Irish Seisiún Newsletter
The Catskill Irish Arts Week (CIAW) is July 13 to July 18th in East Durham, NY.
Click here for more information
George and Pauline will be there for some evening set dancing and daytime sessions from the 13th to the 15th.
If you are there too, let’s be in touch!.
If you plan to be there, let others know. Please email Tommy Mac at [email protected] with your name and the dates you plan to be there, and I’ll post it here so we’ll know who’s going….
Attending Dates
George and Pauline 13th – 15th
Ann Dillon ????
Tommy Mac ????
This Week’s Session 3
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Check out the beautiful photo by Art Jacoby below of Ronan getting ready for a gig.
Art is a professional photographer. Visit his site by clicking here.
No rest for the weary.
Not even on a holiday!
New (old) session posted.
We have played it, but it was never posted on the list of sets before.
Go to “Set to Learn” on the “Players Page”
Find out what’s happening at Tim Finnegan’s this month.
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Click here to view calendar
Click either event below to view
Finnegan’s supports us…Let’s support them!
Click either link to visit the site
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“That’s How I Spell Ireland”
Saturdays at 7 to 8 PM EST.
You can listen on 88.7FM or WRHU.org.
For a request please text me on 917 699-4768.Kevin and Joan Westley
Note: Show will be preempted whenever the NY Islanders have a Saturday game
Old Ireland
Not That Old This Week
Hey Colum, do you see Eileen in this?????
Click to view and click the speaker for sound
Recent Mail
Travel in Ireland
FAVOURITE PLACES IN IRELAND
Loop Head Peninsula, County Clare. (See it on a map here.)
Our journey along the Wild Atlantic Way today takes us to the Loop Head Peninsula in County Clare.
This dramatic headland on Ireland’s west coast offers breathtaking clifftop views, the historic Loop Head Lighthouse (dating from 1854), and some of the country’s most spectacular Atlantic sunsets.
It’s a hidden gem for those seeking rugged coastal beauty and much less crowded than the neighboring Cliffs of Moher!
Read more about the peninsula’s lesser-known sights here, or listen to this soothing rendition of ‘The Waves of Kilkee’, inspired by the town that serves as entryway to the peninsula.
Irish Language
Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam:
A land without a language is a land without a soul.
Submitted by our own
Anita
- pian (pain)
- tinn chin (sore, sick)
- breoite bro-che (ill)
- breoiteacht bro-chacht (illness)
- fiabhras fee-ow-rass (fever)
- tinneas cinn chin-ess keen (headache)
Ta tinneas cinn orm I have a headache
Free Irish Classes
The classes are over zoom and are held at 12:00 eastern time the 1 st Sunday of every month.
It is basic conversational Irish and open to learners of all ages, especially beginners.
All are invited.
Hope to see you there!
slan go foill. Le dea ghui,
Anita
click here to register
This week’s Irish Recipe
Burren hot-smoked salmon
on a bed of colcannon with stir-fried vegetables
Famous for it’s limestone landscape and an amazing spectrum of flora, the Burren is one of Ireland’s most loved attractions. Check out this Burren-inspired recipe!
Try making this delicious smoked salmon and colcannon recipe.
Famous for its limestone landscape and a wide range of flora, the Burren is one of Ireland’s most beloved and popular tourist attractions.
The Burren Food Trail gives visitors a unique experience of enjoying beautiful local food, heritage, and surroundings. Local producers, cafes, and restaurants came together to create a map of food experiences, and a new weekly event has just been launched.
How does kayaking your way to a gourmet picnic on the Finnavarra Peninsula sound?
When I think of the Burren, I think of delicious, thinly sliced, smoked Irish salmon. I love smoked salmon; it’s perfect and simple for a quick lunch and great as a canapé topping. I keep a pack in the back of my fridge; it’s a handy go-to when friends call around. If you have 2 minutes to spare, you can pop some in the blender with a bit of sour cream, cream cheese, a few drops of lemon, and salt and pepper. This makes a delicious pâté. Alternatively, it’s hard to beat the traditional brown bread and butter topped with smoked salmon and some freshly cut chives.
The Burren Smokehouse is the family business of Peter and Birgitta Curtain. Since 1989, they have been smoking salmon, trout, and mackerel, and are now even smoking some locally produced cheese. They shared their recipe with me for ‘Burren hot smoked salmon on a bed of colcannon with stir-fried vegetables’. Birgitta uses two methods of smoking salmon. Cold smoking is the traditional Irish method; the temperature never rises above 35° during smoking, resulting in smooth and easily sliced salmon. Hot smoking at temperatures up to 80°C produces flakier salmon with a texture similar to grilled salmon.
Burren hot-smoked salmon on a bed of colcannon with stir-fried vegetables
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
800g Burren Hot Smoked Organic Salmon plain
- 1 lb or 500g floury potatoes
- 4 cups shredded leaves of cabbage
- 2 tbsp chopped scallions (spring onions)
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine
- 50 ml or ¼ cup of heated milk
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Stir-fry vegetables:
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 courgette
- 8 mushrooms
- 1 tsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Mustard Cream Sauce:
- 1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
- 500 ml or 1 pint of cream
- 2 tbsp white wine
Method:
Colcannon:
Boil the peeled potatoes in lightly salted water until tender, then drain.
Boil the cabbage and onion for about 5 minutes.
Drain and set aside.
Mash potatoes with milk, butter, salt, and pepper to taste.
Add the spring onion and cabbage mixture.
Stir Fry Vegetables:
Cut all vegetables into strips and stir-fry in olive oil until tender.
Mustard Cream Sauce:
Mix all ingredients together and heat.
Salmon:
Cut the Hot Smoked Organic Salmon into four pieces.
Heat the salmon in a preheated oven for 5 minutes at 175°C (350°F).
To decorate the plate, start by placing the base of colcannon, and add stir-fry vegetables on top.
Pour the mustard cream sauce over the vegetables, and top the dish with the Burren Hot Smoked Salmon.
For more information on Burren Smokehouse products and the Burren Food Trail, see the links below:
Originally published in 2014 and updated in July 2026.
Poem of the Week
Hi Uncle Sam!
by Rev. William Forbes Marshall
When freedom was denied you,
And imperial might defied you,
Who was it stood beside you
At Quebec and Brandywine?
And dared retreats and dangers,
Red-coats and Hessian strangers,
In the lean, long-rifled Rangers,
And the Pennsylvania Line!
Hi! Uncle Sam!
Wherever there was fighting,
Or wrong that needed writing,
An Ulsterman was sighting
His Kentucky gun with care:
All the road to Yorktown,
From Lexington to Yorktown,
From Valley Forge to Yorktown,
That Ulsterman was there!
Hi! Uncle Sam!
Virginia sent her brave men,
The North paraded grave men,
That they might not be slavemen,
But ponder this with calm:
The first to face the Tory,
And the first to lift Old Glory,
Made your war an Ulster story:
Think it over, Uncle Sam!
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Hi Uncle Sam! is a poem by Irish poet Rev. William Forbes Marshall. It asks of Americans that they remember the input and support of immigrants from Ulster on the United States throughout the American Revolution.
The poem was published in Marshall’s book, Ulster Sails West, which was published in 1911.[1] A mural in Newtownards displays a verse of the poem.[2] The poem was also put to music and recorded by the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra[3] and verse was used by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in their Emigration Series publication.[4]
Stories and Tales
Another special musical treat
Click below to view and click the speaker for sound
When done, click “back arrow” to return here.
Céad Míle Fáilte, and welcome to your Letter from Ireland for this week.
Céad Míle Fáilte, and welcome to this week’s Letter from Ireland. I’m sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of Barry’s tea cooling down beside me. I may have to start taking it iced soon enough given that the sun has been splitting the stones over the past week across Ireland and much of Europe. How are things in your own corner of the world?
Today, I’d like to chat about a different type of weather that many of our shared ancestors would have been familiar with, as there is a far bigger story sitting behind it than you might imagine.
A Blight warning on my weather app.
Over a number of days earlier this June, a little alert kept appearing whenever I checked the weather forecast: something called a “blight warning”. If you’ve never lived in Ireland, that phrase might sound strange, even a touch alarming. But around here it is simply part of the rhythm of the summer, and most of us barely glance at it before swiping it away. And yet, when I stopped and really looked at it, I realised that there is hardly another word in our whole vocabulary of weather that carries such a weight of memory behind it.
A blight warning is now a small, modern convenience, just one notification among the football scores and the shopping reminders. But if you cast your mind back, this type of blight-friendly weather is attached to the single most devastating event in our modern Irish history.
Blight is a disease of the potato, caused by a fungus-like organism, or water mould, and it loves nothing better than the mild, damp, humid air that frequently occurs this time of year in Ireland. When the temperature stays above ten degrees, the humidity climbs close to saturation, and the dampness lingers long enough on the leaves without a breeze, then you have the perfect conditions for the spores to take hold and spread.
In weather like that, a green and healthy field of potatoes can be reduced to a blackened, rotting ruin in a matter of days. So when that combination of mild, muggy, windless weather comes over the country, out goes the warning to gardeners and farmers alike: check your crop, protect it if you can, and act before the disease takes hold.
The disease that changed Ireland.
In the mid 1840s, the blight reached Europe, probably carried across Atlantic trade routes from the Americas. It swept through the continent, ruining potato crops in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and beyond, and bringing hunger and hardship to many countries. But nowhere on earth suffered as much as Ireland.
The reason was painfully simple. So many of the poorest people in Ireland depended on the potato for almost everything they ate, often a single variety known as the Lumper, grown on tiny rented patches of ground. When that one crop failed, and then failed again the following year, there was no safety net to catch the fall of millions.
The Great Famine, An Gorta Mór, is usually dated from 1845 into the early 1850s. In that period, roughly a million people died from hunger and famine-related disease, while at least a million more left Ireland. A population of more than eight million was broken apart, and the wound of it still runs through almost every diaspora family reading this letter today.
Many of us are scattered across the world, because of those still, humid, blighted summers. So you will understand why a blight warning is never quite an ordinary thing to the Irish eye.
My grandfather and a ruined year.
This is not a long forgotten history story for my own family either. I grew up hearing how the blight struck my grandfather’s potatoes back in the 1940s, long after the Famine years, and ruined the whole crop for the season. The way it was told to me, he was absolutely distraught over it, and I don’t think that was only about the food or the money.
I do not know whether the story grew in the telling, as family stories sometimes do, but I remember the feeling of it: the sense that a failed potato crop was not just a failed crop. It was a very deep wound on top of old scars.
My grandfather’s generation could not see the blight coming. But in the 1950s, a Met Éireann meteorologist named Austin Bourke worked out a set of rules linking those exact weather conditions, the temperature, the humidity, the still air, to the likelihood of a blight outbreak. They became known as the Bourke Rules, and they turned blight from something that fell on you into something that could be forecast and prepared for in advance.
Those rules, refined and updated over the years, sit behind the modern blight-warning system that pinged on my phone throughout June. A line drawn from the hungry 1840s, through my grandfather’s ruined drills in the 1940s, all the way to a notification swiped away on a summer morning in 2026.
Even now, for all the spraying, science and warning systems, there is still nothing quite so reassuring as a stiff Irish wind drying the leaves on the crops. The same wind our ancestors must have prayed for, in summers when prayer was all they had left.
And so today the sky is blue, the fields are safe, the potatoes are growing, and I am sitting here with my tea thinking how much history can hide inside one small alert on a phone.
So, let me leave you with one question this week: Did any of your ancestors leave Ireland as a result of the Great Famine/An Gorta Mór?
Slán for now,
Mike.
- Will You Keep This Letter Going?
Your Letter from Ireland is entirely reader-supported. There’s no large publisher behind us – just Carina and me here in Ireland, a few cups of tea, and a deep commitment to sharing the stories, customs, and history that bring Irish family life to light each week.
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With sincere thanks,
Mike & Carina
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Ireland has changed utterly since the 1950s
but reassuringly stays the same
Author of “In Fact: An Optimist’s Guide to Ireland at 100” reflects on Ireland’s progress over the last 70 years.
Ireland has been transformed economically, socially, and culturally since the first issue of Ireland of the Welcomes was published 70 years ago. However much of what enthralled visitors back then remains true of the country today, writes Mark Henry.
Editor’s note: In May 2022, our sister publication, Ireland of the Welcomes, celebrated its 70th anniversary. To mark the occasion, we dipped into our decades of archives and found incredible articles like this and others written by famous Irish figures such as Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, and Paul Henry. Author Mark Henry also provided an article reflecting on the changes in Ireland since the magazine started publication and looks at what’s also stayed the same.
“In Ireland, the visitor will find comfortable accommodation, abundance and variety of food, superb sporting facilities, a varied and beautiful landscape – in fact, all the ingredients of a thoroughly enjoyable holiday. Among a friendly, warm-hearted people, he will discover that the famed hospitality of the Irish is no myth.”
So wrote Seán Lemass, the Minister for Industry and Commerce (and later Taoiseach), in the very first issue of Ireland of the Welcomes published in 1952. But despite the glossy images of beautiful landscapes that adorned the pages of the magazine, life for most Irish people at the time was grim.
