Portal:Ireland

The Music of Ireland has shown an immense inflation of popularity with many attempting to return to their roots. Ireland is internationally known for its folk music, which has remained a vibrant tradition throughout the 1st century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music imported from Britain and the United States, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects. Read more...

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright.

Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he authored more than 60 plays including Pygmalion. Nearly all of his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy to make their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege and found them all defective. He was most angered by the exploitation of the working class, and most of his writings censure that abuse. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal political rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthful lifestyles.

Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner. Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling.

He is the only person to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). These were for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion, respectively. Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright because he had no desire for public honors, but accepted it at his wife's behest: she considered it a tribute to Ireland. He rejected the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of Swedish books to English. Read more...

Waterford (Irish: Port Láirge [pˠɔɾˠt̪ˠ ˈl̪ˠaːɾʲ(ə)ɟə]) is a city in County Waterford in the south-east of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford Harbour. It is the oldest and the fifth most populous city in the Republic of Ireland. It is the ninth most populous settlement on the island of Ireland. According to the 2022 census, 60,079 people live in the city, with a wider metropolitan population of 82,963.

Historically the site of a Viking settlement, Waterford's medieval defensive walls and fortifications include the 13th or 14th century Reginald's Tower. The medieval city was attacked several times, and earned the motto Urbs Intacta Manet ('The Untaken City'), after repelling one such 15th century siege. Waterford is known for its former glassmaking industry, including at the Waterford Crystal factory, with decorative glass being manufactured in the city from 1783 until early 2009 when the factory closed following the receivership of Waterford Wedgwood plc. The Waterford Crystal visitor centre was opened, in the city's Viking Quarter, in 2010 and resumed production under new ownership. As of the 21st century, Waterford is the county town of County Waterford and the local government authority is Waterford City and County Council. (Full article...)

• ...that Limerick city was besieged three times in the 17th century?
• ...Irish Times journalist Arthur Quinlan has interviewed every US president since Harry Truman?
• ...that gas bubbles travel downwards in a pint glass of Guinness ale?
• ...The Wanderings of Oisin, published in 1889, was Yeats' first publication outside of magazines, immediately winning his reputation as a significant poet?
• ...that Irish songwriter Christy Moore wrote a comic song about the building of the Knock Airport, which transports hundreds of pilgrims to and from the Roman Catholic shrine at Knock, declaring, "I've never seen a miracle like the airport up in Knock"?
• ...that, unlike oft-violent hurling, its female variant, camogie, forbids any unnecessary physical contact?