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  The Information about Ireland Site Newsletter 
                  April 2006
 
The Newsletter for people interested in Ireland 
 Now received by over 50,000 people worldwide 
      https://www.ireland-information.com 
          https://www.irishnation.com
              Copyright (C) 2006  

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		IN THIS ISSUE
=== Foreword
=== News Snaps from Ireland 
=== New free resources at the site
=== Whispers			by Pat Watson
=== The Easter Rising, 1916
=== Giant Leabaigh's Rock 	by Pat Watson
=== Gaelic Phrases of the Month
=== Irish Clan Associations Noticeboard
=== Monthly free competition result

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FOREWORD
========

Many thanks to Pat Watson for the two stories 
included in this months edition. If you have a 
story, poem or history article about Ireland 
then please send it in!

Michael


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NEWS SNAPS FROM IRELAND
=======================
 
ROAD DEATHS CAMPAIGN FOCUSES ON NON-NATIONALS

The increase in non-nationals working in the 
Irish economy has had an adverse effect on the 
road traffic accident statistics.

Despite representing only 9% of the workforce 
deaths of non-nationals represents 25% of the 
total number who have lost their lives on Irish 
roads in 2006. Many of these were uninsured, 
untaxed and possibly unlicensed. A recent 
drink-driving blitz by Gardai revealed that a 
third of those arrested over a particular weekend
were non-nationals.

New laws have been announced that will make it 
compulsory for motor-cycle drivers to undergo 
training, thus removing the ridiculous situation 
whereby any untrained 16-year old could buy a 
motor-cycle and take it out onto the road 
without any training whatsoever.

The laws for 'provisional' driving licence holders 
is to be changed also. The current situation 
allows for drivers to drive their car while 
waiting for a driving test when they can become 
fully licensed. Some Irish drivers continue to 
hold a 'provisional' driving licence for decades, 
never having passed the driving test. The new law 
will prevent the 'failed' driver from leaving the 
test centre in their car and will make it illegal 
for them to drive while unlicensed.

DEBATE ON NUCLEAR ENERGY IN IRELAND HEATS UP

The recent focus on high oil prices has prompted
 the debate on nuclear energy to be revisited. The 
island nature of the Irish economy has meant that 
energy prices are even higher in Ireland than in 
other EU economies. Some commentators have 
suggested that nuclear energy is the only viable 
medium-term solution, especially while alternative 
energy supplies continue to be either too 
expensive or low-yielding. Irish Taoiseach Bertie 
Ahearn has ruled out any immediate investment in 
nuclear energy.

GROCERIES ORDER ABOLISHED

The controversial Groceries Order has been 
abolished. This law forbade the selling of grocery 
items at below-cost prices as it was seen to give 
an advantage to larger supermarkets who could 
purchase in bulk. While this helped out smaller 
retailers it did little to help put consumers who
could not benefit from the buying power of the 
larger shops. it has been estimated that the 
lifting of the ban could save as much as EURO 100 
per month on the household shopping bill. Irish 
grocery prices continue to be among the highest 
in Europe.

IRISH INCOME TAX AMONG WORLDS LOWEST

A report by the Organisation for Economic 
Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has stated 
that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of 
income tax in the developed world. Only 8% of 
gross earnings of a one-income family with 2 
children is taxed, when state benefits are 
added back. Critics of the Irish taxation 
regime point out that the exorbitant 21% value 
added tax (sales tax) on most goods more than 
makes up for the relatively benign income tax 
regime. Unmarried workers earning the average 
industrial wage face income taxation of 26%.

IRISH HOUSE PRICES CONTINUE TO DEFY EXPECTATIONS
 
The Irish property market continues to appreciate 
at record levels. A slowdown in the rate of 
growth in the last part of 2005 has been shaken 
off as the market for new and second-hand houses 
continues to boom. The average price of a 
second-hand house in Dublin increased by 
EURO 40,000 in the first 3 months of 2006 - a 10.4% 
increase! Some real estate estimates put the 
annual increase of Dublin houses at 25% in the 
12 months up to March 2006.

Recent interest rate hikes by the European Central 
bank have had little effect on the Irish market 
where demand continues to exceed supply. Some 
banks are now offering 40-year and 'interest-only' 
mortgages.
 
