Brian O'Doherty's Blog  

The following is a slightly expanded version of a letter I sent to the Editor of the Irish Independent today: 17 December 2020 Re: Taoiseach’s remarks about the Bank Bailout The Taoiseach could be more correct than many think in saying, or letting it slip (?), that  the State did not bail out the banks. […]

    I shook hands with Robert F, Kennedy 50 years ago today, June 4, 1968, on Market St., San Francisco, where he was canvassing for the Presidency. He was murdered the following day, June 5, in the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, almost directly opposite our (CTT-Irish Export Board) office. The shock, the horror, the […]

Last night, in his sleep, in his small palace in Rome, 400 years ago, one of the greatest figures in Irish history passed away, Hugh O’Neill. . With him in his final moments may have been his teenage son, John, whom he had nominated to succeed him as Earl of Tyrone and as The O’Neil. […]

Follow @ODohertyBrian We Irish have many 400th anniversaries, but few that can celebrate a happy event, given the state of our nation back in 1613. Leading Gaelic nobles had been exiled, their lands, especially in Ulster, planted with foreigners, their people destitute, dispersed to the forests and hills of Donegal, or emigrants, camped beside the […]

The Irish government proposes that the Senate should be abolished, our second chamber, our Upper House. So, before doing so, and in the context of options to “reform” it, why not consider turning it, gradually and carefully, into a National Representative Forum where the views of the Irish Nation on matters which pertain to the […]

I’m not an historian, but I’ve read a few books and I’m very impressed by the achievements of Irish emigrants down the centuries and their descendents in the Irish diaspora and I’d like to bring you a few facts about that now and again in this column. The diaspora has achieved great things- and please […]

The rather poor road between the border at Aughnacloy and the city of Derry is to be upgraded into a dual carriageway, substantially at the expense of taxpayers in the Republic. My proposal is that this roadway should be named after Ireland’s greatest unsung hero Owen Roe O’Neill, (c. 1585 – 1649). (I’m sure John […]