Of all the social justice issues that need attention human trafficking must surely be one of the most urgent. The issue was brought to the fore last week when athlete Mo Farah revealed that he had been trafficked into Britain at a young age. On Drivetime (RTÉ Radio One, Tuesday) presenter Cormac Ó hEadhra interviewed…
Like most road movies, Joyride (PG) involves a journey of the mind as well as the body. Olivia Colman plays the most unlikely barrister you’re ever going to see in a film. Charlie Reid is the most unlikely gynaecologist in training. Because he’s only twelve. As well as knowing more than Colman (who’s just given…
Discover God Daily: Seven Life-Changing moments from the Journey of Saint Ignatius, by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds (Messenger Publications, €9.95/£8.95) Pedro Arrupe: a heart larger than the World, by Brian Grogan SJ (Messenger Publications, €16.95/£18.95) Anyone who wishes to understand the feelings and thoughts that inform and motivate Pope Francis’s approach to the…
Anthony Gaughan A Poet in the House: Patrick Kavanagh at Priory Grove, by Elizabeth O’Toole (Lilliput Press, €15.00/£13.00) Elizabeth O’Toole’s memoir is a fascinating snapshot of Patrick Kavanagh in his later years, in very different circumstances than people often imagined him in. Kavanagh was born near Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, on October 23 1904. After attending the…
Left without a handkerchief, by Robert O’Byrne (Lilliput Press, €18.00/£16.00) The title of this erudite, elegant and elegiac book from ‘The Irish Aesthete’ blog writer Robert O’Byrne captures the essential “grand tragedy” that befell the Irish gentry in their “twilight”, to quote Mark Bence-Jones. Here O’Byrne takes advantage of a tight focus and a circumscribed…
With its Dublin HandelFest running in Dublin Castle over the weekend – Friday July 15 to Sunday July 17, the Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO) continues its devotion to the composer who lived in Dublin for almost a year across 1741/42. Conducted by Peter Whelan, tomorrow’s 7.30pm opening event in the Castle’s St Patrick’s Hall, has…
The story that intrigued me most in the media last week was the political upheaval in Britain – an engaging turmoil somewhere between high drama and low circus. So, it was timely for the recently returned Sunday Morning Live (BBC One) to look at the question of moral integrity and leadership. Former Conservative minister Edwina…
Line of Fire: Journeys Through A Media Minefield, by David O’Donoghue (Orpen Press, €17.00/£15.00) The “media minefield” that the author negotiates had its dangers like being thrown on the breadline at short notice but mainly it is a humorous telling of a blooding on provincial newspapers, a stint in RTÉ and then into the world…
An Irish Pilgrimage Guide to the Holy Land by Michael Kelly (Columba Books, €16.99/£14.99) Michael has led some dozen pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and he is well aware of what information pilgrims would like to have, and what information they really need. The usual range of guide books are these days very internationalised and…
Alison Gilliland and Clodagh Finn Her Keys to the City: Honouring the Women Who Made Dublin Alison Gilliland and Clodagh Finn (Dublin City Council / Four Courts Press, €19.99/£17.20) The old Thom’s Directory, which down to the end of the 1960s was the essential reference work for nearly every aspect of Dublin life, used to print…
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Peter Costello