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The Irish love their dogs, but aren’t a big fan of cats, according to a new study about pet ownership in Ireland. Research by University College Dublin (UCD) found that 36 percent of homes in Ireland have a dog, while just one in 10 homes own a cat. The dog-to-cat ratio is much more drastic than in most other countries. For instance, in the U.S., 37 percent of homes have dogs while 32 percent have cats, while in Britain, the split is even smaller with 22 percent dogs and 18 percent cats. But Ireland is unequivocally a nation of dog...

YOU could have been reading a chapter of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The DaVinci Code. Two people painstakingly deciphering the Latin words on hundreds of tombs inside one of the oldest places of worship on these islands. Using a centuries-old map to identify a vault hidden under the floor of the 13th Century gothic building with tower attached, they solved a mystery that had surrounded the Irish ancestors of US president Barack Obama. It's the stuff of dreams, but it has become a reality in Kilkenny, Ireland's medieval city. And so it was to St Can-ice's Cathedral that Kil-kenny film...

A mystery revolving around President Barack Obama’s Irish roots was solved when a tomb containing the remains of Obama’s Irish ancestor was discovered in the Irish medieval city of Kilkenny. After a painstaking search, film maker Gabriel Murray, who is in the process of making a documentary on Obama's Irish roots, finally found “Obama’s Lost Tomb” inside the 13th century St. Canice’s Cathedral.

DUBLIN -- Muhammad Ali made a sentimental journey Tuesday to discover his Irish roots, and met distant relatives during celebrations at the local town hall and a nearby castle. Thousands lined the streets of Ennis, western Ireland, to cheer his motorcade as the three-time heavyweight champion visited the home of his great-grandfather Abe Grady. Fans adorned streets with red, white and blue bunting and flags, while shop windows competed to display the most impressive posters honoring Ali -- including one tongue-in-cheek portrait of him appearing ready to knock out an unpopular Irish politician. Ali, who is 67 and battling Parkinson's...

The number of new cases of human swine flu in Ireland is increasing, with around 1,800 reported in the week to last Sunday. According to new figures from the Department of Health, 12 more patients have been hospitalised; a total of 62 people have received hospital treatment to date. Department officials said this evening that 19 people remain in hospital, including four in intensive care. Two people have died from the virus in the Republic. The HSE says that it expects to have a licensed vaccine around the end of September and that it will be given to the whole...

The buildings comprising the Staunton, Virginia, Frontier Culture Museum's Irish Farm originally stood in County Tyrone, Ulster (Northern Ireland). The Ulster Plantation was an English-dominated, Protestant colony in Ireland. The Frontier Culture Museum's Irish Farm highlights the production of linen. The farm stood on leased land, of course, the fee title being held by the English planters, and rent was due every three months. To make the rent, the Ulstermen produced linen which they sold at local markets.

The Irish Forge exhibit at Virginia's Frontier Culture Museum is housed in a building originally constructed in County Fermanagh, Ulster (Northern Ireland). The rustic architecture of this blacksmith's shop is typical of buildings constructed in northern and western Ireland at that time: solid stone construction, whitewashed, with a thatch roof. Inside, a Museum guide who knows what he's doing demonstrates how ironwork was made in the 18th century.

U.S. soldiers were given a true Irish welcome at a wedding in Co Clare this week. The 300 troops were stranded in Shannon last weekend after their Iraq-bound plane was grounded. As luck would have it, they were booked into the same hotel as the wedding party for Amelia Walsh and Sean O'Neill. And so the 300 troops were invited to join the festivities at the Clare Inn in Newmarket-on-Fergus. The groom's uncle, Joe O'Neill said: "It didn’t take long before the combat fatigues were manoeuvring to the strains of ‘The Walls of Limerick'." The happy couple posed for pictures...

Frank McCourt, a former New York City schoolteacher who turned his miserable childhood in Limerick, Ireland, into a phenomenally popular, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela’s Ashes, died in Manhattan on Sunday.....

