When in Paris . . . with Brendan Behan

By Thomas O'Grady
April 8, 2013
Thomas O'Grady

By Thomas O’Grady
Special to the BIR

Today I walked along rue St. André des Arts in Paris, searching for an Arab tavern. I was following the footsteps of legendary Dublin-born man-of-letters Brendan Behan, or at least following their imprint in a poem he wrote—in Irish—in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1949. Like many Irish writers before and after him—most famously Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett—Behan was drawn irresistibly to La Ville-Lumière (The City of Light): it was the absolute antithesis of “dear dirty Dublin.”

Lots of “What Now? questions as Francis I takes St. Peter’s seat

By Ed Forry
April 8, 2013

By James W. Dolan
Special to the BIR

Pope Francis has his work cut out for him. In a secular world, how does he reconcile Christian orthodoxy – more particularly Catholicism – with democracy, capitalism, gay rights, women’s rights, abortion, and a culture that sometimes seems obsessed with sex and violence?

Mourning a giant among men: The North’s Sir George Quigley

By Joe Leary
April 8, 2013
Joe Leary

By Joe Leary
Special to the BIR

Beneath all the tragic headlines emanating from Northern Ireland over these past 50 years lies a largely untold story of people on both sides that did their best to bring people together.
Though many resisted change, there were those who knew it was necessary and did what they could to make it a fair, just, and inclusive process, frequently at peril to their own lives and careers.

Walker? Jogger? Cyclist? I have the island for you

By BIR News Room
April 8, 2013

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR
There was a time not so long ago in Ireland when bicycles and feet were the primary modes of transportation, especially out in the rural areas. Of course, there were motorized vehicles then, too, but certainly not the numbers that there are today. And, bicycles were mostly useful, old-fashioned, and clunky – not sleek racing machines.

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