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  The Information about Ireland Site Newsletter 
                  June 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
=== 35 things you never knew about Dublin
=== Edmund Burke: Political Thinker
=== Famous Irish Legends: Cuchulainn
=== Gaelic Phrases of the Month
=== Monthly free competition result

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FOREWORD
========

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NEWS SNAPS FROM IRELAND
=======================
 
FORMER TAOISEACH CHARLES HAUGHEY DIES

The death has taken place of former Taoiseach 
Charles Haughey. Born in County Mayo in 1925 he 
was first elected to the Irish Parliament in 1957 
and held his seat until his retirement in 1992. 
He first served in Government as Minister for 
Justice and then as Minister for Agriculture. He 
later took up office as Minister for FInance and 
it was at this time that he was controversially 
dismissed from his post when he was accused of 
attempting to smuggle arms in to Northern Ireland. 

His career looked to be in ruins but he staged a 
remarkable comeback as was elected as Taoiseach in 
1979. Over the course of the next 13 years he 
served 3 terms as Taoiseach and leader of the 
Fianna Fail dominated coalition governments. He is 
credited with kick-starting the Irish economy in 
the late 1980s and early 1990s and pioneered the 
'partnership' plans between employers and unions 
which were to yield great dividends for the Irish 
economy in the 1990s. Earlier smaller schemes such 
as free travel for Pensioners earlier ensured his 
popularity, especially among his Dublin 
constituency.

Revelations regarding financial corruption and 
tax evasion seriously damaged his reputation 
and his appearance of a Tribunal of Enquiry did 
little to stem the flow of criticism of his 
historical legacy.

His advocates estimate that history will be 
kinder in the remembrance of one of the most 
controversial of all Irish leaders.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS TO LEAVE EDUCATION IN IRELAND

The Christian Brothers are set to end over two 
centuries of involvement in the Irish educational 
system. Control of 29 Primary and 109 Secondary
schools are to be established in a charitable 
trust to be run by lay people outside of the 
order.

INTEREST RATES ON THE UP AND UP

The EU Central Bank has again raised interest 
rates across the eurozone, which includes 
Ireland, to 2.75%. Further increases are expected 
as the bank tries to head off inflationary 
pressures. Inflation in Ireland has risen to a 
three-year high of 3.9%. Price increases in 
energy, food and mortgage costs are being blamed 
for the rise.

Irish author Colm Toibin has scooped the 
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award prize 
of EURO 100,000 for his novel about Henry James, 
'The Master'. Nominations for the IMPAC award 
are received from 180 libraries from 43 
countries worldwide. The winning novel had 
previously been shortlisted for the Booker 
Prize in 2004.

GOVERNMENT TO TARGET SCIENCE EDUCATION
 
The Irish Government plans to boost the spending 
on Research and Development from the current 1% 
to 2.5% of GDP by the year 2013. It aims to 
double the number of PHDs to 1000 annually and 
to add over 300 post-graduates to the field of 
humanities and social sciences. By comparison, 
the worlds most developed economies such as USA 
and Japan spend in excess of 4% on R&D. 

In what is being seen as a massive push to 
further enhance Ireland's reputation as a 
scientific and Information technology haven 
for employers, work permit legislation for 
scientists willing to work in Ireland is to 
be amended to further encourage location by 
talented staff here.

IRISH HOUSE PRICES INCREASE BY 270% IN 10 YEARS
 
A recent Irish bank study has concluded that house 
prices in Ireland have jumped by 270% in the last 
decade. Forecasts for the next 10 years estimate 
an increase of 55%, with the rate of increase 
slowing down once the supply of housing begins 
to meet the demand.


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

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NEW FREE RESOURCES AT THE SITE
==============================

NEW COATS OF ARMS ADDED TO THE GALLERY:

The following 7 coats of arms images and family
history details have been added to the Gallery:

G: George
H: Humphrey, Hough
L: Lambert
M: Martell, Massey
S: Stockley

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35 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT DUBLIN   by David Carey
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1. Dublin's O'Connell Bridge was originally made 
of rope and could only carry one man and a donkey 
at a time. It was replaced with a wooden 
structure in 1801. The current concrete bridge was 
built in 1863 and was first called 'Carlisle 
Bridge'.

2. O'Connell Bridge is the only traffic bridge in 
Europe which is wider than it is long and Dublin's 
second O'Connell Bridge is across the pond in 
St. Stephen's Green.

3. Dublin Corporation planted 43,765 deciduous 
trees in the Greater Dublin area in 1998.

4. Dublin's oldest workhouse closed its doors for 
the last time in July 1969. Based in Smithfield, 
the premises housed 10,037 orphan children during 
the one hundred and seventy years it operated.

5. Dublin was originally called 'Dubh Linn' 
meaning 'Black Pool'. The pool to which the name 
referred is the oldest known natural treacle lake 
in Northern Europe and currently forms the 
centrepiece of the penguin enclosure in Dublin 
Zoo.

6. None of the so-called Dublin Mountains are high 
enough to meet the criteria required to claim 
mountain status. The Sugarloaf is the tallest 
'Dublin Mountain' yet measures a mere 1389 feet 
above sea level.

7. The headquarters of the national television 
broadcaster, RTE, in Montrose, was originally built 
for use as an abattoir.

8. Dublin's oldest traffic lights are situated 
beside the Renault garage in Clontarf. The lights, 
which are still in full working order, were 
installed in 1893 outside the home of Fergus 
Mitchell who was the owner of the first car in
Ireland.

9. The Temple Bar area is so called because it 
housed the first Jewish temple built in Ireland. 
The word 'bar' refers to the refusal of Catholics 
to allow the Jewish community to enter any of the 
adjoining commercial premises.

10. Tiny Coliemore Harbour beside the Dalkey 
Island Hotel was the main harbour for Dublin from 
the fifteenth to the seventeenth century.

11. Dublin is the IT Call Centre capital of Europe 
with over 100,000 people employed in the industry.

12. In 1761 a family of itinerants from Navan 
were refused entry to Dublin. The family settled 
on the outskirts of the city and created the town 
of Rush. Two hundred and fifty years later, a 
large percentage of the population of Rush can 
still trace their roots back to this one family.

13. Dubliners drink a total of 9800 pints an hour 
between the hours of 5.30pm on a Friday and 3.00am 
the following Monday.

14. Dublin is Europe's most popular destination 
with traveling stag and hen parties. 

15. Harold's Cross got it's name because a tribe 
called the 'Harolds' lived in the Wicklow 
Mountains and the Archbishop of Dublin would 
not let them come any nearer to the city than 
that point.

16. Leopardstown was once known as Leperstown.

17. The average 25-year-old Dubliner still lives 
with his/her parents.

18. Three radio stations attract over 90% of all 
listeners in the Dublin area.

19. There are twelve places called Dublin in the 
United States and six in Australia.

20. Buck Whaley was an extremely wealthy gambler 
who lived in Dublin in the seventeen hundreds. 
Due to inheritances, he had an income of seven 
thousand pounds per year (not far off seven 
million a year at today's prices). He lived in a 
huge house near Stephen's Green which is now the 
Catholic University of Ireland. He went broke and 
he had to leave Ireland due to gambling debts. 
He swore he'd be buried in Irish soil but is in 
fact buried in the Isle of Man in a shipload of 
Irish soil which he imported for the purpose.

21. The converted Ford Transit used for the Pope's 
visit in 1976 was upholstered using the most 
expensive carpet ever made in Dublin. The carpet 
was a silk and Teflon weave and rumoured to have 
cost over IR£950.00 per square meter.

22. There was once a large statue of Queen 
Victoria in the Garden outside Leinster House. It 
was taken away when the Republic of Ireland 
became independent and in 1988 was given
as a present to the city of Sydney, Australia to 
mark that city's 200th anniversary.

23. The largest cake ever baked in Dublin weighed 
a whopping 190 lb's and was made to celebrate the 
1988 city millennium. The cake stood untouched in 
the Mansion House until 1991 when it was thrown 
out.

