STRANGE, how the mood-state of a nation can be affected so dramatically by sport. Ireland’s spirited defeat in rugby union by the New Zealand All Blacks in Dublin inspired an afterglow which warmed hearts (if not frozen fingers and feet) across the 32 counties. Free article

BÍONN an rialtas ag maíomh i gcónaí go bhfuil siad taobh thiar den straitéis fiche bliain don Ghaeilge, ach ag an am céanna tá siad ag gearradh siar ar gach aon chaiteachas atá riachtanach don straitéis. Free article

BY the end of 1973, the armed conflict in the Six Counties had been going on for four years. British military repression in nationalist areas was intense and hundreds of Irish political prisoners were interned in Long Kesh and other prisons and hundreds more were held as convicted prisoners in the North, the 26 Counties and England. Premium service article

SO MUCH of John Maclean’s story will resonate with Irish republicans – the trumped-up, politically-motivated charges; the speech from the dock that indicts the powerful; the hunger strike in prison and a grassroots campaign for his release. Free article

DEASÚN BREATNACH was an extraordinary man. His wife Luci (Lucila Hellman de Menchaca) was equally special and together they had six talented and gifted children: Diarmuid, Osgur, Caoilte, Oisín, Cormac and Lucilita. Free article