IRISH DOCTORS UNDER FIRE

The problems of over-crowding in Irish accident 
and emergency wards continues unabated. The 
Irish Health Minister Mary Harney has criticised 
local doctors for failing to provide out-of hours 
service. Most Irish General Practioneers close 
their surgeries at 5pm, Monday to Friday. This 
has resulted in patients turning to Public 
Hospitals as their preferred local doctor is 
unavailable, claimed the Minister.

ICE CREAM MANUFACTURER APOLOGIES

Ice-cream manufacturer 'Ben & Jerrys' has issued 
an apology for the insensitive naming of a recent 
flavour of their ice cream. The 'Black & Tan' 
flavour is thus far only available in the US and 
is based on the drink of the same name. The Black 
and Tans were a notorious and vicious British 
militia employed during the 1919-1921 Irish war of 
independence.


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WHISPERS			BY PAT WATSON
========
            
Having just qualified as a national teacher, Jimmy 
applied for a number of jobs, permanent and 
temporary. In the nineteen thirties jobs were 
scarce and all he got was a temporary post in a 
two-teacher country school. The Master, who was 
also the principle, had got a heart attack. The 
aging female assistant taught the infant classes 
so he took third, fourth, fifth and sixth classes, 
six to thirteen-year-olds. The mixed school 
worried him a bit as he had only ever attended 
all boys schools. 

The management board, which consisted of the 
Old Parish Priest, assured him that good digs 
had been booked for him adjacent to the school. 
On the Sunday evening, having taken himself, his 
luggage and his bicycle off the Dublin train at 
Athlone, he cycled the ten miles to Coolmore 
parochial house that was beside the school.

'Just a mile up the byroad there,' the Parish 
Priest said after he showed him the school. The 
Widow Malone's house is the one with the slated 
room. The poor woman's husband died last year 
and she needs the money and of course she has 
the slated room. At that time whenever a legacy 
came from America people who lived in thatched 
houses would build a two-story-slated room on 
to the end of the house.

Having cycled for a few miles he arrived for the 
evening meal. The widow, a buxom woman in her 
forties introduced him to her seven daughters, 
all striking redheads ranging in ages from nine 
to nineteen. Starting with the youngest she gave 
their names as, Mary, Third Class, Meabh, Fourth 
Class, Mina, Fifth Class, Maureen, Sixth Class, 
Nance, Delia and Lorna who worked in the local 
pub. She had auburn hair, huge brown eyes and 
the most dazzling smile he had ever seen.

Where were they all going to sleep? Not to worry, 
Upstairs in the slated room was his. It was en 
suite, that is, it had a wooden washstand, 
complete with basin, ewer full of water and 
waste bucket. The privy was out behind the 
cowshed. As well as underwear she would wash 
three shirts and seven collars weekly for him. 
Shirt collars were held on with studs in those 
days. Jimmy had grown up in Dublin with all 
modern conveniences, electricity, running water 
and proper bathroom. He and his younger brother 
had their own rooms. He had been thrown in at 
the deep end a week before his twenty-first 
birthday.

School went grand even though he had four children 
with whom he lived. As they sat down for the 
evening meal, Mary announced that the turkey was 
lying. From the glances that ran round the table 
he felt he should say something. 

'Is she sick?' Peels of laughter followed. He 
felt his face redden.
'Stud' said Delia from under the laughter.
'Did she swallow a stud'? 
This time the laughter went totally out of 
control.
'Is that how they do it in Dublin?' followed by 
more laughter.
'Leave the poor man alone,' said the widow.
'He's from Dublin and doesn't understand those 
things'
At this time every rural village had a strong 
farmers wife who held a turkey cock at stud.
  
Noticing his extreme embarrassment, Lorna tried 
to smother the laughter. For five years now she 
had been ogled by beer swilling, bar stool 
boors, none of whom enhanced her view of men. 
Now she had her very own tall, tame, tanned, 
teetotal teacher living in her house, she was 
not about to let him escape. She was sure she 
would have the support of her mother and sisters, 
except perhaps, Nance and Delia who might fancy 
their own chances. She would ask her mothers 
advice.

'Take him to the whispering arch at Seven 
Churches' her mother said but 'Don't tell him 
anything about it, just start a little whispering 
and take it from there.' Seven Churches was the 
local name for Clonmacnoise.

