Tom Crean was an amazing man. He travelled and explored the Antarctic a hundred years ago.

The man so impressesed me that I made a video about him!

I’m in the process (and a long process it is too!!) of setting up a tribute site to him here.

I’ve read in a few places that some building sites in Poland are displaying signs that Irish aren’t allowed on site. It brings to mind the ‘no blacks, no Irish, no dogs’ era that I thought was well and truly gone.

The Poles in Ireland are reminiscent of the Irish in England back in the 60′s …. you’d think that two countries following similar paths would support each other more?

Ireland provided much needed employment during the boom years so much so that an enormous amount of money was sent back to Poland by its nationals.

Only last year they sent back almost €1 billion from Ireland to Poland.

I don’t remember seeing any such signs on Irish building sites …. I hope the stories I’ve heard are wrong.

On a visit to Poland Bertie has been advising that they keep a tight reign on their banks because he wished he had done it here. He also mentions that he’s interested in running for the Presidency.

What will his slogan be – A man for the people??

He corrupted and bankrupted the country, he hid in a closet for a television ad and now he was to add insult to injury by running for the Presidency.

God help our reputation if he does run and actually wins.

There’ll be no vote from me Bertie.

How have the markets responded to the Governments announcement of severe cuts/taxes for the next 4 years? – They raised their interest rates. No confidence there either then. Everytime the Government opens its mouth it costs us money.

There’s a debate in the Dáil about the budget/economy at the moment …. at one stage only 3 ministers were in attendance. We are in trouble … they still can’t take it seriously!

Over the last while I’ve come to depair of our fair Isle ever becoming a place when people will actually do their jobs properly and return calls promptly.

Today I was promised a call back from the garage where I bought my latest vehicle …. no return call. For the second time.

The salesman was delighted to see me two weeks ago when I was considering a change but once he had a sale made he didn’t want to know. He referred me to the lady in the service deptartment who quickly lost interest when she discovered that my vehicle would only be in for a free ‘under warranty’ fix.

I’m still trying to sort an appointment …. no hope this week she says … even though I’m off on Thursday and Friday and it would be a nice thing to suit me.

Two weeks ago I chased a guy for three days to get a quote for garden clearance …. he was off to a social event and would ring me on Monday (of last week) …. no phone call …. his tough … I got another person to do the job.

This job was woth a few bob …. you’d think that people would be glad of work in a recession ….. but no ….

God help me to understand the Irish mentality.

It’s a site where I’ll be posting about the ‘positive’ aspects of Ireland. It will help me to develop my interest in Irish history and in writing about the uniqueness of everything Irish.

Call it a chronicle of sorts … an annals of Ireland.

I’ll be developing sites as sub domains of the main site … based on what I blog about.

But I need a tagline before I progress ….

I don’t want to reveal the domain address yet because it’s not ready to be revealed. I have just uploaded a theme and I need to customise it first.

For example the tagline here is to do with being ‘The Voice of the Irish People’.

I need to come up with an appropriate sentence to go with the site.

I’m also setting up categories for the site so suggestions here would be great too e.g. History, Politics, Art, Literature, Music, Education, Myths & Folklore, Gaeilge  and so on …

It won’t be a site for bitching … it will be a site for appreciating!

I’ll do my bitching here!

(But I will link to the appreciating site from here though!)

I’ll also be looking for post suggestions and would even appreciate guest writers/posters to write about something Irish that they appreciate.

Post suggestions, mini appreciation sites, photos, stories etc would be appreciated

The jarveys who don’t use poo poo catching devices on their horse have been banned from Killarney National Park.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service are more than a little annoyed with horse poo poo on the park roadways, ‘cos this causes them to be worried about miniscule things like the environmental, health & safety and aesthetic impact on such poo poo on the area and on the poor visiting tourists.

The jarveys are saying no to poo poo bags …. all of Killarney want to say no no to poo poo so I hope that the issue will be resolved as quickly as possible so that Killarney can be as poo poo free as possible.

Poo out!

He’s giving up ‘The Late Late Show‘ at the end of the season.

And good riddance.

Ryan Tubridy is taking over.

Wonder if Grandad will start calling him ‘The Stick’?

The Irish Blog Awards are on this coming weekend in Cork (de real capital of oirland boye).

Some of my frequent complainers visitors have been shortlisted.

(God help us from enlarged egos but that’s the risk of having the awards.)

I see a vintage member of my harem (Grannymar) has been shortlisted in the Best Personal Blog category.

Steph (another harem member) has been shortlisted in the Best Specialist Blog category

I wonder where they’ll stick their awards?

Grandad is up for the same award in the same category as Grannymar …. (he’s not a member of my harem by the way ~ I couldn’t put up with the beard and the pipe smoke from another member of my harem).

I’ve checked the list more than once and that’s it ….. that’s the amount of callers I have here from the list. Quality above quantity anytime!

Have a good weekend Grannymar, Steph and Grandad. I hope you have a good time and come away from the event happy!

It’s quite revealing. The stark economic reality is very evident there.

None more so than in the section called Money Makeover.

It’s a great place for money advice. Have a look. See what you think.

A few weeks ago my friend and I were driving around Sneem looking at property for sale and we came across a 1970′s style house up for sale near Bunnow Harbour. The house was called Kinlough House.

We decided to take a look around. The first thing that struck me was the fact that it had the 70′s written all over it … timber cladding, a 70′s style conservatory, a garden that oozed years of love and dedication, crazy paving, seating areas and a feature pond.

Looking in the windows it was obvious to see that the place had been cleared out. One particular room had personal possessions piled on a bed awaiting their new home/disposal.

We deduced there and then that the previous owner had probably died and that the executors of his/her will were disposing of the property.

Curiosity got the better of me so I did a little bit of research the first chance I got on Kinlough House.

I made an interesting discovery …. the house had been the summer residence of a Mr. Justice Dermot Kinlen, Inspector of Prisons. He had died on Wednesday the 18th of July 2007 in the very house we had looked at. It appears he had entertained a group of Chinese guests, had retired to his bed and had died in his sleep.

It turns out that Justice Kinlen championed the cause of prisoners while Inspector of Prisons.

His primary residence in Dublin, Wentworth, is still for sale with an asking price of seven million euro.

From the Irish Independent (Saturday 21st of July 2007):

The funeral of the Inspector of Prisons, former High Court judge Dermot Kinlen, is taking place today.

He died suddenly on Wednesday in Kerry at the age of 77.

Mr Justice Kinlen had a distinguished legal career as a barrister and a High Court judge.

As Inspector of Prisons, a post he took up in 2002, he worked tirelessly to highlight the poor conditions faced by prisoners both in Ireland and aboard.

Tributes have been pouring in from political leaders along with those who worked alongside him.

He is survived by his sister Aideen, brother Kevin, sister-in-law Deirdre and nieces and nephews.

His funeral mass will be held at Donnybrook Church at 10am today with burial afterwards in Deans Grange cemetery.

Irish Penal Reform Trust obituary is here.

Chinese Ambassador extended his condolences.

It was nostalgic to walk around the residence of someone who had obviously lavished so much pride on it … his ‘hideaway from Dublin’.

It was a privilege to learn about this man and to honour his achievements on my blog.

I hope the person who purchases your beloved Kinlough will cherish it as much as you did.

It’s up for sale at a pre-recession price of €310k or thereabouts …. too rich for my blood I’m afraid.

Rest In Peace Justice Kinlen.