Earagail Arts Festival

With the busy late spring and summer season fast approaching, in the next few weeks many summer events and festivals around the country will begin announcing details of their programme of events. One of the many festivals around the country during the summer that is worthy of mention is the two week Earagail Arts Festival in North Donegal, which has just announced it will run from July 9th to the 24th this year.

Now in its 23nd year, the Earagail Arts Festival celebrates and creates a high profile platform for the contemporary and the traditional arts scene in County Donegal along the Atlantic seaboard of North West Ireland. Set across the wide geographical area of North Donegal, the festival, through a range of diverse, high quality, bi-lingual programme of arts activities, aims to reflect the unique character, artistic heritage and demographic of the region.
This two week arts festival highlights a wide range of outdoor and indoor literary, music, theatre and comedy and visual arts events for all the family. Hosted in a range of towns and venues across the northern region of the county starting from the Inishowen Peninsula and Letterkenny, to the Border region of East Donegal and the Gaeltacht area of Gaoth Dobhair, Cloch Cheann Fhaola and Na Rosainn in the west across Sliabh an Earagail, there is much to take note of and view for visitors to Donegal and Ireland this july.

Further details on the Earagail Arts Festival can be found at its main address of Unit B6, Enterprise Fund Business Centre, Ballyraine, Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland or Tel: +353 (0) 7491 68800, Fax: +353 (0) 7491 68490, Email: marketing@eaf.ie / or at the official website www.eaf.ie

Our post in april on the Sheehan coat of arms proved a great success with lots of feedback and questions so here we go again with another excellent piece on the Irish Surnames kindly provided by Eddie from Araltas again.

O Callaghan

OCallaghan coat of arms

Genealogists believe the name Ceallachan is derived from the word strife. This is certainly appropriate for King Ceallachan who, in the heat of his youth led his warriors to ravage counties Meath, Kilkenny and Waterford, not even hesitating before plundering the monastic settlement at Clonmacnoise. He it was who defeated Cinneide, father of the great Brian Boru, who was to drive the Norsemen from Ireland and give his name to the O Briens.

From the seventeenth century when the family dispersed, two distinct lines emerge. One fled to Spain and have long since become Spanish citizens, while the other lived for centuries at Lismehane, their mansion near the village of O Callaghan’s Mills in County Clare. It was through intermarriage with related Westropps that they consolidated their properties and acquired the additional surname.

Don Juan O Callaghan (b. 1934), the O Callaghan Chief of the Name, is a lawyer in Barcelona, Spain. Don Juan is in the direct line from Ceallachan who was the 42nd Christian King of Munster.

In 1641, just before Cromwell’s army forced many of the Gaelic landowners to flee abroad, Colonel Donogh O Callaghan was a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Confederation of Kilkenny. Following the rebellion of that year, he lost his property, and was outlawed. Another member of his family had preceded him abroad, this was the Abbe John O Callaghan (1605 – 54), a notorious Jansenist.

Cornelius O Callaghan (1742 – 97) of Shanbally Castle, Clogheen, County Tipperary, was created Baron Lismore in 1785. His son was known as the 1st Viscount Lismore and his daughter was the mother of one of the Dukes of Devonshire, whose family owns Lismore Castle.

Father Jeremiah O Callaghan (1780 – 1861) blazed a trail through Paris and Rome, preaching vehemently against usury, rack-renting and capitalism. When he went to London he was actively supported by William Cobbett, a reformer and journalist. Eventually Jeremiah was found a congenial clerical post in North America, where he earned the name “Apostle of Vermont”, befriending both the French Canadians and the immigrant Irish.

Edmund Bailey O Callaghan (1797 – 1880) of Mallow, County Cork, studied medicine in Dublin, Paris and Quebec. He dabbled in politics in Canada, which led to his having to escape to Albany, New York, where he settled and practised medicine. He studied the records of the Dutch founders of New York and wrote the first published history of the city. There was no financial profit from this huge labour, yet with his own money he published a second volume. He produced eleven quarto volumes of State Records or Documentary History of the State of New York, 1849 – 51, plus an astonishing variety of other publications.

One of the first Roman Catholics to be admitted to the legal profession in Ireland since the penal laws were repealed was John Cornelius O Callaghan (1805 – 83). He was a Young Irelander and was on the staff of the Nation newspaper. His great work of 25 years, History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France from the Revolution in Great Britain under James II, to the Revolution in France under Louis XVI was published in Glasgow in 1869 in eight volumes. He declaimed, “I love, not the entremets of literature, but the strong meat and drink of sedition – I make a daily meal on the smoked carcass of Irish history”.

Sir George Astley O Callaghan (1852 – 1920), a London-born O Callaghan who was the son of an army captain, was the admiral who commanded the frigate that entered Peking in 1900 during the rising of the “Harmonious Fists”, commonly known as the Boxer rebellion.

The O Callaghan name is recorded extensively in the archives of Spain. In Germany, James O Callaghan and his brother, Louis, filled the post of Baron and Grand Veneur (agent) to the Margrave of Baden-Baden. Their elder brother, John, was a captain in O Brien’s Regiment in the French army. Their youngest brother, Cornelius (d. 1741), was a captain in the Ultonian Regiment in Spain where he died at Oran, leaving an O Callaghan son.

There were Callahans who fought at Bunker Hill in the American Revolution.

Genealogists give scant recognition to women. To be recorded they have to be an heiress, or have some special talent (or notoriety). In America there was Trixie Friganza Delia O Callaghan (1870 – 1955) who was an actress and singer.

Rose Mary O Callaghan Westropp of the Lismehane branch is mentioned in Burke’s Irish Family Records as having painted the great jockey Pat Taafe on that most loved of Irish racehorses, Arkle.

Learn more on how you can visit the places of your ancestors on one of our many excellent ireland vacation packages or read more on the Irish surname O Callaghan at Araltas

Leading US Financial & Business newspaper, Barron’s, has named Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary in the top 30 Global CEO’s.

O’Leary is the only Irish citizen to make the list which is limited to top CEO’s who have “been in the job at least three years and have made shrewd acquisitions or taken advantage of the economic recession to expand at the expense of rivals.”

Despite attracting the wrath of government and the courts recently here in Ireland, Michael O’Leary is certainly being noticed on the international stage and recogntion like this will undoubtedly bolster him further.

Michael O’Leary’s Ryanair officially presented its takeover bid to Aer Lingus investors yesterday, giving them until January 5th to accept the €1.40 ($1.87) per share offer.

Ryanair presented the opportunity to create ”one leading, financially strong, Irish-run airline group.”

The offered share price represents a €748 million offer, a premium of approximately 28% over the average closing price for the 30 days ended Nov. 28 and considerably lower than the €2.80 per share that it offered two years ago.

Ryanair guaranteed that Aer Lingus would remain a separately operated company and that both its brand and its slots and connectivity at London Heathrow would remain.

It plans to double Aer Lingus’ short-haul fleet over the next five years to 66 aircraft, creating a additional 1,000 jobs.

It also promised the Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington, a seat on the Ryanair board however, Mr barrington responded that the offer was “the usual stream of invective, spin and misrepresentation that we expect from the people at Ryanair.”

Ryanair currently holds 29.8% of Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus has vowed to remain independent and CEO, Dermot Mannion, said on Sunday that Aer Lingus will respond to the offer document with a ” very positive, affirmative document that will set out an independent strategy for long-term growth on shorthaul and on longhaul in the business”

This will be intersting to watch and is likely to be ultimately  decided by the government who hold approx 25% of the airline’s shares. However, Ryanair are keen to also win support of the ESOP, who hold 14%, and have conceded that they will recognise union membership as part of the integration (something they do not do within Ryanair)

It’s official! Westport in County Mayo is Ireland’s tidiest town. For the third time, the County mayo town has won the overall title at the 2008 SuperValu TidyTowns awards ceremony in Dublin. Westport previously won in 2001 and in 2006

A visit to Westport as part of an Ireland vacation or holiday will show the beauty that the town exudes.

Tidy towns initiative

The national TidyTowns competition was launched by Bord Fáilte (now Fáilte Ireland) in 1958 as a follow on from the National Spring Clean Campaign which ran from 1953 and 1957 as part of Tostal a tourism celebration of all things Irish. Bord Fáilte was restructured in 1995 and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government assumed ownership of TidyTowns and now organises the competition with the support of national sponsor SuperValu

The winners in other categories for 2008 were as follows:

Tidiest Large Urban Centre: Ennis, County Clare
Tidiest School: Duleek Boys NS, County Meath
Tidiest Village: Birdhill, County Tipperary
Tidiest small Town: Kenmare, County Kerry
Tidiest Large Town: Westport, County Mayo
Special award for contribution to ‘Tidy towns’ over 50 years: Glenties, County Donegal

Our very own Padraig Harrington joined an elite club yesterday after successfully defending his British Open title at Royal Birkdale, comfortably holding off the late challenge of Britain’s Ian Poulter.

Harrington who hails from Dublin produced a magnificent second shot at the 17th to seal victory as he retained the famous Claret Jug he won after a playoff against Sergio Garcia last year.   He landed his second shot within three feet of the pin. “The five-wood is my favourite club in the bag,” he said. “I used the downslope in my favour and it came out nice and low. Once I hit it, it was perfect. It’s one of the few times I think I’ve heard my caddie say ‘Good shot’ to me before the ball is finished. I would have been quite happy with it on the green and take my chances with two putts.”

He stopped coming down the 18th on Sunday to share the moment with overnight leader Greg Norman, who knows this path all too well.

Doug Ferguson reports further

Celebration for one, sympathy for the other.

“I did say to him coming down 18 that I was sorry it wasn’t his story that was going to be told,” Harrington said. “I did feel that, but I wanted to win myself. In this game, you have to take your chances when you get them.”

Harrington seized his opportunity by smashing a pair of fairway metals into the par 5s that carried him to a 32 on the back nine of blustery Royal Birkdale and made him Europe’s first player in more than a century to win the British Open two years in a row.

“Obviously, winning a major puts you in a special club,” Harrington said after closing with a 1-under 69 to win by four shots over Ian Poulter. “Winning two of them puts you in a new club altogether.”

Norman got a chance no one saw coming.

Still on his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert, at 53 only a part-time golfer with no expectations, the Shark found himself with a two-shot lead going into the final round and still one shot ahead with nine holes to play.

It ended like so many other majors for Norman — a quick succession of bogeys, the clutch shots belonging to someone else. He made eight bogeys in gusts that reached 40 mph, closed with a 77 and tied for third.

“Where does it rank in those? Probably not as high as some of the other ones,” Norman said of the six other times he lost a 54-hole lead in a major. “Quite honestly, I’m sure I surprised a lot of people.”

So did Harrington.

The 36-year-old Irishman injured his right wrist eight days ago, and it was so sore that he could only practice for nine holes on Tuesday and for three swings on the eve of his title defense.

He gave himself a 75 percent chance of starting, 50 percent of finishing.

Turns out that wrist was strong enough to hit all the right shots. Better yet, it was strong enough to lift the claret jug.

“It was a great distraction for me,” Harrington said. “It took a lot of pressure off me. It took a lot of stress off me. The fact that I didn’t play three practice rounds like normal for a major was a big bonus. I was very fresh going into the weekend, and this 36 holes was a real battle.”

Harrington first had to take the lead from Norman, which he did on the par-3 12th when Norman missed a 10-foot par putt. Then came a late charge from Poulter, who made a 15-foot birdie on the 16th and saved par with a 15-footer on the final hole for a 69 that looked like it might be good enough to win.

But the Irishman responded with clutch shots of his own. He hit a 3-wood into the wind to 40 feet on the par-5 15th and got down in two putts for birdie, giving him a two-shot lead. Standing in the 17th fairway, still aware that Norman could make eagle and stay in the game, Harrington hit a 5-wood that bounded onto the green and up the ridge, stopping 4 feet away for eagle.

That gave him a four-shot lead, and he knew it was over when his tee shot found the 18th fairway.

What a change from last year, when Harrington made double bogey on the 18th hole, got into a playoff only when Sergio Garcia couldn’t save par, and couldn’t celebrate at Carnoustie until a testy 3-footer for par on the last hole of overtime.

“I enjoyed the claret jug so much I didn’t want to give it back,” Harrington said.

He finished at 3-over 283, becoming the first European since James Braid in 1905-06 to win the Open in successive years.

It was his first victory since the British Open last year, and it could not have come at a better time. Harrington moved to the top of Europe’s Ryder Cup standings, and the victory moved him to No. 3 in the world ranking behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

“I’m quite enjoying this,” Harrington said, cradling the claret jug. “I don’t think I’ll get down off the stage.”

Norman played a familiar role as the tragic figure.

He lost his two-shot lead after the third hole and wound up in a tie for third with Henrik Stenson, who shot 71. The 77 was one shot better than the last time Norman led a major, closing with a 78 in the 1996 Masters.

“I walk away from here disappointed, but with my head held high, because I hung in there,” Norman said.

Poulter thought he could bring England its first British Open since Nick Faldo in 1992, playing bogey-free over his final 15 holes. He went to the practice range in case of a playoff, but put his clubs away when he saw that Harrington made eagle on the 17th hole.

“I can only do what I can do,” Poulter said. “And I done my best.”

Norman tried to keep alive his hopes with a 35-foot par putt on the 14th, and a shot from a pot bunker that made him spin backward, turning to see the ball land 4 feet away at the 15th for his only birdie of the day. Harrington, however, didn’t back down.

“Padraig played brilliantly today, even though he tried to let it get away in the middle of the round,” Norman said. “He came back and performed brilliantly, and he finished like a true champion.”

The leaderboard featured a familiar name, missing an “s.”

Chris Wood, a 20-year-old amateur from England, closed in on the lead until three straight bogeys on the back nine. He finished with a 72 and tied for fifth at 10-over 290 with Jim Furyk (71).

“It’s been the best week of my life,” Wood said.

Norman felt much the same, except for the final day.

What an amazing week for the Shark — spending his honeymoon in Skibo Castle, showing up at Royal Birkdale to tune up for the Senior British Open and Senior U.S. Open, then feeling those old competitive juices.

Fans perched themselves atop every sand dune to see if Norman could pull off a victory that would have ranked among the most stunning in golf, from Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters at age 46 to Ben Hogan returning from a life-threatening car crash to win the U.S. Open.

But instead of a fairy-tale ending, he delivered a rerun of opportunities lost in the majors.

Norman hit into a pot bunker on the first hole and made bogey. He missed the green left on the second hole and made bogey. His tee shot buried in the right rough on the third hole for another bogey. And he had to make an 8-foot putt to save bogey on the sixth.

Just like that, a two-shot lead over Harrington turned into a two-shot deficit.

Harrington gave him one last chance with three straight bogeys to close out the front nine. That was the last bogey he made.

“This year is more satisfying,” Harrington said.

At myguideIreland, the service we provide to our Guests is our biggest priority! We are obsessed with always finding ways to improve our service. We firmly believe this is what sets us apart as a company dedicated to travel to Ireland. We want to always exceed our Guests’ expectations on their Ireland Vacation. We have excellent relations with accommodation owners and we strive to create the best tours to Ireland. We visit every hotel ourselves to ensure it meets our standards before we recommend it to our Guests.

We actively encourage Guest feedback and when we receive the kind of testament as supplied here by Colin Grieve and his party, it makes all our hard work worthwhile.

Read about Colin’s Ireland Vacation

19th & 20th June

Well folks – we made it. We are the champions; the Masters of the Universe. The Coombs and I are bonding with the Irish bog people! I should mention too the Irish bog fiddlers, the bog logs, the bog horses and the great *Bog Off*! This is a very prosperous country. The fact that it is Irish the English must abhor. We, in Scotland, just love it. We never liked those buggers south of the Tweed. We want Berwick back!

We missed our flight to Irland and therefore missed the joys of Dublin Castle and the Guinness factory. We did pick up in the morning.

We went to Glendalough and then on to Waterford. In the former was a very old monastery, a hotel and little else but the monastery was a fascinating old place. The newest head stone was dated 1790 but I could not read who lay under it.

At one time these monasteries were widespread and wealthy; that is until King Henry VIII had a spat with the Pope and simply dissolved them. He plundered their wealth and handed out their lands to his military (in many cases in lieu of back pay). The new land lords often broke them down for building stone. Those who do survive all have the high watch towers you see in the photo.

Waterford was a pretty enough town known mainly for Waterford Crystal. We were taken round the factory which was interesting enough. What I really did notice was the vast unused capacity in all departments. Apparently the business is not doing well and seeks to restructure debt at the worst possible time. I saw beautiful trophies there for all sports. The “Ashes” one looked like it was for just that!

We saw the blowing process, mould cutting from beech wood, metal moulds and the moulding of the crystal glass. We then saw the cutting process and the final cleaning. They use computers to draw a matrix guide for the cutters who do a rough cut and a final fine cut. The cutting wheels are water cooled. I can see why the damned stuff is so expensive!

We also were taken on a walking tour of the city from west to east. It turned out to be not too far at all and our Irish guide was a very funny fellow. One thing of note was an old tower, built circa 1000AD. It has been in continuous use since and is now a museum (unfortunately closed when we got there!) Waterford, like so many towns and cities we visited, has a river running through. I have really been impressed at the high quality of most homes here; there are many very palatial properties and even the more humble of dwellings are mostly well maintained, walled and have fine well tended gardens.

After Waterford on the morning of 20th we had tea and scones in an old castle cum farm house. This was a working farm with just 100 dairy cattle and I doubt it was ever the castle the old owner described. It did make a pleasant interlude and the scones were first rate. They handed out the recipe but I seem to have lost it! We moved on from there to Blarney Castle and wool mills. You can “Kiss the Blarney Stone” for about $8.00 and a two hour queue! They section those who complete this ordeal! Only the blessed Irish could charge folks for kissing a bit of old rock. We finished the day in Killarney, which was hugely commercial but lovely too. It poured as we arrived and was still pouring as we left. As a result I have no photos.

Outside of our Best Western Hotel horse drawn carriages waited in the rain for the customers who did not come. The owners looked as miserable as the horses. Killarney is a party town and they sure party of Fridays and Saturdays. Our hotel was right in the centre of town and they were still whooping it up at 3.00 AM. This is now County Kerry. County Waterford is the one we just left. There are many fine churches, including a cathedral, but cathedrals here are seldom older than a couple of hundred years.

21st June

On Saturday 21st the weather was no kinder. We had a day trip around the “Ring of Kerry”. Our driver, a most charming and likeable John Tulley spent the day describing what we would see with no wind and driving rain. It all sounded delightful – but we saw none of it. In the end I bought a DVD called “The essence of Kerry”. It should tell me what I missed.
The countryside is very green and well wooded but not always too fertile. Some places are very rocky with only 2 or 3 inches of topsoil. Here only sheep survive. In commercially forested areas much more topsoil is needed and that supports crops such as wheat and barley. We saw no potato crops but plenty were on sale by the roadside, as were strawberries in many places. I also noted cabbages and cauliflower. Many farms also keep horses.

As an aside we passed through one small town where there was a statue of a King Goat. I have a note of the name somewhere in the many leaflets we have collected. Apparently the natives capture a wild Billy goat in the surrounding hills, bring him to town and secure him in the town square. There he is treated as king during three full days of partying! Here they need no excuse. What can one say about folks who party with goats?
I have just raided the brochures and can tell you that the goat is known as King Puck and the festival is in Killorglin in Killarney. In this area we saw “bog ponies” which are sure footed and small. They are used to work the peat bogs.

