other – RoI

Westlife

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“Another winter day/has come and gone away/In either Paris and [or] Rome/And I wanna go home” – words from the Michael Bublé-penned song ‘Home’ which boy-band Westlife released on its 2007 album, Back Home. For Egan, Feehily, and Filan, home is, or was, Sligo — the three went to Summerhill secondary school and were together in earlier bands; Byrne (and Bryan/Brian McFadden who was a member of the group from 1998 to 2004 but is not included in the mural) is from Dublin (WP).

“With a career spanning twenty years, Westlife are, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. A true pop phenomenon with more number 1 hits than any other act apart from The Beatles and Elvis, Westlife have sold 50 million albums worldwide.”

The mural is behind Gilooly Hall, on Temple Street, Sligo. It was painted in 2015 by Kelan Curran (TAPA).

Previously from Sligo: Maud Gonne.

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Tosaíonn An Domhan Ar Leac An Doraıs

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“Think global, act local – [the world begins on the doorstep]”. This environmental message is by UV Arts (ig) at Buncrana Youth Club, Castle Avenue, Buncrana, Co. Donegal (Inish Live), painted for Children In Crossfire (web | see also Derry Lama, A Wall For All, and Break The Bias).

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Copyright © 2024 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Cuıdıgh Lınn!

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“Help us!” Two Carlos Latuff cartoons are combined in this pro-Palestinian board in Donegal, with Errigal/An Earagaıl providing the backdrop.

On the left, an Israeli soldier with a smoking rifle and swastika armband walks away from a mother holding a bloodied child (Xitter), while on the right, bombs from an Israeli fighter jet (Xitter) rain down on “An Phalaıstín”.

“Díbrıgh ambasadóır Iosrael láıthreach!” [Expel the ambassador of Israel immediately!] The current ambassador is Dana Erlich; a motion to expel Erlich was defeated in the Dáıl in November (Indo).

(As with the recent board in Belfast for the ‘Joe Cahill memorial tournament‘, the pseudo-Gaelic font chosen here (incorrectly) includes both fadas and dotted “i”.)

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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How Many Loved Your Moments Of Glad Grace

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W. B. Yeats’s poem When You Are Old is generally understood to be directed at Maud Gonne, who was born on this day in 1866. Yeats met the actress and activist in 1899, fell in love with her, and proposed marriage four times in the years to follow, each time being rejected. It is as Yeats’s muse — and not for her mysticism or anti-Semitism or Irish nationalism — that she is the subject of this mural in Union Street, Sligo, painted by artist Nick Purdy of Blowdesigns (Fb) in 2018.

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Kindred Minds

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At the beginning of Joyce’s A Little Cloud (from Dubliners), Little Chandler is sitting at his desk in the King’s Inns (law school) rather than, as written here “the King’s Inn”, which is the nearby pub outside of which this painted electrical box can be found.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Killarney’s World War II Hero

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Hugh O’Flaherty – the Scarlet Pimpernel Of The Vatican – is thought to have helped save 6,425 soldiers and Jews who were at large after the fall of Mussolini but prior to the German occupation of Italy and who made it to Rome to see O’Flaherty or the still-functioning Irish embassy at the Holy See. O”Flaherty was raised in Killarney and died in Cahersiveen; he is remembered in Killarney by this mural – painted by Ursula Meehan (ig) in High Street with support from Killarney Art Gallery (web) – and a statue by Alan Ryan Hall (killarney.ie) in Mission Road.

(HughOFlaherty.com | WP | Irish Central)

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Be Not Afraid

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“Greater justice was her ideal and it was her ultimate achievement. Her courage and sacrifice saved many from the scourge of drugs and other crime. Her death has not been in vain.” Veronica Guerin was a Sunday Independent journalist who investigated drug trafficking in Ireland. She was shot and killed in 1996 while sitting at a traffic light on the Naas dual carriage-way by members of John Gilligan’s gang riding a motorcycle (WP).

The bronze bust, by sculptor John Coll, is in the grounds of Dublin Castle (Statues). “Unveiled by the Taoiseach, Mr Bernie Ahern, TD, 22nd June, 2001.”

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Lifford Remembers The Hunger Strikers

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“Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann” [they died for Ireland’s freedom] Although it’s the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, this Lifford (Co. Donegal) board includes Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who died in English prisons in the 1970s.

If you can explain the flag in the centre, please get in touch. The wide shot, below, includes a call to rally for 100% Redress, No Less.

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Think Outdoor This Summer

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Protesters from Donegal were (again) in Dublin on Friday (Journal.ie), pressing their claims for “100% redress – no less” for the cost of repairing houses that were built from faulty concrete blocks that are now cracked and crumbling because of an excessive amount of mica (17% as opposed to the prescribed limit of 1%). Leinster home-owners experiencing similar problems with pyrite were awarded 100% redress but the current scheme for the 5,000+ mica-affected homes in Donegal and Mayo offers only 90% of the cost of repairs (Irish Times) – hence the slogan “parity with pyrite”. Some homes, in Mayo, are currently affected by pyrite (Irish Times).

The stickers shown here are asking for support from Dublin residents. (Previously: support on Free Derry Corner.) They were presumably mounted by Paddy Diver, who is driving traffic to the Mica Action Group.

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Brendan Francis Behan

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“Brendan Francis Behan (1923-1964) was an Irish poet, story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. He was also an Irish Republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army. His works include The Borstal Boy, The Quare Fellow and The Hostage. He would regularly meet with friends in the Harbour Lights Bar, now known as Harkins, The Harbour Bar. It was there he had his last drink in March 1964 before suffering a heart attack. An IRA guard of honour escorted his coffin during a funeral that one newspaper described as “The biggest funeral since those of Michael Collins and Charles Stewart Parnell.”

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