‘Bumper stickers are an ineffectual means of communicating my nuanced views on a variety of issues that cannot be reduced to a single pithy slogan.’ So ran a tongue-in-cheek ‘bumper sticker slogan’ that I came across on the net recently. I suspect it reflects the bemusement of many in the face of the ‘debate’ on … Read more
Ireland and Apartheid South Africa Apartheid South Africa was in the news in relation to a tour of South Africa by a representative team of British, French and Irish players. The Irish government officially opposed the involvement of the latter, though the IRFU had given its approval. The team, however, was coached by Irish rugby … Read more
I’m looking at my beaten-up copy of The Liberties of Dublin when Eddie Kelly’s photo from the book launchparty drops out. It’s stamped ‘Irish Times, June 16th, 1973’. We’re sitting on the steps of Marsh’s Library, with curator Muriel McCarthy beaming just off camera. It’s another Ireland and I’m young and foolish in the long skirt … Read more
Harps have been associated with Ireland since ancient times, when harpers were the musicians maintained by chiefs and kings. In the 1500s the harp became the symbol of Ireland itself on the coins of Henry VIII, the first ‘king of Ireland’. After the collapse of the Gaelic order, harpers still found patronage among the aristocracy … Read more
References to fishing grounds off Arklow can be found in Patrician legends and medieval documents. Over the centuries the activity and the area became synonymous, so that by the 1800s the ‘Arklow Fishery’ denoted both the practice and the place. The entry for Arklow in Lewis’s Topographical dictionary (1837) begins: ‘This place . . . … Read more