I would have thought that Dublin Airport Authority would have been enriched by the current situation in Ireland with expensive EU funded financial whizz-kids flying into the country to ‘help out’ and an exodus of young under-employed professionals leaving to make a life somewhere else. So I was surprised that the company had mobile assets [...]
Hallowe’en was a special time for me growing up. Alongside St Patrick’s day it made me feel connected with with my wider family in Ireland. We would have a barm brack sent to us by my Granny. This is kind of like a giant tea cake but richer or less stodgy than say Soreen. It [...]
I was going through the Irish Sunday Independent to read coverage of the Irish rugby union squad’s win against their Australian counterparts when I came across this chart of data looking the standings of the different political parties. A little bit of background before I delve into things: The Irish Independent is a paper that [...]
On leaving office, Gordon Brown immediately spent a lot of time hammering out a book Beyond The Crash. Unlike Peter Mandelson this wasn’t the Westminster equivalent of a sordid kiss-and-tell exposé or a Tony Blair-esque sales brochure to secure speaking engagements. Instead Brown set out to do what he does best, putting on page deep [...]
I was reading coverage in the Irish Examiner of what was a pretty standard research-as-news-hook story on how consumer behaviour is changing with the advent of extensive online health information. Quinn Healthcare defined cyberchondriacs as people who used Google to self-diagnose in preference to consulting a doctor. In Ireland this is exasperated by the cost [...]
Irish films tend to have a good gap between them, good Irish films have an even longer gap. The Guard fits into the latter category. Guard is colloquial Irish English used by older people for an officer of An Garda Síochána. The Guard of the title is a rural police officer portrayed by Brendan Gleeson; [...]
My Grandmother died on Thursday evening and unfortunately I couldn’t get to the funeral service in Ireland. She’d been ill for a good while and I had seen her in April when her health took a turn for the worse. But for me she’ll always be the woman who used to dance around the kitchen [...]
As a youngster growing up in Liverpool, The Irish Post was one of three papers that my Mum and Dad brought into the house on a Sunday. These were The Irish Press (with it’s epic typographic errors) or The Irish Independent (depending on what was available), the Connacht Tribune to find out about fluctuations in [...]
I don’t often post about politics here unless it collides with the internet, but wanted to post about the Irish presidential race. The role of president is largely one of a figurehead, but in the current economic climate of social discord and economic carnage a figurehead that people could believe in would come in handy. [...]
On January 9, the website of Fine Gael, an Irish political party was hacked and the identities of 2,000 subscribers to the site were exposed. The party is in opposition in the Irish parliament and has been for the past 13 or so years. From an agenda standpoint, Fine Gael espouses a type of conservativism [...]
This short film was made in 1965 by Ronnie Drew and The Dubliners along with many of their peers as a the precursor of a grand video (rather like Kanye West’s Runaway). The music didn’t do much for me, but I particularly liked the way the opening titles and closing credits were done on the [...]
I am looking forward to re-watching my well-worn DVD of The Crow and having toasted slices of Báirín Breac with its mixed spices and hope not to chip my teeth on the toy ring that they put in them. You can make your own at home if you have access to an oven and enough [...]
While I was over in Ireland I landed in the middle of the campaigning for a referendum on June 12, 2008. The referendum was to pass or reject The Lisbon Treaty. This hasn’t been a news story in the UK because we haven’t had to vote on it, however Ireland has a constitution and its [...]
The Tain translated by Thomas Kinsella The book is is a translation of the Irish epic Tain Bo Cuailnge (in English known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley) which is a centre part of the Ulster Cycle. Kinsella’s translation is widely considered to be an accessible version of the tale. Kinsella’s work is more focused [...]
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