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		IN THIS ISSUE
~~~ Foreword
~~~ Keep us Free!
~~~ News Snaps from Ireland 
~~~ New free resources at the site
~~~ Cara Irish Penpals news
~~~ Ireland - a poem		by Liz Macomber
~~~ Maud Gonne - The Irish 'Joan of Arc'
~~~ Gaelic phrases of the month
~~~ Shamrock site of the month
~~~ Monthly free competition result

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FOREWORD
~~~~~~~~

I hope this month's edition of our newsletter 
finds you well. In Ireland at the moment the focus 
is very much on drink. It is surprising that in 
the last 10 years alcohol consumption has increased 
by 50%. See the news-snaps below.

Many thanks to thewildgeese.com for this month's 
feature article about Maud Gonne, one of the most 
influential women in Irish history.

Until the next time,

Michael


WE NEED YOUR HELP!

PLEASE - send this newsletter on to your friends 
or relatives who you think are interested in 
Ireland. By doing this you are helping to keep 
us 'free'.

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Why don't you submit an article for inclusion
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If you wish to unsubscribe then go here:
 
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NEWS SNAPS FROM IRELAND
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN COMPOUNDED BY SURGING EURO

The Euro, the currency used by Ireland, has 
reached an all-time high against the US Dollar, 
reaching 1.19 at on stage of trading. The 
dollar has fallen by over 17% since the start 
of January. While this is very good news for 
Irish tourists who intend to visit the United 
States, it is very bad news for visitors from 
America who want to visit Ireland, and is also 
a big problem for exporters of Irish goods. 
Sterling has declined by 10% since the start 
of the year.

Recent job losses have been increasing with 
the world-famous Galway 'Royal Tara' china 
factory set to be closed by year's end.

Unemployment has also increased by 1500 people 
in the first quarter of the year. The current 
unemployed total is nearly 85,000.

GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON DRINKING CULTURE

The Irish Government has begun its crackdown on 
the ever expanding 'drinks culture' in Ireland. 
Over the last 10 years consumption of alcohol 
has increased by over 50% in Ireland, fuelled by 
the economic expansion and a teenage class who 
have never before had so much disposable income.

Abuse of alcohol causes a myriad of problems, 
especially for the police force, the Garda 
Siochana, and especially for the already 
overworked health system. As many as 50% of 
admissions to Accident and Emergency Hospitals 
on weekend nights are drink related. The overall 
cost to the taxpayer is estimated at over 
2.4 Billion Euro annually.

The new measures include:

* Police to be allowed to use video equipment to 
  record individuals who are served alcohol by 
  pubs, and while already drunk.

* Alcohol promotions, 'happy hours' and 
  advertising to be curbed.

* Pubs serving underage people or people who are
  already intoxicated may be closed for 1 week 
  on conviction of the first offence.

* Thursday night closing time to be reduced from 
  12.30 am to 11.30 pm, to reduce work and school 
  absenteeism.

* All children to be banned from pubs after 
  8.00 pm in the evening.

* All customers under the age of 21 must carry a 
  proof of age identification in a pub.
 
MARRIAGE LAWS TO BE CHANGED

The rule in Ireland which confines marriages to 
either a church or registry office are to be 
changed in new legislation to be introduced by 
the Government.

Representatives of all religious faiths, and 
even some faiths that are not religious, will 
in future be able to appoint a 'solemniser' 
who will administer vows of a marriage and 
send appropriate documentation to the State 
for recognition.

Marriages in gardens, on clifftops, on beaches 
or at any of the numerous tourist venues around 
the country will be possible.

IRISH WRITER JAMES PLUNKETT DIES
    
Aged 83, the Irish novelist James Plunkett Kelly 
has died in a nursing home in Dublin.

Plunkett was most famous for his 1969 novel 
'Strumpet City', which was set against the 
backdrop of the 1913 'Dublin Lockouts' when 
employers and workers  faced off against each 
other. The novel depicted the extreme poverty 
of the time and provided Irish literature 
with one of its most enduring characters: 
'Rashers Tierney'.

He was born in 1920 and, after a brief stint as a 
clerk, he became a trade union activist working 
alongside Jim Larkin. He later joined RTE as a 
drama assistant but continued to write. His most 
famous work was serialised on television by RTE 
and remains one of that Television station's most 
memorable achievements.

Voice your opinion on these news issues here:

 https://www.ireland-information.com/cgi-bin/newsletterboardindex.cgi

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NEW FREE RESOURCES AT THE SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW COATS OF ARMS ADDED TO THE GALLERY:

The following 8 coats of arms images and family
history details have been added to the Gallery:

A: Anglin
B: Blake
C: Crosby
F: Frost
H: Hadden, Hedden
K: Kelley
N: Norris

View the Gallery here:

 http://www.irishsurnames.com/coatsofarms/gm.htm

We now have over 100,000 worldwide names available.
Get the Coat of Arms Print, Claddagh Ring,
Screensaver, Watch, T-Shirt Transfer or Clock for
your name at:

 https://www.irishnation.com/familycrestgifts.htm

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CARA IRISH PENPALS NEWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The listings of members are being purged at 
the moment! All members must log-in at least once 
this month or else their membership will be 
deleted (this does not apply to upgraded members). 

Don't worry! If your membership lapses you can 
always rejoin - it's free!

You can join Cara Irish Penpals for free here:
http://www.irishpenpals.com

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IRELAND 			by Liz Macomber
~~~~~~~ 