In the fifteenth century Dean Odo Malone of 
Clonmacnoise commissioned a great sculptor to 
carve and fit a new stone door surround on the 
north side of the cathedral. Into this surround 
he cut several half pipes going right over the 
top and down both sides. If words are whispered 
into one of those half pipes on one side, a 
listener with an ear to the other side can pick 
up the whisper clearly. However a voice will not 
carry in the pipes. The speaker has to face the 
wall but the listener has a rear view of the 
whisperer. A conversation between a young couple 
is much more romantic when whispered through 
ancient stone pipes even if one party didn't 
realise that the chat was meant to be romantic 
in the first place. 

They would cycle there after school. He always 
wanted to visit Saint Kieran's holy city.

The ruins of the cathedral that was burned down 
by the British hundreds of years ago stand in the 
middle of a walled graveyard. There are the 
various superstitions that have grown since. 
That's why the mother advised the special visit.

When he had climbed to the four steps to the top 
of the stile he turned and took her outstretched 
hand to help her up. As there was very little 
space on the top step and she was afraid of 
heights he had to hold on to her as he helped her 
down. She giggled and he blushed. As the ground 
was uneven across the graves they had to hold 
hands for balance. There was nobody about only 
old Mary Martin down in the new graveyard tending 
her husband's grave. By the time they reached the 
doorway Lorna thought she had a midge in her eye. 
While bending over her upturned face he thought 
he removed it with his handkerchief. Again she 
giggled and again he blushed.

Jimmy was enthralled by the complete round tower 
and even more so by the incomplete round tower. 
'Why is it incomplete' he asked.
'Put your ear to the wall and you'll hear what 
happened.'
 When he did he heard her whispered reply,
'A lovers tiff, when his lover jilted him for the 
builder he climbed up and started knocking the 
tower. All efforts to stop him failed until the 
lover promised to come back to him but then the 
builder refused to repair the damage and so it 
remains to this day.' 
'Is this true?' 
'Many people round Seven Churches think so.' 
'Do you believe it?' 
'It's a good romantic story and I love romance.'
'Have you much experience?'
'Very little, where would it come from in a 
place like this, but sure we live in hope, what 
about you?
'Totally lacking experience but now that I'm 
working I might make up for lost time.' Every 
time he turned his head to listen and watch, she 
became more desirable. Little did he know that 
her mind was made up since Sunday evening when 
first she set eyes on him? Then again, hadn't 
he been completely bowled over by her beauty 
from the start?

That was how their conversation continued over 
the next half hour, each whispering their piece 
to the wall then watching the back of the others 
head while listening to the reply.

They didn't notice old Mary approaching from 
behind.
'It's grand to see young lovers using the arch', 
she said, 
'Fifty seven years ago my Paddy whispered his 
proposal and I whispered my yes. Fifty seven 
years of love and contentment we've had, thank 
you Dean Odo' she said looking up at the arch. 
'How long is he dead now?'
'He went with the daffodils, he's making a straw 
sugan chair for me in heaven, he'll have it ready 
for me for Christmas.' She then turned to Jimmy, 
placed a bony hand on his arm and with the 
slanting September sun from Connaught shining on 
her face, she looked him straight in the eye and 
said, 
'This is the most important day in your life, 
don't let it slip away.' This time they both 
blushed. After she left Jimmy found himself saying 
to the stone, 'Give me a kiss!' as he turned to 
seek reaction instead of answering she was smiling 
up at him in gorgeous, glowing, glorious 
anticipation.

Before she rounded the corner of the cathedral 
old Mary looked back at the embracing couple, 
smiled a wrinkly smile, turned and shuffled off 
toward heaven.

~~~

'Whispers' is one of sixty lyrical yarns from 
'Original Irish Stories' by Pat Watson, 
Creagh, Bealnamulla, Athlone, Ireland. 
First published in March 2006.
Get your copy from here:
http://www.myirishstories.com

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THE EASTER RISING IN IRELAND, 1916
==================================

1. Background to the Rising
	The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB)
	Informers 
	The Manchester Martyrs 
	Clan na Gael 

Irish Volunteers
The Gaelic League and the G.A.A. 
The Great War 1914-18
Roger Casement
Plans for the rising

2. The insurrection
The Proclamation of Independence

3. Effects of the rebellion


1. BACKGROUND TO THE RISING

THE IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD (IRB)

One of the main and lasting effects of the Great 
Famine of 1845-47 was emigration. The 'Coffin 
Ships' carried tens of thousands of the poorest 
Irish people who fled Ireland to avoid starvation. 
They created a new Irish nation within America 
whilst remembering the injustice of the English 
occupation of their homeland as well as harboring 
a deeply felt hatred of landlords and evictions.

A Clann na Gael source estimated that there were 
over one and one half million people of Irish 
birth in America towards the end of the nineteenth 
century. These people supported the republican 
cause by giving money, weapons and, significantly, 
a propaganda machine which has continued to this 
day.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood was formed in 
a Dublin timber-yard on Saint Patricks Day in 
1858. James Stephans was assisted by Thomas Clarke 
Luby, James Denieefe, Garret O'Shaugheynessy and 
Peter Langan.

Joe Denieefe brought financial support back from 
America. He had left Ireland after the Ballingarry 
defeat in 1848. James Stephens, Michael Doheny 
and John O'Mahony fought in Ballingarry in 1848. 
Stephens was injured but still manage to escape 
to Paris where he familiarised himself with the 
revolutionary tactics of that country. He came 
back to Ireland to try to establish an underground 
organisation to remove the English from Ireland.

Denieefe and Luby traveled the country extensively 
and organised military groups called 'circles'. 
They formed oathbound secret societies of loyal 
patriots. Popular opinion did not support the 
revolutionary ideals of the IRB nor did the Church 
whop were strongly opposed. The mainstream support 
came from the poorer classes who, despite their 
poverty, were often highly idealistic.

At the time of the 1867 rising the membership of 
the IRB was estimated at over 80,000. 

INFORMERS 

Informers such as Corydon and Magle did untold 
damage to the IRB by betraying their oath and 
giving information to the English.

The Fenian movement split in America in 1865. 
John O'Mahony took over from the Stephans. 
O'Mahony was later himself to be deposed when his 
hesitation in calling an insurrection dissatisfied 
the soldiers he commanded (many of whom were 
veterans of the American Civil War). Colonel Thomas 
J. Kelly, was appointed Chief of Staff of the IRB 
in 1867 and departed for Ireland. 

A rising was planned for February 1867. Chester 
Castle in England was to be attacked and
simultaneous raids in Ireland were to be carried 
out. The English knew in advance however as  
Corydon kept them informed.

The news had not filtered through to the Fenians 
in Ireland and sporadic battles took place in 
Kerry and Dublin.

THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS 

The IRB was reorganised in Manchester in July of 
1867 and a supreme council elected. Colonel Kelly 
and Jim Deasy were captured by the English and 
then rescued by the Fenians in a daring raid in 
which a police officer was killed. Allen, Larkin 
and O'Brien were hanged for their complicity in 
the events and they became known as 
'The Manchester Martyrs'.

The mass funerals that followed together with
the later formation of the Land League focused 
the minds of the popular masses on the injustice 
of English rule in Ireland.

CLAN NA GAEL 

The IRB delegates in Manchester broke away from 
the feuding factions of Fenianism in America and 
supported Clan na Gael who were founded there in 
June of 1867. The objectives of Clann na Gael was 
to secure an independent Ireland and to assist 
the IRB in achieving this aim. John Devoy was the 
mainstay behind the Clan.

Devoy became involved in the 'New Departure' and 
assisted Davitt and Parnell in their fight against 
the landlords. Independence remained his main aim 
however as he felt that the Land League was not 
militant enough to remove the landlords. Devoy, 
assisted by Doctor Pat McCartan, founded 
a newspaper, 'The Gaelic American’'.

Doctor Pat McCartan transferred from Clan na Gael 
to the newly formed 'Dungannon Clubs', a 
separatist organisation which was denounced by 
the Church.
 
Tom Clarke became a member of the Supreme Council 
of the IRB in 1909 and helped form the 
revolutionary paper 'Irish Freedom'. He became the 
link with Clan na Gael in America.

In 1912 the IRB sent Sean MacDiarmada as a delegate 
to the Clan convention and he succeeded in securing 
the enormous sum of $20,000 for the IRB at home.

IRISH VOLUNTEERS 

In November 1913 the Irish Volunteers were formed 
in Dublin and 4,000 enrolled on that first night. 
In 1914 Padraig Pearse went to America to raise 
funds to save his Gaelic school, St. Enda's. This 
he achieved and then turned his attention to 
revolutionary matters.

On his return from America he sought 1,000 rifles 
from McGarrity. He as assisted by Sean 
Mac Diarmada, Eamonn Ceannt and Sean Fitzgibbon. 
Pearse was convinced that the revolutionary force 
in Ireland had never been better organised 
or equipped. His speech in 1914 reflected this:-
 
 'In Dublin, we have some 2,500 admirably 
disciplined, drilled, intelligent, and partly armed 
men. Nationalist Ireland has never before had such 
an asset. Our main strength is in Dublin, but large 
minorities support us everywhere, especially in the 
towns and in the extreme South and West. We expect 
to have 150 companies, representing 10,000 to 
15,000 men, represented by delegates at next 
Sunday's Convention.'

THE GAELIC LEAGUE AND THE GAA 

The IRB were influential in many cultural and 
national organisations. Most of the leaders like 
Pearse, Plunket and McDonagh were fluent Irish 
speakers and were members of the Gaelic League. 
The Gaelic Athletic Association (the GAA) was 
formed by Cusack in November 1884.

THE GREAT WAR 1914-18 

At the outbreak of the first world war, Redmond 
urged the Irish Volunteers to join in the fight 
against the oppressors of small nations. 170,000 
of the Volunteers supported Redmond whilst 
11,000 supported Pearse. 

Tom Clarke urged the Supreme Council of the IRB 
that a rising must happen before the end of the 
war, especially as the Irish Home Rule bill had 
been suspended at the outbreak of the war. 
Pearse, Plunket and Ceannt drafted the first 
military plans. 

ROGER CASEMENT 

Prior to the rising and thanks to Hobson, Casement 
and Childers, guns were landed at Howth and 
Wicklow. Casement went to Germany where he 
published the Irish cause in German newspapers. 
His efforts to secure weapons were dealt a severe 
blow when he and the weapons they were attempting 
to smuggle into the country were captured on 
Banna Strand.

Casement, an English subject, was eventually 
convicted of treason and hanged.

PLANS FOR THE RISING 

Thomas Clarke was the main instigator of the 
rising, supported by Pearse, Sean Mac Diarmada, 
Eamonn Ceant and Sean T. O'Ceallaigh who went to 
America for further assistance. Thomas McDonagh, 
Joseph Plunket and James Connolly. were later 
brought on to the Supreme Council.

James Connolly used his paper 'The Workers' 
Republic' to call for an armed revolt. He used 
the Citizens Army to protect the paper.

The Irish Volunteers were holding recruiting 
meetings throughout Ireland and training 
enthusiastically. They awaited the signal to act 
as the rising had been set for Easter Saturday, 
22nd of April, 1916.

Setbacks to the plan included the capture of 
Casement and the weapons, the capture of Austin 
Stack, commandant of the Kerry Brigade and the 
discovery of the plans for an uprising following 
a raid on German officials in New York.
 
The Supreme Council decided unanimously decided 
to proceed with the uprising despite the fact 
that they knew it had little chance of success. It 
was decided to strike on Easter Monday. In spite 
of the order from McNeill not to revolt, over 
2,000 soldiers made a strike for freedom. 

2. THE INSURRECTION

On Easter Monday, 24th April, 1916 the GPO was 
occupied by the revolutionary forces. Pearse read 
the Proclamation of the Republic to a bemused
gathering.

The Volunteers seized and fortified six positions 
in Dublin city: the GPO, the Four Courts, Boland's 
Mill, St. Stephen's Green, Jacobs Factory and the 
South Dublin Union. Attempts to seize Dublin Castle 
and Trinity College failed. This latter failure 
severely restricted the Volunteers mans of 
communicating with each other.
 
The failure of the country to rise made it 
impossible to prevent the arrival of English 
reinforcements. By Wednesday the revolutionaries 
were outnumbered by 20 to 1. The English secured a 
cordon about the city and closed in. They 
concentrated their attack on the GPO whilst none 
of the other strongholds came under the same sort 
of concentrated bombardment.

A gun-ship, the Helga, arrived in Dublin and 
field-guns were mounted on Trinity College. The 
effect of the continuous shelling of O'Connell 
Street virtually destroyed it and the surrounding 
areas. By Friday the GPO was engulfed in flames and 
Pearse gave the order to surrender. 450 people were 
dead, many of whom were civilians, with over 2500 
wounded. The city was in ruins with the damage 
estimated at a massive 2 Million pounds. 

Over 3,500 people were subsequently arrested 
country-wide (including DeValera and Collins), 
although 1,500 were freed after questioning. 
1,841 of these were interned without trial in 
England, and 171 were tried by secret court 
martial resulting in 170 convictions. 90 were 
sentenced to death but 75 of these sentences were 
commuted to life imprisonment. The seven 
signatories of the proclamation of independence 
(Pearse, Connolly, Clarke, MacDonagh, MacDermott, 
Plunkett, and Ceannt) were all executed to the 
outrage of the Irish public who had now begun to 
revise their opinion of the insurgents to that of 
a heroic nature.

3. EFFECTS OF THE REBELLION

The rising was critical in terms of the overall 
fight for an Irish Republic.

For the first time the masses of the country 
wanted an end to English rule. Nationalism swept 
the country especially as the details of the secret
executions became known.

National attention was brought to the Irish cause 
and to the oppressive ways in which the English 
ruled the country. 

These realisations were in all probability the 
main aim of the insurgents. The War of Independence 
which followed in 1919, the subsequent Civil 
War and the formation of the Irish Free State and 
the declaration by Costello of an Irish Republic 
can all be traced back to the events of Easter 
week, 1916.

=================================================

