters in the attic of his parents home in America.These were a series of letters written between 1860 - 1890, to John Hunt by his parents from their home in Kilkelly in Ireland. The letters chronicled family news of births, deaths, marriages and were written on behalf of the parents by local schoolmaster Pat McNamara.
The letters had all been posted in Kilkelly and as Peter Jones read through them he was overwhelmed with the emotion that re-united him with the land of his ancestors. As a result, Peter used these letters to compose a ballad, which he called 'Kilkelly Ireland'.
Read more: Why the real story of the Ireland's Great Hunger is not taught in U.S. schools
The song is a moving reminder of the sadness suffered by one Irish family with the effects of the Famine, poverty and emigration, but it has universal appeal as it reflects the saga of countless other families torn apart by emigration never to see one another again.
The song was first recorded in Ireland by Danny Doyle and has been covered by a number of other artists, including The Dubliners, Mick Moloney, Seán Keane and Ciara Considine.
Peter Jones, the writer of the song, visited Kilkelly a few years ago and was honoured by the locals on that occasion.
Here is the first letter from Brian Hunt, written for him in 1858 by the local schoolmaster Patrick McNamara. There are links to all the other letters at the end.
My Dear and Loving Son
Received your long wished for letter on the 22nd instant and I felt very much delighted at hearing that you are enjoying good health as I and your mother your brothers and sisters are at present thanks be to God. I am happy to state to you that your mother's health is very good at present and she is desirous to lay it as an obligation on you to avoid going to work in a railroad or any dangerous work. Your brother Thos. and wife are in good health and they got another son called Michl. Denis Kern's wife and family are quite well at present. The Clooniron people got no letter from America since May went.
I am surprised that you forgot mentioning about your comrade boy John O' Connor, or is he still along with you or not. We are all very sorry that you did not come home before you went off it grieved your mother very much, whereas you did not come to pay her a visit and see the friends and neighbours before your emigration and we very lonesome after you but we expected that the day will come that we may see you in your native land in joy and happiness.
I mean to inform you that the friends and neighbours feel very happy at the good account we have received from you. I will expect that you will abstain from the drink in that Country as well as you used to do when in this Country. Let cheapness of it not induce you to have any recourse to drinking and intoxicate you at anytime.
I hope that as you went to that Country you will make the most of your time that you possibly can and consider in yourself that it is not to remain during life you emigrated but to realize your fortune so that I can expect that after spending 4 or 5 years in that Country you may come home amongst your friends and neighbours amongst whom you would find pleasure, not withstanding the consolation and comfort you would derive from being among your brothers, who feel very sorry for your absence, but we hope that it is not a departure during life that you will have some nights of pleasure as yet in your own native village.
I am sorry that I have not some news of importance to state to you, but I am of the opinion that in answer to your next letter I may have some news to relate. I am of opinion that after the Shrovetide there might be some marriages or some news besides, the hearing of which might be some interest to you. There are none of us yet, except Denis Kern's daughter, who stopped in Clooamma, who got married to a boy from Glanvolley, and I hope that you will write to us frequently as we would wish how often we could get a letter from you and always stating to us about the state of the Country, and that things that come under your notice as what may appear insignificant to you may interest the relations and the rest of the family.
I hope that when you are writing again you direct it to Mr. O'Grady, fearing that you might forget, you will direct as thus In Care of Francis R. O'Grady Esq., Tavrane, Kilkelly by Swinford County Mayo Ireland, for Brian Hunt of Orlaur, and I will expect you to write to us very often as you can write yourself. I hope that you will not leave us long uneasy at any time I, and all the family join with love and best respects to you and you will accept from friends in general who are to numerous to insert. Peter Farrell talk of coming on Eastrickmas, but you know coming on the time of writing another letter to you if he does I remain your ever loving father, Brian Hunt.
Please excuse this paper we could not get large enough paper at Kilkelly. Potato rates at 4s and meal 11s and pigs and cattle cheap oats about 18s and all other things according, no frost or snow during this winter, Brian Hunt.
Dear John, I it is with joy and pleasure that I write these lines to let you know that I feel happy at hearing of your good state of health and believe me, I feel lonely for your absence for I thought that you would be along with me this winter now past. I am in good health and the family of the house and they are very happy to hear of you being in good health.
* Originally published in May 2014.]]>
Barmbrack is a fruit-filled bread, so called because it is "breac" (pronounced as brack, the Irish for speckled) with dried fruit and candied peel and is a delicious addition to every Halloween night.
Traditionally, different objects are baked into the brack, such as a coin, a ring, or a piece of cloth, which are said to predict the future of those who come across them in their slice.
The ring, believed to show who will next get married, is the most popular addition to barmbrack and a tradition that can still be seen today, even in store-bought barmbracks.
Tokens such as the coin suggest you will be rich if you find it and the piece of cloth that you will be poor.
If you've overindulged on the candy, however, leaving no room for a nice slice of barmbrack, Food & Wine came up with the perfect solution, helping you wash down all those sugary treats while still paying homage to Irish tradition. Here's introducing the Barmbrack cocktail!
Read more: Halloween Irish whiskey-flavored pumpkin pie recipe.
Serves one drink.
2 ounces (1/4 cup) single-malt Irish whiskey (60 ml)
1/2 teaspoon St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram (rum-based allspice liqueur)
2/3 ounce Toasted-Raisin Syrup (19 g)
1/2 ounce heavy cream (14 g)
1 large egg yolk
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish
Simply load up your cocktail shaker with ice, add all of the ingredients apart from the nutmeg garnish, and shake well.
Strain the cocktail into your glass and use the nutmeg to garnish.
H/T: Food & Wine
Want to try other traditional Irish recipes? You can find them all here or on IrishCentral's recipe Facebook page.]]>
Read more: Top ten ghost sightings in Ireland
Nichola eventually married Sir Tristam Bereford, the oldest son of Richard, Earl of Tyrone, and Lady Dorothy Annesley, daughter of Arthur, Earl of Anglesey.
One night she woke up to find her foster-brother standing beside her bed. He told her that he had just died, reminding her of their childhood pact.
The spirit of her foster-brother then told her of future events. He told her that her husband would die and she would re-marry, that she would have four children and that she would die on the day she turned 47.
Terrified and doubting that her vision was real she asked her foster-brother if this was real. He grabbed her wrist causing it to shrink and wither. From that day forth she wore a black silk ribbon to hide the deformity.
Everything that her foster-brother had predicted came true except for her death. She did not die on her 47th birthday.
On her 48th birthday Lady Beresford decided to celebrate the occasion with some friends. They included a clergyman who was an old family friend.
At the party she exclaimed "I am 48 today."
The clergy man replied "No, my dear, you are 47."
When she questioned how he knew this he said that he had looked at the registry of her birth only days before. She cried "You have signed my death warrant!" She went to her chamber, made out her will and died that night.
Read more about Samhain and spooky Hallween tales here]]>
We're entering the final stretch of the Orionids meteor shower, which appears once per year when the Earth travels through a section of the cosmos that's littered with debris from Halley's comet. The brightest time period this year is October 20 – 22.
Last night's show wasn't too great, thanks to the brightness of the moon and its current position in the sky, but tonight could be better – particularly in the hours between midnight and dawn.
Stargazers will have the chance to catch a glimpse of shooting stars during the Orionid meteor shower this weekend: https://t.co/QAUosCNYEq pic.twitter.com/BTkahBHd18— AccuWeather (@breakingweather) October 18, 2016
This particular shooting star show is called the Orionids because to viewers on Earth they appear to be emanating from the Orion constellation. NASA has give the tip that the brightest point will be "just to the north of constellation Orion's bright star Betelgeuse."
Look up! Bits of Halley's Comet are raining down tonight, sparking the #Orionid meteors. https://t.co/h3q6eeyy8I pic.twitter.com/0PcDBZhKLC— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) October 21, 2016
The meteors will likely be visible to the naked eye, so fret not if you don't have any fancy equipment. What's more important is to get as far away as you can from any artificial light sources.
The Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve seems like an ideal vantage point.
If you catch any good snaps of the Orionids, share them with IrishCentral on Facebook or Twitter.
Happy star-gazing!
The Bandidos established themselves in Limerick last week with a ceremony, as a heavy garda presence looked on.
The gang, formed in Texas in 1966, is considered by U.S. law enforcement to be one of the "big four" biker gangs alongside the Hells Angels MC, Pagan's MC and Outlaws MC.
The Bandidos describe themselves as a "1%" gang, a label which refers to a comment from the American Motorcyclist Association that 99 percent of bikers were law abiding citizens.
Members in the United States have been linked to a string of crimes since their establishment and they have been involved in a number of feuds with other bike gangs in the past that have led to deaths.
High profile members of the biker gang from across Europe traveled to Limerick for the event with law enforcement officials also traveling from Belgium to liaise with the Garda Siochana.
The Bandidos gang has been long established on the European mainland.
Limerick has been viewed as a relative hotbed of Irish crime in the last decade with a number of large drug dealing families turning the city into a war zone.
But a series of arrests saw a large decrease in criminal activity.
Despite the strong international profile of the Bandidos, it is seen as unlikely that they will challenge established crime gangs in the city.
How they will coexist with the Hells Angels, long established in Ireland, remains to be seen, however.
The Bandidos members have established a clubhouse in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Limerick.
This article first appeared in the Irish Echo. For more stories, visit their website here.]]>
Entering the Big House was forbidden, especially for a lowly blacksmith who was expected to know his station.
Now 96 and healthy, Owen Brennan received the gift of a lifetime from his two sons, Tom and John, when they took him to Ireland for "The Gathering" of emigrants from all over the world in 2015.
The finest suite in Mount Juliet, the house whose door he never darkened, was reserved for him. Owen and his family had come a long way.
Soon after working at Mount Juliet and with no prospects in 1948, Owen Brennan took the trail of tears to America, just one among countless millions of emigrants setting out for the "Bright City," as the Irish old timers called New York.
The fact that his son John Owen Brennan now 61, has ascended to CIA Director, one of the highest jobs in the United States government, charged with protecting the nation from any and all threats, says an extraordinary amount about the Brennans and the American Dream.
The twain continue to meet. The Irish influence in John Brennan's life is still strong. He can hold down a discussion on Gaelic games, talk about his father's hero worship for the All-Ireland winning Roscommon teams of 1943 and 1944, and wave away a story about him becoming next United States ambassador to Ireland.
"Well it would be a wonderful, wonderful opportunity – but there is a long list of other Irish Americans who would like that job," he said during an interview on a cool and sunny Saturday morning, October 15, at the CIA headquarters in Langley, VA.
As for retiring in Ireland, Brennan says no but wouldn't mind a holiday home there, somewhere in Connemara which he finds an enchanting land. One of his prize possessions is a hurling stick used in the ancient game, given to him by his good friend Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. He even has a couple of Irish words, pronouncing his name in Gaelic as Sean O Braonain.
We are sitting in the boardroom at CIA headquarters in Langley, home to a million spy fiction books and tales of intrigue. His private office is home to a family portrait of his three children in Ireland on vacation and a picture of a Roscommon castle.
John Brennan wears his Irish heart on his sleeve.
His career has been spectacular. Brennan had a 25-year career as a spy overseas and a top analyst and executive at home. The shift within the CIA from Cold War focus to the Arab world made Brennan, fluent in Arabic and a Middle East specialist, an invaluable employee. His career includes stints as station chief in Saudi Arabia, intelligence briefer for President Bill Clinton, top deputy to CIA Director George Tenet during George W. Bush's presidency, and, now, the most highly coveted job in intelligence, CIA director.
The CIA compound itself is low and slung flat over the Virginia countryside to appear as unobtrusive and innocuous as possible.
The corridors are the longest I've ever seen. You could train for a marathon just running them.
The men and women going by don't have fedoras or dark glasses. Nor do they look like James Bond or his fictional CIA companion in arms, Felix Leiter, who lost a leg and an arm in a shark attack.
No, they look just like you and me, but they are the cream of American intelligence operatives. The CIA runs on a $44 billion budget, best estimates say. Spying is an expensive pastime.
Earlier I had seen the CIA museum, not open to the public, including the scale mockup of the compound the American special forces used to train on before the Navy SEALs finally dropped in unannounced on the compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011.
Bin Laden's AK 47 rifle, a spoil of war, is in a case nearby. (A female CIA analyst is said to have first pinpointed his location.)
There too was an original beam from the World Trade Center, an umbrella with a poisonous tip, an exploding wallet, part of a Russian nuclear sub lifted from the depths of the ocean when it malfunctioned in a top secret operation called Project Azorian
It is not all hi-tech fun and games. Being a CIA agent can often mean massive risk to life and limb, much more John Le Carre than James Bond.
What sustains a person in such a tough profession? Despite his vital job and heavy responsibilities, Brennan is very keen to discuss his heritage and his faith first. They are both his guiding light.
"I would like to be able to one day have a residence in Ireland because I have been there a dozen times over the years and I really just enjoy the country a lot. I was there last summer, spent a few days in Galway after seeing my relatives in Roscommon," he said.
"After Roscommon we went to Connemara and stayed in Barna. That part of the country is just gorgeous."
It is clear that the Brennan family left the old country, but it never left them.
I asked if Ireland was a constant presence in his house.
"Yes, because my father's brother and sisters who were all over here would gather in someone's house every Sunday, and my father loved singing and dancing," Brennan replied.
Does he know Irish songs?
"Oh, absolutely," Brennan replies. "'Brennan on the Moor' (about a Cork highwayman), I loved the words…"brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor."
"That's a great old Irish song," I reply.
"Yes, well the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were constantly on in my house. My sister took Irish-dancing and we used to go to the feises, so we were all in!"
His mother Dorothy was first generation. She and Owen met at an Irish dance in that timeless Irish way and were married in 1952. Her family was from Mayo and Galway, "so I am a Connacht man," says Brennan proudly.
On the streets of North Bergen, NJ he had a different name, "Jumping Jack" Brennan for his basketball prowess.
Coincidentally, there was another Brennan from Newark, 13 miles from North Bergen via Roscommon parents who also went on to great things. Justice William Brennan was a leading figure on the Supreme Court for decades. The Rossies, as Roscommon folk are known, had the Brennan clan doing them proud in America.
Although Brennan was educated in Catholic schools in New Jersey, the shift to Jesuit-run Fordham for college was not such an obvious one for "Jumping Jack," who was unsure of his future.
Young John was a free spirit, undecided about what to do next. He even possessed an earring and long hair and motor bike at one point, and considered a religious vocation at another. Jesus won out over Jack Kerouac and he went to Fordham University.
They don't turn out too many popes at Fordham in New York, but they do encourage their students to live the examined life.
I asked him what he wanted to be when he attended Fordham.
"I wanted to be the first American pope," he laughed.
"Well, you could be," I replied.
"I'm hoping this is good training for it!" he laughs.
Strangely, many of the articles about Brennan often refer to him as having a priestly presence. He was planning to be a seminarian at one point, but he discovered girls and decided to not pursue the priesthood. But the imprint of the examined life intilled in him by the Jesuits is still with him.
I asked Brennan about his Catholic background and what it means to him today.
"A strong foundation in morality and ethics and core religious foundations," he replied.
"In fact, just last week I had a former professor of mine, a philosophy professor from Fordham, come visit because when I was a freshman in Fordham in the philosophy classes just for theory and other types of things, I learned so much and I still have those books and I refer back to them because there are issues in there we deal with now and likely always will."
I asked him what the Jesuits have meant to Brennan.
"They make you think. They make you wonder about life. They make you think about right and wrong and if there is such a proposition," he replied.
"It was something that was instilled early and it was the religious training exposure from early on and that continued for me into my job and career."
How does he view good and evil in the world?
"I think my early training and education and then my professional experience have allowed me to understand differences among people and try to understand motivations and understand why people do what they do," he says.
"Goodness exists in many parts of the world in people and among people, and evil manifests then also. I still question why certain people do what they do. I still can't get my head around the individuals that wantonly kill and slaughter innocent men women and children.
"I can understand how they grow up in an environment where they were, in essence, brainwashed by other individuals who were manipulating them and exploiting them for instances which is what ISIS and others do with this very distorted sense about religion."
Brennan finds his intellectual rigor and faith something to draw on when those key questions are posed.
"I draw off my background. I draw on those foundations and morality ethics," he says.
Brennan loved to travel, was drawn to exotic locales, and spent a year as an exchange student in Cairo at the American University. The Arab world with its many veils and fun-house distorted mirrors and intricate tribe and family structure fascinated him. He even mastered Arabic, a difficult language for a westerner.
Soon after that came the decisive moment when he applied to the CIA.
"I was on the bus going to New York to Fordham and the New York Times newspaper had an advertisement for the CIA, and I then sent in my resume."
His travel and exploration curiosity was about to become his life's work.
"When I was at Fordham I was a commuter from my blue collared neighborhood in New Jersey, and in my sophomore year my global science professor brought in brochures of Americans universities in Beirut and American universities in Cairo. That was 1975-'76, the year that American University in Beirut was closed down, so I went to American University Cairo, which got me interested in the Middle East. I took Arabic while I was out there so that was the first exposure to it, and then I went to graduate school in University of Texas at Austin, and concentrated on Middle East studies and continued to refine my Arabic. Then I was hired by the agency in 1980."