Such a sacred place to visit 
 where our ancestors were born.
A place of beautiful greenery, 
 where our roots were torn.
No matter when we go and visit 
 our homeland of our roots.
It is a place where we can feel 
 a pull from our very boots.
 
It reminds me of the day I visited 
 the Hill of Tara so well.
Climbing the beautiful hill and 
 feeling the tears as they swell.
I felt it there so strongly, 
 the ancestoral sense of things.
A feeling of greatness that 
 ancestoral places bring.
 
Being Irish proud that is what I am today.
Even though living in the U.S. is far away.
One day I would love to live by Dingle Bay.
Speak the Irish and have tea with friends each day.
 
Liz Macomber 
Sedona, Arizona

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Keep this newsletter alive!

Visit https://www.irishnation.com

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MAUD GONNE - IRELAND'S JOAN OF ARC

 How many loved your moments of glad grace,
 And loved your beauty with love false or true,
 But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
 And loved the sorrows of your changing face. 

- From 'When You Are Old' by William Butler Yeats 

Born during an age when women were expected to be 
nothing more than handsome window-dressing for 
their husbands, when women were expected to leave 
the rough and tumble world of politics to men, 
Maud Gonne rose above that prejudice to leave her 
mark on Ireland's history. Gonne refused to accept 
the assignment that society ascribed to women 
- she wanted to be more than a helpless cork 
bobbing on the stream of history. Gonne was 
determined to be one of those people who helped 
to direct that current, and she succeeded. 

Gonne was born on December 20th, 1865, in 
Aldershot, England. Her father was a wealthy 
British army colonel of Irish descent and her 
mother was English. Her mother died in 1871 and 
Maud was educated in France by a governess 
before moving to Dublin in 1882, when her 
father was posted there. Maud's father died in 
1886 leaving her financially independent. Moving 
back to France for health reasons after a 
tubercular hemorrhage, Gonne met and fell in 
love with French journalist Lucien Millevoye, 
editor of 'La Patrie'. The pair agreed to work 
for both Irish and French nationalist causes.

Maud had been introduced to Fenianism by 
John O'Leary, a Fenian and veteran of the 1848 
Young Irelander uprising. Irish politician Tim 
Harrington of the National League recognized that 
this beautiful, intelligent young woman could be 
an asset to the nationalist movement. He sent her 
to Donegal, where mass evictions were taking 
place. Gonne was successful in organizing the 
locals in protest against these actions. The fact 
that she soon had to leave for France to avoid 
arrest is probably a good measure her success 
there.

In 1889, John O'Leary would introduce Maud to a 
man whose infatuation with her would last most of 
his life: poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats would 
propose to Gonne in 1891, and be refused. Largely 
through Maud's influence, Yeats would become 
involved with Irish nationalism, later joining the 
Irish Republican Brotherhood. In a quotation to 
which many a man through history might nod in 
agreement, Yeats would later refer to his meeting 
with Gonne, saying:

 'all the trouble of my life began'.

Wrote Yeats, in his poem, 'When You Are Old': 

 How many loved your movements of glad grace,
 And loved your beauty with love false or true,
 But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
 And loved the sorrows of your changing face. 

 And bending down beside the glowing bars
 Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled.
 And paced upon the mountains overhead
 And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Gonne helped Yeats found the National Literary 
Society of London in 1891, the same year she 
refused his first marriage proposal. Undaunted, 
Yeats would propose again in the future and even 
proposed to Maud's daughter by Millevoye, Iseult, 
also unsuccessfully. Returning to Paris, and to 
Millevoye, Maud published a nationalist newsletter 
called 'L'Irelande Libre'. She worked tirelessly 
raising funds for the movement, traveling to the 
US, Scotland, and England. Gonne would end her 
relationship with Millevoye in the late 1890s, but 
not before she had two children by him, Iseult and 
another that died in infancy. 

By now the name of Maud Gonne was well known among 
Irish nationalists. Returning to Ireland, Gonne 
co-founded the Transvaal Committee, which 
supported the Afrikaners in the Boer War, and on 
Easter Sunday 1900 she co-founded Inghinidhe na 
hEireann (Daughters of Erin), a revolutionary 
women's society. Later she would write many 
political and feminist articles for the monthly 
journal of the Inghinidhe, Bean na hEireann (Women 
of Erin). Somehow, while doing all this, she found 
time to star on stage in Yeats play, 'Cathleen ni 
Houlihan', which Yeats had written for her.

In 1900, in Paris, Irish politician Arthur Griffith 
introduced Maud to Major John MacBride, who had 
been second in command of the Irish Brigade that 
fought for the Afrikaner side in the Boer War. In 
1903 Maud married MacBride. This marriage would 
produce a son, Sean, but it would be short-lived. 
The couple separated, with MacBride moving to 
Dublin while Maud, afraid she might lose custody 
of her son if she returned to Ireland, remained 
in Paris. Gonne would continue to write political 
articles for Bean na hEireann, and in 1910 she 
helped the Inghinidhe organize a scheme for 
feeding the poor children of Dublin. She also 
worked with the Red Cross in France during WWI. 
She would not return to Ireland until 1917. The 
Ireland she found on her return was in turmoil 
after the Easter Rising of 1916 and the execution 
of the leaders of that rising, including her 
estranged husband, John MacBride.
 
Within a year she was jailed by the British for 
her part in the anti-conscription movement. This 
was part of the trumped up 'German Plot' that the 
British used to discredit the Irish 
anti-conscription movement. Gonne was interned at 
Holloway Jail for six months along with Hanna 
Sheehy Skeffington, Kathleen Clarke, Countess 
Markievicz and others. After she was released, 
she worked for the White Cross for relief of 
Irish victims during the War of Independence.

When Ireland's Civil War came, Maud supported the 
anti-treaty side. She and Charlotte Depard founded 
the Women's Prisoners Defense League to help 
Republican prisoners and their families. In 1923, 
she once again found herself imprisoned, this time 
by the Irish Free State government, without 
charge. Along with 91 other women, Gonne 
immediately went on hunger strike. The Free State 
government had obviously learned a lesson from the 
actions of the British in similar situations - she 
was released after 20 days. For the rest of her 
life Gonne would continue to support the 
Republican cause and work for the Women's 
Prisoners Defense League, which mobilized again 
in defense of Republican prisoners in 1935.

In 1938, she published 'A Servant of the Queen', 
a biography of her life up to 1903. Gonne died on 
April 27, 1953, but her influence on Ireland and 
the world continued after her death through her 
son, Sean MacBride. Maud's union with Maj. John 
MacBride was a short, unhappy one, but the son it 
produced may have soothed any regrets Gonne had 
about it. As a young man, Sean fought on the 
Republican side in the Civil War and later 
carried on his mother's crusade for the fair 
treatment of political prisoners, not just in 
Ireland, but all over the world. Sean was one of 
the founders of Amnesty International. In 1974, 
her son was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Maud 
Gonne MacBride is buried in the Republican plot 
in Dublin's famous Glasnevin Cemetery, a fitting 
final tribute to the woman some called Ireland's 
'Joan of Arc'. 

This article has been adapted from an 
article at the 'Wild Geese Today' Webzine,
a leading Irish history and heritage Internet 
site, established in 1997 with the purpose of
sharing 'The Epic History and Heritage of the 
Irish' with the immense number of individuals 
of Irish ancestry found worldwide.

http://www.thewildgeese.com

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GAELIC PHRASES OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PHRASE:		Ta gaoth ann
PRONOUNCED:	taw gay oww/inn
MEANING:		It is windy

PHRASE:	 	Ta an t-usice ann 
PRONOUNCED:	taw on tish/keh ann
MEANING:		It is raining

PHRASE:		Ta an t-adhar gorm
PRONOUNCED:	taw an tat/hir gur/imm
MEANING:		The sky is blue

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SHAMROCK SITE OF THE MONTH: abitoblarney.com

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MAY COMPETITION RESULT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The winner was: jtierney@ozemail.com.au
who will receive the following: 

A Single Family Crest Print (decorative) 
(US$19.99 value)

Send us an email to claim your prize, and well 
done! Remember that all subscribers to this 
newsletter are automatically entered into the 
competition every time. 

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Keep us alive! - visit https://www.irishnation.com

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I hope that you have enjoyed this issue.

Until next time,

Enjoy the Summer!


Michael Green,
Editor,
The Information about Ireland Site.

https://www.ireland-information.com
Click here to contact us