Remember 1989 when all the Oscar heat was centred around My Left Foot? We had enormous success that year. The same energy is building around The Banshees of Inisherin for this weekend’s gong-fest. Notwithstanding my misgivings about Martin McDonagh’s quasi-trad parable, like the rest of the country I’ll be rooting for Messrs Farrell, Gleeson, Keoghan…
The trailers for the new comic drama series The Dry (RTÉ One, Wednesdays) looked promising as were the first few minutes, with recovering alcoholic Shiv trying to engage in conversation with a guy in the airport drinking morning pints. But he accused her of being “an f——religious nut”. Then they launched into a shouting match…
The Book of the Skelligs, edited by John Crowley and John Sheehan, photography by Valerie O’Sullivan (Cork University Press, €49/£43.90) The Great Lighthouses of Ireland, by David Hare (Gill Books, €27.99/£24.99) The filming in the recent past of two episodes of the continuing Star Wars franchise has transformed the world-wide perception of the…
An excerpt from Patrick Weston Joyce, English as We Speak it in Ireland (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1910), pages 324-325. In his essay on the “Skellig Lists” in Irish folk life contributor Shane Lehane overlooks this interesting and important notice of the custom by the Victorian scholar of all things Irish, Patrick Weston…
“Who founded Skellig monastery?” remains a moot question, as the lawyers say. The relevant contributors to this book have to admit that though the name of St Fíonán is associated with the early centuries of Skellig’s human history, who truly founded the monastery is an obscure issue. But it may be that light on this…
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) celebrated its 75th birthday last month with its NCH concert repeated the following evening in Waterford’s SETU Arena. The events were not without administrative difficulties when original conductor Jonathon Heyward, falling victim to Covid-19, was forced to withdraw. However, stepping in at short notice, his replacement, dynamic Chinese Lio Kuokman,…
There is much debate about single-sex schools versus mixed schools, with our current arrangements favouring choice and diversity of school models. I listened with interest to the discussion on Drivetime (RTÉ Radio One, Wednesday) when Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD (Labour) was very much against single-sex schools. His view was based on equality arguments, but presenter…
A History of Alsace 1871 – 1939 by Liam Murphy (Kingdom Books 2023). Alsace and Lorraine have been described by historians as “the shuttlecock of Europe”. Both regions passed between Germany and France on five occasions. Alsace is located in eastern France on the west bank of the upper Rhine and borders Switzerland and Germany.…
Nine Lives: The Reflections of a Deliberate Diplomat by Donal Denham (The Liffey Press, €19.95/£17.95) It is rare if not unknown for a former Irish ambassador to publish a book about his life and times. Conor Cruise O’Brien gave us To Katanga and Back, but he had retired at Counsellor level and concentrated on his term…
Dancing with Loneliness by José María R. Olaizola SJ Messenger Publication, (€12.95/£11.95) The author of this book is a Spanish Jesuit, who is presently head of institutional communications for the Society of Jesus in Spain (which means in effect, when you think about it, the whole Spanish speaking world, which I realised during the translation…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello