Did you know that over 80% of Irish men can trace their genetic origins to a group of nomadic tribes who lived on the Pontic Steppe (north of the Black Sea in modern Ukraine) over 5000 years ago?
Four Green Fields is a 1967 folk poem and song by Irish musician Tommy Makem, described as a hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad. Of Makem’s many compositions, it has become the most familiar and is part of the common repertoire of Irish folk musicians.
One of the fishermen feared dead when a Spanish fishing vessel sank off the Newfoundland coast earlier this week was the sole survivor of another maritime tragedy in Galway Bay over two decades ago. In October 2000, Ricardo Arias Garcia, a native of Marin in Spain, was plucked from the Skerd Rocks in outer Galway Bay by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter operating from Shannon.
The village of Cloughmills in County Antrim, in Northern Ireland, has a small model replica of their village displayed in their village hall. But unlike many miniature models, theirs is made of wool.
This deserted village on Achill Island on the west coast of Ireland is a lonely reminder of the most tragic event in Irish history, the contrived population reduction otherwise known as The Great Hunger of the 1840s, The Great Famine, is sometimes referred to as the Irish Holocaust, such is the emotion it evokes.
When British TV viewers watched a drama about the true horrors of the Irish famine, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing and took to social media in horror and disgust.
It is a bit late to be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day but such is the Irish presence on the world stage it seems every day is an occasion for an Irish celebration. Despite being one of the world’s smallest nations the Irish presence punches well above its weight.
Niall McEvoy is an ice hockey player who has represented Ireland for the past thirteen years. He was a key member of the squad that won the silver medal at 2017 Development Cup in Andorra.
The judge said that Margaret Buttimer ‘has disregarded the rights to health and safety of those who work in frontline retail’. A 66-year-old grandmother has been jailed for 90 days by a judge who said she had shown scant regard for the safety of others when refusing to wear a face mask in shops.
The Parting Glass is a great example of that special quality found in the best farewell songs, being able to combine joy and sorrow in a way that is both sad yet uplifting at the same time.
Michael Walsh Stories and Books 
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