24. Strangers are more likely to receive a drink 
from Dubliners than from a native of any other 
County.

25. There are forty six rivers in Dublin city. The 
river flowing through Rathmines is called the River 
Swan (beside the Swan Centre). The Poddle was once 
known as the 'Tiber' and was also known as the 
River Salach (dirty river), which is the origin of 
the children's song 'Down by the river Saile'. It 
is also the river whose peaty, mountain water 
causes the Black Pool mentioned above.

26. Saint Valentine was martyred in Rome on 
February 28th eighteen centuries ago. He was the 
Bishop of Terni. His remains are in a Cask in White 
Friar Street Church, Dublin. He is no longer 
recognised as a Saint By the Vatican.

27. The statue originally in Dublin's O'Connell 
Street (but now moved to the Phoenix Park) is 
commonly known as the 'Floozy in the Jacuzzi' 
while the one at the bottom of Grafton Street is 
best known as the 'Tart with the Cart'. The women 
at the Ha'Penny bridge are the 'Hags 
with the bags' and the Chimney Stack with the new 
lift in Smithfield Village's now called the 'Flue 
with the View'. The short lived millennium clock 
that was placed in the River Liffey in 1999 was 
known as 'the chime in the slime'.

28. Montgomery Street was once the biggest 
red-light district in Europe with an estimated 
1600 prostitutes. It was known locally as the 
'Monto' and this is the origin of the song 'Take 
me up to Monto'.

29. Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda lived in Dublin 
in the Eighteenth century. His job was naming 
streets. He called several after himself. Henry 
Street, Moore Street, Earl Street, Drogheda 
Street. Drogheda Street later became
Sackville Street and is now O'Connell Street. 

30. Nelson's Pillar was blown up in 1966 to mark 
the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 rising. It now 
lies in a heap in a valley in County Wicklow.

31. Leinster House in Dublin was originally built 
as a private home for the Duke of Leinster. At 
that time, the most fashionable part of Dublin was 
the North Side and he was asked why he was 
building on the South Side. He said 'Where I go, 
fashion follows me!' .....and to this day the most 
fashionable part of Dublin is the South Side.

32. Tallaght is one of the oldest placenames in 
Ireland and it means 'The Plague cemetery'.

33. There are seven areas in Dublin whose names 
end in the letter 'O'. Fewer than one Dubliner 
in 20,000 can name them off by heart. They are: 
Rialto, Marino, Portobello, Phibsboro, Monto, 
Casino and Pimlico. 

34. Kevin Street Garda Station was once the Palace 
of the Archbishop Of Dublin.

35. The original name of Trinity College was 
'Trinity College Near Dublin'. The capital was 
a lot smaller then.

Best wishes from Van Demons Land!

David Carey.
(In Australia but from Limerick!)

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EDMUND BURKE     	     By Joseph E. Gannon 
============

'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil 
is for good men to do nothing.'
 
Edmund Burke was one of the most famous political 
thinkers of the 18th century. Through his 
speeches and writings, he raised the level of 
political debate in England, attempting to make 
moral principles a part of English politics. A 
champion of Catholic emancipation, Burke wielded 
his influence to weaken the heinous Penal Laws. 
He was born on January 12th, 1729, at Arran Quay, 
Dublin. 

Burke was the son of a mixed marriage, his mother 
Catholic and his father Protestant. He would 
later marry an Irish Catholic woman. Perhaps it 
was these two factors which led him to advocate a 
compassionate policy toward Ireland for most of 
his life. Burke graduated from Trinity College in 
1748 and studied law at Middle Temple in London. 
He failed, however, to secure a call to the bar 
and instead began a literary career. 

In 1756, Burke published his first book, 
'A Vindication of Natural Society' and an essay 
titled 'A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of 
Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful'. In 
1757, he married June Nugent, the daughter of a 
Catholic physician, and in 1759 he became editor 
of the Annual Register. 

By 1761, Burke had begun to involve himself with 
politics. That year, after living in England, he 
returned to Dublin as secretary to W.G. Hamilton, 
chief secretary for Ireland. He left that post 
two years later to become secretary to the new 
prime minister, Lord Rockingham. 

