The Information about Ireland Site Newsletter
January 1999
The Newsletter for people interested in Ireland
HOME - Click Here for free information from Ireland
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Copyright (C) 1999
Well, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. It is hard to believe that January is over already and the great countdown to the year 2000 has begun. Forget about the fact that it is not really the start of the new millennium - when people want to party they are going to party!
Your favourite Irish site has undergone some great changes recently, including the addition to the staff of Shamrock, our very own Search Engine, which I believe is unique in that it allows webmasters to submit an image or graphic to be shown when their site is selected by a searcher. This is a resource of Irish and Irish related sites only so if it is Ireland Information you are looking for then you are in the right place.
The medium term plan is to prepare some resources for Saint Patricks Day - more details in next months newsletter.
The talk in Ireland at the moment is about the Tribunal of Inquiry into the alleged bribery of former Government Ministers in return for building and planning application favours. Bertie Ahearn and his government are being drawn into this matter with their PD coalition partners looking increasingly edgy. Surely nobody wants a general election at this time of the year?
Once again I have received a number of emails expressing appreciation for the resources at the site and I want to thank everyone sincerely for these - it is a great encouragement to continue the development of the site. It is the express purpose of the site to provide as many totally free resources as possible and you can help! We have acquired sponsorship and are asking our visitors to simply click on the banner links that appear on the site. Thats it! Just have a look at our sponsors site and you are helping to keep us free.
As always, if I can be of any assistance to you please send me an email and I will do my best to help.
All the very best,
Michael Green.
This newsletter is available on-line at: https://www.ireland-information.com/jan99.htm
Feel free to forward this newsletter in its entirety to anyone you think might be interested. Drop me a line if you have any queries - I love getting feedback.
If you must unsubscribe then go here ......but you'll be missing out!
In this issue:-
~~~~~ New free resources at the site
~~~~~ News Snaps from Ireland
~~~~~ Irish girl set to spurn million dollar deal
~~~~~ Shamrock: The Ireland Search Engine
~~~~~ Monthly free competition result
~~~~~ Recommended
New Screensavers
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Our Screensaver resource has received a face-lift and new Screensavers have been added. I particularly recommend the Images of Ireland Screensaver - this is NOT the same Screensaver that has been on offer for the past number of months but is a newly created offering that you can get for free.
We have also created a new Saint Patricks Day Screensaver that features images of the Saint as well as a history of his life.
Our Irish Family Names Screensavers are now available with both our Irish Coats of Arms and our Oscar Wilde Screensavers FREE, and all for the great low price of US$8, which is used to keep the running costs of the site to a minimum (click here to order). So far the most popular names delivered have been CASEY and BOLAND which is surprising when you consider that these names are well down the list of the 100 most commonly found Irish surnames - (the complete listing can be found at: https://www.ireland-information.com/heraldichall/irishsurnames.htm
Keep an eye out for our novelty Screensavers next month.
Over 100 New Coats of Arms Images have been added to the Heraldic Hall
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Yes, we have been at it again! Over 100 more names of Irish origin for you to copy, use on your website, or give to your friends. If you would like to request a particular name to be added then go to the Heraldic Hall and use the request form.
A McAuley
B Beirne, Blake, Boylan, Boyle, Brahney Butler
C Cassidy Casey Cavanagh Clancy Cleary Coghlan Colgan Connolly Conroy Cook Crowley Culhane Cullen Cullinan Curtin Cusack McCann McCartan O'Callaghan
D Dalton Daly Davoren Dempsey Dillon Donnelly Doran Duggan Duignan Dunleavy McDonagh O'Dea O'Donovan O'Dowd O'Driscoll
F Fallon Fitzgibbon Fitzpatrick Flynn O'Flaherty
G Gallivan Geoghegan Gorman Geraghty Gormley Gough McGillycuddy McGuinness McGovern O'Gara O'Grady
H Hanratty Hart Heffernan Hegarty Hennessy Henry Heyne Hogan Horan Higgins Houlihan Hurley Hyland O'Hagan O'Halloran O'Hara O'Hea
J Jordan
K Keating Keogh Kinsella Kirwan McKenna
L Lally Lysaght
M Madden O'Malley O'Meara McMahon McMorrow Meehan Molloy Moore
N Neilan Nolan Nugent
P Plunkett
Q Quigley Quinlan McQuillan
R Rafferty Redmond Reynolds Roche
S Scanlan Shanahan Shanley Sheehan Shields
T Thompson Tobin Tully
W Wall Wolfe
Images for all of these names can be viewed and copied for free in the Heraldic Hall at:
https://www.ireland-information.com/heraldichall/gm.htm
New Short Story for your reading pleasure
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'Janey Mary' is the simple and yet amazingly effective story from James Plunkett. It was this author who wrote the famous Strumpet City, a story about Irish poverty at the turn of the century. That book was later made into a major RTE television series.
'Janey Mary' is one of the short stories that is on the national education curriculum for secondary schools and I can still remember reading it for the first time and the impact it had. The little girl from the impoverished background is forced to go out begging. She has to queue up for alms with adults twice her size. The writing is so effective and full of compassion that you can actually feel the physical pain she has to endure at the end.