22nd June

After the mist, wind and rain around the “Ring of Kerry” we left for a ferry ride into County Clare and on thence to County Galway. The brochure said “View the Cliffs of Moher” but 65 / 70 MPH wind gusts together with driving rain certainly did not encourage me to risk being blown off the cliffs and into the Atlantic. Actually the wind was off shore so I would have been blown back to the coach. We could hardly stand up in that wind! Who would be a tour operator? Again I saw photos of what I missed. We moved on from Galway to County Mayo.

23rd June

This was not an eventful day but we did visit a Celtic crystal factory and a local marble cutter in Moycullen. Both were interesting but the ever present gift shops were grossly overpriced. Our party is mainly American and bought all kinds of stuff at prices which they would have freaked out at if home. My only souvenir is my video.
We finished up in Ballina but not before I saw and photographed some folks floating down a river inside large plastic balls. This was in a town called Westport.

We were assured that this is not some ancient Celtic ritual so it is perhaps a rag day prank.

The main streets in all of those small towns are really not too suitable for modern traffic needs and certainly difficult for coaches. Our driver (John Tulley) has been excellent and had to back up many times during the tour. They are very colourful (literally), painted in bright yellows blues, greens, reds etc. They also all seem to be pretty laid back. We have quickly become this too! It is all too easy here.

24th June

This was our second last day and the weather again was foul. It has been poor overall since midway through. We visited an old Georgian Manor House ((Strokestown) and a grim old place it was too. Built in seventeen hundred and frozen to death It had been lived in until 1981 by the last survivor of the Mahon family (Olive). She died in London in 1982. Take a look at her kitchen!

This was overlooked by a balcony. Apparently the mistress never set foot in the kitchen but shouted instruction from that rickety structure to the servants below. All the old pots and pans were there, as was an ancient chain weight driven spit roast which would have taken a pig, a sheep or a quartered cut of beef. The place was a dingy time warp now open to the public as a famine museum. We don’t have much to be proud of there! It was apparently possible for both the family and the servants to move independently with each group never seeing the other. Of course wenches could be summoned by “Bell Pull”. One of old Emily’s forebears used a post horn to announce his return from London or wherever and that horn also cleared the town streets. He did not wish to see or be seen by the “Great Unwashed!” “He was pronounced mad in the end”, we were told.

We checked into our hotel last evening and were taken off for supper to the Abbey Tavern (about 15 minutes away) for an evening of Irish song and dance. That was much better than the food but the restaurant had about 250 people seated in the stage area on long tables.

As I type I am in the Grand Hotel, Dublin at the end of our tour. It is the morning of 25th and I will shortly be thinking of breakfast. The Coombs still sleeps.

Last night, as we arrived he wandered into the bathroom and saw a red pull cord. “What’s this?” he said as he pulled same and paramedics started to batter down the door. Our room was one for aged and infirm people. Perhaps John had forewarned them about the whiskey in the baggage!

Our flight out is at 8.50 PM arriving in Glasgow at 9.45 PM. We should be home by 10.30 PM. It is dull outside so we are in for a long day. They will move us from here by noon and I have no wish to spend hours in an airport!

All in all it has been a very pleasant trip but not really for youngsters. We did have two little girls on board and they were perfectly well behaved but the teens / early twenties went off to plunder and pillage as the opportunity arose. They were all American girls by the way!

I would recommend a break like this for the not so old but not so new either but all must remember not to joke about the Tudors, Cromwell or potatoes! I saw whole books devoted to cooking that one single vegetable! (Every which way but loose!)

Our driver John kept us well entertained throughout with his considerable knowledge of Irish history and his clean but funny jokes. He recited a story about a man who drank and a pig. He was asked to repeat it but didn’t get to it so here it is. If anyone knows the young woman who wanted it then send it on.
A MAN AND A PIG

One evening in October,

When I was far from sober,

And dragging home a load with manly pride,

My feet began to stutter,

So I lay down in the gutter,

And a pig came up and parked right by my side,

Then I warbled: “It’s fair weather

When good fellows get together”,

Till a lady passing by was heard to say:

“You can tell a man who boozes

By the company he chooses!”

Then the pig got up and slowly walked away.

