A history of Ireland, as told through the medium of... rainIt has rained in Ireland every day of 2026 so far. From Samuel Beckett to Flann O’Brien, the country’s literary heritage is awash with the stuffFri Feb 20 2026 - 19:01
From daring raids to a sudden absence, where have all of Dublin’s pesky seagulls gone?‘I have long been slightly paranoid about seagulls and would not be surprised if they’re running night drills for an all-out attack on the civilian population’Fri Feb 20 2026 - 09:32
Books of revelation: Frank McNally on a surprise twist in the Drumcondra book skip sagaIn sharing a photograph of the redbrick terrace, I unearthed a hitherto unknown family connection Fri Feb 13 2026 - 19:00
Rough diamonds: Frank McNally on a geometric oddity unique to Ulster (and Pennsylvania)While most towns have squares, for some reason they’re called diamonds in the North – whatever shape they are Thu Feb 12 2026 - 19:00
Not on your life: Frank McNally on the Northern Ireland football star who said no to This Is Your LifeWhen Tottenham captain Danny Blanchflower was ambushed by Eamonn Andrews and his big red book in 1961, he turned and ranThu Feb 12 2026 - 06:00
Stage IRA Man – Frank McNally on the real and pretend 1916 Rising of actor Arthur ShieldsHe went to the Abbey Theatre to collect a rifle hidden under the stage and join the fightingFri Feb 06 2026 - 19:00
Taxing times: Frank McNally on what links Thomas Kinsella, TK Whitaker and Myles na gCopaleen It all started in December 1965, when Revenue returned a cheque sent by the curmudgeonly Irish Times columnist Thu Feb 05 2026 - 19:00
‘As Irish as the pigs of Drogheda’ – Frank McNally on rise and fall of street singer Mary ConnollyAfter the Easter Rising, her patriotic ballads struck a chord with the publicWed Feb 04 2026 - 19:00
Pucking for peace: Frank McNally joins the Irish Friends of Canada on a trip to watch ice hockey in BelfastThere was no violence at the ice hockey on Sunday, I’m happy to reportTue Feb 03 2026 - 19:00
Born-Again Brigit - Birthday boy Frank McNally on the rebranding of February 1stUnlike St Patrick, there is no historical record of her life, so her identity can be endlessly refreshed or reimaginedFri Jan 30 2026 - 19:00
Poolbeg Lighthouse – Frank McNally on the death of a much-loved Dublin barmanAccording to the pub’s official statement, Noel’s reign behind the counter was 49 yearsThu Jan 29 2026 - 19:00
Abbey Theatre riots: All theatrical hell broke loose at The Plough and the Stars 100 years agoCritic Joseph Holloway witnessed the chaotic scenes, where actors broke character to forcibly remove audience members from the stageWed Jan 28 2026 - 19:00
Turbulent priest: Frank McNally on fascism, real and fictional, in 1930s AmericaBorn in Canada of poor Irish emigrants, Fr Coughlin began broadcasting sermons to counter the anti-Catholicism then rife in the USTue Jan 27 2026 - 19:00
The spat between Elon Musk and Michael O’Leary was more than just a spatDespite being widely considered a bit of a loudmouth in Ireland, the Ryanair boss has been practising self-deprecation for decadesFri Jan 23 2026 - 19:00
Who fears to speak of ’76? Frank McNally on US Independence, the Catalpa rescue, and the Battle of Little BighornBritish army deserter McNally joined the Fenians, which earned him a sentence of penal servitude for life in AustraliaThu Jan 22 2026 - 19:00
The other Lemass shooting: Frank McNally on a dark moment in the life of a future taoiseachHis sister Ciara heard a bang, then saw the child fall, with a fatal wound to the headWed Jan 21 2026 - 19:00
Life Imitating Art: Frank McNally on the Art O’Neill challenge, recreating an actual 1592 jailbreakConfusingly for some of us, the pursuers had set off earlier on Friday night, before the escapeesTue Jan 20 2026 - 16:03
Terminal Condition – the unfortunate origins of Dublin’s Townsend StreetWe are where we are, as the politicians sayFri Jan 16 2026 - 19:00
Did ‘divine intervention’ on Merrion Street lead to a cure for leprosy?As with many great discoveries, there was an element of chance involved for Cork-born scientist Vincent BarryFri Jan 16 2026 - 06:00
Fool’s paradise: Frank McNally on a cliche beloved of obituaristsNot a day passes when a writer does not note that the deceased ‘didn’t suffer fools gladly’Wed Jan 14 2026 - 19:00
A Tale of Two Hospitals – Frank McNally on the architectural dramas of KilmainhamRoyal Hospital there was built as home for old and wounded soldiers at time of relative peaceTue Jan 13 2026 - 19:00
The small patch of Dublin where the Jameses – Joyce and Connolly – passed each other byBoth men had considerably different views on life, but their worlds intersected through writingMon Jan 12 2026 - 19:00
Rewrites and Wrongs: Frank McNally on reinterpreting Thin Lizzy for a new generationI may have been lulled into a false sense of senility by the opening verseThu Jan 08 2026 - 19:00
Sinners’ redemption: Frank McNally on vampires, Irish music and the Ku Klux KlanRyan Coogler’s film Sinners features trad music and vampirism, and has macabre echoes of a real-life event 100 years agoWed Jan 07 2026 - 19:00
