Why is it so hard to find the source of the river Liffey?As part of a new feature series, Frank McNally boldly fails where many experts have failed beforeSat Oct 28 2023 - 06:00
Cliffhanger from Cooneen - Frank McNally on the only Irish ghost that ever emigratedIreland and Scotland should have patented Halloween before it went corporateFri Oct 27 2023 - 19:24
Balladeer Diary - Frank McNally on the Dubliners, ‘Tonehenge’ and sculptor Edward DelaneyAnd a lesser controversy, still also lingering, about the lyrics in the third verse of Raglan RoadThu Oct 26 2023 - 19:28
Time waits for Naumann – Frank McNally on a buried tragedy in Joyce’s UlyssesInvestigating a possible allusion to a man not yet deceasedWed Oct 25 2023 - 19:37
Fighting Talk – Frank McNally on the perilous pubs and less-than-mean streets of DublinEnjoying an oasis of calm in the early hours of SaturdayTue Oct 24 2023 - 19:30
The harps, the harps – Frank McNally on the continued revival of two once-doomed instrumentsThe mystic chords of memoryFri Oct 20 2023 - 18:59
Gray Area – Frank McNally on a notorious 19th-century loyalist, ‘Sam Gray of Ballybay’More than once he got away with murder – literally – because he could pack juriesThu Oct 19 2023 - 18:59
New Word Order – Frank McNally on why some neologisms take off while others don’tBig Brother, Newspeak, Double Think, and Thought Police all soon became standard EnglishWed Oct 18 2023 - 18:59
Cultural memory – Frank McNally on remembering and forgetting the murder of Noel LemassA reference in Samuel Beckett’s novel Mercier and CamierTue Oct 17 2023 - 18:59
Garden Home – Frank McNally on the Irish origins of a quintessential American suburbLisburn-born Alexander Turney Stewart and a retail empire that paid for a cathedralFri Oct 13 2023 - 18:59
Lost and found – Frank McNally on literary and alcoholic New YorkOne for the roadThu Oct 12 2023 - 18:59
Manhattan transfer – Frank McNally on a family weekend in New YorkOur B&B was not so much in the middle of nowhere as in its outer suburbsWed Oct 11 2023 - 18:59
Athenry Fields Forever – Frank McNally on the existentialist threat of Zombie and a possible Irish origin for Liverpool’s AnfieldFor one reader, Zombie’s growing dominance in Irish sport represents a kind of Limerick imperialismThu Oct 05 2023 - 18:59
Venice Vigil – Frank McNally on an epic Californian reading of Finnegans WakeThe group was in no hurry, meeting once a month since 1995 to read a page at a timeWed Oct 04 2023 - 18:59
Borstal Boy Meets Butcher Boy (with Blindboy in between) – Frank McNally on the Kavanagh Weekend in InniskeenTrips to Mount ParnassusTue Oct 03 2023 - 18:59
A history of Ireland in 100 goodbyesAn Irish Diary: ‘So I waved goodbye with a wistful eye’, and other Irish farewellsFri Sept 29 2023 - 18:59
Brief Encounter – Frank McNally on sharing the pain of total strangers The encounter reminded me of another stranger whose path crossed mine some years agoWed Sept 27 2023 - 18:59
Motley Loughcrew – Frank McNally joins the crowds celebrating the autumn equinox in MeathThere is no shortage of vocations in Irish paganismTue Sept 26 2023 - 18:59
Fall into line – Frank McNally on St Matthew, Loughcrew, and the autumn equinoxA side-bet on superstitionFri Sept 22 2023 - 18:59
Kruger, the Kop, and the whole Shebeen – Frank McNally on Irish-South African linguistic exchangeThe original Irish sibín meant “a little mug”Thu Sept 21 2023 - 18:59
Tower of Song – Frank McNally on the Joycenights Festival, rude hand gestures, and improving Patrick KavanaghI somehow found a free corner (not easy in a round tower) among the capacity attendanceTue Sept 19 2023 - 18:59
Ireland’s archery festival: ‘For a moment, it feels like we are in the Middle Ages’ Archers had their sights set on Co Laois over the weekend for a festival that celebrated tradition and precisionSun Sept 17 2023 - 21:36
Why runners run — Frank McNally on exercising his inner demonsMuch of the reward in running is that the pain, self-inflicted as it is, stopsFri Sept 15 2023 - 18:59
The enduring fame of Patrick Kavanagh’s doomed affair with Hilda MoriartyA blissful walk among the bluebellsThu Sept 14 2023 - 18:59
