Eibhlin O'Neill's blog

The Irish Government is reported to be working on a proposal to establish a new bank holiday for St Brigid’s Day on 1 February. The St Brigid’s Day bank holiday is to be permanent and to take effect in 2023. Saint Brigid (Irish: Naomh Bríd) is one of Ireland's patron saints, along with St Patrick and St Colmcille and is the only woman patron saint. There has been a debate for many years on the origins of Brigid. She shares her name and a number of the same attributes as the Celtic goddess Brigid. There are many supernatural events, legends, and folk customs associated with her. 

Queen's University is in the city of Belfast (Irish: Béal Feirste) in the north of Ireland (Irish: Éire). Close to the University is Queen's Elms Village that provides accommodation for students. A tower block, now demolished, once stood in the village. It is the site of a story of a haunting that once terrorised a student allocated room 611 in the block 40 years ago. It has been the subject of reports in the Belfast Telegraph and BBC Northern Ireland over recent days. Needless to say the approaching of Halloween always sees an increase in reports of ghost stories.

A century old rosewood walking stick with a silver collar and tip has been sold in Belfast, Ireland (Irish: Béal Feirste, Éire) for £52,000. The reason that the stick achieved a price five times higher than the auctioneers expected was that it once belonged to Irish republican leader Michael Collins. It was sold along with a letter of provenance. An institution in Ireland is understood to have bought the stick and it is likely to form part of a public display. Next year a number of plans are underway to commemorate the 100 years since Michael Collins' death in 1922.

The tallest mural in Ireland, about 41 metres (135ft) in height, has been painted on the side of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk, Ireland (Irish: Dún Dealgan, Éire).  It depicts the Celtic warrior god Lú. Lú (also known as Lug and Lugh) is one of the most prominent gods in Irish, as well as Scottish and Manx mythology  He has been described as god of arts, warriors, and sovereignty.  He is associated with the Tuatha Dé Danann who are Celtic pre-Christian gods with supernatural ability and were of great importance to Gaelic people.

Boxers Brendan Irvine from Belfast (Irish: Béal Feirste) and Kellie Harrington from Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) will carry the flag for Ireland (Irish: Éire) at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. They are both members of the 116 strong Team Ireland athletes competing in the games.  Boxing traditionally is one of Irelands most successful Olympic sports with 16 of the 31 Irish medals having been won by boxers.

Last week in Dublin a commemoration was held to mark the centenary of burning the Custom House, the last symbol of British civil administration in Ireland. The Irish struggle for independence from English colonial rule has been long and hard and taken  many centuries. Albeit that a section in the northeast of the island of Ireland continues to remain under colonial rule. As Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 observed: ``The historical and contemporary existence of the Irish nation has never been in dispute.

Ballyarnet (Irish: Baile-Arnoid) is a townland just to the north of the city of Derry (Irish: Doire) in the north of Ireland. People of Derry have been remembering  a special unexpected visitor to Ballyarnet who arrived on 21st May 1932. American aviation pioneer and author Amelia Earhart made a forced landing there due to bad weather and technical problems. Amelia Earhart's arrival in Ireland made her the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Ireland is well known for its prehistoric manmade megalithic sites used as burial monuments. There is a significant variety to the 1,600 or so megaliths thought to be remaining in Ireland. These include Cairns which have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, such as burial memorials; for ceremonial purposes, sometimes relating to astronomy; to mark trails and as an integral part of a burial mound or site. Many have been destroyed over the years, with the large stones used in their construction being later used for other purposes.

Over the last week demonstrations have been seen across Ireland, Scotland and Wales in protest against the bombing of Gaza by Israel. Yesterday the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed to 212, including 61 children and 36 women, according to local Health Ministry officials. Two days ago Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney speaking at a UN Security Council said the international community has to intervene in a bid to stop the escalating violence in the region.

The Ballymurphy Massacre took place in August 1971 when during a British army operation 10 people were shot dead in Belfast. On May 11th 2021 a judge-led inquiry found that British soldiers unjustifiably shot or used disproportionate force in the deaths of nine of the 10 innocent people killed. Mrs Justice Siobhán Keegan also criticised the lack of investigation into the 10th death, that of John McKerr, and said she could not definitively rule who had shot him. It has taken fifty years of campaigning by the families of the victims to get some kind of justice.