It is safe to say there weren't too many Arabist experts in North Bergen Irish Catholic homes at the time, nor was Hezbollah Topic A at Thanksgiving dinner, but Brennan's parents welcomed his new career.
"They were always used to me doing different things. I went to Indonesia the summer of my freshman year in college. My cousin was living out there so I traveled through Indonesia, went to Europe by myself and then went through Cairo. I had long hair and an earring and a motorcycle, so when I told them I was joining the CIA I think they thought that was going to help settle me down a little bit. It's a good job, a government job."
The rest is history, as the cliché goes. The long climb to the top, the utter faith that presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama placed in him, his reputation for no nonsense truth-telling plus a working schedule that makes a workaholic look like a slacker, ensured Brennan's success. Along the way he married Kathy Pokluda of Czech ancestry and together they raised three children and together they've been for 37 years.
It is clear his heritage, the "mystic chords of memory" as Lincoln described them, is important to him, and even as CIA director he keeps a watchful eye.
How does Brennan view the possibility of extremism occurring in Ireland?
"I don't think any country should feel immune from the reach of these terrorist organizations," he replies.
"Ireland first of all is an open and welcoming country, and also there are also a lot of Americans there and American businesses.
"I was in Ireland last August and I met with the Irish intelligence heads and talked to them about the importance of sharing information, we with the Irish and the Irish with us, and if there is anything that looks or seems a bit off those pieces of the puzzle need to be put together.
"Ireland, as you know, is part of the worldwide landscape where a lot of these (terrorist) groups look to see if they can exploit opportunities. You know, there are a lot of people who travel to Ireland for tourism, business, education, and I do think it is important for all the intelligence and security services to be vigilant there."
I discuss with Brennan how Ireland solved its own conflict by negotiation at the highest level to end The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Is there any political or negotiated way to end current wars, I ask.
"No, there's not really any room for negotiation or discussion. That's what Al Qaeda and ISIS represent, that absolutist type of phenomenon that you have to destroy the leadership, you have to destroy the operatives that are trying to kill innocent people, but you also have to address the underlying factors and conditions that contribute to their ability to appeal to young men and women around the world and that's the challenge we have right now."
How can we beat them, I ask.
"I think you have to destroy their leadership, you have to take away their control of territory, you have to stop the flow of financial support, you have to take away the wherewithal and you also have to discredit and debunk their narratives," he says.
"Because that clarion call that ISIS gave out, which led to so many foreign fighters from Europe flowing into Syria and Iraq, it really was a very distorted representation of the reality of what was going on.
"I think we have to be able to undercut that narrative so that it doesn't have the resonance that it had to date. There's been a multidimensional campaign underway the last several years against ISIS, making good progress on the ground inside Syria and Iraq (the Mosul attack began the day we talked) and we will take away their control of territory, but this is, I think, going to be a challenge for a number of years to come."
I ask Brennan about Americans and their need for feeling safe in their homeland. Everyone wants security, but what, I ask him, is the trade-off?
"Well, one of the real challenges of 2016 that didn't exist back in the 1950's, '60s, '70s and '80s is the emergence of this digital domain, this cyber environment that provides tremendous benefit and opportunity for citizens around the world to communicate, to educate, to engage in commerce and trade education, you name it," he replies.
"But the terrorist organizations have taken full advantage of it, to be able to do the same things – communicate, guide, direct and surveil – and so right now the real debate that's going on in this country and other countries is what is the role of government in that digital domain?
"How should the FBI and intelligence agencies operate in that domain in a manner that ensures our security, and that's not going to be exploited by these terrorist organizations or criminal groups.
"For many, many years we have understood what it means to have police forces on the streets of our cities and towns and guards along our borders and military forces. That's in the physical domain, but the digital domain is a much more challenging one because people want their privacy and civil liberties."
Do people want it both ways, I ask.
"Well I think they do," Brennan replies. "Understandably they want both. They want to maintain their privacy and civil liberties but at the same time they want the security, and they have to realize there is tension between those two things."
Most people fear government overreach, I say, but does he see that as an issue?
"The government is not saying we want to trample your privacy and civil liberties. We want to optimize them because that is what this country is founded on, but we recognize our legal systems, our structures, our capabilities to deal with those challenges in a digital domain are not what they need to be," Brennan says.
"So I think this is an evolutionary process, and what people have to understand is that the government does need to play a role there if they are going to protect their citizens. It's amazing how individuals are so willing to give out all their information on an application and they shoot it off to, you know, to some type of online commerce store, but if the government wants to have it, oh my goodness they are going to exploit it!
"It should be the other way around. They should have much greater confidence that the government will protect it and that the business would not."
Is there a sense that we are over exaggerating, that we are actually safer than we used to be I ask Brennan.
"Well, on the terrorism front, when I look at today compared to 9/11, on 9/11 this country was vulnerable to those types of attacks that took place," he says.
"Over the last 15 years this country has done amazing work to safeguard our borders and our streets. There is much better interaction between law enforcements and intelligence and diplomats and military, and so it's a much less hospitable environment for terrorist organizations to operate within because we really have done a lot.
"Other countries have as well, but the United States in particular I think we really learned a very painful lesson on 9/11, but that doesn't mean we are untouchable by no means, again partly as a result of the digital domain."
Do lone actors continue to be a key worry, I ask.
"These lone actors are individuals who may have no direct interaction with ISIS or Al Qaeda, Syria or Iraq or Pakistan or wherever, but they are prone to falling prey to the narrative that encouraged them to take up arms against neighbors, family, whomever, and so that is a challenge for law enforcement," Brennan says.
"An individual, for instance, who one day decides that they are going to pick up this distorted jihad and carry out some kind of attack."
Is it nearly impossible to catch them, I ask.
"It is, and that is what I think societies around the world really need to be aware of is that the availability of this poisonous narrative and the enticement that is taking place there allows individuals to pick up the weapon, whether it be a gun or a knives or an IED explosive device, because there is a recipe on the Internet you can get it from," Brennan replies.
For a man dealing with potential Armageddon as his daily diet, John Brennan seems remarkably at ease. Other intelligence directors have talked about the crushing burden of carrying the nation's secrets and worst fears inside their minds 24/7. Brennan does not betray that
I ask him how he manages this constant stream of scary information. Does he sleep at night?
"Yes, I sleep great," he replies. "I always tell everybody that by the time I get home at night and I put my head on the pillow, I usually fall asleep within 30 seconds. My wife could be talking to me but I just zone out.
"I have been in this profession for 36 years in one form or another, and I've come to I think understand the national challenges that we face. I've considered it a tremendous privilege and honor to be director of the CIA, and I have certain responsibilities that I need to carry out in order to help this country stay safe and strong, so I don't want to say you are inured to it over time. But you become rather used to the constant stream of challenges."
The topic of election fraud is very current at the moment, from Donald Trump's dire warnings to Russian sang froid about having nothing to do with it. What does Brennan think?
"Well, the directors of national intelligence and Homeland Security have said that it's been quite clear that there have been attempts to try to exploit this election for foreign agendas or other agendas, and there have been public warnings about this, but the American people know this," Brennan said.
"There is a feeling within the government to keep Americans aware of these efforts, and I should point out the U.S. electoral system is so distributed and so diverse because elections are run by the states, and what the Department of Homeland Security has done along with other government agencies is to offer assistance to state officials to make sure their systems are safeguarded.
"Any system that is connected to the Internet could be prone to some type of attempt, but there are lots of ways to protect information now. We see things that are happening before the elections as far as emails and other things that are released as a way to influence people's views.
"This country is the world's strongest democracy, and I think it is a testament to our strength that we can acknowledge things like this but also give assurance to the American people that this election."
As our interview draws to a close I ask Brennan a question every director in his job reflects on: "Tell me to name your best and worst moments in the CIA." The question draws an emotional response.
His reply is both surprising and indicative of the man and his ability to see the real live flesh and blood children and adults who suffer.
"The worst moments are when a CIA officer falls in the line of duty," he says.
He appears to tear up at the question.
"It's easy to get there," Brennan says, referring to his emotions.
"I remember when I get the phone calls. I remember when talking to the families, talking to the spouse, talking to the children, and every year we have our memorial ceremony in the lobby, and it's amazing how families from fallen officers from years and years ago show up.
"Bill McKiernan, who was the first agency officer who died in the line of duty in 1950, his grandchild comes here as a sense of belonging. There is a sense of family. There is a solemn sense of duty here at CIA, and, given that we do these things frequently in the shadows, that we do it without recognition and not for accolades, it makes what we do here very special to those of us who are in the family," he says.
Brennan notes there are 117 CIA officials who have been killed in the line of duty. Brennan takes each of those deaths personally.
"We administer the oath of officer to every incoming class of officers in that lobby in front of that wall to remind them just what a sacrificial obligation they have as they take up their duties," Brennan says.
"There are some others too, like when I was working down in the White House and when we lost a number of officers in a bombing of an outpost in Afghanistan and we came out here for the final ceremony with the president. Those are things that are body blows."
Brennan is solemn when he speaks about the gun massacre in a Sandy Hook, Connecticut school in December of 2012 that took the lives of 20 innocent children and six adults.
"When I was in the White House and I had to tell President Obama of the shooting at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, and first reports were that the children were safe, and next report I had to tell him was that there were nearly two dozen children that were killed," Brennan recalls.
"You try everything possible to prevent those types of occurrences, but when it happens it becomes very real because of the obligations that we feel and the responsibility we have to protect American citizens. Those were the toughest moments."
I say to him that the day Osama bin Laden was killed must have been a very satisfying one.
"That was certainly one that I can remember very, very vividly because there were 48 hours and there was a period of time where there wasn't that much sleep. There was a lot of anxiousness and concern about the individuals who were a part of that raid," Brennan recalls.
"I can remember leaving the White House that night after many, many hours there, and it was lit up outside and Lafayette Park was bright, and people were all around going through the street. You could hear the chants of 'USA' and 'CIA.' It was quite a moment."
What do Brennan's parents have to say about their CIA chief son? He smiles at the question.
"When are you going to retire, they ask. They are getting on. They have their health challenges," Brennan says.
"My father's sight and hearing has failed quite a bit, but he still takes his walks and stays fit. I try to see them at least once a month. I was up there last Sunday. They are very focused on their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren they now have."
Does his father ever think that when he was a blacksmith kept out of the big house, and now there's his son, one of the most powerful men in the world?
"Well, it just reflects the reason he came to the United States. He wanted to give his family opportunity," Brennan says.
"He is immensely proud of his background. Whenever we go up there most of the talk is about Ireland. He has a memory that's amazing. He can recite poetry at great length. He will go on and on. I guess it's the equivalent of kids knowing music, the lyrics of music, but he can pull out these stanzas," Brennan says.
"He will go on for 10 minutes with a poem. He just has this amazing, amazing ability. He only went to the equivalent of junior high and he took the test for college and passed with flying colors.
Finally, I ask Brennan if can anything can be done about Syria.
"One of the disasters of our time. It really is a beautiful country and beautiful people who have been devastated because of this war first war perpetrated on them by their government by Bashar al-Assad, who has killed countless Syrians with these horrific attacks, and now the country is wracked by terrorism," he says.
"We are also dealing with ISIS and the Russian intervention there which has been designed to protect Russian interests, and the devastating loss of life of the Syrian people. Look at Aleppo. You can imagine what is going on there and the airstrikes that have just blanket disregard for Syrian life and it's a real shame."
There is no obvious resolution?
"No, the thing is there needs to a resolution of the fight between the regime and the opposition. The challenges right now are the opposition is so multidimensional. You have terrorist and extremists there, and you also have Syrians who want a better future for their families," Brennan says.
"But we also have to address the political dimensions of this. You're not going to solve the terrorism problem unless you solve the political problem, and unless you get into some kind of transition that brings a new government or leadership in Damascus.'
Thank you John Brennan.
Keep up-to-date with IrishCentral's US politics news here]]>
As part of the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, the Irish forces of Patrick Sarsfield, who had fought the army of William of Orange to a standstill, were given the option of sailing to France to join the Catholic pretender James Stuart.
Shortly thereafter Sarsfield signed the Treaty of Limerick, a French fleet arrived with reinforcements and many urged Sarsfield to tear up the Treaty and fight on. This he would not do; having given his word of honor, he kept it.
Believing they had negotiated a treaty that guaranteed the rights of their people, perhaps as many as twenty thousand Irish soldiers sailed with Sarsfield to France. The treaty that Sarsfield had honored would never be honored by the British.
With cruel irony the British tore up the treaty and replaced it with the Penal Laws, which stripped Irish Catholics of their land, persecuting them for their religion, and removed every right of citizenship. On this note of dishonor and betrayal began the saga of The Wild Geese.
For the next hundred years the French Army included an Irish Brigade, which began with Sarsfield's soldiers, and the men of Justine MacCarthy (Lord Mountcashel) who preceded them, and was then fed by a continual stream of young men from Ireland, whose options had been severely limited by the oppressive Penal Laws.
Many of the "Wild Geese" rose to prominence in the armies of Europe. George Brown of the Austrian army was made a Field Marshal by Emperor Charles IV and 11 different men named Walsh became Field Marshals or generals there. Francis Maurice Lacy was a Field Marshal in the Austrian and Russian armies and many reached high commands in France and Spain. A McMahon became Minister of War and President of France. These "Wild Geese" fought in battles all over Europe and the world through the years. In South America, Bernardo O'Higgins became the Liberator of Chile and Admiral William Brown, from Mayo, became the Father of the Argentine Navy.
One of the most famous of the Wild Geese was Richard Hennessy, the youngest son of Lord Ballymacmoy, whose ancestral home still stands in Killavullen, in the northern part of Co. Cork.
At the age of 20, Richard Hennessy departed from Ballymacmoy House for France in 1724 to fight in the French Army of King Louis XV. He sustained injuries in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, in which the French were victorious, though the Irish Brigade suffered some of the highest casualties on the French side.
He then settled in the Cognac region, on the banks of the Charente River, where he began distilling wine to produce brandy. Thus, Hennessy cognac was born.
What Richard Hennessy started his son James ran with, and by the 1800s Hennessy had established deals with traders in London and New York, marking the start of a global beverage empire that celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2015.
Today, 60 million bottles of Hennessy are sold in 120 countries around the world each year. No doubt Richard Hennessy would be proud.]]>
Fáilte Ireland's Survey of Overseas Travellers has revealed which counties get the most tourists and which earn the most revenue from overseas visitors. Counties Cork, Galway and Kerry, followed Dublin on the list. These counties each attracted more than 1 million tourists in 2015.
The lowest ranking counties were Offally, Roscommon and Longford.
The figures are based on rolling, three-year averages, reports the Irish Independent.
Here is the full list of the counties and the visitors they received in 2015.
1. Dublin: 4,938,000
2. Cork: 1,449,000
3. Galway: 1,354,000
4. Kerry: 1,026,000
5. Clare: 597,000
6. Limerick: 537,000
7. Mayo: 302,000
8. Donegal: 289,000
9. Kilkenny: 267,000
10. Waterford: 263,000
11. Wicklow: 248,000
12. Wexford: 221,000
13. Kildare: 214,000
14. Sligo: 186,000
15. Tipperary: 180,000
16. Cavan: 144,000
17. Meath: 134,000
18. Louth: 125,000
19. Westmeath: 116,000
20. Monaghan: 65,000
21. Carlow: 62,000
22. Laois & Leitrim: 57,000 each
23. Offally & Roscommon: 50,000 each
24. Longford: 30,000
What's your Irish county? Read all about it here
Overseas tourist revenue earned by county (the figures do not take domestic tourism into account):
1. Dublin: €1,726m
2. Cork: €558m
3. Galway: €475m
4. Kerry: €234m
5. Limerick: €212m
6. Clare: €127m
7. Kildare: €89m
8. Donegal: €83m
9. Wicklow: €82m
10. Mayo: €80m
11. Waterford: €75m
12. Tipperary: €66m
13. Wexford: €65m
14. Sligo: €51m
15. Cavan: €50m
16. Kilkenny: €45m
17. Meath: €44m
18. Louth & Westmeath: €36m each
19. Carlow: €32m
20. Monaghan: €25m
21. Roscommon: €20m
22. Laois: €18m
23. Leitrim: €15m
24. Offaly: €14m
25. Longford: €8m
Read more about the Best of Ireland here]]>
In 1993, in California, the Breeders Cup classic went to 133/1 Arcangues, a horse which had shipped in from France and had never before run on a dirt track, the equivalent of diving off a highboard even if you may not be able to swim.
So don't tell me Donald Trump has no chance of winning on November 8. His odds are only 10/1, a mere piffle compared to the prices of those equine long shot winners.
Here is the case for a longshot Trump win:
The polls are wrong.
Poll: Is the media biased against @realDonaldTrump? pic.twitter.com/9eI7ctx1a7— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) October 21, 2016
Possible. Indeed two polls, the Los Angeles Times one and Investors Daily one, show Trump level and up by two respectively. The Investor's Daily poll has been the most accurate of all in the past few election cycles according to Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com, the gold standard polling prediction firm.