Fiscal ruin of the Western world beckons For a glimpse of what awaits Britain, Europe, and America as budget deficits spiral to war-time levels, look at what is happening to the Irish welfare state. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 18 Jul 2009 Events have already forced Premier Brian Cowen to carry out the harshest assault yet seen on the public services of a modern Western state. He has passed two emergency budgets to stop the deficit soaring to 15pc of GDP. They have not been enough. The expert An Bord Snip report said last week that Dublin must cut deeper, or risk...

"Islamic death threat targets U.S. radio host 'We will see his fat rotting torso dumped on the side of the road or in some swamp'" Posted: May 27, 2009 3:24 pm Eastern JERUSALEM – SNIPPET: "The author of the online threat apparently confused Humphries for Rusty Shackleford, the pseudonym used by the proprietor of the popular My Pet JAWA Report website, which focuses on exposing online support of Islamic terrorism." SNIPPET: "Threats tied to pro-al-Qaida website? The registrar information for the "Jew Report" blog with the threat against Humphries is currently private. The author of the blog identifies himself as...

Clues to the mysterious deaths of 57 Irish immigrants came first from a secret file that had been locked in a vault until 1970. The men, who sailed from Ireland in 1832, arrived in Chester County to work on the railroad. They died about eight weeks later, most of cholera. Until the file was read six years ago by two brothers, both historians, the immigrants were the stuff mostly of legend and ghost tale. On Friday, another milestone in their story was found in East Whiteland Township. An archaeology research team based at Immaculata University in Chester County uncovered 90...

March 24, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear...

A teleprompt blunder has led to Barack Obama thanking himself in a speech at the White House in a St Patrick's Day celebration. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar. It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter. Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: "That's your speech." A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US...

Terry Mattingly at Get Religion found a story by Terri Jo Ryan in the Waco Tribune-Herald that may be the just the first signal of another saddening, secularizing trend: the sensitivity police changing the name of Saint Patrick’s Day. It might be offensive to someone, somewhere to discuss saints or great Christian missionaries like Patrick: Faith and begorrah, is nothing sacred? Some folks are trying to transform the name of Tuesday’s holiday from St. Patrick’s Day to "Shamrock Day." Card shops have banners proclaiming the occasion; the Disney Channel is using the term; and some places in this country have...

Top 10 worst Irish accents on film Julia Roberts and Sean Connery may have won Academy Awards, but that does not mean that they can pull off a believable Irish accent on screen. See who else made the list of worst movie attempts at an Irish accent, including two more Oscar winners. By Conn Corrigan , IrishCentral.com Staff Writer Published Monday, March 16, 2009, 7:14 PM Updated Monday, March 9, 2009, 10:00 PM Julia Roberts as Mary Reilly  The Irish accent, judging from some of Hollywood's attempts at it over the years, must surely be one of the most...

"I, personally, take great interest on St. Patrick's Day because, as some of you know, my mother's family can be traced back to Ireland," the president said. He even joked to Cowen: "We may be cousins. We haven't sorted that through yet."

Over a chorus of gleeful Irish pub-goers literally singing Barack Obama's praises, NBC's Al Roker, broadcasting live from Ireland on Monday's "Today" show, explored the current president's Irish roots as he observed: "As St. Patrick's Day approaches in Moneygall the townsfolk join in the chorus, determined to keep hope alive." The "Today" show weatherman began the celebratory segment by exclaiming: "In a small pub in Ireland they're still celebrating Obama's victory. Dancing in honor of their adopted son." The following is a complete transcript of the segment as it was aired on the March 16, "Today" show: AL ROKER: You...

US President Barack Obama is to be presented with a copy of baptismal records which prove his Offaly connections. Taoiseach Brian Cowen will hand-deliver a photograph of Templeharry Church in Moneygall, where Obama's great-great-great-grandfather was baptised, along with parish records and a picture of the schoolhouse his ancestors attended. Mr Cowen will also extend an invitation to President Obama to visit Ireland and to Moneygall during his St Patrick's Day visit to the White House. Top of the agenda during Mr Cowen's visit will be the global economy and the murders of two soldiers and a police officer in Northern...

A White House aide tells POLITICO44 that Obama (O’Bama?) will be hosting two St. Patrick’s Day bashes ... ... at the White House Tuesday night. The theme at the WH will be green all day. Starting at the top o the morning--or more like 11a.m. -- Obama and Joe Biden will meet with the Taoiseach of Ireland in the Oval Office. A little while later, they'll attend a Shamrock Ceremony in the Roosevelt Room. After meeting with the Northern Ireland officials, Obama will travel to the Capitol where he will deliver remarks at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's St. Paddy's Day lunch....

I grew up in the city of Chicago during the reign of Hizzoner da Mare, Daley I. My family came from Sweden, but even so, everybody was Irish on St. Patrick's Day. The city even dyed the river green. So now, as we come to this year's St. Patrick's Day, I feel a need to salute a Chicago Irish politician who made it big. This is a little ditty co-written by a friend of mine, Fritz Baue, and yours truly, Charlie Henrickson, the wag tailoring the doggerel. Click one of the music links and sing along! ANOTHER IRISHMAN (In...

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DUBLIN - As a veteran nurse, Margaret Horan is used to feeling overworked and underpaid. A steady flow of coughing, moaning and bleeding Dubliners must wait hours to be seen because of staff shortages at her hospital in the working-class heart of the capital. (Snip) A government that long profited from a property boom is now raising income taxes and pension charges to combat a sudden, gaping hole in the public finances that means borrowing one euro for every three spent. Its emergency approach is fueling rebellion throughout the bedrock of Irish society — teachers, bus drivers, police officers and...

"Following the colonial migrations, the United States enjoyed the greatest influx of Irish during the 1840s as Ireland suffered the Great Famine," he said. "Hungry but hopeful, poor but perseverant, Irish-Americans seized the opportunity to work hard, enjoy success, and pursue the American Dream. 'Leaders' "Many took on the difficult work of constructing America's infrastructure. Others assumed positions of leadership. "Among those leaders were signers of the Declaration of Independence and Presidents of the United States. Still others enjoyed great success and influence in the arts and literature. "From social activists to business leaders, athletes to clergy, and first responders...

An intriguing item here from the dogged Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant that highlights a classic example of why ordinary citizens become cynical about politicians and the way business in Washington is conducted. Silver-haired Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has already been getting a lot of heat for his two 2003 VIP mortgage loans from Countrywide, one of the major actors in triggering the current financial crisis. Seeking Senate re-election in 2010, the 2008 presidential candidate (he dropped out on the first day of voting after finishing seventh in Iowa, where he had moved with...

A pre-St. Patrick's Day pub crawl has changed its name after several complaints that it denigrated Irish-Americans. The "Running of the Micks'' is scheduled for March 7 in Atlantic City, but co-founder Matt McDermott tells The Press of Atlantic City he's changing the name of the event to the "Running of the Leprechauns.'' McDermott says his nickname is "Matty Mick'' and that he named the event after himself, not thinking it would offend anyone.

Huge protest over Irish economy Protesters gather at Dublin city centre for the demonstration Up to 100,000 people have gathered in Dublin city centre to protest at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession. Many are angry at plans to impose a pension levy on public sector workers. Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it. In a statement, the Irish government said it recognised that the measures it was taking were "difficult and in some cases painful". The pension levy was "reasonable", the government said....

Friday, February 20, 2009, 15:37 Irish author Christopher Nolan dies The death has been announced of award-winning Irish author Christopher Nolan (43). Nolan, who suffered from cerebral palsy due to being deprived of oxygen during his birth, used a pointer attached to his head to write three books, one of which won the Whitbread Prize in 1988. A statement issued on behalf of the Nolan family said he ingested some food into his airways yesterday and died in Beaumont hospital in Dublin at 2.30am today. Nolan, who was born in on September 6th, 1965, spent the early years of his...

In a letter to the heads of three local Irish-American organizations, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton has threatened to close St. Peter’s Cathedral during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations if the groups feature elected officials who support abortion rights at their annual events. The letter, which was signed by Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty, reports that Bishop Joseph F. Martino is “determined to prevent scandal,” which would be caused if the organizations “in any way” should “honor pro-abortion officials” by giving them parade or dais positions or opportunities to speak and “the Catholic Church is seen to be involved in...

