According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Irish people enjoy the second-highest quality of life worldwide, and the country is ranked 12th in the 2024 Social Progress Index. Continue reading
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Cúinne Dátheangach Bilingual Corner
Some of our Irish speakers and learners have appreciated the opportunity to stock up on new Irish language books in Dublin, attend daonscoileanna in Donegal and Waterford, and even to write as Gaeilge. Andrew Hogg provides this account of his recent travels in Bali looking for gamelan music, and an unexpected invitation to a wedding feast Continue reading
Community Gatherings in Ireland: part two
The very earliest communal gathering and feasting for which we have solid evidence are known as fulachta fia. These were the locations where an animal, probably a deer or boar, was cooked following a hunt. The sharing of food is a social act that creates and maintains bonds and obligations within a group or community, which seems to have been the entire function of these feasts. Continue reading
A Brief History of the Irish in Australia
With the passage of time Irish Catholics eventually did become part of the fabric of Australian society. With the coming of each generation, they moved along and some of them, up the social scale. But their ascent was neither rapid nor easy. Continue reading
Conamara faoi Nollaig: A Connemara Christmas
Cloisim gach coisméig is scuabadh ár gcosa le gach méanfach sa dorchadas..lI hear every squeak and sweep of our feet with every yawn in the dark. Continue reading
Community Gatherings in Ireland Old and New part one
. To this day, we have a saying in Irish ‘Bhí togha gacha bí agus rogha gacha dí le fail ann’, The finest of every food and the choice(st) of every drink was to be had there. This is believed to originally date from bards of one to two thousand years ago. As a chieftain or king, one’s reputation had to be maintained, or enhanced and these ‘songs of praise’, so to speak, were pivotal in this regard. Continue reading
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A word for the Brothers
Their schools were known for their tough discipline, but they deserve the country’s thanks. Continue reading
The Hermit Priest
A book about an Irish hermit and priest who spent 47 years in the West Australian desert and opened cross-cultural religious dialogue with indigenous Australians. Continue reading
The ‘Best Choir in the Anglosphere’
Catherine Fitzpatrick, a convict’s wife, conductor of the first choir of an infant colony. Continue reading
Feminists before First Wave
This book on Nano Nagle and her legacy casts a powerful gaze on the lives and culture of a body of nuns whose charism was particularly and importantly focused on girls Continue reading
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