Then there is the Rasmussen Poll, which today (Thursday) shows Trump up by three points, one of his biggest margins.
So when we say the polls are certain Hillary will win we should be absolutely clear that some polls, including one highly respected one, see her losing.
Read more: A Man in Full - exclusive interview with CIA Director John Brennan
How can this be? The best recent example to back this up is the last British election, which took place in 2015, not the Brexit polls.
An average of 11 different polls just before that election gave Labour a narrow 4 seat majority over the Tories, but it was clearly neck and neck.
New poll has Trump and Clinton neck-and-neck in Ohio https://t.co/g4pybSINcn pic.twitter.com/saWrCRaSUh— CNN (@CNN) October 20, 2016
Only one polling company, Survation, picked up a huge late surge to the Tories but considered the poll fatally flawed and never even released it.
In the event the Tories galloped home with an overall majority gaining 330 seats when the polls had forecast almost sixty seats fewer.
There are common factors between that and the Trump/Clinton race. The "shy tory" vote were the unaccounted for Tory voters who, due to their party's poor reputation on liberal issues, would not admit to voting for them.
Then there was the "Lazy Labour" faction which saw Labour voters lulled into a sense of complacency because they were leading in the polls and were not bothered to vote.
It is easy to draw a similar line for this election in the US. Shy Trump voters thanks to the media's disdain for their man may be a huge factor. Equally, with pundits proclaiming the race over and won many Democrats may become lazy about turning out themselves.
Factor in the unknown unknowns such as a major terror atrocity, a vicious crime spree traced to illegal aliens, or a number of cop killings. Any of those could influence the race.
There is also clear evidence that polls are skewed towards Clinton at the moment. I'd bet all the tea in China that Trump will not lose Texas, equally that he will win Utah and likely Arizona. Talk of Dems winning those red states is just that, talk.
Great new poll shows me barely leading @Evan_McMullin, who I never met, by 1 point in #Utah. This is a disgrace! McMullin should RESIGN!! pic.twitter.com/WXnc3jO2CZ— DonaId J. Trump (@realDenaldTrump) October 21, 2016
So there is still a race to be run despite the mainstream media calling it as over. They should listen to Yogi Berra and remember Foinavon and Arcangues.
Miracles do happen, longshots do win. Elections can "upset the apple tart" as former Irish leader Bertie Ahern once said hilariously.
It's no time to be counting unhatched chickens.]]>
If you light a massive bonfire, you are more than sure to keep the spirit world away. Fairies will be terrified of the flames.
Black cats
Schlageck said these creatures are "associated with Faust who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge and power." As such the ghouls are wary of our dark-furred, little feline friends. Who ever said a black cat was bad luck!
Read more: Top ten Irish traditions for Halloween (VIDEOS & PHOTOS)
Pumpkin or jack-o'-lanterns
The faces carved on the pumpkins are said to keep away ghosts from the door. What face will scare off the fairies more this year? Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?
Dressing up
Although the scary costumes may have fallen by the wayside recently with superheroes and princesses topping the list of trick or treat ideas children have these days, the tradition of dressing up as various creatures is another way for people to ward off bad spirits.
Halloween colors are still orange and black, however, colors associated with the dead so if you're feeling like getting into the Oíche Samhna (Halloween) spirit, simply stick on something in these colors.
You can find more Halloween stories on everything from old traditions to recipes here.
The event, which featured performances by Hozier and the musical duo Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, raised a record $1.25 million towards the IAC's annual programming and included a major announcement about the Almost Home campaign, which is nearing completion. The Center has now raised $53 million towards the $62 million in capital required for the construction of a brand new, vastly expanded home for the Irish arts and culture in New York City, at 726 11th Avenue, adjoining the Center's existing building at 553 West 51st Street. They expect to complete fundraising by the close of the year and break ground in 2017.
Honoree Hozier (aka Andrew Hozier-Byrne), whose debut single, "Take Me to Church," reached quintuple-platinum status and was nominated for the 2015 Grammy for Song of the Year, attended with his parents and extended family and performed two songs: "Angel of Small Death" and "Take Me to Church," accompanying himself on guitar.
Gabriel Byrne, an Honorary Co-Chair of the gala, presented IAC's Spirit of Ireland Award to Jean Butler, recognizing her historic role in Riverdance, "a show that meant so much for the evolution of our culture and the confidence of our country," but adding, "it is where she has gone from there as an artist that I find so compelling."
Ursula Burns, the groundbreaking Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation spoke of her deep love of Ireland, which has grown over years of visiting her best friend, whom she formed a bond with at the start of her remarkable career and who later moved to Ireland.
Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet and New Yorker Poetry Editor and pop music lyricist, wrote a song for the occasion, "Our Name in the Song"—placing key figures in the Irish Arts Center community into the larger landscape of Irish cultural history—and performed it live with his band Rogue Oliphant. The evening also featured a performance from the extraordinary Irish duo fiddler Martin Hayes and guitarist Dennis Cahill, who just last night began a run of shows at the Irish Arts Center.
The IAC's Executive Director Aidan Connolly announced that they had received an anonymous challenge grant from one of the founders of the Almost Home campaign; the donor has agreed to increase her pledge by an additional $100,000 as a challenge for IAC to secure four additional pledges at the $100,000 Centenary level.
Connolly also announced a new array of $250,000 Founders of the Almost Home campaign including Eileen Murray, Patricia and John Nallen, the Patrick J. Donaghy family, John Duffy, Shaun and Mary Kelly, the Covillo-Lynch Foundation, Shane Naughton and Diane and James E. Quinn and paid tribute to some of the earliest supporters including departing board member James Houlihan, managing partner of Houlihan-Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors, LLC.
The New Irish Arts Center will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the-art contemporary performance space for music, dance and theatre seating up to 160, while a second, intimate performance space – the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre – will be optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events; classrooms and studio space for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists.
Visit irishartscenter.org for more.]]>
"On Thanksgiving we dressed as Ragamuffins -- three Irish-American kids -- and went from backyard to backyard, pub to pub, looking for handouts. But with a difference. We played Irish traditional music on the fiddle and flute and sang and danced to it. We sometimes earned $45 for the day. The best money was made playing 'The Stack of Barley' and singing 'A Nation Once Again.'"
What could New Yorkers a century ago expect to see on this Halloween that was not really Halloween?
The streets might be filled with bizarrely dressed boys and girls not-so-gently requesting money or gifts, "amateur beggars" deemed "a plague" by The New York Times as far back as 1907. At night, children as young as five prowled their neighborhoods dressed as Indians with makeup, greasepaint or burnt cork on their faces.
They also lit huge bonfires, which led to a fair share of tragedies. In 1913, a six-year-old Bronx boy (wearing his sister's dress) was badly burned as he danced around a bonfire.
Gunfire and gang fights broke out in Brooklyn as packs of Ragamuffins crossed each other's paths in 1906 and 1907. Even less explicitly violent behavior created tension.
In the classic novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," Betty Smith writes, "Most children brought up in Brooklyn before the First World War remember Thanksgiving Day…children went around 'Ragamuffin' or 'slamming gates' wearing costumes topped off by a penny mask."
Smith's main character Francie Nolan buys a "yellow Chinaman [mask] with a sleazy rope mandarin mustache." Her brother Neely wears one of his mother's old dresses with "stuffed wadded newspapers in the front to make an enormous bust."
The streets are "jammed with masked and costumed children making a deafening din with their penny tin horns." Some storekeepers lock their doors to keep the noisy panhandlers out while others unleash "profane lectures on the evils of begging."
Police and school officials regularly cracked down on Ragamuffins and begging. The ascension of Halloween and calls for more orderly Thanksgiving celebrations seemed to hasten the demise of the Ragamuffin traditions.
But the tradition has not completely vanished. Every October, community organizers in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, host a Ragamuffin parade.
* Originally published in 2012.]]>
Jordan, 27, is head of her own Brooklyn-based tech start up, Speakable, which last week launched its new product – an "action button" that will appear on news sites which allows readers to instantly respond to stories they are reading on a page either via a poll, signing a petition or donating to the story's relevant cause. Companies that have already signed on to include the action button on their content include the Huffington Post and Vice.
Read more: U2's Bono brims with pride about his four children
Hewson told CBS News that the idea for the product came to her after reading about the heroic Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot multiple times on her school bus and miraculously survived. The article, Hewson said, linked to a petition to support the education of girls worldwide, but she never clicked. It made her think that if the petition was right there on the page, it would have been easier to take action.
Jordan Hewson: Speakable's 'Action Button' makes donating to causes easier - Business Insider https://t.co/1BP3S894AY— NewWebby (@Newwebby) October 14, 2016
"I never clicked on the link," Hewson told CBS. "Ten minutes later, I thought, 'If I'm not going to sign this, who will?' I started to think very seriously about the barriers that exist to taking action and engaging with content. If we make it faster and easier to affect the things people care about, it will be more likely that they will actually do something."
Bono is not involved with Speakable, which raised $2 million earlier this year. "My dad is a good resource, but I try to keep him away from the company as much as possible," Jordan told Fortune.
But his influence is clear to see in his daughter.
"From a young age, I was always attending interesting events or conferences or interesting parts of the world. My family did an incredible job of educating us, of trying to keep us balanced in terms of what we saw in our environments," Hewson said.
This generation, she feels, wants to make an impact, and the action button will allow them to do just that.
"Millennials have different expectations of digital content," she said. "They want to do more than read headlines — they want to change headlines."]]>
Cowen gave the early morning interview following a Fianna Fail party think-in. Fine Gael's Coveney, who is now housing minister, tweeted that Cowen was "somewhere between drunk and hungover" on the program.
Cowen has dismissed the claim he was drunk and said Coveney was availing of a "political opportunity."
But Cowen, 56, has also admitted he should have quit drinking while he was taoiseach to stop it becoming an issue.
He said that within 15 minutes of Coveney's tweet he was facing cameras and explaining, "Here, guys, I'm not jarred, you know."
He adds in a book to be released next week, "There would have been no controversy about it if Mr. Coveney hadn't issued a tweet."
Cowen makes a number of confessions in the book, Hell at the Gates by journalists John Lee and Daniel McConnell, about his time in the Dail during the 2010 bailout and the aftermath which led to his government's electoral downfall in 2011.
Cowen, dealing with his socializing, has said he should have "killed" the perception he was a heavy drinker, but revealed he "always sort of had this antipathy to political correctness."
He said, "If there are people putting a rumor about it, you are better off killing it."
When he was a minister, he made the point of never touching the drinks cabinet in an office or department, and never offered a drink to anyone in his office. His predecessor Bertie Ahern used to have a drink and it was never an issue.
Cowen also explains in the book that he regrets not doing a state of the nation address during the financial crisis of 2011.
"Looking back, it would have been better if I had done one. Crisis management means being out ahead of the issue and trying to put a context on it so people can understand what is happening," Cowen said.
"I didn't succeed in that. Sometimes you can be hard on yourself but I didn't succeed on that front."]]>
Now Donald Trump may try to change all that.
Trump is officially flirting with fascism after refusing to commit to accepting the democratic outcome of the 2016 American presidential election.
The peaceful transference of power is the very underpinning of American democracy. The American Republic is dependent on the will of the people being honored every four years. It is why America is great – no other country can match its historical commitment to democracy.
Trump just committed political suicide by undermining the very basis of our democracy.
Donald Trump suggests the election will be rigged https://t.co/Qi9kqG3TcH pic.twitter.com/z5MYsGNYP6— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 20, 2016
Trump scored one of the most spectacular own goals in the history of politics when a solid debate performance was ruined by his comment that he would not necessarily accept the result of the 2016 election.
We are not talking about some Third World dictatorship, where the transference of power depends on the barrel of a gun. This is America, which is great precisely because of that peaceful transference of power.
Read more: Immigration finally gets its debate moment
A lot of people laughed at Trump when he announced he was running, but no one is laughing now as he displays the fascist streak exemplified by the statement that he may not support election results. His stance is not that different from a rather well-known fascist who said:
"At the risk of appearing to talk nonsense I tell you that the National Socialist movement will go on for 1,000 years! ... Don't forget how people laughed at me 15 years ago when I declared that one day I would govern Germany. They laugh now, just as foolishly, when I declare that I shall remain in power!"
That was Adolf Hitler.
One can only imagine what Abraham Lincoln, who gave his life to preserve American democracy and fought a civil war to maintain it, would think of the candidate who now represents his party.
Trump just lost, but so did American democracy https://t.co/WZ5EoGNd4X pic.twitter.com/Nd8fDAYRg5— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) October 20, 2016
Trump is in the same league as Adolf Hitler, who initiated a beer hall putsch in Munich in 1923 in a vain bid to take power outside of the ballot box knowing he could not win.
The very definition of fascism is a "way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government."
Now we know why Trump appears to have the hots for Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin, who are effectively dictators in their own countries.
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump would be Putin's "puppet" https://t.co/t3tad8FJ3t pic.twitter.com/sf4D7xBdu8— CNN (@CNN) October 20, 2016
Donald Trump's heroes are not Washington or Jefferson but tin pot dictators in Russia and Syria which makes it no surprise that he will not accept the election result.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham quickly hit back. "If he loses it is not because the system is rigged but because he lost the election," he wrote.
There have been two disputed elections in my time. In 1960 Richard Nixon may have had a case that fraud in Chicago cost him the election against Kennedy. Nixon was urged to contest the result, but to his eternal credit refused to fearing he would deeply damage democracy.
Donald Trump is now running against American democracy itself. https://t.co/YBwF7y66VL pic.twitter.com/fetUDwTo2h— Slate (@Slate) October 20, 2016
Likewise, due to confusing ballot papers in Florida, Al Gore lost a squeaker to George W. Bush in 2000, even though he won the popular vote by 500,000 and the Supreme Court issued a bizarre ruling that their decision to award the election to Bush could never be replicated in any political contest again. Gore conceded despite all the questions swirling around the decision.
Trump is deluding himself if thinks he will be in a squeaker in this election, which makes the concept of voter fraud moot. Hillary will likely win by a few million votes.
He now may be lucky to finish over the 40 percent mark, lowest total since Barry Goldwater.
It is antics like last night that will ensure his disastrous defeat.
Read more: Advice I'd give Donald Trump on what to say
Amazingly, just a few weeks back, he was neck and neck before hiring the Breitbart heavy gang whose advice to go low has been disastrous.
Hillary Clinton was never a shoo-in this race, based on the desire for an outsider among the electorate, but she has been blessed with a dreadful opponent. Trump has now taken another step into the muck and mire by refusing to commit to accepting the election results.
This guy is not only a fascist, he's as dumb as rocks as well.
#debatenight | Trump's '#BadHombres' and '#NastyWoman' remarks stoke online outrage #debate https://t.co/e96iZw1zk2 pic.twitter.com/yyfbvRi5h6— NDTV (@ndtv) October 20, 2016
Read more: Irish President says world could head in a dangerous direction due to "politics of fear"]]>
Well, it's an apology Alex.
So says the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The Hibernians are demanding an on-air apology from Alex Trebek, host of the popular TV quiz show Jeopardy after what they say was a slur against the Irish uttered by the Canadian-born quizmaster.
According to a statement, the AOH "condemns the outrageous comments" made by host Alex Trebek on the episode of Jeopardy which aired on Tuesday, October 16.
Said the statement: "During the contestant interview section, Mr. Trebek queried contestant Shannon Dillmore on his Irish connection given his first name of Shannon.
"Mr. Dillmore stated that he has visited all 26 Counties of the Republic of Ireland and has hill- walked all of its highest peaks.
"It was at this point that Mr. Trebek took it upon himself to ask Mr. Dillmore 'Were you sober when you did it?'"
The Hibernian statement said that the AOH was "sure the Jeopardy research staff can provide voluminous material to Mr. Trebek and the show's producers documenting the bigoted history behind the cliché of conflating Irishness with Drunkenness."
And it continued: "As a show that prides itself on its educational value, specifically as regards children, we find such an insensitive and prejudiced remark by the public face of Jeopardy inexcusable.
"We question if Mr. Trebek would utter such a defaming remark if the target was another heritage.
"We note the sad irony that the show's creator, Merv Griffin, was himself an Irish American.
"Mr. Trebek who makes a comfortable living off of Mr. Griffin's legacy, should be ashamed for defaming the heritage Mr. Griffin expressed great pride in."
The statement said that the AOH was calling for "Mr. Trebek and 'Jeopardy!' to immediately issue a full and complete on-air apology to the Irish community for his crass, denigrating remark."
It added that the AOH was calling on the Hibernian membership and members of the broader Irish American community to contact the show's production company at (310) 244-8855 "to express their anger at this defamation targeting people of Irish heritage and demand an on-air apology by Mr. Trebek."
This article first appeared in the Irish Echo. For more stories, visit their website here.]]>
Influential travel magazine Condé Nast Travel agrees, naming three Irish hotels in their top ten and crowning Ballyfin Demesne in Co. Laois as the best hotel in the world.
The hotel, which hosted none other than Kim Kardashian and Kanye West during their honeymoon, was voted into the top spot in the 29th Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards. Waterford Castle grabbed the seventh place and The Lodge at Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo is ninth.
