A new "White House" is planned for Ireland as part of an ambitious entertainment complex in County Tipperary. The Irish White House would form the center-piece of an $680m 800-acre development which would also include a concert venue, golf course, casino and racecourse.

When you think "Irish America" you think Catholicism in the U.S., JFK , St. Patrick's Day parades and Irish pride. But Irish-American ties run deeper than one might expect on first glance.

With photo gallery: Thousands took part in a silent march through the streets of Dublin on Wednesday to express their solidarity with those who were abused by Church-run institutions.

Notre Dame holds some Irish surprises. When I was preparing a lecture on Eamon De Valera’s visit to the university during his 1919 American tour, I discovered that on the stop he viewed the Civil War sword of Thomas Francis Meagher. Known as a leader of the failed Young Irelander rising of 1848, Meagher championed a republican movement that sought to free Ireland by any means necessary. Not only does Notre Dame hold Meagher's sword but it also holds a battle flag of the famed Irish Brigade

Disident Republicans are the chief suspects in the murder of a policeman in Craigavon, Co. Armagh, 48 hours after two unarmed British soldiers were shot dead as they accepted a pizza delivery at Massereene barracks near Antrim on Saturday

Guinness Store House
This is expensive (adult tickets are €13.50, or almost $19), but no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit. Simply every tourist in Dublin seems to come here at least once.

Politicians returned to the Dail (Parliament) on Tuesday after a five-week Christmas and New Year break and were immediately confronted with the detail that government borrowing of €20 billion this year - just to meet the deficit in the treasury - means an extra €55 million a day on which interest has to be paid. It was a statistic to persuade even the most laid-back representative to sit bolt upright, and starkly underlined just how drastically the economy - still booming less than a year ago - has continuously spiraled downwards while the TDs (members of Parliament) were on their extended break. First brush with reality on their return to their seats in Leinster House was a strong signal from the government that they will be expected to take a pay-cut of 10 percent as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen's administration prepares to lead by example.

BRIAN Cowen will this Wednesday, April 9, officially become leader of Fianna Fail - he was the only nomination as Bertie Ahern's successor - and on May 6th he will become taoiseach (prime minister).Despite the growing clamor for Ahern's resignation, when he eventually and without prior warning announced it last April 2 it still took most of Ireland by surprise.He made the an-nouncement at Leinster House just minutes after confirming his intention to his Cabinet colleagues and bringing tears to their eyes, a display of emotion on the part of the male ministers as well as the women that prompted a parting comment from Ahern as he left the room: "Jaysus, I don't need any more of this, get me out of here.

BRIAN Cowen's elevation to taoiseach (prime minister), accompanied by a Cabinet selection that placed his two closest confidantes in the most important positions and who, like him, are still in their 40s, sent out a clear signal that loyalty and energy will be the hallmarks of the new government.His promotion and his appointments also shifted the axis of power from Dublin to the provinces.The 48-year-old father of two girls from the village of Clara, Co.

From sipping a pint of Guinness, known as the "black stuff",  in the Guinness Storehouse's Gravity Bar, to gazing at the stunning architecture of Trinity College, a tourist in Dublin won't be stuck for things to