I took this image of Tara cross on the evening of May 26th, 2012, almost 214 years to the day that the Battle of Tara took place. On that occasion the fields of Tara ran red with the blood of Irish rebels who had gathered on the hill to engage the occupying forces of the British empire. Thankfully, on the occasion when I took this image the only thing red was the magnificent … [Read more...] about Your Travel Story: Tara Cross
Archives for July 2012
The Year of Michael – An Interview With Michael Fassbender
An interview with Michael Fassbender. Michael Fassbender looks tanned and relaxed as he strolls into the bar at Claridge’s Hotel in London to join me for a drink. Sporting a bushy red beard, he is thin and slight in appearance, and like the chameleon he is on screen, he glides through the hotel undisturbed by importunate fans. For someone who became so famous as an actor in … [Read more...] about The Year of Michael – An Interview With Michael Fassbender
The First Word: Hunger and Silence
“People think [the Irish] are such great talkers, but there is so much silence in Ireland about certain issues.” – Fionnula Flanagan The image of Michael Fassbender on our cover is very different to how he was seen in Hunger, the 2008 movie in which he played Bobby Sands, leader of the 1981 hunger strike in Northern Ireland. Fassbender, a Kerry native whose mother is from … [Read more...] about The First Word: Hunger and Silence
Martin McGuinness Meets the British Queen
In a seemingly simple gesture that would have been unthinkable not too long ago, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth II shook hands for the first time, on June 27 in Belfast. During the Queen’s two-day visit to Northern Ireland (part of her Diamond Jubilee celebration), in a private room at the Lyric Theatre, they shook hands as … [Read more...] about Martin McGuinness Meets the British Queen
Bloody Sunday Investigation Launched
Police in Northern Ireland are launching a murder investigation into the infamous Bloody Sunday shootings, which occurred on January 30, 1972, in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, and left 14 unarmed Catholic-civil-rights protesters dead at the hands of British soldiers. PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott told the Irish Times, “It’s a lengthy investigation. This has … [Read more...] about Bloody Sunday Investigation Launched