AN IRISH MEP has written to US President-elect Barack Obama to highlight that up to 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants living in the US need his “political assistance now more than ever.” Seán Ó Neachtain, Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland North and West, urged Mr Obama to consider introducing measures to allow undocumented and illegal Irish to remain in the US legally. Mr Ó Neachtain said the situation of the illegal Irish in America was “unacceptable” and they needed “urgent help”. However, he said he understood “fully” that US authorities had to maintain tight security at airports and ports due to...

Barack Obama’s ancestral Irish homestead could be transformed into a museum or heritage centre to welcome the President-elect to Ireland should he visit in the future. As preparations get under way in Washington DC for the momentous inauguration this week, the tiny village of Moneygall, Co Offaly is considering ways to honour the historic connection. Records uncovered in 2007 found the President-elect’s fourth great grandfather was a shoemaker in the midlands village whose son Fulmuth Kearney left for the US in the 1850s. The land — known in the area as Kearney’s Gardens — is owned by Offaly County Council...

More than 40 passengers ran riot on a Thomas Cook flight from London Gatwick to Cuba, with one trying to open the emergency exit in mid-flight.

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in the United States said it is hopeful the change of US President next month will be good news for the undocumented from this country. Democratic President-elect Barack Obama will succeed Republican President George W. Bush on January 20th. There are growing expectations that the new US administration will be more sympathetic to the undocumented Irish. It is believed there are approximately 40,000 undocumented Irish living in the United States. Ciaran Staunton from Westport who is involved with the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform said 'we need a proactive Taoiseeach and the Irish-American community...

Continued From Page One but the combined passing and running brought the edge to Troy by 151 yards to 132. In the first period the Irish drove from midfield to the Trojan 22, but lost the ball on downs as the Trojan aerial defense swamped the Irish passers. Early in the second quarter Notre Dame’s Morrison fumbled and Gaspar got the ball on the Irish 21, but two plays later the Trojans fumbled and Morrison recovered. Rocking back and forth, Troy steamed up a drive of 53 yards that carried to the Irish 16, but Gaspar’s try for a...

NEW HOLLAND, Ohio -- Joshua Rea, 30, heard the news while having a bite at CC's White Cottage restaurant. "This is crazy, man," he said incredulously, reaching for a phone to call his dad. "Obama's ancestors lived right down the road," he told his father, a local farmer. "Our ancestors were probably kicking it with his ancestors." Here in rural Pickaway County, 30 minutes south of Columbus, word is spreading that a pair of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's ancestors are buried just a few miles away and that the Democratic nominee has loads of distant relatives living in southern Ohio....

Immigration activists seeking to resolve the issue of the undocumented Irish in the US claimed today they had not received any assistance from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on this or other related issues. Speaking on RTÉ radio this afternoon, Ciaran Staunton, deputy chair of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), said that in comparison to the Republican Senator John McCain, the organisation had been rebuffed by the Obama campaign. Addressing the Irish-American Presidential Forum in Pennsylvania earlier this week, Mr McCain vowed to introduce comprehensive immigration reform that he said would give the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish "a...

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Mail Online Holiday flight is diverted after mid-air brawl breaks out By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 4:07 PM on 15th August 2008 A holiday flight between to Crete had to be diverted after a brawl erupted among drunken passengers, it has been revealed. An eye-witness told how one man began smashing overhead luggage bins before the captain decided to land the plane in Venice. Aoife O'Reilly, 18, a student from Dublin, said the men involved were all over 30 years of age and had obviously been drinking.

My brother recommended a simple solution for Barack Obama’s Muslim “image problem”. It can all be fixed with a simple apostrophe. http://obamaformessiah.com

The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has told the Dail that the Government is doing all it can to secure legal status for Irish immigrants living and working illegally in the United States. Responding to questions from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Mr Cowen said the Irish Government was pursuing a special bilateral arrangement with the US that might help to address the problem. However, he said achieving a special amnesty for illegal Irish immigrants would be difficult given that there are millions of immigrants from other countries also living in the US.

