The NUI college of Maynooth conferred an honorary degree on Micheál Ó Ceárna for a lifetime of service to the Irish language and his work on campaigning for the preservation of the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Country

The Barony of Kinalmeaky, County Cork, has one of the highest concentrations of the name Harrington, the Irish family name not to be confused with the English Harrington. Although some Harringtons living in Ireland undoubtedly come from English heritage, the Irish name in Gaelic was originally O hIongardail, which became anglicized as O'Hungerdell and then Harrington.

Famous Irish writer/director/producer Jim Sheridan has been named as this year's recipient of the Gregory Peck Award at the annual Dingle Film Festival.

A carefully constructed model of a Dingle currach sits proudly on Rose Kennedy’s piano in the family’s Massachusetts home in Hyannisport. Ted liked to use it to “assure future generations of Kennedys that the Irish truly did discover America, after all.”

Considering we are an island nation, the one thing we are not short of is coastline, and Ireland boasts some outstanding beaches. The Cork/Kerry region is no exception.

The 1970 Irish film “Ryan’s Daughter” was carpeted by critics and bombed at the box office but it put Dingle in County Kerry on the map. Now, English actress Sarah Miles - who played Rosy Ryan in the movie - is penning a sequel and Dingle locals are wondering what's next!

Oh, the leprechauns would be a-turnin' in their graves if they had to forsake the color green, but the Randy Leprechaun pub and hostel in County Kerry has to do just that. The Kerry County Council has ordered owner Cathal O’Connell to "unpaint the town green" by changing the color of his establishment and removing his paintings of the mythical little

The Irish government designated May 17, 2009 as the first National Famine Memorial Day. On that day, Irish people throughout the world remembered and honored the victims of Ireland’s Great Hunger

Irish President Mary McAleese today paid tribute to the volunteer community at the heart of the GAA. McAleese was speaking at a garden party hosted at Áras an Uachtaráin today to mark the 125th anniversary of the Gaelic Athletic Association. "From Derry to Dingle, from Dublin to Dubai, from San Francisco to Hong Kong day after day, week after week, an army of volunteers cares for this organization and keeps it full of effort and imagination," she said.

      DOZENS of victims of child abuse in institutions run by religious orders wept openly and with joy when President Mary McAleese apologized profusely to them on behalf of the people of Ireland for the suffering they had endured. In one of the most emotional occasions in the history of

Victims of Church child abuse wept yesterday as Irish President Mary McAleese apologized for their suffering on behalf of the people of the Republic. “For so long, your suffering seemed to make strangers of you in your own land.”

If naturists can bear the unpredictable Irish summer weather, then they can bare all at some world-rated nudist beaches, as two of Hotels.com top-ten nudist beaches in the world can be found in Ireland!

Patricia Harty was honored at the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and decided that if there is a place called Irish America, this could be it.

Irish Americans have reacted with shock and outrage at the revelations of the Ryan report which has detailed the extent of the abuse of Ireland's children which took place in Church-run institutions. They all agreed that a collar should not protect anyone from prosecution.

Irish Americans have reacted with shock and outrage at the revelations of the Ryan report which has detailed the extent of the abuse of Ireland's children which took place in Church-run institutions. They all agreed that a collar should not protect anyone from prosecution.

Ever since the launch of IrishCentral.com, I have waited for the moment when I could help the global Irish community find their way back home. Now we are taking the first step in what will be a steady march by publishing family histories and historic photos from the most-searched Irish clan names.

I was always skeptical of the "Yanks" who came to visit my house in Ireland many years ago, all relatives from America on the ancestry trail. There were distant cousins from

The U.S. media have been slamming Ireland for months now. Is there any relief in sight?

From Jimmy Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to Sean Penn in "Milk," a look at the roles that carried Irish-American actors to the top of their profession.

ONE of the more fruitful by-products of Irish festivals across the country is that they can serve as productive anchors for musicians touring from Ireland who find it difficult to launch tours over here without them. In the case of Brendan Begley and Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, they have the Philadelphia Irish Festival (www.philadelphiaceiligroup.

CORKMAN Jonathan Rhys Meyers is in Ireland shooting the third series of his Showtime series The Tudors, but it can't be all work and no play when you're back on home turf, right?

JRM and his body double on the hit show have been doing the rounds in Dingle, Co. Kerry, according to the Sunday World. As the day job will soon commence, he thought it'd be a good idea to blow off some steam before the cameras roll.

THE eighth annual Wee CRAIC festival is presented by Jet Blue Airways this year, and it is fitting as the festival boasts a soaring lineup of musical and cinematic talent! It's called the Wee CRAIC because it is a one-night offshoot of the larger three-day music and film festival The CRAIC held every March in New York.

Held at DUMBO's Powerhouse Arena on Saturday, September 20, A Wee Craic features live acoustic sets from musicians such as Mark Geary, Mundy and Colin Smith of the band Mr. North.

NYU'S Glucksman Ireland House will feature a special performance by Seosaimhin Ni Bheaglaoich (Josephine Begley) of the famous Dingle family that has been in the forefront of traditional music from the West Kerry Gaeltacht for so many years.

Educated at Trinity College in Dublin, she hosted a 1980s CCE TV series for RTE called The Mountain Lark that featured traditional music and dance, and with Radio na Gaeltachta where she was recognized as one of Ireland's finest singers in the Irish language.

She was also a founding member of Ireland's first all female group MACALLA where her rendering of the title track of their first album Mna na hEireann still stands out in my memory.

There are plenty of great festivals coming up in Ireland this year - some are centuries old; others are more recent arrivals. Either way, they cater for a wide variety of tastes, as our guide shows.

Dublin: The wind and rain lashed furiously on the tarmac at Dublin Airport, rocking our Aer Lingus Airbus like a gondola exposed to the elements on a mountaintop. We hadn't packed any sun block for this post-Christmas 2000 family trip to Ireland, but no one had told us we'd be landing in the monsoon season. It had proved impossible to land at Shannon Airport in the west, where the storm was said to be really raging.

There has been an upsurge in the number of golf courses in Ireland, but aside from local interest, the game's growing appeal has generated a new form of business golf tourism.

And they're off! Bachelor brothers Stevie and Timmy Kelliher saunter up Heartbreak Hill, balancing buckets of paint and brushes as they go. Joe Ryle, self-styled "chief cook and bottle washer," trots off to repair railings at Beenbawn Corner. Mike Sayers mills around the grandstand, supervising an army of volunteers preparing for the annual onslaught of horse-mad punters.

High-pitched squeals and nervous laughter echo along the corridors of the Brandon Hotel in Tralee. Peeping surreptitiously into open bedrooms, I see gaggles of giggling girls. "Does my make-up look good enough for TV?" asks one as she applies one last slick of lipstick to her pink lips.

Three miles out to sea, stark against the western horizon, storm clouds are swirling above the Great Blasket. The future of this unique island, renowned for its desolate beauty, its crumbling ruins and its cultural legacy, is under threat. After years of agitation, litigation, and endless negotiations, the Irish government declared last July its intention to purchase the island - the first step towards the island being declared a national heritage site and perhaps a UNESCO world heritage site.

DINGLE, Co. Kerry - It has rained so much this summer that the local joke here is that the entire Irish nation deserved an Olympic gold for swimming. Another joke concerns the Dublin football team recently defeated by Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarterfinal.

Kerry football legend Paidi O Se was in New York last week to launch his 2009 Gaelic football tournament, which takes place in Dingle, Co. Kerry at the end of February/start of March. Speaking from the New York offices of Tourism Ireland on Wednesday, O Se, who has been at the pulse of football since he was a teenager, said he was looking forward to expanding his tournament, which is in it's 19th year, to include sports men and women from across the Atlantic seas.

Weiner's Irish Trip

AN interested visitor to Ireland this past week was New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, who spent a week or so traveling around the Emerald Isle and meeting with various government leaders.

Weiner, of course, is a major contender for New York City mayor in 2009 and may well be the Democratic front-runner at this point, though no doubt City Council President Christine Quinn may have a thing or two to say about that.

Weiner ran a close race the last time in the Democratic primary and narrowly missed being the contender.

Kerry is one of the loveliest of Ireland's counties and if you have not yet paid it a visit, it might now be time for you to undertake St. Brendan's journey in reverse. Do this illustrious saint who was known "the Navigator" the honor of visiting his beautiful home place.

Three miles out to sea, stark against the western horizon, storm clouds are swirling above the Great Blasket.  The future of this unique island, renowned for its desolate beauty, its crumbling ruins and its cultural legacy, is under threat. After years of agitation, litigation, and endless negotiations, the Irish government declared last July its intention to purchase the island - the ?rst step towards the island being declared a national heritage site and perhaps a

The Irish are known for their “craic,” or spirit of fun, so festivals are celebrated for all sorts of occasions around the country, year-round. Here's a list of some of Ireland's best festivals throughout the year: