Free Republic

onald Scully gazes at his herd of 208 cows munching grass and clover in a verdant field, as a light breeze ruffles the stillness. “There is an enjoyment for me to come out and look and see how healthy and happy these cows are,” says Scully, 47, a third-generation dairy farmer. “Every single cow has her own personality, they’re all individuals.” The pastoral scene in Ballyheyland, a landscape of rolling hills in County Laois, is replicated across rural Ireland. Ireland has 7.3 million cattle, substantially outnumbering humans, and a long history with the animal stretching into myth, including the Cattle...

A complaint that the playing of Christmas hymn O Holy Night on RTÉ Radio One stigmatised non-Christians has been rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). The BAO published its latest list of decisions on complaints, one of which raised the broadcast of the hymn on The Ronan Collins Show on 8 December 2021.The complainant noted that lyrics in the hymn refers to people as pining in sin and error. The complainant said that accusations of sin and of error are "stigmas, grievous insults and egregious religious taunts that disparage persons and groups in society on the basis of...

BALLINA, Ireland - Some 3,000 miles east of Delaware, nestled inland from Ireland's wild Atlantic coast, lies the small town of Ballina, the ancestral home of President-elect Joe Biden. Since his projected win, the close-knit town of 10,000 people in County Mayo has erupted in joy over the success of the man they claim as their own. American flags fly on street corners, a large painted Biden mural overlooks the town square, while photographs of a beaming Biden hang proudly in shop windows, with slogans that read: "Our man in the White House." In 2016, he brought his children and...

The Irish government has condemned an attempt by an artists' organization to boycott Israeli cultural events and institutions. Aosdana, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of creative artists, voted last week on a motion to "back the call from Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers to end all cooperation with Israeli state-sponsored cultural events and institutions." The proposal - put to a motion by composer Raymond Deane, founder of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, and seconded by playwright Margaretta D'Arcy - was defeated in the organization's general assembly. However, a second motion, sponsored by D'Arcy and seconded by Deane, was passed calling for...