High society – Frank McNally on taking drugs at the operaAccording to the jar, the recommended dosage was “half a gummy”Wed Sept 13 2023 - 18:55
Seeds of destruction — Frank McNally on cancer, cold war, and causing a nuclear incident at the airportMy first-ever strip search appeared to be imminentTue Sept 12 2023 - 18:59
A walk on the wild side: foraging for nature’s treasures in the Wicklow countrysideFrom meadowsweet and acorns to sloes and elderberries, Frank McNally plunders Mother Nature’s bounty on a sun-baked Sunday during a foraging adventure in the garden of IrelandSun Sept 10 2023 - 06:00
Cousins Removed – Frank McNally on a Belfast-born writer’s passage to IndiaAmong other activities in Dublin, he founded (with his wife Gretta) the Irish Vegetarian SocietyThu Sept 07 2023 - 18:55
Earning his Spurs – Frank McNally on an unlikely Wexford hero ‘Tottenham in his Boots’How the brave actions of an MP for New Ross became a political sloganWed Sept 06 2023 - 20:07
Negotiating New Ross – Frank McNally on an argumentative weekend in Wexford Town is well qualified to host a summer school on history and politicsTue Sept 05 2023 - 18:56
Old Flames – Frank McNally on a Parisian tribute to Ireland and the tragic saga of Mayo’s Moore HallAn Irish-themed flaring of the Eternal Flame in ParisFri Sept 01 2023 - 18:59
Year of the French (Part 2) – Frank McNally on the colourful career of Fenian general Gustave Paul Cluseret A rebel with many causesThu Aug 31 2023 - 18:55
Boom to Busts – Frank McNally on an Irish-Indian cultural exchangeA tale of two poetsWed Aug 30 2023 - 19:25
French Paradox – Frank McNally on France’s fondness for St Fiacre (except as a baby name)What’s in a name?Tue Aug 29 2023 - 18:59
Goosey Gander – Frank McNally on Donie Anderson’s menagerie, Malachi Horan’s memories, and a Mayo Frenchman in the Wild WestA remarkable spectacle at the parade ringsThu Aug 24 2023 - 18:55
Virginia Show: Fake tan, baby oil, hair extensions – and those were just the animalsFrank McNally goes behind the scenes at one of the Republic’s big four agricultural showsWed Aug 23 2023 - 20:21
French Toast – Frank McNally on a weekend of drama in MayoThe Ballina reenactment was based loosely on the Battle of CastlebarTue Aug 22 2023 - 19:19
Trouble with a capital T – Frank McNally on the Tau Cross of ToryThe cross is an apt landmark for an island called ToryFri Aug 18 2023 - 18:55
Street Theatre - Frank McNally on muggers, mystics, and the Glass MenagerieWas it really possible that I was exuding an aura?Thu Aug 17 2023 - 18:59
Crash Curse - Frank McNally on the still-disputed fate of the HMS WaspThe cursing stone on Tory Island has long disappearedWed Aug 16 2023 - 18:59
Wild Romantic Way – Frank McNally on Christy Moore, Mad Sweeney, and extreme Irish tourismKeep on runningTue Aug 15 2023 - 18:59
Engraved in memory – Frank McNally on recollections of first-time fatherhood, funerals, and learning how to hugHappy memories of my daughter’s arrival into the world brought sombre recollections tooFri Aug 11 2023 - 18:59
Life on Tory Island, where just one child attends the local secondary schoolClimate change means the sea around Tory has become ‘angrier’ and less predictable, threatening the island’s future, says one residentFri Aug 11 2023 - 14:46
Kitsch Kitchen – Frank McNally on a Salthill institution, O’Connor’s Famous PubFor sheer exuberance, the collection of bric-a-brac might be uniqueThu Aug 10 2023 - 18:59
Unhappy Bedfellow? – Frank McNally on Shakespeare’s wife, misspelled Enniskillen, and typos that can’t be erasedAnne Hathaway died 400 years ago this weekendFri Aug 04 2023 - 18:59
Going Tribal – Frank McNally on the Transylvanian side of GalwayCluj is known as “the Galway of Romania”, complete with world-class traffic jamsThu Aug 03 2023 - 18:59
Teenage hero rides to triumph in the Galway PlateBased on colourful predictions for Ladies Day, the future is looking flamboyant in the westWed Aug 02 2023 - 20:47
Shedding habits – Frank McNally on painting rackets, poetic justice, and French ratsIt’s a small countryWed Aug 02 2023 - 18:59
