Report Of I.C.T.U Protest Tullamore, Co. Offaly read full story / add a comment

The Climate Camp held recently in Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly highlighted the urgent need to address the issue of peat bogs in Ireland and the dangerous effect their exploitation by Bord na Mona and the ESB has on Climate Change. read full story / add a comment

Hundreds participated in Climate Camp at Shannonbridge, which was held under the shadow of the peat burning powerstation.
The Climate Camp organised three events to create better awareness around the industrial use of peat in powerstations. read full story / add a comment

Climate campers of all ages at Shannonbridge took a direct action this morning Aug. 18th, on a nearby bog by filling in trenches that are used to drain the bog for cutting. The peaceful demonstrations lasted 2 hours with police curiously onlooking at the hard working activists. read full story / add a comment

Climate Camp is up and running at Shannonbridge, Co.Offaly - started Saturday 15th August and goes on til Sunday 23rd August.
read full story / add a comment

Bass-baritone John Molloy returns to his native Birr following a successful year touring Egypt, China, UK and Switzerland and here in Ireland with the RTE Concert Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra. He recently completed an Irish tour in the title role of Opera Theatre Company’s The Marriage of Figaro. John is joined by Lynda O’Connor, one of Ireland’s finest virtuosic violinists and Camerata Ireland Musician of the Year. Accompanied by acclaimed pianist Mairéad Hurley, the programme includes the haunting Méditation from Massenet’s Thaïs, Monti’s riveting Czardas, Arias by Verdi and the popular show-tunes of Alan Jay Lerner. The songs of James Lynam Molloy will also feature to mark the forthcoming anniversary of the Offaly born Composers death. read full story / add a comment

Did you know that in the name of protecting it, The Irish Government have decided to move The Turoe Stone (the most important piece of Celtic stone-art in the world) from its rural home environment in Turoe to a museum in Galway City? read full story / add a comment

RTÉ has announced a programme in its Hidden History series making controversial claims about IRA sectarianism during the War of independence. This is how RTE is currently publicising it:

Guns and Neighbours: The Killings at Coolacrease
“The bloody tale of a bitter land dispute, involving a family of Protestant farmers in County Offaly, which comes to a deadly conclusion during the War of Independence. Featuring interviews with descendants of the men who carried out the killings, this portrait of a forgotten atrocity features substantial newspaper archive research, IRA witness statements and military documents from the period.”

read full story / add a comment

In response to Mr. Muldowney's : The Pearsons and their Prosecutors ?? read full story / add a comment

Alan Stanley’s book describes the death of the Pearson brothers using a variety of sources:
(1) The contemporary (July 7 1921) account in the Unionist newspaper “The King’s County Chronicle, Parsonstown” (King’s County and Parsonstown are, respectively, Co. Offaly and Birr) which quotes their sister Matilda Pearson on her brothers’ death and the burning of their house;
(2) A 1983 description by a surviving Pearson brother David Pearson in Australia;
(3) A summary of descriptions of those events by William Stanley who was with the Pearson brothers when they were arrested and who subsequently lived in Carlow until his death in 1981;
(4) A number of comments gathered by Alan Stanley, mostly from Protestant neighbours and relatives of the Pearsons after 1981, and principally from Tom Mitchell of Kinnitty near Coolacrease.

The page numbers refer to the edition of Stanley's book published July 2005.
read full story / add a comment

Help stop road construction near Charleville Castle read full story / add a comment

Just received the following report from the EU Foreign Ministers anti-war demo in Tullamore: read full story / add a comment