"If you've ever dreamed of summering at a country house, you couldn't do much better than this stately, 20-room Georgian home," Conde Nast wrote of Ballyfin.
"Beyond the regal four-poster canopy beds, gilded mirrors, and richly textured wallpapers, there are 614 acres of secluded private gardens begging to be strolled.
"But the real highlight? Having a butler row you out on the lake before enjoying a sumptuous lunch at the picnic house," they added.
Read more: "Hill of Fairies" Kerry hotel named as top Condé Nast luxury budget hotel
Scoring a 99.1 rating from the 300,000 readers who took part in the vote, the 18th-century house, a former boarding school, is owned by American billionaire Fred Krehbiel. Deluxe rooms at the hotel generally begin at $610 but prices can reach $1,860 for one of the top suites at the height of the season.
Tourism Ireland welcomed the announcement, highlighting the achievement for Irish tourism in general with three of our hotels named among such a prestigious annual list.
"Congratulations to Ballyfin Demesne, Waterford Castle, and The Lodge at Ashford Castle on this truly well-deserved recognition," said Tourism Ireland CEO, Niall Gibbons.
"Given the intense competition from other luxury properties around the globe, it's really a wonderful achievement.
"This accolade by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine also helps to raise the profile of the island of Ireland, Ireland in general, and gives Tourism Ireland a wonderful hook to showcase our superb luxury tourism product, including our castles, luxury resorts and boutique hotels, our rich culture and heritage and, of course, our world-class golf."
Read more: Top 10 hotels in Ireland for 2016 - which would you stay at? (PHOTOS)
Ballyfin Demesne may have come in the top spot, but that doesn't mean Waterford Castle or The Lodge are any less exquisite, both definitely still on our list of Irish hotels we'll stay in one day.
"The ivy climbing the turreted stone walls of this stately 16th-century castle should be your first clue that you're in for a royal treat," Condé Nast Traveler says of Waterford Castle.
"That, in addition to the patterned brocade curtains, intricate wall tapestries, and refined Irish classics (caviar-topped smoked haddock, anyone?) at the Michelin-starred Munster Room," it continues before fawning after the hotel's 310-acre private island.
The Lodge at Ashford Castle also sounds like the perfect Mayo retreat, where a $75 million renovation in 2015 has kitted out the Middle-Ages' castle with a cinema, cigar room, billiard room, and dine-in wine cellars. Oh, and the hotel also has its own 40-foot Italian yacht named "Cranki" which you and seven friends can take out on the river.
Which one would be your top pick for a stay in Ireland? Let us know in the comment section.]]>
Wearing little harp pins and wild shamrock attached to their lapels, the open arms of their adoptive American parents would soon greet the six children. Their names were John Francis, Mary, Angela, Bernadette, Joseph and John Patrick.
The two oldest children in the group were five years of age each and the youngest was 10-month-old baby Mary, a local press report written on their arrival day claims.
All had been placed with US-based parents who had given up hope of finding a child through their own placement agencies.
"This is a Paddy's Day we'll always remember," John J. Halloran of Jamaica, Queens told the press on the arrivals day. "It's the first parade in a long, long time that I haven't been marching in up Fifth Avenue. I couldn't march today because I'm a new daddy."
Halloran and his wife adopted two of the children – John Francis, five, and Bernadette Theresa, three – and look elated in the photographs taken on the arrival day.
"We read a newspaper story about an American couple who got a child from Ireland," Halloran explained. "We wrote the St. Patrick's Orphanage in Dublin in December. The orphanage lawyers handled all the arrangements."
The press report on the day claimed that five-year-old John Patrick was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. William J. Gooth of Bayville, Long Island, and after the flash bulbs flared and the story ran to press he was taken home to begin his new life as American citizen – and his story might have been lost if it were not for the lifelong interest of nurse O'Sullivan.
As it turned out, she never stopped wondering about her former charges and how they had fared in the strange new land so far away from the island they had been born in.
So in 2013, aged 93 with her eyesight failing but her faculties undiminished, O'Sullivan asked her good friend Rosaleen to write to some US-based genealogy groups on her behalf.
One letter reached the New York Irish Center in Long Island City, where genealogy group leader Bridget Bray was touched by Sullivan's late-in-life quest to discover what had happened to the children she had once chaperoned.
"Can you help?" the letter began. "Noreen Sullivan (now Patterson) is a widow who brought these children to New York on St. Patrick's Day 1950. She prays for all every day, as she has none of her own… If there is any way to make contact she would be grateful. Her eyesight is poor but she is sharp as a tack…"
Bray, who runs genealogy workshops exploring family trees in her spare time, reached out to her group. "I posted the plea as a group project and with the help and support of our group one of the children was quickly found," Bray told our sister publication the Irish Voice.
"We found some of the links from the original news report. We haven't as yet found all six though."
One of the former children they quickly found was John Patrick, later known as Bill Gooth. "Bill (William) Gooth is 71 now and lives on Long Island," Bray says. "He actually joined us at Christmas time for our group lunch and I passed on Noreen's request to him. He reached out to her and got to know her."
Earlier this summer Noreen passed away at the age of 96, and Gooth traveled over to Dublin to attend her funeral.
"Doesn't this illustrate the power of connecting and over genealogy?" asks Bray. "I just placed the call and invited him to join our group meeting, but it was members of our group that found him and made it all happen! Noreen was his last living connection to his Irish life and his American life. I love stories like this!"
Read more: After 1950s forced adoption New Yorker is reunited with his Irish mother
The 1950s in Ireland was an era of widespread illegal adoptions from Irish orphanages, so it is uncommon to find the traceable origins of arriving Irish adoptees which made the detailed press report from 1950 a blessing.
"The adoptive parents were named in the article and because the press reports used only the male names of the adopting families, it made them easier to track," Bray says.
"John Patrick then is known as Bill now but he remained in the roughly same area. He still lives on Long Island today. That helped."
Records were often altered by Catholic agencies, Bray has learned, making points of origin much harder to track.
"Even if you had a birth certificate or the names of the adoptive parents they cut off the ability to track them. Nowadays DNA has just started to open the door they closed."
After the group traced him, Bray simply cold-called Gooth one afternoon.
"I didn't know what would happen," she explains. "You don't know how someone is going to react. It's a very personal issue.
"So I spoke and at first he was listening, and I explained about the nurse and her letter. As I got into it he finally said, yes all that's correct. I was so relieved.
"Then he added he had felt very blessed to have the life that he did in America. That was such a wonderful thing to hear because that is not always the case."
Asked for his earliest memories of Ireland, Gooth doesn't have very many.
"I have a couple of the orphanage and I remember flying from Dublin to Shannon, and then I remember running around an airport room there," he told the Irish Voice.
Gooth later received a letter from Noreen Patterson that informed him their New York flight from Shannon was delayed because some diplomats were connecting to their flight from Paris.
There would be trips back to the land of his birth. Twenty-two years after his arrival in the United States, Gooth was in the armed services in Italy and took a European discharge to travel.
"In England I met the mother superior who had been in charge of the orphanage in Ireland when I was an orphan there. She told me I really had to go over to Dublin. I did, I knocked on the front door and they let me in," he recalls.
It was 1972, and he was 27. "I remember a gym with glass windows all on one side. They took me to the room and opened the doors, and it was like I had never left it. It was much smaller than I remembered though."
Gooth's adoptive parents were both in their fifties by the time he arrived in New York. "They had tried to adopt before but my mother was Catholic and my father wasn't and that was a problem," Gooth said.
The decision to adopt proved successful so they later adopted a girl, Bill's sister, also from Ireland.
"They were able to give us advantages that I wouldn't have had otherwise. They were financially set. They lived in Bayville, a beach community in Long Island," he says
Gooth still has dear friends he made from kindergarten there. At the time Bayville had 2,000 year-round residents, but the population would swell to 10,000 in the summers. It was the golden age of rock and roll too.
"I would go out in the morning and they'd have a bell they'd ring when it was time to come home," he laughs.
Gooth, now a daily communicant, has only positive things to say of his background and his experience. But the orphanage he was adopted from has a much more checkered past. At least 254 children were sent directly to America from St. Patrick's, records show.
From the early 1950s to the mid 1970's up to 97 percent of all babies born to single mothers there were adopted. Money flowed in from America, from private donations, and from the Irish government paying per capita for every single mother and baby by the week. It was what would become known as the golden era of the Catholic adoption machine.
But Gooth's own story has had a happier outcome, and he's of a mind to let the past lie.
"I was blessed with the life I've had here. I didn't want to knock on somebody's door and say surprise! I don't know what happened or why it happened. End of story," he said.
"They have their lives and if they made a mistake I don't want to smack them in the face and say ha ha. If they want to contact me I have no animosity. I'm not mad about what happened. I don't know what my life in Ireland would have been like if I'd stayed there."
A year after he got married in 1979, Gooth took his new wife to visit the orphanage in Dublin.
"It was the same deal. I knocked on the door and the nuns were very hospitable to us. They showed us were I was baptized. They gave us a tour. Then four years ago I returned with my two sons, but it was gone."
The building had been knocked down and replaced by condominiums in 1985, he discovered.
"They had problems there after I left with the abuse of kids," says Gooth. "It was one of the reasons it was knocked down. I have no idea about it, so I can't comment."
Meanwhile, reconnecting with Noreen after 63 years was an unexpected delight, he says.
"I emailed her right away and we corresponded back and forth. She told me she had prayed every day for us from the day she left in 1950. She was in her early twenties then and it was her first trip to the United States. Her first time on a plane. With all these kids in tow."
Note: the original 1950 news reports refer to the six Irish children as orphans. The reality was more complex, however. Their parents were alive and in most cases the mother had (often through coercion) signed away all legal claims to her offspring, which in a technical sense did turn them into orphans.
Read more: Groundbreaking novel shares pain and secrets of Ireland's mother and baby homes]]>
Farrell says his youngest – older son James is 13 – is hearing about the presidential race, and not liking what's coming out of Trump's camp. And grabbing pu***? Colin had a hard time splainin' that locker room line away.
"Now he can't stand Trump because I've had to explain to him why Trump keeps on being mean to kittens," Farrell told Ellen DeGeneres on her show last week. "He just keeps grabbing those kittens!"
Farrell has started promo duties for JK Rowling's new film Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them which opens next month. He co-stars, and it's sure to be a monster hit. Last week he linked up for a fan event with fellow co-star Jon Voight, a big Trump supporter who would clearly have differences of opinion with young Henry Farrell.]]>
The famous playwright and author stands to have his criminal record wiped clean as part of a new initiative announced by the UK Department of Justice that will pardon those who were once convicted of sexual offenses that are no longer illegal. UK Justice Minister Sam Gyimah announced that a clause would be introduced to the policing and crime bill to allow for the pardon of some 59,000 deceased men found guilty of these now outdated crimes.
Consensual sexual acts between men over the age of 21 were not decriminalized in England and Wales until 1967, not being applied in Scotland until 1980 or Northern Ireland until 1982.
In a symbolic gesture, however, the Department announced Thursday that if a historical homosexual crime is no longer illegal in the UK and involved a consensual sexual act with another over the age of 16, the crime will now be deemed posthumously pardoned.
No individual case or name will be singled out, but Wilde's is one of the best known. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor in Reading prison after his 1895 conviction for gross indecency. The evidence brought against him included that of him procuring male prostitutes.
Read more: Prison where Oscar Wilde was locked up now houses tribute in his honor
"It is hugely important that we pardon people convicted of historical sexual offenses who would be innocent of any crime today," Gyimah said.
"Through pardons and the existing disregard process, we will meet our manifesto commitment to put right these wrongs."
The announcement comes three years after famous English computer scientist Alan Turing was posthumously pardoned by the Queen for his conviction of gross indecency. Turing, who succeeded in breaking Nazi German codes during World War II, killed himself by taking cyanide in 1954 aged 41, two years after his gross indecency conviction which was related to homosexual acts.
In 2012, British Liberal Democratic politician Lord Sharkey moved to allow those convicted of the obsolete crimes who were still living to have their convictions disregarded. Up to 75,000 men had faced a gross indecency conviction until the laws were repealed. Sharkey's amendment to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 allowed the 16,000 still living the right to apply to have their convictions disregarded.
The new clause would follow on from Lord Sharkey's amendment, whereas individual cases are reassessed for those still living, a blanket pardon will be implemented for those who died.
"This is a momentous day for thousands of families up and down the UK who have been campaigning on this issue for decades," Sharkey said
"I am very grateful for the government's support and the support of many of my colleagues in parliament."
"We welcome the government announcement to issue a posthumous pardon to all gay and bi men unjustly prosecuted for being who they are, but we don't think it goes far enough," stated Paul Twocock, director of campaigns at Stonewall, a gay rights organization.
The organization would prefer a bill proposed by Scottish National Party MP Jack Nicholson, however, which will be debated in British parliament later this week.
"John Nicolson MP's proposed bill closes a loophole that means some gay and bi men who are still alive and living with those convictions still can't have them deleted, despite them being unjust and not illegal today. We urge the government to look at bringing this into their proposal," continued Twocock.
The government has refused to support the bill with fears it will be used to pardon those who are still guilty of crimes such as sex with a minor and non-consensual sexual activity.
"We also don't agree with the government's interpretation of John Nicolson MP's bill – it explicitly excludes pardoning anyone convicted of offenses that would still be illegal today, including non-consensual sex and sex with someone under 16," Twocock said.
Read more: Top ten amazing facts about Irish legend Oscar Wilde
Just 15 weeks after the debut of "The Importance of Being Earnest," Oscar Wilde found himself in Reading Prison on charges of homosexual acts. The imprisonment was a massive turning point in his life and the culmination of a feud with his lover's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, whom he had sued for libel after the Marquess publicly accused him of sodomy. Confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, Wilde would live just three years after his release, dying from cerebral meningitis in November 1900 at 46 years of age.
Same-sex sexual activity was not decriminalized in the Republic of Ireland until 1993 after a 1988 ruling stated Irish laws prohibiting male homosexual activities were in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.]]>
I just learned that Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has said "Adios" to Donald Trump.
As Trump's poll numbers continue to collapse the bookmaker decided to pay off on Clinton, referring to her as a "nailed-on certainty to occupy the Oval Office." They have already paid out more than $1 million in bets placed on Clinton.
Back in September, I went all out and foolishly bet €1 on a Trump victory at the Paddy Power's on Wexford Street in Dublin which I documented on IrishCentral.
"[GOP nominee Donald] Trump gave it a hell of a shot going from a rank outsider to the Republican candidate, but the recent flood of revelations have halted his momentum and his chances now look as patchy as his tan," said Féilim Mac An Iomaire, a company spokesman. "Recent betting trends have shown one-way traffic for Hillary and punters seemed to have called it 100% correct. Despite Trump's 'Make America Great Again' message appealing to many disillusioned voters, it looks as though America are going to put a woman in the White House."
Paddy Power has followed this formula before, paying out early on President Obama's reelection victory in 2012, Tiger Woods' not winning the PGA Championship in 2009, and falsely calling Manchester United the winner of the English Premier League in 2013.
But there may be a flicker of hope for my lonely €1 bet. "Should Trump upset the odds and become 45th President," Paddy Power announced, "it will trigger the biggest political payout in bookmaking history and leave Paddy Power with some very expensive pie on its face."
As for me and my €1 bet? I have the feeling that the system was rigged against me.
Dermot McEvoy is the author of the "The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising" and "Our Lady of Greenwich Village," now available in paperback from Skyhorse Publishing. He may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him at www.dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook.]]>
One thing I like to do for fun on Halloween, and you can try this too, is before bobbing for apples at your local Halloween carnival or at a friend's party, fill your mouth brimming full with ketchup. When underwater, discharge the goo, then frantically jerk your head up out of the water screaming, "Razor! Razor!"
In keeping with my tradition of telling scary stories for Halloween, here are a couple of spooky tales. Most of these are complete rubbish but you can put in a few names of people you know and it makes them a little bit more realistic. To those that spook easily, remember, these are not real events that have happened ... Or are they?
*Makes a sound like a crazed person laughing ... Muhhhuaahhah!*
Man's Best Friend
A young lady is alone in her apartment in Queens. She goes to bed with her dog on the floor beside her.
In the middle of the night, she is woken up by a strange sound. She is alarmed but reaches down to the dog, which licks her hand. She is reassured and goes back to sleep.
In the morning, she finds the dog hung in the shower. Where the dog slept, she picks up a note which reads: "Humans can lick too ..."
Blind Man's Buff
In Berlin after World War II, money was short, supplies were tight, and it seemed like everyone was hungry.
At that time, people were telling the tale of a young woman who saw a blind man picking his way through a crowd. The two started to talk. The man asked her for a favor: Could she deliver a letter to the address on the envelope?
Well, it was on her way home, so she agreed. She had started out to deliver the message when she turned around to see if there was anything else the blind man needed but she spotted him hurrying through the crowd without his smoked glasses or white cane.
She went to the police, who raided the address on the envelope, where they found heaps of human flesh for sale.
And what was in the envelope?
A note saying, "This is the last one I am sending you today."
Now that I've scared you a little, let's get on with the cooking! These two recipes are easy to make and look great. You can give them out to the kids on the block who are trick or treating.