GIANT LEABAIGH'S ROCK 		by Pat Watson
=====================

Some three miles west of Athlone, in the towns 
land of Meehanbee, in the parish of Drum, stands 
Giant Leabaigh's rock. That is what the locals 
called it. It is actually a huge dolmen. The 
great top stone that was meant to stand on six 
uprights is estimated to weigh twenty-four tons. 
However it's great weight sunk some of the 
standing stones. As one end sunk the other end 
tilted up leaving two of the standing stones 
free of the top stone. The top stone now leans 
at a forty-five-degree angle.

Legendry 'Piseogs' superstition says that any 
interference with the monument will bring bad 
luck. The origin of this superstition is unclear
but there are a number of possibilities. It may 
have carried down from very ancient times. 
However just fifty yards from the rock we find 
a half made headstone with the name Reilly or 
Kelly engraved thereon. It appears that some 
stonemason may have taken one of the uprights to 
fashion this stone and as he did not complete the 
job he may have come to an untimely end. This 
could have started the superstition. Another 
remarkable thing about this dolmen is that it was 
lost to historians for hundreds of years. Perhaps 
people stopped talking about it after some 
unfortunate happening. It was only found to 
historians again about 1960 when this writer 
showed it to Billy English, a noted Athlone 
historian.

Local legend also has it that somewhere near 
this dolmen a poor farmer was digging in his 
field when the tip of his spade hit a rock. When 
he hit the rock again three feet farther on he 
hoped it might be the same rock as long flat 
rocks were very useful for building chimneys. He 
was delighted to find that it was the same rock 
and after a lot of digging and scraping he found 
that the rock was ten feet long and ten feet wide 
and that the top of it was perfectly flat. Better 
still there was writing on it. Could it be a cover 
for buried treasure? Did the giant bury it?

He now had a dilemma, as he could not read. His 
wife could read but she was a gabby-gut who 
couldn't keep anything to herself and they were 
related to half the parish, all poor tenants 
like themselves who would expect to share in any 
good fortune. Then of course there was the 
landlord who, if he heard about it would just 
take the lot. He would have to trust the wife. 
Maybe if he brought her here he could keep her 
here until he lifted the stone and in that way 
she could not tell anyone. That night when they 
had their ten children put to bed he told her. 
'Come with me now' he said 'and bring the lantern 
and we will see what the writing says.'
 
The first line read, 'Bfheidir go bhfuil an T-adh
leat?' 'Perhaps the luck is with you?' The second 
line read, 'Ardaigh suas me agus feicfidh tu nios 
mo.' 'Raise me up and you will see more.' This was 
very exciting information. They were sure it meant 
treasure. They would be rich. They would never 
again have to scrape and save and cow-tow to the 
landlord.

He decided to dig down beside the stone to find 
how thick it was. It was two feet thick. It would 
take several men to move it. They would have to 
share the treasure, but with whom? Just then their 
two oldest children arrived in their shimmies, Peg, 
thirteen and Padraig, twelve. The next six 
children followed them closely. The youngest two 
could not yet walk. Within a short time all ninety 
of the villagers had arrived. They all helped in 
the digging and soon they had the rock standing on 
its end. Two things became apparent: first, from a 
hole in the middle of the flat surface beneath the 
rock a little wisp of smoke emerged. Secondly, 
there was writing on the under side of the stone. 
In illuminated letters that were read out by the 
wife, 'Lig anuas me mar a bhi me.' 'Put me down 
as I was before.' There was silence for a few 
seconds before panic gripped the woman and she 
said, 'On a count of three drop the rock' It fell 
with a great thud just as a wisp of smoke escaped 
at the side. Aaahhhh! came a great unearthly 
blood-curling scream of pain as if somebody had 
their arm cut off. As the echoes from this scream 
died away terror gripped the crowd and all rushed 
to put the clay back on top of the rock with 
spades, shovels, sticks, feet or bare hands. 
Within ten minutes the clay was replaced so well 
that it looked exactly the same as the rest of the 
field. 'Let no one ever speak of this night,' said 
the oldest man in the village and they all slunk 
home petrified even to speak. 

Shortly after this the famine halved their number 
and those who survived never again mentioned 
'the' night. By the eighteen sixties people had 
again started to whisper about 'the' night but by 
then nobody could agree exactly where the field 
was or even on whose land it was. As the field 
was thought to be cursed everybody said it was on 
other peoples land. However it was definitely near 
Leabaigh's rock. About this time there was a long 
five-acre-field known as 'The Gort Mor', 'The Big 
Tillage Field'. It was owned by Naghteens and 
leased in seven stripes to separate tenants. Maybe 
that was the field? Or maybe not? Or if it was on 
whose section was the stone? Now in 2005 the new 
motorway to Galway will be passing within a few 
hundred yards of Leabaigh's rock. If it runs 
through the field I wonder how the tree huggers 
will deal with an angry one-arm Genie? That is if 
it is his arm that is missing. 
 
Some say that at certain times, in this area, you 
may even meet a wandering waving arm or fairy 
shimmering shimmied children or primitive ghostly 
diggers. Come if you dare to walk in their 
footsteps and see the Rock, now that it is open 
to the public.    
~~~