The British and Irish culture of street violence Who's really more violent?By Christopher CookIf I had a dollar for every time a Brit has told me that our "gun culture" makes us "uncivilized"...... This tragic story caught my eye this morning...Teen Actor in Upcoming 'Potter' Film Stabbed to Death in Bar Brawl: LONDON — A teenage actor who is to appear in the new 'Harry Potter' film was stabbed to death Saturday during an early morning barfight. Robert Knox, 18, was murdered outside the Metro bar in southeast London as he tried to protect his brother Jamie, 17, from a...

Dig uncovers African beads buried in ancient village By Sean O’RiordanMay 22, 2008 BEADS that originated in Africa are some of the treasures archaelologists have found as they begin to explore an ancient settlement in north Cork. Test trenches also revealed pottery and weapons from a medieval period. In addition, there was evidence of prehistoric settlements in the area and an early ecclesiastic settlement, possibly from the 7th-8th century. Evidence of a large moat and cobbled walkways were also uncovered. Experts are due to conduct major excavations within weeks. One archaeologist said: “It’s one of the most exciting discoveries in...

Irish Viking trade centre unearthed Almost 6,000 artefacts and a Viking chieftain's grave have been discovered One of the Vikings' most important trading centres has been discovered in Ireland. The settlement at Woodstown in County Waterford is estimated to be about 1,200 years old. It was discovered during archaeological excavations for a road by-pass for Waterford city, which was founded by the Vikings. The Irish government said the settlement was one of the most important early Viking age trading centres discovered in the country. Its working group, which includes archaeologists from Ireland's museum and monuments service, said it was of...

I was dealing with my Mother, who is Canadian Irish Mystic, with maybe a Scots Injection along the line, about her Will of which I am executor, according to her, though I have never seen the Will and she will not show it to me until the "Time is Right". Now I the product of a mixed marrage English Protastant (Yankee)/Irish Catholic, with a few Scots Presbeterians along the way. It seems that the Left Hand Does Not Let The Right Hand Know What Is Going On. I asked her one time why she married my Father, she said he...

Pure hell of the siege of Musa Qala A little-reported battle against the Taliban in which seven of our (Poster's note: "our" means British, the Royal Irish Brigade troops) troops died has been revealed as one of the fiercest and most heroic of the Afghan campaign. Lieutenant-Colonel DJ Reynolds Musa Qala, a besieged outpost deep in Taliban territory, holds a special place in the battle records of the Pathfinder platoon of 16 Air Assault Brigade – and of the Irishmen, Danes and other soldiers who braved face-to-face fighting to relieve them. When a column at last got through to Musa...

Say the words "illegal alien," and most New Yorkers think of a cleaning woman from Mexico or a cab driver from Mali. Generally, they don't think of a nanny from Mayo or a bartender from Monaghan. But illegal immigration from Ireland continues – though much diminished from the 1970s and '80s, when thousands arrived, re-populating onetime Irish neighborhoods in Queens and the Bronx. After years of living illegally, many of those immigrants got their green cards, courtesy of the Donnelly visas (1987) and the Morrison visas (1990), which together provided some 62,000 Irish-born people with papers. Those numbers still left...

Irish and Dutch vessels found in Scottish graves Evidence that some of our prehistoric ancestors travelled considerable distances has come from two graves in Upper Largie, near Kilmartin in Argyll and Bute. One grave contained three distinctive beakers which Alison Sheridan, of the National Museums Scotland, describes as belonging to an early, international style, best paralleled by finds from the lower Rhine region of the modern-day Netherlands. Radiocarbon dates of 2500-2280 BC from hazel charcoal from within the grave confirms an early Bronze Age date. Though no bone was found because of the acidic nature of the local soils, the...

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

One man has captured the heart of the new America It is hard to see who can stop Senator Barack Obama becoming the next President of the United States. He has built up an excitement such as no candidate has created since President Kennedy in 1960. He is, in my view, a better speaker than Kennedy. Like Kennedy, he combines personal magnetism with a strong appeal to American idealism. Like Kennedy, he is young and speaks for the new generation of American politics. By ordinary political reckoning, 2008 ought to be the Democrats' year. In 2006 they captured both houses...