Search Results for 'diplomat'

A Cork-based freelance journalist has apologised for mistakingly describing Irish President Michael D Higgins as an “acknowledged homosexual” in an article written for US business magazine, Forbes.

The highest ranking member of US military to resign over the Iraq war, Col Ann Wright, will speak at a public meeting in Galway next week.

In 1961, the fate of the UN was in the hands of Commandant Pat Quinlan and his battalion in the Congo. Fifty years on, their bravery is to be told in a new documentary.

The Mexican Ambassador to Ireland was in Kilkenny this week, meeting county councillors and then going on to visit local businesses.

The Venezuelan Ambassador in London, Samuel Moncada, will address a public meeting in the Galway One World Centre, this Monday at 7pm.

Some people have a lot of nerve. You know the ones, that say one thing and do another. The ones, and let’s face it there’s a lot of them out there, that think they’re perfect. They’re also mostly the ones that spend a lot of time hiding those skeletons in the closet, and then get all red faced and defensive when we realise what they’ve been up to.

Former President Mary Robinson has revealed in a documentary about her to be broadcast on Midwest Radio over Christmas that she wasn’t angry over a personal attack made on her by the then Fianna Fáil Minister Padraig Flynn during the 1990 presidential campaign.

Last Sunday I witnessed two of the finest games of football that I have ever seen on All Ireland final day, and I have been at most finals since 1977. We occasionally get a memorable match, but rarely do we get two wonderful exhibitions of football. The two games were enthralling, exciting, nerve racking, at times but it was football played at its very best. I left Castlebar early on Sunday morning as I wanted to get to Dublin with time to relax and soak up the atmosphere before the games. Jones’s Road, on big match day, is a hive of activity and last Sunday I mingled with friends and acquaintances for almost two hours before going into the ground. We were blessed with the most glorious day that added greatly to the feel-good factor. There were lots hovering about the place hoping to pick up a spare ticket but I got the impression that there were very few floating about the place last Sunday. (No harm to see the touts taking a hit too in these economically depressed times.) I had my son Johnny and my daughter Sally Rose with me bedecked in their red and green ensembles. They were excitedly looking forward to seeing the Mayo minors play Tyrone. Others from my house were content with the luxury of home viewing. I met and chatted with a few of the 1983 Galway footballers as they made their way into Croke Park for lunch. They, and the Dublin footballers, were guests of Croke Park as they were part of the 25 year jubilee celebrations. I sent my two on their way into the game and made my way upstairs to the media section as I was lucky enough to be asked to work on the game for RTE Radio 1. I had a cup of coffee in the canteen with a few journalists and the unanimous consensus amongst these experts was that Kerry would win their third All Ireland in a row. They couldn’t call the minor match, but I did get the impression that if they were pressed they would side with Tyrone. I spoke with Micheál O Muireachtaigh to establish his views on the two sides. He thought Tyrone had some excellent players but “liked this Mayo team”. He referred to their physicality and suggested that this year’s team reminded him of some of the great minor teams he had seen from Mayo in years past. Micheál is too much of a gentleman and diplomat to suggest either team would win it, so he said that we should have a great game of football. And what a game we had.

The remarkable story of Fr Padraig Ó Máille, a humanitarian priest from Louisburgh, who was deported from Malawi during the reign of the brutal Banda regime and has since become Honorary Consul for that country in Ireland, is told in a documentary which will be broadcast on Midwest Radio over Christmas.

The decision by Mayo County Council to send the Cathaoirleach and two other councillors to the USA for St Patrick’s Day, saw a heated debate in the council chamber on Monday. Independent Councillor Gerry Ginty wanted his opposition against the trip noted saying it was a waste of public money. The council agreed to send Cathaoirleach John Cribben and fellow councillors Damien Ryan and Michael Burke on the trip.