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		IN THIS ISSUE
~~~ Foreword
~~~ Keep us Free!
~~~ News Snaps from Ireland
~~~ New Free Resources at the Site
~~~ A Fine Soft Morning         by Peter D. Jones
~~~ How to find a Cara Irish Penpal
~~~ In Every Country		by Cindy Brandner
~~~ Famous Irish Songs: Danny Boy
~~~ Gaelic Phrases of the Month
~~~ Irish Quotations of the Month
~~~ Monthly free competition result

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FOREWORD
~~~~~~~~

Hello again from Ireland. I hope you enjoyed your 
Saint Patrick's day. The celebrations went on for 
4 days here in Ireland!

We have received a great response so far to the 
improvements in our Irish Penpal Service. We 
removed tens of thousands of penpals who had not 
being using the service. The result is a much 
more up-to-date an accurate listing of penpals 
from Ireland and around the world - see below.

You can help to keep this newsletter alive by  
visiting our sponsor links below and do drop by 
the newsletter discussion board and let us know 
what you think!

until next month, enjoy Spring!

Michael


WE NEED YOUR HELP!

PLEASE - send this newsletter on to your friends 
or relatives who you think are interested in 
Ireland. By doing this you are helping to keep 
us 'free'.

Got something to say? Don't keep it to yourself!
Why don't you submit an article for inclusion
in the next edition? Email to:	
 
newsletterarticle@ireland-information.com

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will get much better results by viewing this 
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If you wish to unsubscribe then go here:
 
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KEEP THIS NEWSLETTER ALIVE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Authentically researched and reproduced and backed 
up by a lifetime guarantee our family crest prints, 
rings, watches and more make the perfect gift for 
a friend or relative - or get them for yourself!

Go here to find out more:

 https://www.irishnation.com/familycrestgifts.htm

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NEWS SNAPS FROM IRELAND
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CRISIS

The Catholic Church in Ireland has been left 
reeling by a series of scandals that has resulted 
in the resignation of a Bishop and pressure being 
put on Cardinal Connell to resign.

The scandal centres on the way the Church has 
dealt with clergy who are accused or convicted of 
sexual abuse. The anniversary celebration of the 
founding of the Christian Brothers was marked by 
a demonstration outside the RDS by victims and 
their supporters who are appalled at the lack of 
compassion that they have been shown by their 
religious leaders. The problems mirror those being 
currently experienced by the Catholic Church in 
America. Over 3% of all sex offenders in Ireland's 
prisons are members of the clergy or of a 
religious order.

The effect of these scandals in recent years has 
been devastating for the Church. Attendance at Mass 
is at an all time low. New recruits to the 
priesthood and religious orders have fallen away 
dramatically. The Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh, 
has indicated that the closure of churches and the 
reduction in the number of Masses is inevitable.

HOUSE PRICES ON THE UP AND UP AS ECONOMY RECOVERS

House prices in Ireland are again on the increase 
as the recent slump in the residential market 
shows signs of ending. There was never really any 
doubt that house prices would resume their upward 
climb as the supply of new housing is still far 
below that of the demand. Annual growth so far in 
2002 has been 2.6% nationally. Increases in 
certain parts of the property market may even be 
as much as 6% for the first quarter of the year. 
The relaxation of the government tax regime for 
investors as well as a recovery in the US economy 
have been cited as major contributing factors to 
the increases.

A report by 'The Economist' magazine however has 
stated that the housing market in Ireland could 
collapse if house price inflation continues. House 
prices in Dublin have trebled in the last 20 
years. Irish mortgage holders use up 31% of all of 
their income on paying their mortgage. A rise in 
interest rates could have a very serious effect on 
this economy the report warned. Of 13 countries 
surveyed Ireland has the largest proportion of 
home ownership with over 80% owning or mortgaging 
their own home. In Germany the figure is less 
than 50%.

Economic growth for 2002 is expected to reach 3% 
while unemployment is expected to stabilise at 
4.6%, with 158,000 people on the live register. 
Growth in 2003 is expected to expand to 5%.

SHUT SELLAFIELD CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

More than 1 Million 'Shut Sellafield' postcards 
have been sent to the British Prime Minister, 
Tony Blair, to Prince Charles and to the head of 
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. by Irish citizens to 
mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Sellafield is considered to be the number one 
target of a possible terrorist attack on mainland 
Britain. Any major problem at the Cumbria plant 
could have disastrous effects for Ireland and 
Scandinavia.