Pat Watson is the author of 
'Original Irish Stories' 
First published in March 2006.
Get your copy from here:
http://www.myirishstories.com

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=================================================

GAELIC PHRASES OF THE MONTH
===========================

PHRASE:		Na dean sin!
PRONOUNCED:	naw dane shin
MEANING:		Don't do that!

PHRASE:	 	Gle mhaith!
PRONOUNCED:	glay moth
MEANING:		Very good!	

PHRASE:		Rinn tu e!
PRONOUNCED:	rinn two a (as in the letter a)
MEANING:		You did it!


View the archive of phrases here:

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

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IRISH CLAN ASSOCIATIONS NOTICEBOARD
===================================

O'LEARY CLAN GATHERING SEPT. 2006
Following our very successful gathering in 2005, 
the weekend of September 15th to 17th 2006 sees 
the 11th annual clan gathering. As in previous 
years, the meeting will take place in the 
ancestral homeland of the O'Learys: Inchigeelagh 
village, in the Parish of 'Uibh laoghaire', 
County Cork. The venue will be Creedon’s Hotel, 
situated in the heart of the village. 

Enquires to Eugene O'Leary at:
olearygathering@hotmail.com

=================================================

APRIL COMPETITION RESULT
========================

The winner was: michaelmurray284@msn.com
who will receive the following: 

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

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

=================================================

I hope that you have enjoyed this issue.

Until next time,

Michael Green,
Editor,
The Information about Ireland Site.


https://www.ireland-information.com

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