#OTD in Irish History – 19 February:

19/02/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1366 – Statutes of Kilkenny promulgated. 1887 – Ireland wins its first ever game in international soccer beating Wales 4-1 in Belfast. Prior to 1921 and the partition of the country, Ireland was represented by one national team. 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known […]

#OTD in 1964 – Death of novelist Maurice Walsh, author of the original story of The Quiet Man.

18/02/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Maurice Walsh was born in Ballydonoghue, near Listowel, Co Kerry, and is best known for the short story The Quiet Man which was later made into an Oscar-winning movie directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. He was one of Ireland’s best-selling authors in the 1930s. John Walsh’s main interests were […]

#OTD in 1935 – Birth of musician, Ciarán Bourke, in Dublin. He was one of the original founding members of The Dubliners.

18/02/2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Ciaran Bourke was one of the original members of The Dubliners, his versatility was his hallmark which included the playing of the tin whistle, harmonica, and guitar, as well as singing. He was the only member of the group to receive a university education and was also fluent in Irish. Bourke collapsed on stage from […]

#OTD in 1366 – The Statutes of Kilkenny are passed in an attempt to prevent Norman settlers becoming ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’.

18/02/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

The Anglo-Irish parliament met in Kilkenny and produced a body of royal decrees that became known as the Statutes of Kilkenny. The statutes aimed to prevent English colonists living in Ireland from adopting Irish culture and mandated that the Irish conform to English customs before they could obtain certain social, legal, and religious rights. In […]

#OTD in Irish History – 18 February:

18/02/2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast Day of Colmán of Lindisfarne, also known as St Colmán (he was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 661 until 664). Colman resigned the Bishopric of Lindisfarne after the Synod of Whitby called by King Oswiu of Northumbria decided to calculate Easter using the method of the First Ecumenical […]

#OTD in 1978 – La Mon Restaurant Bombing: Twelve people, all Protestant civilians, were killed and 23 seriously injured when an incendiary bomb exploded at the restaurant of the La Mon House Hotel, Gransha, near Belfast.

17/02/2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

The La Mon restaurant bombing was an incendiary bomb attack by the IRA on 17 February 1978 that is widely considered to have been one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles. It took place at the La Mon House hotel and restaurant near Belfast. The IRA left a large incendiary bomb, containing a napalm-like […]

#OTD in 1980 – The Derrynaflan Chalice and other ancient silver and bronze pre-Christian antiquities are discovered in Co Tipperary.

17/02/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

The Derrynaflan Chalice is part of a hoard of altar vessels found in 1980 on a monastic site at Derrynaflan, a small island of mineral soil in Killeens bog in Tipperary. An excavation undertaken by staff of the National Museum recovered some missing components of the decorated objects, such as gold filigree panels, die-stamped mounts and […]

#OTD in 1846 – Daniel O’Connell speaks about The Great Hunger in The House of Commons.

17/02/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“No person knows better than you do that the domination of England is the sole and blighting curse of this country. It is the incubus that sits on our energies, stops the pulsation of the nation’s heart and leaves to Ireland not gay vitality but horrid the convulsions of a troubled dream.” –Daniel O’Connell In […]

#OTD in Irish History – 17 February:

17/02/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

In the Liturgical Calendar today is the Feast Day of Fintan of Clonenagh. St Fintan was born in Leinster. He received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co Tipperary under the abbot Colum mac Crimthainn, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule. Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, […]

Kilmorna House, Co Kerry

16/02/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Oh Mother Ireland, dry your tears Be ever full of cheer, Pray for those noble volunteers Who fought to set you free. When freedom comes to Ireland’s sons Brave Irishmen will say “Lay down your guns, the fight is won At the dawning of the day” The months of April and May, 1921 saw a […]