In 1765, Earl Verney brought him into the House 
of Commons as a member for Wendover. His first 
speeches in the early months of 1766 impressed 
the members of Parliament. In the space of a 
few short weeks, Burke rose from obscurity to 
being recognized as one of the leading figures in 
the House of Commons. He now began to make his 
own mark in politics through his writing and 
public speaking. 

Burke had come to Parliament just as the 
controversy over the Stamp Act was beginning. He 
urged repeal of the act and consistently supported 
a policy of reconciliation with the American 
colonies. Burke wrote four well-known pamphlets 
on the America question from 1770 to 1777: 
'Thoughts on the Present Discontents' (1770), 
'American Taxation' (1774), 'Conciliation with the 
Colonies' (1775), and 'A Letter to the Sheriffs of 
Bristol' (1777). 

Burke's colleagues in Parliament never took his 
advice on the American colonies, but many since 
have recognized the wisdom of the policy he 
advanced. In commenting on Burke's writings on 
the American question, John Morley, the Liberal 
politician and writer, said that 'taken together 
they compose the most perfect manual in our 
literature, or in any literature, for one who 
approaches the study of public affairs, whether 
for knowledge or practice'. After Yorktown, it 
was Burke and the Whigs who would eventually force 
King George III to recognize the futility of 
continuing the war in America. 

Burke was the leading Parliamentary proponent of 
civil rights for Catholics in Ireland. Since the 
late 17th century, Catholics in Ireland had been 
barred from full citizenship and the vast majority 
forced into abject poverty by the Penal Laws. 
During the last part of the 18th century, the 
threat of French intervention in Ireland and 
Burke's efforts together forced the passage of 
several reductions of the severe restrictions 
of the Penal Laws. 

The championing of that cause would cost Burke 
his MP seat in 1780, but he returned to Parliament 
as the member from Malton and became Paymaster of 
Forces when a Whig, Lord Rockingham, became 
prime minister again. When Lord Rockingham died 
in July 1786, Burke resigned and never held public 
office again, but he continued his involvement 
with British politics and writing for the rest of 
his life. 

Burke was a constant critic of British colonial 
policies, and, in the 1780s, his investigation 
into The East India Company led to the impeachment 
of Warren Hastings, governor general of India. 
Although Hastings would eventually be acquitted 
of all charges, the entire affair led to reforms 
in England's administration in India and helped 
bring the inequities of England's colonial system 
before the public. Burke believed this was the 
most important political contribution of his 
career. 

Burke is often remembered for his vehement 
opposition to the French Revolution, which he 
expounded in 1790 in what is, perhaps, his best
known work: 'Reflections on the Revolution in 
France'. The work was widely published and read 
all over Europe, and his articulation of what he 
viewed as the dangers of the Revolution caused a 
sensation in England. It caused him to break with 
many of his longtime friends and colleagues in 
the Whig party and invoked replies from many 
English writers, the most famous one being Thomas 
Paine's 'Rights of Man'. 

In what might seem a contradiction, given his 
support of the civil rights of Irish Catholics, 
Burke was opposed to the Volunteer movement in 
Ireland and to the establishing of Henry Grattan's 
Irish Parliament. Burke's opposition to these 
movements may well have been his fear that 
Grattan's Parliament would not be a government of 
all the Irish people but merely one that continued, 
and perhaps even strengthened, the long tradition 
of Irish Protestant rule and Irish Catholic 
subservience. Burke was never an advocate of any 
form of Irish independence, though he supported 
the emancipation of Irish Catholics within the 
British Empire. 

Burke's writings on the Irish question are less 
known than those of his on the American and the 
French Revolutions, but he left behind several 
that would have served the British well, had they 
ever been heeded. In his 'Speech at the Guildhall' 
(1780), 'To a Peer of Ireland on the Penal Laws' 
(1782), and 'To Sir Hercules Langrishe' (1792), 
he sends them a clear message: Your foolish 
colonial policies have lost America and your 
foolish policies will lose Ireland. His counsel 
was ignored but the correctness of his theme has 
been proved by history. 

