The result of decades of land sub-division, as a result of the Act of 1704, and a rapidly increasing population, along with the suppression of the woollen and linen cottage industries which had once flourished, had resulted in the great majority of tenants, especially along the West coast, being left with tiny subsistence landholdings. Continue reading
Filed under History …
The Woman Who Lives Beside Ballymacpeake Mass Rock
by Michael Boyle The Woman Who Live Beside Ballymacpeake Mass Rock There are no half measureswith her. Even in gettinga cupán tae in yer hand.But the full spreadof fancy sandwichesand sweet cake at the table.Oh herself and the girlswill never pour ye outan ordinary a wee Black Bush.You’ll get a fill of the glassand then … Continue reading
New Irish Australian Research: Irish Women in the Antipodes
What struck me particularly about these stories was the spirit and fight of women in the face of discrimination and adversity. Continue reading
Flann O’Brien: an interview with Rónán McDonald
Joyce had a huge influence on Flann O’Brien. Like others of his generation, he struggled to get out from under the Joycean shadow Continue reading
Food and Drink Invented by the Irish
There is controversy about who invented the spirit drink called whiskey, uisce beatha in Irish, but we do know that the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery is Bushmills. Continue reading
Whitethorn: A Tale of Irish Folklore, Bees & Colour-Changing Flowers
The fascinating world of whitethorn: its diverse names, folklore and myths, its significance in beekeeping.common names include hawthorn, May bush, fairy tree, and quick thorn. Continue reading
Irish Folklore inspires an Irish-Australian artist
Hawthorns are also associated with fertility, their musk-scented flowers blooming as harbingers of Spring. Their fruit ripens in time for Halloween, symbolizing death and rebirth. They stand as protectors, symbols of birth, death, and renewal, embodying a liminal space where exchanges occur between the human and spirit worlds. Continue reading
Stardust
My aunty and uncle said we were too young to go to the Stardust yet, but promised that when I came up next time we could go, we would be both sixteen then. Continue reading
It’s Time: Leo Varadkar Resigns as Taoiseach
At 38 years of age, Varadkar was Ireland’s youngest taoiseach. He was also its first mixed-race premier, its first government leader not to be a practising Catholic, and its first openly gay head of government. Continue reading
The Migrant Crisis
There have never been more people on the move than in our time. A few years ago the United Nations estimated the number of refugees at an astonishing 70 million. Yet close to 85% of these migrants end up not in Europe or North America but in developing Third-World countries. Continue reading
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