Search Results for 'Irish Army'

The ‘Night of The Big Wind’ on the night of January 6/7, 1839, deprived thousands of people in the Galway area of their homes. Their situation in the depths of winter was more than local charities could cope with. On May 8, the Galway Union was proclaimed to include the city and surrounding townlands to a radius of roughly 10 miles plus the Aran Islands, all of which would be served by a single workhouse in Galway. The first meeting of the Galway Board of Guardians was held in the Courthouse on July 3 of that year.

The Ford Transit, consistently Ireland’s best selling van, turns 45 this month. The first Transit went into production on August 9 1965 and since then six million Transits have been sold across Europe.

Apart from the scare over phantom parachutists, the first large-scale military exercise involving Seamus O’ Brien’s LSF (Local Security Force) Group in the Callan district followed shortly after the uniforms arrived at the local courthouse. On a spring Sunday morning, the lads were lined up for a specially convened parade on Callan’s Fair Green.

Some weeks ago I wrote that probably the greatest muster of the Irish Gaelic lords that ever gathered on a battlefield took their place on either side at Knockdoe, Co Galway, on August 19 1504. The O’Donnells and the O’Neills, from their great northern fiefdoms, fought for law and order on the side of the Earl of Kildare who successfully imposed the king’s rule on his rebellious and quarrelsome son-in-law the Earl of Clanricard, Ulick de Burgh (Burke) of Claregalway castle. Ulick’s marriage to Kildare’s daughter, and his disregard for her, gave the Earl a personal reason for the battle; but his allies were equally anxious to display their loyalty to King Henry VII, the undisputed king of England after the protracted and bloody Wars of the Roses.

It’s very hard to describe a true Irishman, without acknowledging that we all share a complicated inheritance. At no time was that complication more powerfully amplified than in the crisis of identity leading up to and during War World I. On the one side is the unionist image of Irish Protestants loyally, and exclusively, rallying to the Union Jack, and sealing that union with their blood; while on the other side, the Catholic and nationalist men and women, the people of the 1916 Rising, who represent the ‘true’ Ireland, in sharp contrast to the misguided Irishmen slaughtered in France on the altar of British imperialism.

Betty Doran, the former Green and Labour Party councillor, has told the Mullingar Advertiser that her declaration of resignation from the Town Council may have been “in haste”.

Years of hard work and determination were recognised earlier this week when President of Ireland Mary McAleese officially opened the Mayo Peace Park and laid the first wreath to remember Mayo's fallen in wars across the globe. Tuesday's ceremony was the culmination of over nine years of work by chairman of the Mayo Peace Park committee Michael Feeney. From what started as a letter to a newspaper and on to a war remembrance Mass in 1999, nine years of work by Mr Feeney and his committee culminated with the official opening this week.

Athlone’s Custume Barracks is to be strengthened by a cavalry unit of 130 personnel by the end of January as a result of the closure of Connolly Barracks in Longford due to budget-enforced cutbacks at the Department of Defence.

Over 800 students from Westmeath are expected to take part in Engineers Week. 

Imagine relaxing on your sofa in your own piece of history. Formerly a Church of Ireland chapel in Kiltullagh near Loughrea, this famous local landmark was built in 1808 and 200 years later it was given a new lease of life. It was deconsecrated in 1920 and had been used as an Irish Army billet, dancehall, sports hall, and workshop. The one of a kind renovation project has been picked by The Sunday Times home edition and Upstairs Downstairs magazine for their covers. This is a massive achievement for La Maison Chic.