Good (and Bad) Vibrations – Frank McNally on Vibe for Philo, immersive James Joyce and 4DX AvatarSome Lizzy veterans must have worried they’d slipped into the next worldTue Jan 06 2026 - 19:00
Hibernian Rhapsody: Frank McNally on the rise of a great football anthem, Sunshine on LeithYou might question the wisdom of the ballad’s central metaphor as a guarantor of success in relationships or footballFri Jan 02 2026 - 19:00
‘Every hip, young thing in south County Dublin seemed to be partying it up at Leopardstown’ Leppers, lepers and the Lep: the racing festival on St Stephen’s DayTue Dec 30 2025 - 19:00
Leopardstown races: Faux fur, fake tan and f-f-f-freezing temperaturesThe going was yielding, the punters soft-to-heavy after Christmas excessFri Dec 26 2025 - 19:09
‘Am I no longer a child? Are so many of the years past? How quickly they have flown!’Shore had good reason to reflect on her mortalityThu Dec 25 2025 - 19:00
Frank McNally on 19th century engineering project that linked Tipperary with ‘civilisation’Fr Edmond Walsh was a late vocation, having previously worked as a carterFri Dec 19 2025 - 19:00
‘So long as these people are here, we’ll never starve’: In the queue for Christmas vouchers at Dublin’s Capuchin Day CentreThe volunteers of Dublin’s Capuchin Day Centre handed out free €50 vouchers for Dunnes Stores to more than 3,000 people Fri Dec 19 2025 - 14:02
A Passage to Innocence – Frank McNally on an anthology of old school routes rememberedRoutes described range geographically from Caherdavin to China Thu Dec 18 2025 - 19:00
Craicing the Case – Frank McNally on the origins of a cultural and linguistic phenomenon I also lamented that the compunction to do things for the craic was not yet recognised as a defence in Irish courtsWed Dec 17 2025 - 19:00
Frank McNally on a grand stretch in the evenings, a new Dublin restaurant and ‘Gloomsday’Strung-out Joyceans will use any excuse for a hitWed Dec 17 2025 - 06:00
The woman who enchanted Proust – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of Gladys MarlboroughGladys, meanwhile, entertained herself and guests with memories of countless former loversFri Dec 12 2025 - 19:00
‘He never said that’: Frank McNally is tired of hearing a phantom WB Yeats quoteIt was a week of oral exams as the art of storytelling excelled at parties and awards ceremoniesThu Dec 11 2025 - 19:00
Fighting Farney – Frank McNally on the battle for his hometown’s ‘western front’Carrickmacross's lopsided pub distribution seems to be indirect effect of a deeper divisionWed Dec 10 2025 - 19:00
Monumental misstep: Frank McNally on the ‘tragedy’ of a great Irish sculptor, John HughesWhat should have been the peak of the sculptor’s career was doomed to coincide with what the Chinese call interesting timesTue Dec 09 2025 - 19:00
Frank McNally: Investigating the mystery of the black stork’s Irish rootsThis beautiful and shy bird is a rare visitor now, but that may not always have been the caseFri Dec 05 2025 - 19:00
Bognor Bodies – Frank McNally on the Irish literary connections of an English seaside townIts English origins stem from a holiday James Joyce and his family spent there in the summer of 1923Thu Dec 04 2025 - 19:00
‘The cadet was now descending rapidly towards Cavan without any training in the use of a parachute’The lesson for the day in question was how to deal with an aircraft when it stalled and went into a spinTue Dec 02 2025 - 19:00
Bitter Harvest – Frank McNally on the darker side of farming in Flanders and the SommeBody parts are still being found, exhumed, and if possible identifiedFri Nov 28 2025 - 19:00
Fields of Gold – Frank McNally on the rise and fall of a colourful Monaghan familyTheirs was an old English surname, derived from proximity to cornfields or work as a harvesterThu Nov 27 2025 - 19:00
A stranger in a pub in Spain hugged me like we were old friends after Parrott’s heroicsIn the ensuing mayhem, a man I’d never met before hugged me like we were old friendsTue Nov 25 2025 - 19:00
Ring of untruth – Frank McNally on how the Irish language gave ‘phoney’ to EnglishA link with telephones was also suspectedFri Nov 14 2025 - 19:00
Rock of Ages – Frank McNally on the shock of punk turning 50Sid Vicious had been included in the Sex Pistols mainly for his comic-scary appearanceThu Nov 13 2025 - 19:00
Adolf Mahr: Frank McNally on the confused reputation of an Austrian Nazi in 1930s IrelandWhen he tried to resume his old job in Dublin after the war, he was no longer welcomeWed Nov 12 2025 - 19:00
Thwarted hotel development keeps doors closed at Dublin pub 121 years after Leopold Bloom ‘pushed in the door of the Burton’, public house doesn’t know where it standsTue Nov 11 2025 - 19:00
Flying columnist – Frank McNally on a lightning visit to LeesideHe studied me a second, as if trying to assess if I was a Dublin jackeen out to make a feck of himFri Nov 07 2025 - 18:59
The Death of Reilly - Frank McNally on the demise of ‘Reilly, Ace of Spies’ 100 years agoRussian-born intelligence agent who called himself Sidney Reilly, and inspired James Bond, made use of several Irish cover identitiesThu Nov 06 2025 - 19:00