CRACKDOWN ON ALCOHOL ADVERTISING

New advertising rules for food and drink have 
been introduced in Ireland. From now on actors in 
advertisements for alcoholic drink must not only 
LOOK over 25 but must actually BE over 25. Any 
implication in such advertising that drinking 
alcohol leads to success in business, romance 
or social life has been banned also.

The crackdown on teenage drinking is continuing 
with the possibility of a compulsory identity 
card for under 20 years olds being discussed by 
Government.

NEW LAW PASSED TO PREVENT TRESPASSING BY TRAVELLERS

A new law has been passed which makes it a criminal 
offence for Travellers or any other group to move 
onto privately owned lands with their caravans and 
cars. Prior to the passing of this new law 
trespassing was not a criminal offence but a civil 
one and thus it was very easy for Traveller groups 
to extort money from landowners on foot of a 
promise to vacate their land.

Garda forces have repeatedly complained that their 
hands have been tied in such matters despite the 
huge damage caused by the travellers. In one recent 
case in County Kildare a Traveller group left 75 
tonnes of rubbish behind them before vacating a 
field owned by a private company.

The influx of Traveller families from England 
during the Summer months further exacerbates the 
problem.

Despite claims by Travellers that the new 
legislation is racist and against their way of life 
the new law will make it much harder for errant 
traveller groups to extort money from landowners 
and county councils. Traveller representatives 
continue to complain that they have been 
marginalised by society and that successive 
Governments have failed to provide adequate 
transient accommodation of them. 

IRELAND DEFEATS USA

As the build up to the World Cup in Japan and 
Korea continues, Ireland has defeated the USA 2-0 
in a friendly soccer match in Landsdowne Road. 
Goals from Mark Kinsella and Gary Doherty were 
enough to ensure victory for the home side against 
a strong American team who have also qualified for 
the world's biggest sporting event which begins on 
June 1st.

There was increased security for the US team. 
Usually at the end of a match the pitch is 
surrounded by a handful of stewards to ensure 
that no fans try to get onto the pitch. On this 
occasion however, a bemused Irish crowd witnessed 
hundreds of security staff completely surround the 
entire pitch as the teams made their way off. 

Clearly security is going to be a big issue for 
all of the teams travelling to Japan and Korea.

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PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSOR

Keep us alive - Go here to find out more:

 https://www.ireland-information.com/vc.htm

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NEW FREE RESOURCES AT THE SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW COATS OF ARMS ADDED TO THE GALLERY:

The following 20 coats of arms images and family
history details have been added to the Gallery:

A: Abraham
B: Berry
C: Crilly, O'Callaghan
E: Early, McEnerney
F: Feehan
G: Gaughan, Geehan, Gifford, McGorry
H: Harper, Heaney, Hicks
I: Imlach, Ivers
L: Lombard
M: McMillen
P: Parrish
S: Stafford

View the Gallery here:

 http://www.irishsurnames.com/coatsofarms/gm.htm

We now have over 20,000 worldwide names available.
Get the Coat of Arms Print, Claddagh Ring,
Screensaver, Watch, T-Shirt Transfer or Clock for
your name at:

 https://www.irishnation.com/familycrestgifts.htm

NEWSLETTER FORUM

Voice your opinion at the Newsletter Forum here:

 https://www.ireland-information.com/cgi-bin/newsletterboardindex.cgi

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A FINE SOFT MORNING 		by Peter D. Jones

My recent visit to Ireland was mainly spent in the
Connemara, Mayo and Galway regions. Since my first
visit in 1995 I have fallen in love with the country
and have read up on it’s history. The beauty of
the country and the history inspired me to write 
this piece below.

A Fine Soft Morning

It was a fine soft morning
And the salmon leapt like acrobats
Out of the crystal clear Lough
As the sun rose and gently spread it’s warmth
Over the twelve Ben’s in the distance.

It was a fine soft morning
And the tower of the solitary tin mine
Gazed down over the stone walled fields
At the galleon like Castle Kirke
Moored calmly below

All around was peace and tranquillity.
All around was stillness and quietude.
All around was beauty and the colour of God’s
creation.

It was a fine soft morning
And the magnificent splendour
Was marred only by the sound of weeping
As the famine starved people lay dying.

Peter D Jones  

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HOW TO FIND A CARA IRISH PENPAL

Looking for a penpal to communicate with, either 
by email or 'snail-mail'? If you are then the 
first thing you need to do is to signup for 
our free penpal service at:

 http://www.irishpenpals.com

The Penpal Listings at CARA IRISH PENPALS have 
been updated. Every Penpal in our service has 
logged in recently so the listings are VERY up 
to date. All non-active accounts have been purged.

We have several new features including:

* Access to the 'snail mail list! The traditional 
way to find a Penpal is to get a pen and paper 
out and to start scribbling. Find like minded 
penpals using this great new feature. List 
yourself as a snail-mail receiver for free!

* Upload a photograph! Now you can upload a small 
photo and use your own mini-photo or symbol in the 
chatrooms. Available to upgraded members.

* Get the most Recent Members List. Upgraded 
members can get access to the up-to the minute 
listing of the 50 most recent members who signed 
up. Have the listing emailed to you as often as 
you wish.

Thousands of penpals are waiting for you so join 
up today- it's free!

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IN EVERY COUNTRY		by Cindy Brandner

Foreword:
It is the Spring of 1968 in Belfast, Northern 
Ireland and James Kirkpatrick has just lost his 
father under suspicious circumstances, Casey 
Riordan is released from prison after five years 
and Pamela O'Flaherty has crossed an ocean and a 
lifetime of memories to find the man she fell in 
love with as a little girl. All three lives are 
on a collision course with each other against
the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights 
movement and a nation on the brink of revolution. 

They come from disparate backgrounds - Jamie a 
wealthy industrialist whose life is like an 
imperfect but many faceted jewel - brilliant, 
flawed and with a glitter that is designed to
distract the observer. Casey - a card carrying 
member of the Irish Republican Army, who must 
face the fact that five years away has left him 
a stranger, a misfit in his own neighbourhood 
where not everyone is sympathetic to a convicted 
rebel. Pamela - who has come to Ireland in 
search of a memory and a man who may not have
existed in the first place. 

Through it all runs the ribbon of a love story 
- love of country, the beginning love of two 
people unable to resist the pull of each another 
regardless of the cost to themselves and those 
around them and the selfless love of one man who 
no longer believes himself capable of such 
emotion. Ultimately this is the story of Ireland
herself, of how nation is bound to one's identity, 
woven into the weft of all we become. And whether, 
finally, freedom and peace can walk down the same 
road, hand in hand. 

~~~

In Every Country
(excerpted from the novel 'Exit Unicorns' 
 by Cindy Brandner)

In every country with a rebel past or a rebel 
future there are similar rooms for similar men 
with different faces. Cramped, dark, dirty rooms. 
Cold with damp, cold with snow, cold with pain. 
The only real warmth coming from the internal fuel 
of idealism, the belief that their moment in 
history has come. 

In Russia there will be a bottle of vodka on the 
table, a dog-eared copy of 'The State and 
Revolution', tattered slogans adorning the walls 
from last season, last year, last century. 

In Beirut, qahveh, lemons and the Koran will grace 
the table, a fine scree of sand under the bed. In 
El Salvador a picture of Che beside a statue of the 
bleeding Christ, priests who disrobe in order to 
serve God more clearly, martyrs who die in foreign 
lands fighting for lost causes. They will travel 
everywhere in search of a hope, a prayer. 

Men with delicate amber faces working the kitchens 
of white hotels in cold, chattering cities. Tall 
straight-backed ebony princes trudging through the 
snow and indifference of the northern hemisphere's 
great bloody swathe of industry. Cities built on 
the backs of their ancestry, cities where they must 
now beg, borrow, steal time and money, where the 
past is prologue and prologue past. 

In Belfast there is tea, tepid and scummy, a bottle 
of Powers whiskey half drunk in a doorless cupboard, 
a nicotine stained copy of the Proclamation of 1916 
lining a drawer in a desk rarely used. Paint 
peeling walls, a cot without sheets for men on the 
run, men who sleep briefly during the brightest 
hours of day and flee at night with messages, with 
guns, with the hope of a nation in their hands. Men 
on intimate terms with fear, exhaustion, dirt, a 
rebel Celt version of the White Rabbit, running, 
running, forever madly running, with the vision of a 
cell in the not too distant future. Not a job for 
the easily disillusioned or the romantic of heart, 
not a job for a human being. 

Hope skips a generation and returns in the form of 
a strong back and even stronger mind, idealism 
stripped down to a bare bone and left in a corner 
of the soul for the knacker's cart. The men vary 
and there will be the odd woman thrown in but for 
the most part they will be working-class, raised 
on bleakness, poor diets, piety and fear of the 
Other. There will be a few from the upper classes, 
well educated, maybe bored, maybe afflicted with 
true idealism, waiting to be crushed by the great 
slow grind of social change. 

The question, regardless of country, will always 
be the same. How to inspire hope, naked and raw, 
in the minds, hearts and bellies of the general 
population? How to pull a people up off their 
knees and remind them as they clutch their 
rosaries and plaster saints that God helps only 
those who help themselves. Blood, their own and 
that of The Other will often be the answer, the 
only answer that demands certain attention. 

Casey Riordan knew such rooms. Knew that hope 
sometimes was as simple as washing the cups, 
keeping the tea hot, the whiskey bottle full, the 
walls painted and a warm blanket on the bed. 
Taking the proclamation, the ghostly ideals out, 
shaking off the dust and pinning it back on the 
wall where it can be seen. As simple as being 
ready, regardless of the mindless fear, to bleed 
and die for a thought, a breath of words spoken 
generations ago. As simple as a lit candle in a 
dark window, even if the comfort of light was 
only for yourself and your memories.

He sat down on the edge of the freshly blanketed 
bed, eyeing the new white paint, the clean cups, 
the re-hinged cupboard, the polished desk with 
satisfaction. He looked then into the clear heart 
of the candle flame and whispered to the night 
and it's ghosts,

     'I'm home daddy.'

