Subject: Easter Rising heralded 93 years of peace for most of Ireland “Nineteen-sixteen introduced a terribly-toxic thread of physical violence, and we’ve had a century of it ever since.” Thus Ruth Dudley Edwards is quoted in THE IRISH TIMES Weekend Review of 2nd January. Ms Dudley Edwards was born in Dublin in 1944 and has […]
July, 2019
An Open Letter from a Border Bishop Church of Ireland (Anglican) Bishop of Clogher, Right Rev John McDowell
Dear Prime Minister, Now that the campaigning has ended and the governing must begin I wanted to write to you about the matter of the Border on the island of Ireland, which is close to where I live. Indeed, the Diocese of Clogher, which I serve, includes all of County Monaghan in the Republic of […]
IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING by Fr Sean McManus
IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus Johnson tells Varadkar any Brexit deal must abolish backstop Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson spoke by phone this morning By Tommie Gorman. Northern Editor. RTE. Dublin. Tuesday, July 39, 2019 The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister have spoken by phone this morning in the first contact since […]
Brexit, Ireland and warning voices
Congressman Richie Neal R Some mornings you don’t know quite where to begin. Events are moving at such a pace, every day brings fresh statements or events. This morning, for example, the Irish Times has a major piece headed “ ‘This is not about a return to empire’ Congressman warns Johnson on Belfast Agreement’”. The […]
COUNTRY GIRLS, AN UTTER COUNTRYMAN & A STRANGE LACK OF IRONY by Donal Kennedy
I don’t know what Nutter thought of inviting Bob Geldof to appear or be heard on television in a programme celebrating the survival in beauteous old age and acclamation as “SAOI” or “SAGE” of Edna O’Brien. Geldof hasn’t the grace to wash, shave, visit a barber, comb his hair and tidy his appearance when invited […]
Damned immigrants
Ireland is a country of deep contradictions.For example, we’re known world-wide for our devotion to craic and having a laugh. Add to that friendliness. And yet a friend of mine who tried to settle in a small village outside Dublin found it impossible. “I’d go into the local pub and they’d stare at me and […]
LAPDOG BITES BULLDOG (51) by Perkin Warbeck
SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA […]
RESPECT, DISRESPECT AND MEDIA COWARDICE by Donal Kennedy
A few years ago in Cork the graves of the patriots Tomas McCurtain, Terence MacSwiney and Tom Barry were desecrated. It seems the outrage was not deemed newsworthy by at least one “national” newspaper and its letters editor did not deem a letter concerning it worthy of publication. In September 2010 I wrote to one […]
Why so many think Boris is top-drawer
It’d be a safe bet there are few Boris Johnson admirers in Ireland. I’m sure the hard core in the DUP think he’s all he says he’s cracked up to be, but most people in Ireland north and south would at best see him as a liar (that bus promise) and unreliable (he voted for […]
Sammy: a laugh or a man in need of help?
Say what you will about him, Sammy Wilson was always game for a laugh. While others talked solemnly, Sammy would shout out things like “Go to the chippy!” and “Leprechaun language!” Ah me, how we all laughed. And that time he took off all his clothes…Truly, one of `Nature’s rib-ticklers. And now he’s done it […]