It was a mere thirty years after the Irish Republic had gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. The industrial city of Belfast remained within the UK as part of the new state of Northern Ireland, resulting in a country that was predominately agricultural and whose agricultural exports went practically entirely to the UK.
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, the Irish government sought to realize a greater degree of independence by developing national self-sufficiency in new industries. High import tariffs were introduced to encourage people to buy local, and that resulted in a good number of British-owned firms establishing manufacturing plants here to avoid paying these on any goods they might previously have shipped over.
A modern textile industry began to develop. Car assembly plants sprung up. Food processing factories, such Cadbury’s Chocolate, arrived. Farmers were encouraged to grow more tillage crops to reduce reliance on imports. And peat harvesting was industrialized to provide energy security.
For ordinary people, however, self-sufficiency led only to stagnation. Ireland’s economy grew by a mere 40% in the three decades up to 1952, leaving the average Irish person only half as well off as their British neighbor, and only one-third as wealthy as their American cousin.
Despite all the new industry, the number of people in jobs remained stubbornly stuck at 1.2 million just as it had been in the 1920s. Emigration was the only solution for many young people seeking work. One in every three males and females who were under the age of 30 in 1946 was destined to leave.
When they did so, their comparatively poor education levels were exposed. The United States had introduced free high school education from early in the twentieth century. The United Kingdom did so after World War II. But Ireland did not do so until the late 1960s.
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All of this meant that living conditions remained harsh for many. In the early 1950s, less than half of homes had piped water or electricity. The vast majority still had no indoor bathroom and relied on an outdoor toilet.
The government established a new body called Fógra Fáilte in 1952 to promote the country as a holiday destination overseas and to bring in more external revenue. The organization’s name translates as ‘Welcome Advertising’ in English and the publication of Ireland of the Welcomes was one of its first initiatives to reach out to would-be travelers across the water.
The recognition that Ireland needed to be more open to the world if it was to improve the living standards of its citizens gradually dawned on its political leaders. By the end of the 1950s, the decision was taken for an about-face: a total reorientation away from protectionism and towards internationalization.
Instead of import tariffs, the country would embrace free trade. Instead of focusing on production for the domestic market, it would focus on production for export markets. Instead of prioritizing local companies, it would incentivize foreign investment.
Ireland applied to join the European Economic Community – the forerunner of the European Union – in 1963, although it took a further ten years for this to come to fruition in 1973. Our fortunes were then transformed. Instead of relying overwhelmingly on the UK to buy our exports, we gained access to the largest market in the world.
The value of our goods exports leaped from €1 billion in the early 1970s to over €160 billion today. The share going to Britain fell from two-thirds to just 9%. The services we export add a further €220 billion on top of that again.
These exports generally originate from multinational companies who have located in Ireland to access the European market. Ireland has created more jobs through foreign direct investment over the past decade than practically any other European country – and the value of those jobs is the highest generated in any country in the world.
The number of people in employment finally began to grow in the 1980s as the economy expanded. Today, 2.5 million people have jobs. The greatest proportion of them are in high-skilled roles. Higher educational qualifications are, therefore, increasingly important and Ireland is one of the few countries in the world in which the majority of working-age adults now have a higher education qualification.
Incomes have doubled in real terms since we joined the EU. Our economic wealth per capita now significantly exceeds that of the UK and even pips the USA.
Our openness as a nation extends to people too. Our emigration tradition has been decisively reversed and Ireland is now a country of net immigration. Nearly one in five residents here today were born elsewhere – a figure that is higher than the US and most European nations. Instead of relying on remittances from Irish emigrants overseas to support living standards, more than $1.7 billion of remittances are now sent annually from Ireland to assist families and friends overseas.
By any reckoning, Ireland is now a very different country than it was in 1952. The United Nations rates our quality of life as the second highest in the world – behind only Norway. (The United Kingdom is ranked thirteenth, Canada is sixteenth, and the US is seventeenth.) In fact, we have risen up the rankings faster than any other developed nation – jumping 22 places in the thirty years since they started their surveys.
Ireland has finally taken her place amongst the nations of the world – indeed, amongst the leading nations of the world. She is a modern, liberal democracy. The Human Freedom Index assesses us as the fifth freest country on the planet in personal, civil, and economic freedoms. We have come a long way.
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Why has Ireland made such remarkable progress? I identify four factors that account for our comparative success in my book, “In Fact: An Optimist’s Guide to Ireland at 100”.
Firstly, we have experienced stability in governance and policy direction. We are one of only a dozen countries to have been a democracy for an unbroken one hundred years. Government commitment to export-led growth, openness to inward investment, and commitment to high levels of education has remained consistent.
Secondly, that openness to the world has enabled us to attract the investment and the people we needed to flourish. Global competition has been good for us and has enabled us to learn from best practices elsewhere.
The high levels of investment in education empowered personal fulfillment and the ability of many to contribute to our national development.
Finally, our strong sense of community ensured high levels of interpersonal trust and a sense of fairness that has resulted in great equality of opportunity and a reduction in societal inequality as we have become wealthier.
While so much has changed for the people of Ireland, nevertheless, much of what was attractive to readers of Ireland of the Welcomes in 1952 remains true today.
The “friendly, warm-hearted people” that Seán Lemass wrote of are still here, powered by our open attitude and the strong sense of community that we establish with residents and visitors alike. The “varied and beautiful landscape” remains relatively untouched and, in recent years, has been the recipient of much investment to protect it and increase visitor accessibility.
Indeed those “superb sporting facilities” have witnessed the addition of many beautiful walking and cycling routes. Much of our “comfortable accommodation” has been upgraded to luxurious standards. And the “abundance and variety of food” on offer has truly never been greater and of such outstanding quality.
The Irish today have never been healthier, wealthier, or better educated. We are a people transformed, yet we remain steeped in our rich history and culture, and privileged to live on an island that may consider idyllic. Come and see for yourself.
* Mark Henry is the author of “In Fact: An Optimist’s Guide to Ireland at 100” which charts the remarkable progress Ireland has made as a nation since independence. See www.markhenry.ie.
Submitted by Lawrence Mahoney
Football shot from history
Click below to view and click the speaker for sound.
*Originally published in 2016. Updated in June 2026.
On This Day:
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Fenian leader, dies in the U.S.
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral on August 1, 1915, in Dublin marked Padraig Pearse’s stepping into the spotlight.
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Irish Fenian leader and prominent member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, died in the US on this day, June 29, 1915.
O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral in Dublin marked the emergence of Padraig Pearse, a future 1916 Rising leader, into the spotlight.
The body of the Irish Fenian leader lay in state in Dublin City Hall before being removed to Glasnevin Cemetery on August 1, 1915, where Padraig Pearse delivered his famous graveside oration, which ends with the lines:
“They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but, the fools, the fools, the fools! – They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
Along with Pearse, James Connolly, Eamonn Ceannt, as well as the wife and daughter of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, were in attendance at the funeral in Dublin. British Pathe has shared a historic newsreel of O’Donovan Rossa’s lying in state.
Just a few months after O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral, the 1916 Easter Rising began.
* Originally published in June 2016, updated in June 2026.
*Originally published in 2016. Last updated June 2026.
Facts about the Irish in America for the 4th of July
The Irish have played a large role in the history of the United States.
Ireland and America have close ties, no doubt about it!
Check out these interesting facts about the Irish in America for the 4th of July.
An Irishman is believed to be the first of Christopher Columbus’ crew to step on American soil
There were several Irishmen in Christopher Columbus’ crew. But the one who stands out most is Patrick Maguire. In 1492, Irish-born Maguire was the first crew member of Christopher Columbus to set foot on North American ground.
At least 20 US Presidents have Irish ancestry
It’s thought that over 40% of all US presidents have some Irish ancestry, but at least 20 of them have confirmed their Irish heritage. The most Irish presidents are Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan, both of whose parents were born in Ireland.
The first American general to die in battle was Irish
Dublin native Richard Montgomery is the first general to have been killed in battle during the American Revolutionary War. Montgomery was killed in the Battle of Quebec during the 1775 invasion of Canada.
Three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in Ireland
Three of the eight foreign-born men were natives of Ireland. These Irish patriots of the American Revolution are James Smith, from Northern Ireland; George Taylor, an Irish native and a member of the Committee of Correspondence; and Matthew Thornton, an Irishman who became a member of the Continental Congress in 1776.
Irishmen helped build the White House
Not only did Irishman James Hoban design the White House and model it after an Irish building, but the White House was built by the hands of Irishmen as well. Immigrant laborers from various backgrounds as well as slaves were the chief builders of the presidential home. The presidential residence even has a twin building in Ireland – Dublin’s Leinster House is officially twinned with The White House.
A blind Irishman helped compose “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Though British composer John Stafford Smith, who was born in 1750, is credited for composing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the tune is actually based on music composed by the great Irish blind harper Turlough O’Carolan, who died over 35 years before the American Revolution. The melody is metrically identical to O Carolan’s “Bumper Squire Jones” of 1723.
An Irishman is the “father” of the US Navy
John Barry, a native of Co Wexford, is known as the “Father of the American Navy.” He and his crew fought and won the final naval battle.
* Originally published in July 2017. Last updated July 2026.
The Irish Man Who Named the United States
Céad Míle Fáilte, and you are very welcome to this week’s Letter from Ireland.
The first cut of hay is being saved in the fields around us here in County Cork, the evenings have stretched themselves both long and golden, and the roadsides are just starting to blaze with fuchsia and montbretia in that way they have every July. I have a cup of Lyons’ tea beside me as I write, and I hope you will pour yourself whatever you fancy and settle in with me for a while. How are things in your part of the world today?
It is a special weekend for many of you. Yesterday, the 4th of July, our friends and members across the water marked 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia, a quarter of a millennium since a new nation first announced itself to the world. So, this morning I want to share the story of an Irish man who sits, almost forgotten, right at the heart of that story. His name was Stephen Moylan, and he is credited with the earliest surviving written use of four words that half the world now says without a second thought: the United States of America.
A Boy from Blarney Street.
Stephen Moylan was born in Cork in the 1730s, on Blarney Street, which was in those days part of the great butter road into the city, a long road that saw farmers carry their butter from the farms of Cork, Kerry and Limerick towards the market at Shandon. This was where butter was weighed and graded and sent off to feed ships and markets far beyond Ireland. The old “shambles” (what we call an abattoir today) stood there too, adding its own noise and definite smell to the life of the district. It was a place of trade and traffic, of carts and barrels and shouted bargains, the commercial heart of the city. Into a prosperous merchant family in the middle of all this was born a young man called Stephen Moylan.
Being a prosperous family, though, did not mean untroubled. The Moylans were Catholic, and as this was the Ireland of the penal laws, when Catholic education at home was denied by law and so opportunity had to be found elsewhere.
Sent Across the Water.
Like many a well-off Catholic family of the time, the Moylans sent their boy abroad. Stephen was educated on the continent of Europe, well beyond the reach of the restrictions at home, and he grew into exactly the kind of young man those years produced, worldly, well connected and fluent in the ways of international trade. He made his way starting out as a merchant in Lisbon, learning the shipping routes that connected the ports of Europe together, before eventually crossing the Atlantic and settling in Philadelphia in 1768.
He did well there and became the first president of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, a gathering of Irish merchants and patriots. When the quarrel between the colonies and the British Crown descended into war, Stephen Moylan threw himself in on the side of the American cause and, before long he was serving directly under George Washington himself.
Four Words That Named a Nation.
On the 2nd of January, 1776, from the army’s headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moylan sat down to write to a friend and fellow officer, Colonel Joseph Reed. He had a notion that the colonies needed a proper emissary sent to Spain to seek help for the cause, and he rather fancied the job himself, given all he knew of European trade. In the middle of laying out his argument, he wrote a single sentence that would outlive everything else he ever did, saying that he should like vastly to go “with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain.”
He did not write “the united colonies,” which was the common phrase of the day, but the United States of America. It is, as far as anyone has yet found, the earliest surviving written use of the name, set down by a Irish hand six months before the Declaration was adopted. The letter remained unnoticed for well over two centuries until a researcher brought it to light more than a decade ago, and it changed the answer to a question Americans had been asking themselves for a very long time: who first named the country? The answer, it turns out, was a merchant’s son from the butter road – at least the first surviving mention on paper. I’ll take that!
When the War Came Home to Cork.
There is one last twist to the tale, and it is the kind of thing that makes you realise how the world was interconnected, even back in those days. Cork city of the time was one of the great provisioning ports of the world, its quaysides holding beef, butter and other goods bound for ships and markets far beyond Ireland. But the very war that Stephen Moylan had crossed an ocean to fight brought disruption back across the Atlantic, for British restrictions and wartime upheaval fell hard on Irish trade, and Cork merchants felt it sharply. The city lived by its exports, and when those routes were choked or disturbed, families like the Moylans, and the whole commercial world from which they had come, would have felt it strongly.
There is something very Irish in that, I think, the story of just one family connected to the biggest events of the age, gaining and losing by turns, never quite in the history books and never quite out of them.
So this weekend, as our American friends and members raise a glass to 250 years, we raise one back to you from here in Ireland, and we wish you a wonderful celebration.
And it leaves me with a question.
Where were your own Irish ancestors in 1776? Whether you come from the USA or not, we’d love to hear the answer.
Were they still at home in Ireland, working a bit of land, keeping a shop, labouring on an estate, fishing from a small harbour, or going to Mass in a country still shadowed by the penal laws? Had they already taken a ship, like Stephen Moylan before them? Or were they still waiting, unknowingly, for the generations ahead who would one day scatter across the world?
That’s it for this week.
Slán for now,
Mike.
News From Ireland
South east to bask in sunshine – but will the rest of Ireland catch a break?
While one half of the country basks and the other freezes, Met Éireann has said that the sunshine is set to return to most of the country from next week.
Met Éireann has forecast the sunshine will return to most of the country from next week.
It’s been a tale of two Irelands for the past few days — with the Sunny South East living up to its name as they’ve enjoyed sunshine and fine temperatures, while the rest of the country brings out the heated blankets.
While one half of the country basks and the other freezes, Met Éireann has said that the sunshine is set to return, with the amount of sunshine improving generally from early next week.
Looking to the forecast for Saturday (July 4), things will remain often cloudy, with the best of any sunny spells remaining in the aforementioned Sunny South East.
Patchy light rain, drizzle and mist will be mainly in Connacht and Ulster, with a few light spots elsewhere. Highest temperatures of 15C to 23C.
It will be generally cloudy on Saturday night, with just limited clear spells in the south and east. Patchy light rain, drizzle and mist will affect mainly parts of the north and west, alongside some hill fog. Lowest temperatures of 12C to 15C.
Things are looking up from Sunday in the south and southeast, where sunny spells will develop. Cloudy elsewhere with patchy light rain, drizzle and mist persisting in the north and west. The west and northwest will only see highs of 16C, while the south and southeast could see the mercury soar to 24/25C.
Sunday night will be another cloudy night for most, with patchy light rain, drizzle and mist continuing in parts of Ulster and Connacht. Mainly dry elsewhere, with lowest temperatures of 12C to 15C.
Monday will be mostly cloudy to begin, with patches of light rain and drizzle in the west and north, confined to the coast by afternoon. Warm sunny spells will develop in Munster and Leinster, gradually spreading elsewhere in the day. Highest temperatures of 18C to 24C.
The patchy drizzle will remain in the northwest and north at first, but it will be brighter overall with more widespread sunshine developing. Highest temperatures of 20C to 25C. Cooler on Atlantic coasts, with highs of 16C to 19C expected.
Looking to the rest of the week, Met Éireann says that while there’s some uncertainty in the details at this time, more changeable conditions may be on the way — at least for a short time.
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
Ireland steps into EU spotlight
as six-month presidency launches with Zelenskyy in attendance
Irish leader Micheál Martin says Ireland is “ready to give it our all” as the country takes the reins of the Council of the European Union for the eighth time.
Ireland officially launched its presidency of the Council of the European Union on Wednesday with a ceremony at Dublin Castle attended by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Council president António Costa, and political leaders from across the country.
The six-month term of the EU Presidency, Ireland’s first since 2013, comes with a packed calendar of EU meetings and high-level visits, starting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s arrival in Cork on Thursday.
The Dublin Castle ceremony opened with the Ukrainian flag raised alongside those of the EU’s 27 member states, a gesture underscoring the war in Ukraine as a central theme of Ireland’s term.
European Council president António Costa used his address to praise Ireland’s record on the world stage, telling the gathered crowd that the country has “consistently been at the forefront” of efforts to uphold the “principles at the core of international rules-based order.”
He said those principles “must guide our work for peace and security in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in the Strait of Hormuz, and across the wider Middle East,” and must remain central to achieving “a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Costa framed the presidency around three pillars, values, competitiveness, and security, and singled out the housing crisis as a “key focus” for Ireland’s term, telling ministers that “we must tackle this multi-layered crisis together, and your leadership will be crucial to making progress.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the ceremony that Ireland’s accession to the EU ranks among the most transformative moments in the nation’s history, having “helped us grow our economy, invest in our communities and supported social changes.”
He added, “Holding the presidency is an honor and a responsibility, and we are ready to give it our all.” Martin also had a message for candidate countries hoping to join the bloc, saying, “We are determined to take you as far down that path as we can.”
Tánaiste Simon Harris echoed that sense of purpose, calling EU membership “the single best decision we have taken since our decision to become an independent nation.”
He described the presidency as a moment for Ireland “to serve, to lead, and to step up,” and one for the EU “to reflect on what we have achieved together and on what we must do next.”