Brittle Meringue Bones
Makes 4 to 5 dozen small, finger-sized bones.
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 200F. Line a cookie sheet with brown paper bag or parchment. In a medium-sized bowl at high speed, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt till fluffy.
Gradually beat in sugar. Add vanilla.
Place in pastry bag fitted with a medium, plain piping tip. Pipe 3" bone shapes onto parchment or brown paper bag.
Bake 1 hour until set. Turn off oven, dry in the oven for one hour.
Be sure to store in airtight containers or they will become soggy.
Carrot "Fingers"
I need to do something healthy for the children before they stuff themselves with all that candy!
Your favorite vegetable dip
4 long carrots
1 medium carrot
2 tbsp softened cream cheese
5 sliced-almonds
5 baby carrots
To prepare them, just fill a serving bowl with your favorite vegetable dip.
Wash and peel 4 long carrots for fingers and 1 medium carrot for a thumb.
With a paring knife (a parent's job), cut a flat, shallow notch in the tip of each carrot. Then use a dab of dip or softened cream cheese to glue a sliced-almond fingernail atop each notch.
Stick the fingers in the dip and serve with plenty of peeled baby carrots for dipping.
Scare you later,
Chef Gilligan
Read more spooky stories on our featured Halloween page - everything from history, recipes, costume ideas and ghoulish tales
* Originally published in 2010.]]>
As the full scope of the Brexit consequences unfold, the spotlight is growing on the island of Ireland, where, since the Good Friday Agreement and the Peace Process, Ireland and Northern Ireland have shared an open border. In the past decade, Ireland's tech industry has blossomed, as has Northern Ireland's, and the consequences of Brexit and a hard border could be massive when it comes to the flow of data and information, as well as data protection.
An upcoming panel hosted by Co-Operation Ireland, the all-island peace-building charity founded in 1979, will focus specifically on the implications of Brexit on the business sector and technology policy.
The "Brexit, Tech & the Two Irelands" panel will take place in Washington DC on Thursday, October 27, at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), with support from Moet Hennessy.
Hosted by CDT CEO Nuala O'Connor, a member of the board of Co-Operation Ireland, the panel will include Drew O'Brien, executive vice president of global partnerships at Weber Shandwick and former special representative for global partnerships for Secretary Kerry, and Frankie Cronin, senior manager within Grant Thornton LLP's Financial Services Advisory practice, as well as experts in tech policy.
For more panel details or to book your free ticket, visit the event page here.
For further information about Co-Operation Ireland, visit their website here.]]>
There was just one exception, where the atmosphere was just as intense. At DCU Alpha, Dublin City University's aptly named innovation campus, over 50 engineers, designers, pharmaceutical experts, and entrepreneurs were intently focused, preparing to present to judges their solutions to some of Ireland's largest healthcare problems. It was the culmination of 3 long days at the Biopharma Ambition Health Hackathon.
The hackathon was part of the BioAmbition Conference, an international biopharmaceutical gathering to showcase innovation in healthcare. Ireland, as home to 9 of the 10 world's largest pharmaceutical companies, was the obvious host. The inclusion of a hackathon and the decision to involve me and my colleagues at MIT Hacking Medicine is proof positive of Ireland's commitment to innovation.
It's demo time at #BioAmbition16, as judges get to examine what the teams have been hacking this weekend !! pic.twitter.com/HPTofXhSCP— MIT Hacking Medicine (@mithackmed) September 18, 2016
Over the last 5 years, we have come to specialize in running healthcare themed hackathons with the goal of energizing healthcare entrepreneurship to solve global health problems.
From our perspective, the Biopharma Ambition Hackathon is a great example of collaboration. As our co-director Khalil Ramadi, one of four MIT representatives, noted: "It was amazing to see the extent to which different players in the healthcare space came together and collaborated for the hackathon. Such collaboration is rare yet critical in growing and developing the ideas that come out of these events."
This level of collaboration is especially crucial when the quality of the resulting pitches are as high as those at the Biopharma Ambition Hackathon in Dublin. In just 48 hours, the participants went from pitching problems and meeting potential teammates to presenting healthcare solutions that were not only viable but that had fully developed business models. The 9 teams tackled problems ranging from bed management and medical tourism to the spread of illness through hospitals due to the lack of handwashing by medical practitioners.
And now at #BioAmbition16 #hackathon, the mentors are in the house and sharing words of wisdom/advice with the teams pic.twitter.com/0nyK1nTEhH— MIT Hacking Medicine (@mithackmed) September 17, 2016
Coming from the United States, it was fascinating to observe the Irish healthcare system through the eyes of such high caliber teams. Ned McCague, a senior MIT HackMed member, has helped judges deliberate over a dozen hackathons, and he marveled that he has never seen so many teams be brought up as potential prize recipients. Normally, judges cluster their discussions around 3-4 teams out of 15. In the case of the BioAmbition Hackathon, 6 out of just 9 teams were considered.
In the end, only 3 teams could win the €6000 worth of prizes. 3R Creative Minds came first, with a post-stroke recovery and rehabilitation platform. Safe-Hands, a smart hand sanitizing system came second and Sun, Sea & Surgery, a pan-European bed shortage solution came third. However, all of the teams were excellent examples of the power of hackathons and other events that allow healthcare professionals and lay people to collaborate and innovate within the healthcare ecosystem.
There's a great buzz going at #BioAmbition16 #hackathon, as teams continue working on their ideas with mentors. pic.twitter.com/ezt6tCwXas— MIT Hacking Medicine (@mithackmed) September 17, 2016
Problems in health care are ubiquitous, and it is only with a diversity of perspectives that true innovation can occur to solve these problems. We look forward to seeing the amazing things the teams of the BioAmbition Hackathon are able to accomplish moving forward.
The BioAmbition Health Hackathon was organized by the BioPharmaChem Ireland (BPCI), The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA), the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), and coordinated by DCU Alpha and MIT Hacking Medicine.
* This article first appeared in The Dublin Globe. For more great stories on Dublin's startup ecosystem, visit their website.]]>
Halloween was originally a pagan festival called "Samhain," meaning "end of summer." The Celts believed that on the eve of Halloween dead spirits would visit the mortal world. They lit bonfires to keep evil spirits away and dressed in disguises.
Although our Halloween is less about dead spirits and more about having fun and dressing up, there are some traditional aspects of an Irish Halloween that we have kept going.
Here's list of some ancient, and some more recent, traditions from Ireland that have stuck over the years:
Samhain was seen as the end of summer but also the beginning of another year. It was also the one day of the year when spirits could walk the earth. The community would gather together and light huge fires to ward off bad fortune for the coming year and any evil spirits.
Some believe that people extinguished their fires in the hearth at home before they left and would reignite them using an ember from the bonfire, for good luck. The day after the bonfire the ashes were spread across the fields to further ward off bad luck for the farmers for the coming year.
It was also traditionally believed that the bonfire encouraged dreams especially of your future husband or wife. It was said that if you drop a cutting of your hair into the embers of the fire the identity of your first husband would be revealed.
There are two schools of thought on why the Irish carried Jack-o-lantern. One is that the tradition is an ancient Celtic tradition. In order to carry home an ember from the communal bonfire the people would hollow out a turnip so they could walk home with the fire still burning.
The other version is a little more spooky. The other story is that Jack-o-lanterns date back to the 18th century. It is named after an Irish blacksmith, called Jack, who colluded with the Devil and was denied entry into Heaven. Jack was condemned to walk the earth for eternity but asked the Devill for some light. He was given a burning coal which burnt into a turnip that he had hollowed out. Some Irish believe that hanging a lantern in their front window would keep Jack's wandering soul away.
When the Scot-Irish emigrated to America in they adapted the tradition and used a pumpkin instead as it is more difficult to find turnips.
The community would gather around the bonfire and may would be dressed up in elaborate animal skins and heads.
The idea was that the evil spirits would be scared off by the fires. Then if the spirits happened to be wandering the earth and bumped into one of the Celts they might they were spirits themselves, because of their disguises, and let them go free. This is where our tradition of dressing up comes from.
Trick or treat originated centuries ago. In Ireland the poor would go from door to door at rich peoples homes and ask for food, kindling or money. They would then use what they collected for their celebrations on Halloween.
(Pronounced kohl cannon)
This is the traditional dinner to have on Halloween night before you head out for an evening of fun and mischief. It is a simple dish made with boiled potatoes, curly kale (a type of cabbage) and raw onions.
Traditionally coins were wrapped in pieces of cleans paper and slipped into children's colcannon for them to find and keep. Sometimes people also hide a ring in the colcannon. Whoever finds the ring will be married within the year.
Serves 4
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 tbsp. milk or unsweetened/plain soy milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 cups chopped cabbage or kale
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped onions or green onions
Cook potatoes in a pot of boiling water until tender. Drain, reserving water.
Place the hot potatoes in a large bowl.
Add chopped cabbage to the reserved potato water. Cook 6-8 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter or margarine.
When they are cool enough to handle, mash potates with a hand masher or fork. Add the fried onions and cabbage.
Add milk, salt and pepper and beat until fluffy.
(From the Irish name Bairín Breac)
This is a traditional Irish Halloween cake which essentially a sweet bread with fruit through it as well as some other treats.
Shop-bought barnbracks still contain and ring but if you make it at home and add your own treats it's even more fun. Each member of the family gets a slice and each prize has different meaning.
The rag – your financial future is doubtful
The coin – you will have a prosperous year
The ring – impending romance or continued happiness
The thimble – you'll never marry
2 1/2 cups chopped dried mixed fruit
1 1/2 cups hot brewed tea
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon marmalade
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Soak the dried fruit in the hot tea for 2 hours, then drain and gently squeeze out excess tea.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch Bundt pan. Stir together the flour cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda; set aside.
Beat the egg, sugar, marmalade, orange zest, and tea-soaked fruit until well combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined, then pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Press the objects of choice into the cake through the bottom before serving.
There are many games that are played on Halloween night and snap apple or bobbing for apples is one of them.
An apple is suspended from a string and the children are blindfolded and their arms tied behind their backs. The first child to get a decent bit of the apple gets a prize. Bobbing for apples is when some apples are dropped into a basin of water and the children have to go in head first and try to get a bite.
The apples are associated with love and fertility. It is said that whoever gets the first bite will be first to marry. It was also thought that if the girls put the apple they bit, while bobbing, under their pillow that night, they would dream of their future lover.
This old game was particularly popular in County Meath.
A pile of ash was put down in the shape of a cone with a piece of wood sticking out of the top. Then each player takes turns trying to digger the largest amount of ash without the pile collapsing.
All the while competitors chant:
"Shave the poor Friar to make him a liar;
Cut off his beard to make him afeard;
If the Friar will fall, my poor back pays for all!"
Blind folded local girls would go out into the field and pull up the first cabbage they stumbled upon. If the cabbage had a lot of clay attached to the roots their future lover would have money. If the girl ate the cabbage the nature of their future husband would be revealed, bitter or sweet.
As we all know fairies and goblin collect souls as the trawl the earth on Halloween night….what you didn't know! The story goes that if you threw dust from under your feet at the fairy they would release any souls they kept captive. However over the years this legend was changed.
Farm animals would be anointed with holy water to keep them safe through the night. If animals showed ill health on Halloween they would be spat at to try to ward off the evil spirits.
Happy Halloween! We hope you'll try out one of these fun Irish traditions. If you know any others, share them in the comment section, below.]]>
That honor goes to Michelle Obama, whose demolition of Donald Trump and his blatant sexism and lack of fitness for the office she highlighted so superbly.
Here are some of Michele's inspiring words delivered in New Hampshire about Trump's sexual innuendos and actions.
"The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for President of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.
"And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted. So while I'd love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous of me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream."
Michelle Obama can distill to the very essence the most important part of the argument.
Her speech here like her stemwinder at the Democratic convention was clear, direct and devoid of jargon.
If Hillary orated like that she'd be twenty points ahead.
Read more: Why Donald Trump just can't understand about how to treat women
As it was, women loved the speech landing Trump in even deeper trouble with the female vote.
All of which leads to the inevitable question: does Michelle Obama have a political future?
I think the answer is a resounding yes.
Michelle Obama looks like a million bucks at her final state dinner as FLOTUShttps://t.co/pBp3T51UZv pic.twitter.com/FwCRThTbWO— Jezebel (@Jezebel) October 19, 2016
Forget the protestations that Michelle and Barack Obama can't wait to leave the White House. They may well be as ambitious as Hillary Clinton and Bill were.
Consider this scenario as outlined to me by a leading Chicago political operator:
"Barack intends to make money, lots of it," said the source. He will cash in for about two years. He leaves a highly popular president and perhaps the greatest writer of his political generation. He will raise enough money for a run by his wife if she wants to."
Race, gender and the legacy Michelle Obama will leave behind https://t.co/h5mk9OtUTG pic.twitter.com/szGlllLc7M— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) October 15, 2016
Meanwhile, back in Chicago, Senator Dick Durbin will likely run for governor in 2020 or retire (he'll be 75) leaving open an Illinois seat in the US Senate seat.
Hello Michelle Obama. She will be 56 and have a world of political experience behind her and would be a shoo-in a senate race
Does this sound familiar? Oh and the Clinton two term presidency would be up in 2024.
How ironic it would be after having an African American president followed by a woman we were suddenly looking at a African American woman president. Now that would be historic.
Read more: New tabloid level low in American presidential campaign politics]]>
On the surface, there was no reason to suspect the soft-spoken Cork man of being anything more than your average civil servant. He worked as a clerk in the Land Commission, played handball, went to mass and lived quietly with his wife and children in Dublin.
However, underneath the veneer of mediocrity, Francis Xavier Coghlan became such a force within the republican movement that the Royal Irish Constabulary spared no effort to hunt him down, only to be outwitted every time.
"They raided the house so often, he dug a tunnel under the bath, about the size of a coffin, and would climb in there while the Black and Tans and auxiliaries combed the place," says his grandson Gareth Coghlan, who now shares the family home in Rathfarnham with his mother Éilís, seventy-nine, and uncle Dermot, seventy-eight.
"Once they camped out in the garden waiting for him to appear, and it's said he stayed for nine days in that hiding hole until they gave up and left.
"This went on for about three years from 1918. Sometimes he stayed in safe houses around the city. They treated his family very badly, putting his wife and children out on the streets for hours while they ransacked the house. It was a pretty awful existence, but he put it down to the 'impunities of being in the movement.'"
Born in Sheep's Head in west Cork, FX joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and was in F Company First Battalion during the Rising, fighting on Church Street and moving towards the Four Courts towards the end of the week. Deported to Stafford prison, he was released the following June and took a job with the Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependents' Fund.
The brainchild of Tom Clarke, who was shot along with James Connolly and Patrick Pearse on the first day of executions in May 1916, the fund was set up by Clarke's widow Kathleen to help the families of those who'd played their part in the Rising to help pay for food, clothes, education and so on. Michael Collins was Secretary of the organisation for fifteen months, and FX was Chief Clerk.
"They brought in staggering amounts of money – £50 here, £100 there," says Gareth. "There was one donation of £7,000 from the Irish Emigrants Society. Altogether, they raised between £100,000 and £150,000."
After eighteen months he moved to New Ireland Assurance, which was set up in 1918 in an effort to keep money in the country. He was one of the first agents called on to collect premiums door-to-door.
"This gave him freedom to gather and deliver information for the movement," says Gareth.
Read More: Papers and photographs of Tom Clarke and James Connolly now online (PHOTOS)
The same year he was elected leader of the Rathfarnham branch of the Irish Republican Army. Todd Andrews, then aged eighteen to FX's thirty-two, mentioned the fact in his memoir, "Dublin Made Me."
"We got a new company captain," Andrews wrote, "an oldish man from Co. Cork called FX Coghlan. Of medium build with a striking face, he spoke quietly in his soft Cork accent. He has no ambitions for glory, possessions or power and is quite unwar-like."
"That was the thing with my grandfather," says Gareth. "The fact he is a forgotten hero is largely due to himself. He shied away from publicity, yet he was a very influential man at the time. He was a socialist in his own way, one who didn't believe in owning property, and he treated everybody with respect.
"After all the excitement of the Rising, he worked doggedly to help people who had been part of it. He wrote countless letters on behalf of families who had fallen on hard times, trying to get them work. And he didn't do it lightly – he went out and interviewed those people, to find out more about them, what they were good at, and then wrote to his old colleagues like Todd Andrews, who went on to found Bord na Mona, and Joe McGrath of the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes, recommending them for specific jobs."
FX served as Company Commanding Officer during the War of Independence with the Irish Volunteers and IRA, and rose through the ranks to become 4th Battalion Commanding Officer of the pro-Treaty IRA from March 1922 during the Truce Period, and Commandant in the National Army to the end of the Civil War. He left the Defence Forces in 1924 at the rank of Commandant and returned to work for the Land Commission.
When his first wife, with whom he had six children, died from TB in 1927, he later he married his boss, who was forced to retire due to the marriage bar in place at the time. They went on to have five children, of whom Gareth's mother is the second youngest.
