In the Liturgical calendar, it is the Feast day of St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly, Tipperary. Mexico – Commemoration of the mass hanging of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion. 1653 – Ireland and Scotland are represented by six and five members respectively in the ‘Barebones’ parliament which is in effect from 4 July to this date. […]
Glenroe was one of RTÉ’s most popular productions featuring a wonderful cast of character based in rural Ireland. The show would run for eighteen years. The show introduced audiences to characters such as Miley, Biddy and Dinny, who would become household names throughout Ireland. In the first ever episode of the rural drama, we meet […]
1649 – Siege of Drogheda ends | The first siege occurred during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, when Phelim O’Neill and the insurgents failed to take the town. The second more famous siege happened in 1649 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, when the New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell took the town by storm […]
Red Hugh O’Donnell (Aodh Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill) is one of the most famous heroes of Ireland. He was viewed as the fulfilment of an old prophecy, and was imprisoned as a boy by the English who saw him as a threat. He escaped from Dublin Castle in 1591, in company with the sons of the […]
Tom Kettle was a journalist, barrister, writer, poet, soldier, economist and Home Rule politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Tyrone from 1906 to 1910 at Westminster. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, then on the outbreak of World War I in 1914 enlisted […]
In the Liturgical calendar, this is the feast day of St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. He was one of the early Irish monastic saints and Irish bishop. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Younger to distinguish him from Saint Ciarán of Saighir. He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He dies on this date […]
World Suicide Prevention Day – #WSPD 1315 – Battle of Connor: Major victory for Edward the Bruce in his invasion of Ulster. 1602 – “Red” Hugh O’Donnell dies in Simancas, Spain; evidence suggests he was poisoned by an English spy. 1649 – Oliver Cromwell seizes Drogheda. 1763 – The Freeman’s Journal is founded in Dublin […]
For many years Patrick Cotter O’Brien (born Patrick Cotter), was believed to be the first of only 16 people in medical history to stand at a verified height of eight feet (244 cm) or more. Only Anton de Franckenpoint reached this height before him. Patrick Cotter O’Brien was born in Kinsale, Co Cork. His real […]
In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St. Disbode, a 7th century Irish missionary. According to German legend, the Irish saint founded the German wine industry when wine started pouring from his pilgrim’s staff. 1783 – A second convention of Dungannon – a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster – is held and […]
The film My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown encapsulates all that makes Irish acting, theater, writing and film making so compelling. Christy Brown was born into a poor, working class family in 1932 Dublin with severe cerebral palsy. Encouraged by a loving mother, the incapacitated child learned to communicate through writing and painting […]
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