Double trouble: Frank McNally on the dramatic effect of saying the same thing twiceAn ordinary person might ask you to ‘cease’ doing something. A lawyer will require you to ‘cease and desist’, and then you’re in troubleThu Mar 12 2026 - 06:00
Frank McNally on a posthumous anthology from a ‘reluctant businessman’ and literary wit Intrepid investigation reveals Frank O’Dowd and I did indeed cross pathsTue Mar 10 2026 - 19:00
The long and melodious trail from a sweet English barmaid to a former Irish finance ministerThe long and colourful path from a sweet English barmaid to a former Irish finance ministerFri Mar 06 2026 - 19:00
Frank McNally on the lasting legacy of George Boole, a celebrity victim of the Irish climate He walked the three miles from home to university during a downpour, and then delivered a lecture in drenched clothesThu Mar 05 2026 - 19:00
‘You have mocked God,’ Enoch Burke tells judge after jailing of his mother and sisterJudge notes we live in a democracy, not a ‘theocracy governed by the Burke family’Wed Mar 04 2026 - 19:09
Voices from the Grave: The mixed paternal legacy of ‘Irish tenor’ Jeff BuckleyThe other big influence, on the last two members of the family at least, was the absence of a loving father figureTue Mar 03 2026 - 19:00
Getting our oar in: Frank McNally on the perils of linguistic imperialismTheir eccentricity might be charming if it wasn’t for the assumption that everyone else speaks that wayFri Feb 27 2026 - 19:00
Ernie O’Malley’s century-old memoirs now read like a nature writer at warIn his memoirs, the former IRA organiser wrote in unique detail about the Irish landscape as he travelled the countryThu Feb 26 2026 - 19:00
Haunted by Hamlet: The sad story of Ireland’s greatest Shakespearean scholarWhen Belfast-born William John Lawrence died in penurious English exile at the start of the second World War, his manuscript on the origins of Hamlet was lost tooThu Feb 26 2026 - 06:00
Why experts believe Shakespeare may have had an ‘Oirish’ accentLinguistic detectives believe Shakespeare would have said ‘divil’ instead of ‘devil’ and would have drunk a cup of ‘tay’ Tue Feb 24 2026 - 19:00
‘O, the drenching grey weather’: Irish rain in 40 wonderful phrasesFrom October to April, the walls of Limerick glistened with the dampSun Feb 22 2026 - 19:00
‘It’s the All-Ireland final of theatre’: The Plough and the Stars, 100 years on from its riotous first runFrank McNally sits in on a new production of Seán O’Casey’s play and revisits the ‘chaotic scenes’ that greeted it in 1926Sun Feb 22 2026 - 05:27
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