"For me, the Easter Rising was a bloody protest," says Gareth. "Ultimately, if its aim was to overthrow the British, it never had any real hope of succeeding, but what it really achieved was to raise consciousness that a life outside of British rule was possible.
"The message was clear – we could run this country ourselves, make our own mistakes, and do things our way. For that reason alone, the Rising was a momentous occasion and I couldn't be happier at giving Grandad's medals an airing at the centenary commemorations."
From "My 1916: What the Easter Rising Means to Me," available on Amazon © Celine Naughton 2016
Celine Naughton is an Irish journalist and author. Her latest book, "My 1916," a collection of personal stories about the Easter Rising, and her novel, "Sink to Slumber," are available online. Her short story, "Dreams of Flying," was shortlisted for the 2016 Hennessy New Irish Writing Awards. She may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on www.celinenaughton.com, on twitter @NaughtonCeline, or on Facebook.]]>
Back in 1995, I took my daughter out trick-or-treating for the first time and it was something of an eye-opener for me. We went to five or six houses and two handed her the traditional Irish Halloween treats: an apple and some nuts. The other houses had nothing.
Apples or nuts, that was the tradition here. Kids who rang the bell didn't say, "Trick or treat," they asked, "Any apples or nuts?" (The nuts are called 'monkey nuts' and are peanuts in their shells. They are strangely unpleasant compared with the peanuts you get in America.)
There wasn't much of a tradition of dressing up, either. Some kids might have thrown on something that their mother or father owned, but that was about it. Mostly what you had was youngsters with fireworks. And bonfires.
Everywhere you went in the weeks before Halloween you'd see piles of garbage - empty boxes, mattresses, couches, loads of empty pallets, even car tires (Uggh) – waiting for the big night when the bonfire was lit. There are still bonfires, but nowhere near as many as there used to be and they seem to be better controlled as to what can be added to it (no tires). Too disgusting, too many injuries, and too much clean-up afterward for much of modern Ireland, which has mostly turned its back on this tradition and I don't miss it at all.
The bonfires are gone (or going, anyway), but not the fireworks. The fireworks seem to be more extensive nowadays with a lot of fathers involved in putting on their amateur displays (bottle rockets and roman candles mostly). I could live without it.
Read more: Original Irish Jack-o-Lanterns were truly terrifying and made of turnips
The biggest change in Halloween is not the demise of the bonfire or the growth of the macho father fireworks shows, but the Americanization of the day. As Frank McNally put it in a column for the Irish Times a few years back, Ireland may have invented Halloween, but then "we exported the cheap raw materials for the festival, lacking the inclination or wherewithal to process them ourselves. Then the Yanks developed the ingredients into a more sophisticated product, with slick packaging, and exported it back to us at a large markup."
Which is true. Ireland now has a version of the Halloween I remember as a kid. Decorations on the windows, pumpkins carved out as jack-o-lanterns and kids in costumes – generally store-bought – going door-to-door collecting chocolate bars and other candy. Apples and other fruits are frowned upon, as are the dreaded monkey nuts.
The whole adult Halloween thing has even caught on here, too, although that's always struck me as kind of creepy. Halloween was, and should be, for kids.
So, we have an American Halloween in Ireland now, although as of yet we don't have the religious, political, excessively child-protective objections to the day that seem to have ruined it for kids in towns across America. Not yet, but I expect to start hearing that stuff any day now.
Happy Halloween!
Read more: Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns you have to see to believe (PHOTOS)
* Originally published in October 2009.]]>
Lincoln's subsequent Gettysburg address delineated what was at stake. The young Republic was "four score and seven years" in existence, democracy still an untried proposition in much of the world. If the rebels had succeeded democracy would have gone down with the Union banners. The British were likely ready to recognize the south. The stakes were that high.
Leading the Union Army was General George Meade, an Irish Catholic blocked for promotion several times by Know Nothings within the Union Army. His cool handling and unflappable demeanor served his men and the Union well over the three days.
Understandably, the author's writing is intense and concentrated. Tucker's 375 pages are almost entirely devoted to what happened across a square mile patch of Pennsylvania farmland on July 3 where the shape of a nation was decided.
Controversially, Tucker sets out to quash two myths that have fueled Civil War debate for 150 years. The first of these is that Pickett's Charge was an ill-considered roll of the dice by general Robert E. Lee, culminating in the needless slaughter of thousands. Only 5,000 of the 12,500 men who charged survived.
The second myth is that Pickett's Charge, like the broader Confederate war effort, was Anglo-Saxon in its leadership and execution. For the next century, this was to be a pillar of Southern white protestant identity, the narrative of "the Lost Cause."
Throughout his book, Tucker introduces us to the Irish-born and the sons of the Irish-born fighting in the Confederate ranks. While we're familiar with the "Scots-Irish" who had made their home in the Southern States over the prior century, Tucker estimates that 40,000 Irish immigrants, Protestant and Catholic alike, fought for the Confederacy.
Many of the Irish, such as the St. Louis regiments, were fighting not for slavery but for their right to their own religion after their churches were attacked by Know Nothing elements in the Union ranks and their priests banished.
The Irish, both the immigrants and their descendants, were the largest ethnic grouping within Lee's army at Gettysburg, with every Southern State represented by Irish units such as the Emerald Guards, Emmet Guards and O'Connell Guards, all of whom lined up to charge the Union lines along Cemetery Ridge on the morning of July 3.
A seam that runs through Tucker's book is the extraordinary odyssey of the Mitchel family. The book briefly recaps Irish rebel John Mitchel's transportation to Australia, his escape and American re-birth. Mitchel, who was viscerally pro-slavery, eventually settled in Richmond. Three of his sons fought for the South. The death of 17-year-old Willie, Mitchel's youngest son who was color-bearer for the 1st Virginia, during Pickett's Charge is vividly described by Tucker.
Tucker also portrays many of the Irish men and Irish units in the Union Army at Gettysburg, most notably the 69th Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia regiment, which had already survived a brutal Confederate assault on July 2. The stakes got higher the next day. As fate would have it, the 69th, led by Derry-born Colonel Dennis O'Kane, was ordered to defend critical terrain on Cemetery Ridge – known ever since to Gettysburg history buffs as the "copse of trees" and the adjoining "Angle." It was to be the fulcrum of the battle.
Read More: 149 years later, Civil War letters found in an attic reveal an Irish immigrant's life (PHOTOS)
Lee had estimated that a focused attack on this point in the Union line would give the Confederate attackers an 8:1 numerical advantage. After surviving the most ferocious artillery barrage of the war, these Philadelphia Irish-born soldiers, defending their own Pennsylvania soil, were to engage in vicious hand-to-hand combat, eventually stopping and turning the Confederates at the point of their greatest advance up Cemetery Hill.
They stood alone. The 59th regiment from New York broke and ran while the 71st Pennsylvania did as well. The Irish stayed, as noted by one writer, "The Irishmen of the 69th Pennsylvania resisted fiercely in a melee of rifle fire, bayonets, and fists. The Irish held.
Their place of victory has been referred to ever since by historians as the "High-Water mark of the Confederacy." Victory came at a price – over the course of July 2nd and 3rd, the 69th had lost its commander, almost all of its officers and 143 out of 258 men.
Over the days of savage fighting that saw 51,000 casualties, America's deadliest battle had several what-might-have-been moments, but Lee's final gambit, Pickett's Charge, has taken on a mythical quality of its own. Scholars have argued for 150 years about what would have happened next if Pickett's Charge had broken through and Lee had won at Gettysburg.
He would then have had a relatively unobstructed run towards the 69th's home town of Philadelphia, just 120 miles to the East. He could also have wheeled towards Washington, just 80 miles to the south.
More broadly, it would emerge subsequently that the British government had been close to formally recognizing the Confederacy on the eve of Gettysburg, and decided against this upon learning of the outcome. A Gettysburg defeat would have made it practically impossible for Lincoln to withstand the mounting pressure to engage in peace talks with the Confederacy, thus cementing secession. This would also have severely damaged his chances of being re-elected in 1864.
The battle between Irish units on Cemetery Hill may be one of the strangest chapters of the Irish story in America. Irish immigrants advancing through brutal shelling and chaos, and then seeing, through the smoke, green unit flags virtually identical to their own, carried by men shouting eerily familiar phrases. "Fag an Bealach" clear the way resounded on both sides. The role of the Irish on both sides has now been acknowledged, Tucker has restored a vital part of our history in America. As for America, the new nation "conceived in liberty" and consecrated on the bloody field of Gettysburg would stand forever.
* Adrian Jones, a native of Roscommon, lives in New Jersey. He served in the Irish Army from 1981-89.]]>
It was not because they were reluctant to go on the trip, or were in any way unhappy to visit their ancestral home, but because in their possession was just one-half of a heart-shaped pendant Bill had presented to Laurie some 26 years earlier. The other half? At that moment in time, buried in a cemetery in Co. Cork.
In 1990, when Laurie was 29-years-old, she was embarking on a trip to Ireland with two close friends and leaving behind her then-boyfriend Bill. Unwilling to see her leave without having a token to remember him by, Bill gifted Laurie a two-part heart-shaped necklace inscribed with the words "Best Friends," encouraging her to keep one half for herself, and to bury the other half some place in Ireland where they would return as a couple to find it in the future.
"Let me give her something we could still look forward to when we go back," he recalled to The New London Day in a recent interview.
Read more: Irish seniors together for decades talk about love (VIDEO)
After passing on burying the half-necklace at the Cliffs of Moher for fear that erosion would cause it to disappear, and also saying 'no' to Blarney Castle where constant gardening work could unearth it from its hiding place, Laurie was running out of options, as the end of her trip drew ever closer.
Fearing she would lose her opportunity, the group eventually came to a beautiful old church and cemetery in Castletownroche in Cork and, with just a spoon, Laurie enclosed the half a heart in a box and buried it three or four inches below the ground, along with a love letter to Bill.
The couple, who married a year after Laurie's trip and now have four children and four grandchildren, felt their 25th anniversary was the right the time to reunite the two halves of the heart.
With the help of old photographs, GPS, and some local librarians, the McGraths relocated the cemetery in question and, with bated breath, began the search for the necklace. Just 40 minutes later, again with the help of a trusty spoon, they came across the best anniversary present they could wish for. The love letter and cardboard box had not stood the test of time, but there, wrapped in the plastic bag, was the other half of their heart still sparkling.
"It's got to be here because we took two days in that spot just to make sure we were going to find it. We would've dug everything in the cemetery," Bill told NBC Connecticut.
Read more: Ireland's very own Valentine had the healing gift of touch
Unfortunately for the couple, the half of the necklace in their house is proving more difficult to locate than the one buried in the Earth. They're not letting that ruin the beauty of their rediscovery, however.
"Too much in love still after all these years," Bill continued.
Millions of men and women here in Ireland and across the globe are, finally, starting to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the chances of a Trump presidency fade. It is very likely that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States.
But the reality is that the Electoral College math and a number of other factors always meant that it would be extremely difficult for any Republican candidate to prevail in 2016.
In order to have a chance at retaking the White House, the GOP must make some complex strategic decisions in the years to come. In short, the party needs to build bridges with Hispanics, African Americans and young people, while simultaneously holding onto the votes of the so-called "angry white males" and others who are its most steadfast supporters. That will be a herculean task.
There will be no shortage of thought pieces on the quandary facing Republicans after the election. In the shorter term, however, one more presidential debate remains – tonight. It will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News and will feature six topics: debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and fitness to be president.
Trump will doubtless argue for lower levels of spending on the first topic and again reference "extreme vetting" on the second. On the others, if I were given the all but impossible job of preparing him, following are the sound bytes that I would urge him to lead with and keep coming back to.
"I've traveled throughout this great country for the past year and a half and met some wonderful people. Some of the best people I've come across have been in states that the elites on the coasts rather disparagingly say are part of the 'rust belt' or of the 'deep South.' To me, these states are the heartland of America and these men and women are the citizens who made this country great. And they're hurting right now. They're hurting bad.
"Why? Because the good jobs in manufacturing they had are gone. The once-mighty industrial base in this country has been decimated. Some of it is due to factors beyond our control, but not all of it. Secretary Clinton – and so many other politicians who claim to care – sold millions of our people out with their support of "free" trade deals that accelerated the exodus of American jobs to Mexico, to India, to China, etc.
"They cannot deny it; their votes and comments are a matter of record. It's very sad to see the human toll of their decisions, which, I should add, have made a lot of people in the financial and business world very, very wealthy.
"You can bet that, as President, I will revisit existing trade deals, refuse to sign any more and will always put America and Americans – not the global economy and financiers – first."
Read more: As the mother of a daughter with a disability, I fear for a Trump presidency
Supreme Court:
"It might not be the first thing that a lot of you watching take into account when you're deciding who to vote for, but the Supreme Court is incredibly powerful and selecting a new Justice to serve on the Supreme Court is one the most important decisions a president can make. At this very moment, there are judges on the Supreme Court and other federal courts who don't apply the law as it's written, but how they wish it was written.
"And who are they to do that? Who elected them to make the law? I will only appoint judges who will apply the law as it is written and leave the lawmaking to our elected officials. Secretary Clinton has a very different view of what judges should and should not do. I think her view – and the view of other big-time liberals who like the idea of high-minded "wise men and women" deciding what the law says – is wrong. And it's undemocratic.
"I'd also say that the Supreme Court is dominated by people who went to Ivy League law schools, clerked for other federal judges or taught at Ivy League law schools and have spent their lives in places like Cambridge, Massachusetts and Manhattan. I know many highly intelligent, hugely capable lawyers who've had quite different careers and experiences of the law and know exactly how it impacts the lives of ordinary people. I'd consider some of them if and when vacancies on the Court arise, too."
Foreign hot spots:
"Before we get into talking about Aleppo or Russia or China or any of the other serious difficulties and conflicts confronting the world, let's have a discussion about the United States and what our country's vital national interests are, and what they aren't. Secretary Clinton and many of our other politicians, as well as a lot of think tanks and powerful advocates in Washington, DC, define our vital national interests as if the first word, vital, weren't there. They've endorsed military adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan and – despite the fact that both were total failures – they continue to think that the United States should be the world's policeman.
"I can tell you that most Americans, especially the countless military families I've met, disagree. So many of them, whose sons and daughters went off to the Middle East and came back, tragically, in caskets or with physical or emotional scars that might never fully heal, ask me why? They say, 'for what?' I don't have a good answer for them – and I know that Secretary Clinton doesn't either. I believe the safety of our people is our vital national interest – the safety both of those who protect us and of us lucky enough to have their protection. So that's how I will approach every situation in every hot spot around the world.
"I have many endorsements from generals and other high-ranking military personnel. They know I'm right. But the majority of the foreign policy establishment – academics, lobbyists, alleged experts – can't stand me. They say I'm too risky. I say look at what they and their "wisdom and expertise" have wrought upon the United States: failed interventions, loss of respect and a destabilised world.
"Again, they don't care because they're not their kids, nor mine, nor Secretary Clinton's who have been and will be the pawns in their global game. The pawns are millions of young men and women from hard-working families throughout this country who love it and want to serve it. I will never put them in harm's way unless it's absolutely necessary."
Fitness to be president: "I stand here in this final debate of a campaign that's gone on for a long time and I am still not a politician. I never intended to be a politician and never lived my life as if I would seek public office. I have definitely said and done some things in my life that I seriously regret, that no apology can fully be enough for. I've said some things in the course of this campaign that I regret.
"At times, I've gone too far and gotten too carried away. It's not a question of if I've offended people. The fact is that I have. And I am profoundly sorry for doing so. The fact is that I love this country and I love the people of this country. That's why I'm running for president. I want to do everything I can to help put it back on the right track. Unlike Secretary Clinton, I'm not going to try to tell you we're on the right track. We're not, and we have a lot of work to do to put things back together again. I know that, with your help, we can do it."
Populism is the dominant theme in each of these sound bytes. Trump's appeal has been built on it. When it comes to the role of America in the world and the future of the "American Dream," he has struck a chord with a substantial segment of the electorate and with people of varying belief systems and backgrounds.
Unlike the leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties, whose shared internationalist bent and relentless optimism suggest they are tone deaf and out of touch with the majority of men and women in the United States, Trump understands, at some level, that they're in a bad place right now. That's why he has exceeded all expectations in this race for the White House.
Trump won't win. But the millions attracted to his message – and many of those on the political left who were inspired by the more benign, yet not wholly dissimilar, vision articulated by Bernie Sanders – await more perfect candidates. No matter what happens on November 8, American politics will be different after 2016. "Americanism vs. Globalism" will likely be as much a dividing line as "left vs. right."
* Larry Donnelly is a Boston attorney, a Law Lecturer at NUI Galway and a political columnist with IrishCentral.com and TheJournal.ie.
Read more: Michelle Obama to make a run for top office after White House?]]>
That's if the candidates manage to stick to the script.
Both Trump and Clinton agree that America should admit legal immigrants.
Mr. Trump's wife, Melania, is herself an immigrant.
But the candidates diverge sharply, very sharply, on the way that the country should approach the presence of millions of undocumented and illegal men, women and children.
Trump's vision of a wall along the border with Mexico could not provide a more glaring contrast to Clinton's proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.
