Sinéad O’Connor, the troubled Irish singer-songwriter, died in July at age fifty-six. No cause of death has been announced, but it is fair to note that at times she both predicted and welcomed her own demise. Her son Shane committed suicide in 2022. Not long after, she vowed, “I’ve decided . . . . Continue Reading »
This year’s biggest Electric Picnic controversy concerns a folk band called the Wolfe Tones, whose members have been writing and singing Irish rebel songs for decades. Continue Reading »
As a result of Catholicism's demise, are the Irish no longer governed by a firm, inherited sense of right and wrong? If the answer is “yes,” then Ireland cannot claim that it wasn’t warned. Continue Reading »
Recently, while reading Sally Rooney’s hugely acclaimed novels for the first time, I messaged a friend to say how bleak I was finding them. He replied that his impression of the books was different. In a way, we were both right. On the one hand, the novels have shafts of light and humor; . . . . Continue Reading »
St. Patrick’s Day is a new kind of “Ireland Day,” and the celebrations reflect the spirit of the times. Continue Reading »
Through the mouth of the cave I watched the storm front move in from the east. I could already hear the approaching thunder; the low bank of cloud was gray with it. I was perched on a low ledge inside the cave, which was just long enough to accommodate a human body laid prone. I had filled the place . . . . Continue Reading »
The idiotic, self-devouring cultural dialectic of Ireland since independence has ensured that its own damaged iconographies have blocked access to certain elements of the past, and therefore stymied present artists. Continue Reading »
Catholic Ireland's battle against the de-Catholicizing of her Constitution is coming to an end.
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The voting public can generally be divided into three key groups: hardcore pro-lifers, hardcore abortion supporters, and those who find the abortion movement's agenda extreme but still support abortion in certain circumstances. Continue Reading »
Longtime fans of the Irish poet Derek Mahon had to laugh when, in the spring of 2020, he unexpectedly went viral. As part of an Instagram series organized by the Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke to provide “poetry for the heart and soul” during the pandemic, another superstar, . . . . Continue Reading »
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