Now here is an Irish joke he didn’t tell. We know them too!

John O’Reilly hoisted his beer and said, “Here’s to spending the rest of me life; between the legs of me wife!”

That won him the top prize at the pub for the best toast of the night.

He went home and told his wife, Mary, “I won the prize for The Best toast of the night”

She said, “Aye, did you now. And what was your toast?”

John said, “Here’s to spending the rest of me life, sitting in church beside me wife.”

“Oh, that is very nice indeed, John!” Mary said.

The next day, Mary ran into one of John’s drinking buddies on the street corner.

The man chuckled leeringly and said, “John won the prize the other night at the pub with a toast about you, Mary.”

She said, “Aye, he told me, and I was a bit surprised you know, he’s only been there twice in the last four years. Once he fell Asleep, and the other time I had to pull him by the ears to get him to come.”

You got to love them! I hope you enjoyed it all as much as I / we did.

Cheers,

Colin.

Two new routes commenced in the past week at Cork Airport.

Aer Arann added a link from France when services began from Cork (ORK) to Brest (BES). Brest becomes Aer Arann’s fifth location in France adding to Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Lorient and Nantes.
Flights between Brest and Cork operate twice-weekly on Wednesday and Saturday.
Ireland becomes the second destination outside of France available to passengers from Brest airport. The UK is already served by Flybe and Ryanair.

Aer Lingus also started a new route to Cork this week. This route form Jersey will be served twice weekly on Tuesday and Saturday.This is a further milestone in the development of Cork Airport as the gateway to the south of Ireland and particularly West Cork and Kerry.

In 2007, a record 3.2 million passengers passed through Cork Airport’s new terminal, an increase of 6% on the previous year. 2.8 million of these passengers travelled on 42 scheduled routes which were operated by 11 different airlines, including two newcomers SkyEurope and Air Southwest.

In a poll of the top ten most romantic nations in the world, it’s doubtful if many would vote for Ireland. Irish men have a reputation for being shy and taciturn except after a few beers and with few exceptions, being more interested in sport than their wives or girlfriends.

Ireland does possess however, some of the most romantic landscapes in the world. From the mountains of Mourne in the north east of the island, to the wildness of Connemara in the west, the stunning valleys of the Wicklow mountains in the east such as Glendalough, the windswept romantic coastline of west Cork and the breathtaking majesty of the Dingle peninsula with its stunning marriage of mountains and sea.

Ireland has also produced more than its share of literary heavyweights and there is something within the soul of the Irish that loves to give expression to our innermost thoughts normally through speech and song. One of our most celebrated poets and Nobel prizewinner for literature in 1923 is William Butler (W.B.) Yeats. So as a gift for you to share on this Valentine’s day and as a reply to those who say the Irish are not romantic I give you a poem from W.B. Yeats from the year 1888:

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Throughout Ireland and in many other countries, the day before Ash Wednesday – Shrove Tuesday – is commonly known as Pancake Day. This day is celebrated before the beginning of Lent, the fasting time up to Easter. We learn from the historians, that on Shrove Tuesday everybody used up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs. These foods were forbidden during austere Lent. To make pancakes was the best way to do so!

How much can you eat? Try on your own, make up for it this year by gorging yourself until you’ve got pancake batter coming out your ears.

Recipe: Pancakes

100g flour
2 Eggs
200ml milk from West Cork pastures, mixed with 75ml sparkling water

1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it
3. Whisk well
4. Slowly add the milk and water, whisking as you go
5. Cook in a pan over a medium heat

Toppings

• Sugar and lemon juice. It is vitally important that the juice be from a plastic lemon. Otherwise it may as well be any other day of the week because it’s just not Pancake Tuesday without plastic lemon.
• Nutella. Nothing else. Okay, maybe ice cream. You’ll be bouncing off the walls for days.
• Bacon and maple syrup. Friend in work gave me a bottle of maple syrup from Canada, since all I seem to be able to find in Dublin is maple-flavored Golden Syrup.
• Blueberries. Awesome when they’re dropped into the batter as it cooks in the pan.