The two candidates are so far apart on the issue of undocumented and illegals that any semblance of a middle ground is unlikely to emerge in tonight's encounter in Las Vegas.
This, at least, will present voters with a clear cut choice.
With less than three weeks to go, Clinton's reform advocacy would appear to have the edge with a CBS tracking poll giving her a sustained seven point advantage over Trump on immigration.
Trump's focus has been almost entirely on deporting people and building the wall.
He's not going to back away from these positions at this juncture.
Indeed, his very first TV ad after his nomination as Republican candidate for the presidency was on immigration.
It targeted Hillary Clinton's immigration proposals with these words: "In Hillary Clinton's America, the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in. Illegal immigrants convicted of crimes get to stay, collecting social security benefits, skipping the line. Our border open."
"It's more of the same. But worse."
And then the line for Trump's America: "Donald Trump's America is secure. Terrorists and dangerous criminals: kept out. The border: secure. Our families: safe. Change that makes America safe again."
The Republican Party platform supports the southern border wall and states that "illegal immigration endangers everyone, exploits the taxpayers, and insults all who aspire to enter America legally.
It further states: "We oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by breaking the law, have disadvantaged those who have obeyed it."
"The executive amnesties of 2012 and 2014 are a direct violation of federal law and usurp the powers of Congress as outlined in Article 1 of the Constitution.
"These unlawful amnesties must be immediately rescinded by a Republican president.
"In a time of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified individuals in this country poses grave risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United States.
"Our highest priority, therefore, must be to secure our borders and all ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws."
For the undocumented Irish, the highest priority is simply to cling to a tenuous American life.
And as immigration rises again tonight as a border in its own right between America's two main parties, thousands of them, some living here since the Reagan years, will be shaking their heads.
It's a fair bet that they will be a good deal more receptive to Hillary's pro-reform stance.
But what chance such reform?
Comprehensive immigration reform has been a political staple for years.
It has marched right up to the finishing line more than once, only to stumble at the last moment.
Some of the biggest political names in national politics have been associated with the long running battle to have reform enshrined in law: Kennedy, McCain, Schumer among others.
Now Hillary Clinton.
The Democratic Party platform, which Hillary counts as her election manifesto, states that America needs comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.
And it further states that Hillary Clinton, as president, will:
Those executive actions, which would have a positive effect on the lives of an unknown number of undocumented Irish families, have a shuddered to a halt as a result of congressional hostility and court decisions.
There is no guarantee, of course, that even if Clinton wins on November 8 that she will be in a position to work with a Congress favorable to comprehensive reform.
Her party's platform allows for such a possibility when it states: "If Congress continues its refusal to act on comprehensive immigration reform, Hillary will put in place a simple, straightforward, accessible system for parents of DREAMers and others with a history of service and contribution to their communities to be able to make their case and be eligible for deferred action as well."
The undocumented Irish will be hoping, if for nothing else, that 2017 might see a lifting of the bars against returning to the U.S. should they travel back to Ireland.
The Democratic platform speaks to this issue when it pledges to end the three and ten year bars.
"Current immigration law forces families - especially those whose members have different citizenship or immigration statuses - into a heartbreaking dilemma: pursue a green card by leaving the country and your loved ones behind, or remain in the shadows. Hillary will call on Congress to repeal the 3 and 10-year bars to keep families together."
For the undocumented Irish "heartbreaking dilemma" is something of an understatement.
Given the difficulty of legally emigrating from Ireland to the U.S. since passage of the 1965 immigration reform act, returning to Ireland, for most, would not be a mission in pursuit of a green card.
Rather, it might be to attend a personal or family gathering: a marriage of a sibling or friend, the funeral of a loved one, a parent.
The undocumented Irish do not face the potential problem of a big wall keeping them out of America.
It's more a case of being legally walled-in right now.
This article first appeared in the Irish Echo. For more stories, visit their website here.]]>
Read More: The story of the last man to be executed in Ireland
Here are ten places in Ireland where public executions did take place at one time:
1. Market Square, Clonmel
At this site, William Smith O'Brien, found guilty for attempting to help incite a rebellion against the English with the Young Irelanders near Ballingarry, was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered in 1848. This was the last occasion such a sentence was handed down in Ireland, although Smith O'Brien's sentence was commuted to transportation for life.
2. Gallows Green, Limerick
This execution spot has a long history. It dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries when Catholic priests were hanged for their religious beliefs. Bishop Terence Albert O'Brien, for one, was hanged and beheaded here on October 30, 1651.
3. Gallows Hill, Kilkenny
This site was located within the county infirmary at the time. It became a spot for hanging in 1767.
4. George's Hill, Dublin
Today it is known as the site of the George's Hill Presentation Convent, dating back to 1794. However, this spot is where Christians were executed and martyred for centuries.
5. Harold's Cross Green, Dublin
The name was derived from the one given to the gallows. The archbishop maintained the punishment here in the 14th century. Harold's Cross served as an execution ground for the city of Dublin until the 18th century.
6. Kilmainham Common, Dublin
Kilmainham Gaol (jail) was erected here in 1786. It was known as the Irish Bastille and is a museum today. Its most famous prisoners include nationalists and freedom fighters Robert Emmet and Eamon De Valera. Most of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol.
7. Knockcroghery, Roscommon
The town was named after a hanging. Originally known as Cregann, its named was changed in the 16th century after a group of Irishman who were hanged for resisting the English invasion of their town.
To mark this act of courage the village became known as "Knockcroghery" ("Cnoc na Crocaire") or "The Hill of Hangings."
8. St. Stephen's Green, Dublin
A very popular spot for executions in Dublin, the convicted were imprisoned, whipped, hanged, pilloried, strangled and burned to death. Between 1780 and 1795, 244 people were hanged.
9. In front of St. Catherine's Church, Thomas Street, Dublin
Robert Emmet was infamously executed here in 1803. He was first hanged and then beheaded when he was dead. A plaque commemorating the event can be found there today.
10. Wexford Bridge
A notorious massacre took place here in 1798 as thousands of local loyalists were executed by United Irishmen on the bridge in the town center.
*Originally published in April 2011.]]>
Father Francis Browne SJ is now well known as one of the most important Irish photographers of the twentieth century. A Jesuit priest, Father Browne is best-remembered for his extraordinary collection of photographs taken during the maiden voyage of Titanic on which he traveled from Southampton, via Cherbourg, to Cobh. When the Titanic sank, Father Browne's photographs were printed on the front pages of newspapers around the world.
Read more: Titanic photographer Father Browne's enchanting album of Dublin
Following the Titanic, Father Browne photographed World War I. He was a decorated chaplain, serving alongside the thousands of Irishmen who joined the British Army. He continued to take photographs throughout his life, amassing a collection of 42,000 negatives which were lost and forgotten, until found by fellow Jesuit, E.E. O'Donnell SJ, the author of this book. Fr O'Donnell was the curator of the Father Browne Collection for many decades.
Read more: "The bravest man I ever met" Father Brown in World War I
Aviation was a source of great fascination for Father Browne. He flew in various aircraft from the early days of flight, often in private planes and in his later years on scheduled aircraft. "Flying with Father Browne" contains his unique images of Irish aviation in the early years of the twentieth century. From the new Dublin Airport to Cobham's Flying Circus, from early photos of bi-planes to the Aer Lingus fleet, from photographs on the ground to photographs from the air, aviation and photography enthusiasts alike will find here a treasure trove of previously unseen material.
Fr Browne has been favorably compared with the well known French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson. Fr Browne's remarkable collection of photographs provide a superb record of the way the Irish lived during the first half of the 20th century. The Irish Times has quoted him as being "the most important documentary historian of this century."
At least, you would think that.
I would be the last person to call myself a writer, least of all a playwright, but in some twist of the fabric of the universe, I find myself writing my first play in three years. The list of problems I have encountered is currently at a higher word count than each horrifyingly bad draft.
The last time I set about writing a play, I was working a minimum wage waitressing job at a hotel in Dublin. A year out of college with no prospects or aspirations, I suppose you could say I didn't take myself or my life very seriously.
The possibility of failure didn't enter my headspace or manifest itself as a threat to my creativity. As far as I was concerned, I was already failing pretty hard, so what difference did it make if I wrote something bad?
Having no fear, no expectations and no real body of work against which to compare what I was working on, I went in blind and ended up with something I was openly proud of. I wrote it while working in that hotel -- fragments on the backs of menus and inventory dockets were stashed together in folders and pinned to my walls, and in between work shifts and late nights out, it somehow came together on time.
I was directing it myself with a cast I had worked with before for a festival that provided everything else I might need. In retrospect, it was the ideal scenario for a new writer with little experience.
Shortly after, I moved to New York and haven't written so much as an idea for a play since. This summer, a friend approached me to write a new work, one that he will direct. There is no deadline, just a general aim to produce in 2017.
I'm out of practice, have to hand it over to someone else to direct, and have no exact date to be pushing towards. It's already such a different environment to my last project.
I work every day and most evenings. I love my job. I definitely do not think I am failing anymore.
I have worked aggressively hard since I moved to New York and have finally managed to start forging a career -- but my personal writing and more specifically playwriting has somehow fallen through the cracks. I thought that picking it back up again would be easy -- like riding a bike -- and I couldn't have been more wrong.
So I go out in the world to find inspiration. But what I'm encountering is some form of over-exposure.
My day job work has never been so deeply entrenched in theater -- I see at least two productions per week, read and write about theater and performance art every day. You would think that if you eventually absorb enough influence and inspiration that something will good will eventually come out.
However, by that theory, if you eat enough cake, something will eventually come out -- but it won't be cake.
I often compare writing to vomiting. It feels like a state of nausea that can only be relieved by release. I usually get little warning, and it explodes onto the page in a giant mess that needs to be laboriously sifted through to identify meaning -- grossed out yet?
In desperate hope for inspiration, I bought a ticket to see Zadie Smith talk as part of The New Yorker festival. As one of my favorite fiction writers of all time, I was hoping she would give away some golden nugget of wisdom that would lure me out of my vomitless rut.
Instead, she mirrored my own attitude towards writing to the point of advising that a writer simply accept the anxiety and fear and nausea as part of the process. It won't go away; you just get used to it.
Comforting as it may be that I'm not alone, and that someone as talented and successful as Zadie Smith feels similarly repulsed and compulsed to write, it's a daunting future to pursue when the prospect of feeling excited rather than somehow internally forced to put pen to paper isn't guaranteed.
Perhaps this is why they warn that meeting, or at least experiencing the presence of your heroes can be dangerous -- more often than not, you realize that they too are just a human who has to work hard. That there isn't a magic remedy or secret trick to becoming great.
One thing she spoke of a lot is the growing sense of fear or distrust in your own writing as you get older. I'm only 26, and the volume of work that I write now by comparison to what I produced as a younger adult, a teenager and even as a child is shocking.
As a kid, I would stay up past my bedtime and even forego playing with friends to write. As a teenager I poured my heart into long, rambling and senseless adolescent romance stories, all of which were absolute abominations, but there were dozens of them.
As prolific as the first 20 years of my life were, the following are proving to be halted, stalled, stuck. Within the crawling mass of creators in New York City, there is hardly room to stretch your feelers, to catch a breath and decide which spark of inspiration can be nurtured and grown into an idea. And even if I could get that idea, how to then generate the story around it?
Do we need to actively seek out a muse in order to begin creating? Should we be on the constant lookout for inspiration, or just write what we already know?
When asked if she believed in luck as a driving force for good writing, Zadie said that yes, she does believe in luck, but that luck comes from being receptive.
Listening to the world around you, the people in it and outside of it, the voices that come from inside and outside of you. Living in New York, you have to fine-tune those receptors like a complex radio system to filter through the noise.
James Joyce walked around Dublin City, and there he said he found everything he needed to write Ulysses. They say the best way to know New York is to walk it.
Maybe the best way to be inspired is to stop actively seeking inspiration, and to instead be open to letting the unexpected in. To walk like a child, wide-eyed and amazed by the world around them that exceeds imagination.
New York, I love you, but can you be my muse?]]>
Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who is heading Operation Kenova, an investigation into several IRA murders and the role of alleged Army agent known as Stakeknife, has been gathering an outside detective team of nearly 50 officers as well as an Independent Steering Group.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counter-terrorism John Miller and Mike Downing, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, will join the group, which will also include Kathleen O'Toole, part of the Patten Commission, former Police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O'Loan, Iain Livingstone, who is Deputy Chief Constable with Police Scotland, and Nick Kaldas a former Deputy Commissioner of Police in New South Wales who has been working with the UN.
Said Boutcher: "Each of those members has experience of complex investigations that will have engaged similar legal challenges and have involved historical cases."
He said the group is to act as a "sounding board" or "critical friend."
"There is an absolute determination to get to the truth for the families," he said - and he promised "a meaningful, honest, authentic investigation to get to the heart of what happened".
STAKEKNIFE: 'Significant new evidence' found in new probe into British Army IRA agent https://t.co/rjqEwRDgE2 pic.twitter.com/aJIc0xlopL— The Irish News (@irish_news) October 15, 2016
Stakeknife is the code name for the Army agent who infiltrated the IRA, operating inside its "internal security," the division of that organization responsible for the interrogation of suspected informers often leading to execution.
Freddie Scappaticci, a Belfast republican interned in the 1970s, has denied he was the agent, ITV.com reports.
The investigating team will begin by assessing relevant documents and information held across the intelligence agencies—Military, MI5 and the then RUC Special Branch.
Boutcher has been meeting families to brief them on the progress and has also assembled a Victims Focus Group to advise the investigation.
"I am committed to doing all I can to find the truth for the victims and their families. It is them who we should be thinking of throughout, said Boutcher, when he received the appointment in June.
"It must be extremely hard to have listened to various commentaries within the community and the media about how and why their loved ones died. I hope this investigation ultimately addresses the uncertainties and rumours. All I can promise is an absolute commitment to pursuing the truth."
The mansion, with a long history of ghostly occurrences and misery, opened its doors to the public for the first time in 30 years in 2012. Would you be brave enough to take the tour?
In August 2014, a tourist snapped a shot of a ghostly female figure in the grounds. Thomas Beavis, 21, from Lewisham, snapped this shot while he was on the tour.
Read more: Ireland's most haunted house filled with spooky tales for Halloween.
It wasn't until he'd left the Loftus Hall grounds that he noticed the figure – who they believe is the spirit of little Anne Tottenham – and the face of an old lady at the window.
Loftus Hall is a 22-bedroom period mansion on Hook Peninsula in County Wexford. The isolated house is set on 60 acres, overlooking a lonely stretch of the South East coast. Since it was abandoned over three decades ago, the grand building has only had structural repairs.
Owner Aidan Quigley now hosts guided interactive tours which he says are not for the fainthearted.
Built over the remains of Redmond Hall, the home of the Redmond family since around 1350, in 1666 it became the home of the Loftus family and was renamed Loftus Hall.
The ghostly tours are based on the story of Anne Tottenham and a visitor to the house in the 18th century whose body, during a game of cards, went 'through the roof,' leaving a hole in the ceiling which is visible to this day, and left young Anne in a state of terror.
She was put into a room known as the Tapestry Room to rest, and it is here that she stayed completely silent until her death in 1775.
Over the years since, servants have claimed to have seen a dark, mysterious figure roaming the halls, causing disturbances.
The Loftus family abandoned the house in the early years of the 20th century when it was bought by the Sisters of Providence and turned into a convent and school for girls. It changed ownership again in 1983 when Michael Deveraux transformed the building into a hotel, but this too was abandoned in the 1990s and the Hall remained empty until a few years ago.
The tour allows younger children to trick or treat with Grimmelhook the Witch in her cottage made from sweets.
For children aged eight and older, there is a climbing wall and archery instruction as well as a pets corner.
Grown-ups are offered the chance to learn more about Loftus Hall's history.
And as the building will celebrate its 666th Halloween this year, special arrangements have been made for Halloween tours and for a spooky Lockdown where you can spend the night in the hall on the lookout for ghosts. The first evening has already sold out, meaning there are plenty of people braver than us out there!
If a Lockdown seems like too much for your nerves to handle, a 50-minute Halloween tour is also planned for the evening with the option to take a kids tour, a family tour, or one designed specifically for adults.
Quigley also plans to let the house out for weddings and private functions. More details are available at www.loftushall.com.
Have you visited Loftus Hall? Had a spooky encounter? Let us know about it in the comments section, below.
*A version of this article was originally published in October 2014.
10. Waking Ned Devine
Charming comedy set in a tiny, rural Irish town. When lottery winner Ned Devine is found dead - lottery ticket in hand and all - the townsfolk band together to fool the authorities into thinking Ned is alive, so they can receive the cash and share it. Starring Ian Bannen and Fionnula Flanagan.
9. Once
A beautiful, romantic, original musical set in the streets of Dublin. Glen Hansard of The Frames plays a street musician who meets fellow musician and Czech immigrant (Marketa Irglova). Together they work through pain, the past and new love through captivating music. Hansard and Irglova won the Oscar for Best Original Song (2007).