A marvelously simple tale. Read it online at: https://www.ireland-information.com/janeymary.htm
New Ireland Search Engine
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Shamrock is the name of our exclusive search engine that I believe is unique in that it offers visitors a chance to see a photo or graphic image relating to sites returned from a search.
If you are looking for a site of Irish interest then visit the search engine at:
https://www.ireland-information.com/engine/
All sites that are added are immediately added to the index and can be found from the search engine although they will not be placed into their category until they have been individually reviewed.
Give it a try. Its Free!
Flood Tribunal continues: The investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in Irish politics continued in Dublin Castle in January and is unlikely to have a speedy outcome. Former Minister Ray Burke was forced to resign last year as it was alleged that he accepted fifty thousand pounds to secure planning permission for a building firm. The whistle was blown by James Gogarty, an elderly employee of the building firm who claims he was present at the cash handover. His main gripe is that the building firm did not give him an adequate pension.
Tallaght Hospital Row: Further to the row over Tallaght Hospital funding the CEO resigned this month, putting further pressure on Minister Brian Cowan to provide extra funding for the heavily in debt hospital.
House Prices rise by as much as 44% in some sectors during 1998: In another incredible year for property prices in Ireland, the demand once again far outstripped the supply. Despite the Government introducing tax measures to try to force investors out of the residential property market it seems that the measures have only worsened the availability of property for renting purposes. Growth of the at least 10% is expected again this year although only 10% growth was expected in 1998.
New National Soccer Stadium for Dublin City: The Football Association of Ireland have finally announced plans to have the long awaited soccer stadium built by 2002. The stadium is to have a removable roof so that it can be used for a variety of other functions besides soccer and will be located near the City-West development on the outskirts of the city, near Clondalkin.
Race to find replacement for TV personality Gay Byrne hots up: Speculation is mounting regarding possible replacments for the host of The Late Late Show (long since acknowledged as the longest running talk-show in international television history). Pat Kenny is widely tipped for the post although there are a number of outsiders including Gerry Ryan, the current Miss Ireland and Dustin, the talking Turkey puppet from Dublin. Dustin is the only one of the possibles who has received votes in a general election (he received over 200 votes in the last Dublin North constituency election despite not even being registered as a candidate). What exactly this says about the state of Irish politics and Irish television I will leave to the reader to decide.
In a turn of events that will either horrify or delight you depending on your perspective, a 16 year old Cork schoolgirl named Susan Flannery is set to ignore the wooings of multinationals and local concerns alike by allowing her ground breaking invention to be published to the public domain. It's good to share your ideas with the science world. By patenting it I'd be hindering that process she is quoted as saying.
Susan was the winner of the 'Young Scientist of the Year' Award, which is a competition run annually for schools and which has this year hit the international headlines. Her invention is a mathematical encryption formula based on a 2*2 matrix system and is up to 30 times faster than the current standard, RSA, which was invented by two MIT students in 1977. She has named the algorithm Cayley-Purser after the 19th century mathematician (Cayley) and the cryptographer (Purser). Her invention will, in theory, allow for a new form of computer security for the transmission of email and electronic data that is faster and at least as secure as the existing RSA standard.
The mathematical whizkid demonstrated the process to an amazed board of judges at the competition and has since been innundated by offers from Computer firms worldwide who want to license her invention. It is even thought that Microsoft might have tried an approach, if only to prevent some other Company from getting one up on them (that dosen't sound like the sort of thing Bill Gates would do, does it?).
On an RTE television interview only days after winning the competition the girls mother explained that they were receiving in excess of 70 telephone enquiries per day about Sarah's invention. RTE filmed the family in their home - I have hardly had a chance to peel the potatoes because the phone keeps ringing commented the mother.
Despite the best attempts of the forces of big business, Sarah is determined that her invention be public property and intends publishing it on the internet at the earliest possibility.
In true Irish fashion however, there is every chance that the Young Scientist Competition may be boycotted next year. This is because the current sponsors, ESAT Telecom, are refusing to recognise a particular staff union, and the ASTI Teachers Union are recommending to their members that they do not get involved in the competition as a gesture of support to their comrades in arms.
This would be a shame indeed as the innovation of the young minds in Ireland is to be marvelled at. A previous winning entry in this competition studied Holy Water (and the effect of the transfer of e-coli and other infectious agents in the water through the constant dipping of hands into the water font).
As for Sarah, she has won £1000 and entry into the European overal young scientist competition. It remains to be seen if her invention does indeed become public property.
HELP US TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FREE RESOURCES BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THESE SPECIAL OFFERS
* Why not send someone a super Irish family name Screensaver: Kelly, Murphy, Sullivan.... over 750 names now available - Click here.
* Irish History Prints with genuine Irish postage stamps, from US$10
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To avail of these special offers simply visit the secure Order Form by clicking here.
The winner was: ESQuigley@aol.com
who will receive the following:
An Irish family name Screensaver of the winners choice Click here for more information
AND
Our excellent Report: How to start the search for your Irish roots
Well Done! Remember that all subscribers to this newsletter are automatically entered into the competition every time. Keep an eye out for some special prizes in the next few months!
I hope that you have enjoyed this issue.
Please keep the feedback coming!
Until the next time,
Stay Safe.
Michael Green,
Editor,
The Information about Ireland Site.
https://www.ireland-information.com
mailto:michael@ireland-information.com