Burke died in London on July 9, 1797, one year 
before Ireland erupted in revolution. That revolt 
might have been avoided if some of Burke's ideas 
on Catholic emancipation and other legislative 
reforms had been more fully implemented by the 
English government. Then, as ever, the country's 
rulers seemed to suffer from a complete inability 
to make the compromises that could avoid repeated 
disasters on that long-suffering island. As Burke 
once said, in words that should echo down to those 
debating Ireland's future today: 'All government, 
indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every 
virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on 
compromise and barter'. 

Burke is not a hero of Irish nationalists, nor 
should he be, for he never was a proponent of 
Irish republicanism. But he did help put the 
corruption of England's colonial system before 
the English people. Most of all, he started the 
process that would eventually bring the despised 
malignancy known as the Penal Laws to an end. For 
this, he should be well remembered in the land of 
his birth. 

Joseph E. Gannon 

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FAMOUS IRISH LEGENDS: CUCHULAINN
================================

There was a time in Irelands history when chivalry 
and chieftainry ruled the land. When the country 
was occupied by bands of warriors who spoke only 
their native tongue and who cherished their 
heritage and civilisation. This was the time of 
Conor McNessa and the High Kings of Ireland, of 
the Gamanraide and the Red Branch Knights of the 
Emania. It was the time of Cuchullain. 

All of the warrior bands had their own Seanachie, 
a person responsible for recounting the deeds of 
times past, a chronicler of the ages. Cuchullain 
was their most famous subject and hundreds of 
tales of his heroic deeds, both real and 
imagined, have survived to this day. 

Cuchullain was the nephew and foster son of King 
Conor of Emania, and was originally named Setanta. 
He arrived at the Court to find the youths 
playing Caman (hurling) and, having with him his 
red bronze hurley he so outplayed the other 
youths that his future greatness could be seen 
by all of the Court. The warriors of the Red 
Branch acknowledged him as a blood relative of 
the King and heard him proclaim before the 
Druids in the Hall of Heroes: 

'I care not whether I die tomorrow or next year,
if only my deeds live after me'. 

Cuchulainns greatest deed was perhaps when he 
alone held back the forces of Connaught and had 
to fight his friend, Ferdiad, who was the 
champion and chief of the Connaught Knights of 
the Sword. Ferdiad and Cuchullain had trained 
together in arms in their youth and it was 
displeasing to Cuchullain to have to fight his 
friend of old. He tried to dissuade Ferdiad 
against fighting by reminding him of their days 
in training, when they were both subjects of 
the great female champion, Scathach, in Alba. 

'We were heart companions, We were companions in 
the woods, We were fellows of the same bed, where 
we used to sleep the balmy sleep. After mortal 
battles abroad, In countries many and far distant, 
together we used to practice, and go through each 
forest, learning with Scathach'. 

Ferdiad would not be swayed. Lest he weaken under 
Cuchullains pleas he responded only with taunts 
against his friend, now foe. 

So they fought. They fought for four days and 
eventually, after a tremendous effort, Cuchullain 
laid Ferdiad down and then fell into a trance of 
sorrow and weakness after the epic duel. 

As is the way with such heroes, Cuchulainn died 
on the battlefield. He was propped against a large 
rock whilst dead, with a spear in his hand and a 
buckler on his arm, and with such a defiant 
attitude was able to strike fear into his enemies 
even after death. 

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

PHRASE:		Is e do bhaile do chaislean 
PRONOUNCED:	iss a duh boll-yah duh kosh-lonn
MEANING:		Your house is your castle

PHRASE:	 	Coimhead fearg fhear na foighde
PRONOUNCED:	koe-vade varrig farr nah foe-ih-geh
MEANING:		Beware the anger of a patient man

PHRASE:		Maireann croi eadrom i bhfad
PRONOUNCED:	marr-inn kree aid-drum ih bodd
MEANING:		A light heart lives longest


View the archive of phrases here:

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

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JUNE COMPETITION RESULT
========================

The winner was: sandra.reid@jactravel.co.uk
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. 

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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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