8. The Crying Game
The controversial film that put Irish director/screenwriter Neil Jordan on the map. Set in rural Ireland and bustling London, IRA member Fergus (Stephen Rea) develops a friendship with his captive, Jody (Forest Whittaker), and the kidnapping goes horribly wrong. Fergus then flees to London, where he seeks out Jody's girlfriend, Dil. An intense and thorny plot ensues.
7. The Snapper
Endearing Roddy Doyle novel-turned-screenplay. An unwed 20-year-old named Sharon Curly shakes up a working class Irish community when she becomes pregnant and refuses to name the father. Though full of quick wit and sarcastic banter, the dramedy has its touching, "family values" moments. Starring Colm Meaney and Tina Kellegher.
Here's a famous scene from the movie:
6. Intermission
A dark comedy with an Irish star-studded cast. Intermission follows the lives of a handful of dysfunctional characters whose choices all unwittingly affect each other's lives. Set in Dublin, the film takes on the grand themes of life, love and the law. Starring Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell.
5. In the Name of the Father
Oscar-nominated film based on the real-life experiences of Gerry Conlon, the alleged leader of the Guildford Four. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Conlon, a Belfast man wrongly imprisoned for the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub in the U.K. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, In the Name of the Father shows one man's 15-year struggle for his innocence and for truth.
4. The Field
A story about an Irishman's love of his land from director Jim Sheridan. Bull McCabe (played by Richard Harris, who was nominated for an Oscar for the role) is a farmer in Ireland's rural west. When his field is threatened to be sold to an outsider, Bull will do anything in his power to stop it from happening. An unforgettable film about the conflict between "old" and "new" Ireland.
3. My Left Foot
A true story about an Irishman who overcomes his disability to become an amazing painter, poet and writer. Another film from Jim Sheridan, it documents the extraordinary life of Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), a working class Irishman born with crippling cerebral palsy. With the encouragement of his mother, played by Brenda Fricker, Christy learns to write and draw with his only functional limb - his left foot. Both Day-Lewis and Fricker won Academy Awards for their roles.
2. The Quiet Man
A beloved classic starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. This romantic drama from director John Ford tells the story of Sean Thornton, a retired American boxer who relocates to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm, and Mary Kate Danaher, the fiery Irishwoman he falls in love with. Though its portrayal of Ireland may be a bit outdated, the film is a genuine tribute to Eire, and both an American and Irish favorite.
1. The Commitments
Legendary Irish film about a group of down-and-out Dubliners who form a soul band. Jimmy Rabbitte has dreams of creating the ultimate soul group, and succeeds in bringing together a bunch of talented, eclectic characters. But eventually personalities clash, and the survival of the band is threatened. This adaptation of the Roddy Doyle novel featured a relatively unknown cast at the time, but was welcomed with critical acclaim and a successful box office run.
"In America"
Touching film starring Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou, among others. Documents the adventures, struggles and triumphs of a family of Irish immigrants living in a rough neighborhood in New York City.
"When Brendan Met Trudy"
Yet another great product of Roddy Doyle's writing. Quirky, charming film about a teacher who meets and subsequently falls for a woman in a pub who turns out to be a burglar.
* Originally published in 2013.]]>
Cheek by jowl they lived on Manhattan's Lower East and West Sides, and to the horror of the miscegenation mob, who wanted no intermingling, often married.
From that mixing and marriage came some of the greatest dancing of all times.
No surprise that tap and Irish dance have so much in common, much of the modern version was born in these ghettos.
As a reminder of how marvelous that could be, the face-off that occurred in "Riverdance" between the two traditions is relayed here.
Meanwhile, Irish dancer Hannah Redlich has brought it all a step further - no pun intended - by Irish and tap dancing to music from the smash-hit musical "Hamilton". Even Lin-Manuel Miranda was impressed, tweeting his support.
Yo @DaveedDiggs. Bruh. https://t.co/deGRcxYHEE— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 28, 2016
The message to both cultures is similar: Hold onto your dancing shoes.]]>
Ellie and Louise from the popular Irish band "The Heathers" are old-school Lurgan students and attended the Gaeltacht summer camp back in the noughties when it was already making music, but before it was flung into the limelight by the likes of their Avicii cover.
Understandably, what with the craic that must be had every year, the band was happy to return for Cúrsa A (Course A) this year and lend their talents to yet another top-quality Irish-language version of one of the summer's hit songs.
Read more: Video of teens singing Adele's "Hello" in Irish goes viral (VIDEOS)
Published to coincide with the release of tickets for Coldplay's Dublin gig, this particular video is just one of 40 various songs and information segments that will appear on new TG4 [Irish-language TV channel] show "Lurgan Beo" this Halloween. Starting from October 31, the program will show off some of the best bits from the Lurgan summer courses and we can't wait!
In case you also can't wait that long to get your next Lurgan fix, however, here are some of the highlights from the 2016 courses so far:
Toto's "Africa" -
Adele's "Hello" -
And "Cake by the Ocean" by DNCE -]]>
Hunston, a freelance photographer based in Dublin, specializes in portrait, fashion and street photography. His work ordinarily takes him to London, Paris, Milan and elsewhere on assignments documenting the latest trends and styles during fashion weeks. The Dubliner told IrishCentral, "I have now taken a break from this work to concentrate on my current project."
These soft smiles and sparkling eyes of all ages are just a sample of Hunston's project which started back in June. These particular images were all taken in West Cork as a pilot project for the main event.
Hunston told IrishCentral his plans in advance of the project. "I will follow the route from Cork to Donegal, taking portrait photographs of the people, plus their stories and experiences of living in the towns, villages and remote locations amongst the stunning beauty of this diverse and ancient landscape against the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean."
Speaking from the road Hunston said, "I started the project in June and am now following the 2,500 km route of the Wild Atlantic Way from Cork to Donegal taking portrait black and white photographs of the people in the towns, villages and remote locations along the west coast of Ireland.
"In each town and village I'm staging exhibitions of the photographs in the shop windows, turning the streets into an open gallery. People love this approach as it engages the people of the town with their own photographs."
The "People Of The Wild Atlantic Way" project will culminate in a book of photographs, with all proceeds going to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which operates lifeboat crews and lifeguards along Ireland's coasts. Next year Cork Airport will stage an exhibition of the photographs taken in West Cork.
That's not all.
"On completion of the project, I'll stage an exhibition of selected photographs at the same time in various locations along the route from Cork to Donegal, creating the world's longest photography exhibition," Hunston said
"I will do a similar project along the east coast of Australia, from Melbourne in the south to Cape Tribulation in the North. During my time in Australia I will stage exhibitions of the Wild Atlantic Way photographs in the major cities along the east coast – Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. This will help promote The Wild Atlantic Way in Australia."
Hunston has been working on the project all summer and has also been working on editing photos for an exhibition in Clonakilty in County Cork.
He told IrishCentral that so far the reaction to the project has been great. "I'm overwhelmed by the positive response I've received so far, everybody loves the project.
"Ireland is indeed a stunning, beautiful country but it's the people that are the real gems. I'm constantly receiving offers of help, encouragement and support along the way."
It's not only natives that Hunston has been taken with along his travels, but tourists too, and, more importantly, their stories.
"I'm continuously meeting tourists and asking them about their experiences along the way.
"The Wild Atlantic Way is more than just a destination. It's an emotional experience, a rite of passage. It's now on people's bucket lists – things to do before they die. As people go further off track and discover the real Ireland and its people and get to experience such things as a real traditional music session in a rural pub."
Hunston went on to list some experiences of the summer which had struck a chord with him: "Standing at sunset at the lighthouse on Sheep's Head Peninsula watching Humpback whales breaching the surface. The magical experience of the ferry trip in a sea mist from Baltimore to Cape Clear Island. Being invited to have a cup of tea with the people of Bere Island in their little coffee shop on a Saturday morning after they have completed their weekly 5k run. Sipping a glass of Guinness and eavesdropping on locals' conversations in MacCarthy's Bar, Castletownbere, amazed at their descriptive, expressive, poetic use of language."
He added, "As Van Morrison would say: 'Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time.'"
Read more about Hunston's project here www.shayhunstonphotography.com or via his Facebook page.]]>
In September, Director of the Gaelic Office in the provincial Government of Nova Scotia, Lewis McKinnon, traveled to west Galway to visit Údarás na Gaeltachta, Roinn na Gaeltachta, the Irish Language Commissioner's Office, Muintearas in Tír an Fhia and the Emigrants Commemorative Centre project in Carna in tentative moves to establish transatlantic links between speakers of the linguistically related languages.
From the late 18th century to the early 19th century some 50,000 people from the Scottish Highlands and islands immigrated to what is now Canada. Thousands of those Scots settled in Nova Scotia and among them were many Gaelic speakers, establishing a rich history of Gaelic speakers in the region.
As such, a Gaelic Affairs Office was established by the local Government of Nova Scotia in 1996 with the aim of promoting Gaelic culture including the Gaelic languages.
Gaelic road signs in Nova Scotia, Canada. pic.twitter.com/NwtwHGmWKB— Newshub Ireland (@Newshub_Ireland) September 30, 2016
Significant numbers of the Nova Scotians claim Scottish roots (almost a third can trace their roots back to Gaelic-speaking settlers) and Gaelic culture is still alive and kicking in the province. Local organizations promote the language and music and hold annual festivals. Attractions in the area include the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts, the Highland Village Museum (An Clachan Gàidhealach), and the Celtic Colours International Festival. There is also the annual Gaelic Awareness Month (May), which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year.
When the Gaelic Affairs Office was established by the Nova Scotian government in the '90s they created a governmental positon, the Minister of Gaelic Affairs, which is currently held by the Honorable Randy Delorey. McKinnon is traveling to Ireland on behalf of the Gaelic Office this month. He is a well-known singer who performs in Irish, Gaelic, and English.
Read more: The only official Gaeltacht outside of Ireland is in Ontario (VIDEOS)
"The Gaelic Affairs services and supports the Nova Scotians who want to learn the Gaelic language and better appreciate Gaelic cultural expression in the Nova Scotia context. We do that through programs such as Bun is Bàrr [Root and Branch] and Gàidhlig Le Luathas [Gaelic with speed]. We offer translation services and we also conduct programs that promote greater awareness around Gaelic language and cultural expression in Nova Scotia," McKinnon explains.
"Gaelic Affairs has had many positive impacts. One of the key positive impacts that come to mind is bringing people together in communities. For example, bringing our native Gaelic speakers together with our learners and our adult learners and reconnecting them with their local community and reinforcing that sense of belonging that's so important in Nova Scotian life."
The office is also responsible for the building and maintenance of relationships with regions that possess sister Gaelic languages and cultures such as the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are an estimated 2,000 speakers of Gaelic in Nova Scotia today with many more of the 230,000 who claim Scottish roots being actively involved in Gaelic culture. Events, businesses and activities related to the language are believed to contribute $23 million annually to the provincial economy. The 24 Gaelic-related societies, organizations and institutions, the English-Gaelic boundary signs found in the eastern districts of the province, and the 15 public schools that offer the language to its students all help to grow the language in the area.
H/T: Galway Bay FM]]>
According to the Sunday Times, UCC's success is underpinned by making teaching as much of a priority as research. The University has seen a 15 percent growth in research funding over the past five years, generating the second highest amount of research income in Ireland per head of academic staff (around €128,000). Moreover, the University has the highest number of academic staff (70 percent) with a qualification in teaching and learning.
The University is the first in Ireland to develop an online program in teaching and learning for staff in higher education.
UCC has seen improvements in its rankings in the past year both for the low level of graduate unemployment, currently standing at around 4, and for the proportion of students leaving with high class degrees – firsts or 2:1s - a feat achieved by 70 percent of students, benefiting from that high quality teaching.
The University has the third best progression rate from first to second year of all higher education institutions nationally — just 10 percent drop out. It also has a high proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds - 22 percent.
UCC named best university in Ireland by @thesundaytimes Good University Guide. More https://t.co/R4P7YOHYRJ #UCCunioftheyear @UCCInt pic.twitter.com/rAEuXqWZTM— UCC Ireland (@UCC) October 7, 2016
Trinity College Dublin is the runner-up for the University of the Year award while Dublin Institute of Technology is named The Sunday Times Institute of Technology of the Year.
UCC is the University of the Year for the fifth time in the history of the guide, which was first published in 2002. The University follows up its triumphs in 2003, 2005, 2011 and 2015.
Dr Michael Murphy, President of University College Cork said "We are delighted to be acknowledged as Sunday Times University of the Year 2017 and particularly by becoming the first institution to retain the distinction. It is recognition, in my view, that UCC is confident in its understanding of the role of a university, and is clearly committed to discharging that role to very high standards.
Read more: Irish university starts world's largest crowdsourcing project about Vikings
"We exist primarily to teach our students, to learn with and from them, and to provide all students and staff with opportunities to grow, to improve continuously, to experiment and to innovate. Key to success for me is the uniqueness of our teaching development program to ensure the highest teaching quality standards among academic staff. This is matched by a strong research ethos. Our students are active citizens of the university and of the city, they are culturally diverse, from all parts of the globe, inclusive of all abilities and disabilities, and yet passionate about their own brand, strongest student image in the country – the 'skull and crossbones'. We live our strapline 'a tradition of independent thinking', resisting fads and preferring the longer view over transient short-term gain. Challenge, debate, criticism and contrariness are all welcome; UCC is a real university and a really good one. Thank you for endorsing us."
UCC President: We live our strapline 'a tradition of independent thinking', resisting fads and preferring the longer view #UCCunioftheyear pic.twitter.com/JVlHk7pmbI— UCC Ireland (@UCC) October 7, 2016
Alastair McCall, Editor of The Sunday Times Good University Guide, said "UCC has enjoyed unparalleled success in our annual University of the Year award: a winner on five occasions and now the first to win the award in two successive years.
"It is not hard to see why. The institution prioritizes teaching excellence alongside an undoubted research pedigree. At UCC, teaching and research excellence are not either/or options. Students benefit from this on a daily basis, enjoying high-class teaching, graduating with high-class degrees and going on to get excellent jobs, the name of their University standing them in excellent stead with prospective employers.
"We were also impressed by the efforts the university has taken to reduce the level of student debt – working with the student body to tackle the problem rather than resorting to the use of debt collection agencies to recover outstanding fees. This social conscience reflects well on an institution that seeks to precipitate change in the world by making such a positive impact through third level education."
The Sunday Times Good University Guide, to be published this Sunday, provides the definitive rankings for Irish third-level institutions, together with profiles of each institution and a view from students of what it is like to study there.
The guide features fully searchable tables on each of the measures on which institutions are ranked, together with extended profiles of each, and contains Ireland's only league table that measures the performance of all 21 multi-faculty third-level institutions.
For more visit www.ucc.ie.]]>
According to a recent unpublished working paper, US citizens are putting in more hours during their work week than almost anywhere else in the western world, a full 19 percent more than the average person in Europe.
Compiled by economists Alexander Bick of Arizona State University, Bettina Bruggemann of McMaster University in Ontario, and Nicola Fuchs-Schundeln of Goethe University Frankfurt, the research shows that not only are Americans working at least an extra hour a week on average compared to Europeans--which doesn't seem like much on a week-to-week-basis but can amount to 258 more hours a year--they are also more likely to retire later in life and don't even take as many vacation days to make up for it.
Despite Europeans and Americans working the same amount of hours as early ago as the 1970s, this has drastically changed in the last four decades and US citizens work as much as 25 percent more hours than their European counterparts in 2016.
To break Europe down country by country, the Irish do close the gap slightly. The US put in just 15 percent more in terms of work hours but we don't come close the likes of Switzerland, who most mirror the US work habits. On average, an Irish person puts in 22 hours per working week, the Swiss 25.1 hours, and Americans 26.1 hours.
The Italians are the least likely to be putting in long hours at the office with the average amount of hours spent per week in their place of work coming in at 18.4 hours. They are followed by France, Belgium, and Poland, who also average at below 20 hours per working week.
Just because Americans put in longer hours, however, does not necessarily mean they are coming out with better work productivity as a number of hours worked does not always equate to the amount of work completed.
The data contained within this particular research doesn't take into account other factors which may show the reasons for the longer hours US citizens but does begin to speculate on why that may be so. The study is expected to be used in the future to pinpoint the reasons for worker productivity in the US and Europe and to help us understand why it is that US workers are spending more time in the place of work.
One suggestion put forward is that there is a greater incentive to work longer hours in the US because, despite the claims of certain US politicians in recent weeks, Americans do not pay the most taxes in the world. In reality, Americans pay significantly less than Europeans. As Europeans are expected to pay higher taxes the more they earn, it becomes less of an incentive to put in the extra hours and find yourself over a tax threshold. This tax burden would not have the same effect on a US citizen who decides to earn a bit more by putting in some overtime.
On the other hand, the increased taxes may come in more useful in later life as, according to the study, the more generous pensions available in parts of Europe encourage their citizens to take retirement early, a factor that would also decrease their country's average working hours.
Another factor could possibly be the strength of labor unions in Europe compared to those in the US, as well as the stricter requirements for worker protection that see European industries sometimes obliged to implement limits on the amount of overtime that can be worked, or have stricter rules on the hours that can be worked without breaks.
You can read the full working paper here.
H/T: Irish Times]]>