Harris added, “This presidency won’t just be a presidency for governments or institutions or politicians alone. It will be a presidency for people, for the people of Ireland, for the people of Europe.”
The event drew a wide cross-section of Irish public life, including Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly.
Culture had its place too. Actress Ruth Negga read Séamus Heaney’s poem “Beacons at Bealtaine,” first commissioned for Ireland’s 2004 EU presidency, while the Dublin Youth Choir and the Defence Forces Band performed the Irish and European anthems. Vocalist Tolu Makay closed out the musical program with a rendition of “Dreams” by The Cranberries.
Zelenskyy flew home to Ukraine on Wednesday evening, but the diplomatic momentum continues Thursday as von der Leyen and the full College of Commissioners arrive in Cork for a two-day visit, the traditional first stop for the European Commission at the start of any member state’s presidency.
Watch the RTE News report on the launch of the EU Presidency:
Martin and von der Leyen are due to hold a bilateral meeting and chair a plenary session with Irish ministers and their European counterparts. In a statement ahead of the visit, Martin said discussions would cover Ireland’s efforts to progress negotiations on the EU’s next long-term budget, delivery of the One Europe One Market Roadmap, and steps toward a more integrated single market. He said he also intends to raise what he called “Israel’s persistent and egregious breaches of human rights and international law.”
Commissioners are also scheduled to visit Cork’s Tyndall National Institute, Ireland’s largest deep tech research center, where they will hear from researchers working on semiconductors, advanced materials, and space technology. Gardaí have said traffic restrictions around the visit will be kept to a minimum but have advised travelers passing through Cork Airport to allow extra time.
Ireland’s presidency runs through the end of the year and will see hundreds of EU meetings held in cities and towns across the country, including Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, Wicklow, and Westmeath.
US Ambassador hosted one of Dublin’s biggest Independence Day celebrations
Thousands gathered at Deerfield as Ireland and the United States celebrated 250 years of American independence and reaffirmed their close partnership.
More than 4,000 guests attended the US Embassy’s Independence Day reception at Deerfield in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Tuesday evening, making it one of the largest July 4 celebrations ever held at the ambassador’s official residence. The event featured remarks from US Ambassador Edward S. Walsh and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, a video message from President Donald Trump, and performances celebrating the enduring ties between Ireland and the United States.
The US Ambassador to Ireland, Edward S. Walsh, hosted a major celebration of America’s 250th Independence Day at Deerfield, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Phoenix Park on July 1. With 4,000 guests from across Irish politics, business, academia, defense, sport, culture, media, and the diplomatic corps, this year’s gathering is believed to be one of the largest Independence Day receptions ever held at Deerfield.
Ambassador Walsh described today’s US-Irish partnership as “one of the most dynamic in the world,” grounded in shared democratic values and backed by strong economic and innovation ties.
“Trade and investment between our countries support hundreds of thousands of jobs in Ireland and across all fifty U.S. states,” he noted.
“That is not just history – that is momentum. Whether it is artificial intelligence, life sciences, or technologies we have not yet imagined, the future is being shaped right now, and the United States and Ireland are shaping it together.”
He welcomed Ireland’s assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, calling it “a real opportunity to deepen the transatlantic partnership at a time when it matters more than ever,” and reaffirmed U.S. support for peace and stability on the island of Ireland.
During the program, guests viewed a special video message from President Donald J. Trump, who underscored the strong bonds between the United States and Ireland and praised the role of Irish-American communities in the development of modern America.
Speaking at the event, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “I was delighted to join Ambassador Walsh today to celebrate the United States’ 250th birthday. Ours is a relationship rooted in deep historical ties, with many Irish emigrants playing key roles in the founding of the United States.
“Today also marks the start of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union — during which we will work to deepen and protect Europe’s vital relationship with the United States.
“As we celebrate this milestone, we do so not simply by reflecting on the past, but by reaffirming our shared commitment to the future. In a world of uncertainty, our greatest strength lies in our willingness to work together to build societies that are defined by peace, partnership, and prosperity.”
The celebration combined a formal ceremony with cultural performances, including the presentation of the U.S. and Irish flags and renditions of both national anthems, followed by performances from The Camembert Quartet, Garron Noone, Nathan Carter and Sister Sledge. The evening concluded with a spectacular fireworks display.
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Tír na mBláth is one of hundreds of branches throughout the world of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) pronounced “kol-tus kyol-tori air-in“, the largest group involved in the preservation of Irish music, dance and song.
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