Ireland's Gift

27/02/2015

Blarney Castle by Michael Walsh

24/02/2015

Gougane Barra Lake And St Finbarre Church In West Cork by Michael Walsh

31/01/2015

This timelapse around Inishowen in Donegal shows the heavy mountain snow.

02/11/2014

08/10/2014

04/10/2014

The Irish landscape has a mythic resonance, the country's history is almost tangible, and its people seem put on earth expressly to restore faith in humanity.

07/09/2014

Video

29/07/2014

28/07/2014

A peaceful trek around Black Head is worth the wait

22/07/2014

13/07/2014

Sunrise through an Irish woodland.

04/06/2014

Sometimes we get the opportunity to begin again as explained in this wonderful poem "Rebeginment" by Brendan Kennelly.

Begin again to the summoning birds
to the sight of light at the window,
begin to the roar of morning traffic
all along Pembroke Road.

Every beginning is a promise
born in light and dying in dark
determination and exaltation of springtime
flowering the way to work.

Begin to the pageant of queuing girls
the arrogant loneliness of swans on the canal
bridges linking the past and future
old friends passing through with us still.

Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
since it perhaps is what makes us begin,
begin to wonder at unknown faces
at crying birds in the sudden rain
at branches stark in the willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for bread
at couples sharing a sunny secret
alone together while making good.

Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
Something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.

Brendan Kennelly
Professor of Modern Literature
Dublin University
On completing one of our Retirement Planning courses in May 2005