~~~

('Exit Unicorns' is available at Amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com, as well as most bookstores)

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FAMOUS IRISH SONGS: DANNY BOY

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an 'Ave' there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me. 

Listen to the tune to this and other famous Irish 
songs here:

https://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/


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GAELIC PHRASES OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PHRASE:		Ta me/Ta Tu/Ta se/Ta si/Taimid 
PRONOUNCED:	Taw may/Taw two/Taw shay/Taw she/Tom-eed
MEANING:		I am/You are/He is/She is/We are

PHRASE:		Ta me in a gconai in aice on siopa
PRONOUNCED:	Taw may inn ah goin-ee inn ack-ah on shup-ah
MEANING:		I am living beside the shop

PHRASE:		Ta si ag leamh on paipear
PRONOUNCED:	Taw she egg lave on paw/pear
MEANING:		She is reading the paper


View the archive of phrases here:

 https://www.ireland-information.com/irishphrases.htm

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IRISH BANKNOTES AND COINS SOUVENIRS FROM IRELAND

Looking for a souvenir to mark the departure of 
the Irish Punt?

Get a genuine Irish ten pound or twenty pound note 
together with a full set of Irish coins before 
they are gone forever!

Find out more here:

 https://www.irishnation.com/irishcoinsandbanknotes.htm

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IRISH QUOTATIONS OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 'There are two kinds of priests', he declared. 
 'There are the priests who made themselves and 
 the kind who are made by their mothers'

John B. Keane, Letters of an Irish Parish Priest

 I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy 
 were beloved in any nation where Christianity 
 was the religion of the country. Nothing can 
 render them popular, but some degree of 
 persecution.

Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Religion, 1765

 WLTM/RC/GSOH/WVTA
 
Anonymous, standard abbreviations in the 
'Marriage' section of personal ads meaning:
Would like to meet/ Roman Catholic/ with
good sense of humour/ with view to above

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SUPPORT THE INFORMATION ABOUT IRELAND SITE
HELP US TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FREE RESOURCES

Get family crest gifts for your or a friends 
family name and get a free email account:

 https://www.irishnation.com

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APRIL COMPETITION RESULT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The winner was: anicolecarter@yahoo.com

who will receive the following:

A Single Family Crest Print (decorative) 
(US$19.99 value)

Send us an email to claim your prize, and well 
done! Remember that all subscribers to this 
newsletter are automatically entered into the 
competition every time. 

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I hope that you have enjoyed this issue.
Please keep the feedback coming!

Until the next time,

ENJOY THE INTERNET!

Michael Green,
Editor,
The Information about Ireland Site.

https://www.ireland-information.com
Click here to contact us