IRISH community and cultural organisations have spoken out strongly against organised attacks against immigrant communities in Scotland, and against fascist-style assemblies which have taken place in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

THIS is a good first novel by a new author joining the scene of Scottish crime writing. The main character is Cal Lynch and the book opens with his arrival in Paisley. It emerges that almost three decades earlier Cal left Scotland following the brutal murder of his father. He and his mother moved to London, but Cal’s return was long-planned with his focus being on Eddie Quinn who he believed was responsible. His mother was clear in her intention of not returning.

STANDING proudly on the north side of St Stephen’s Green, the Shelbourne Hotel is one of Dublin’s most famous landmarks. For more than two centuries, its elegant rooms and corridors have witnessed political upheaval, revolution, romance and social change.

FOLLOWING on from Causeway joining forces with the British and Irish Trading Alliance (BITA) last year, the business networking organisation is marking its first anniversary with an important step forward.

FROM the mills of the 19th century to the playing fields of today’s Gaelic games, Dundee’s Irish story is one of resilience, cultural exchange, and enduring community spirit. Far from being a relic of the past, Irish influence in the city is not only remembered—it is being actively revived.

"I AM of Ireland… come dance with me in Ireland,” declared Erin’s greatest poet, WB Yeats. It is hard to overestimate the significance of Yeats to the development of modern Ireland. The Sligo poet was the artistic father of the Irish Literary Revival, and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, which put Irish creativity at the centre stage of the emergent cultural Nationalism in the late 19th century.

THIS month I thought I’d take a look at the beautiful explosion of Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll that’s happening right now and shine a light on some of the greats from the past that helped influence and bring us to this wonderful wealth of incredible new Irish music.

MALONES Glasgow—the Irish bar on Sauchiehall Lane in the city centre—has become one of the first venues in the heart of Glasgow to pour Beamish Irish Stout and drinkers emptied the taps within 36 hours!

A GREAT day’s play of handball was had recently at Broughton High School in Edinburgh, with some brilliant skills on display too. The fifth code of the GAA is fast-paced, fun and strategic and the event buzzed with excitement. There was immense enjoyment on the day for those playing for the first time as youngsters or as more experienced novices with the skill challenges. In the Men’s Open, Willie Quaile of Coolboy Handball Club defeated Thomas McCurtains’ Fionn Ó Súilleabhái

HIBERNIAN Football Club’s sesquicentennial year drew to a close with a pre-season tour of Ireland and the unveiling of two plaques in co-founder Canon Edward Joseph Hannan’s birthplace village of Ballingarry, County Limerick (see features section).

SOME older readers will recall The Irish Weekly—sister paper of The Irish News—being sold in churches throughout Scotland. It was a Nationalist and Catholic publication, which, in 1892 incorporated The Ulster Examiner. The content was of Irish interest whether in news, prose, history or verse.

A MAJOR exhibition exploring five decades of movement between people from the island of Ireland and Britain—and their enduring connection to both places—is coming to Belfast for the first time this summer.

IN 2017, the Irish language television channel, TG4, broadcast a programme, Bus Ghlaschú, about the bus services between Donegal and Glasgow that acted as a vital link between the two places. It was so popular that it was also picked up by BBC Alba, the Scottish Gaelic channel and would have reminded many people of the long and difficult journey as well as the many happy reunions enabled by the bus.

A NEW football club with Irish roots is beginning its journey in Glasgow, bringing together community, culture and sport under one identity.

BELFAST. June 2026. Burnt out homes. Terrified families fleeing in the night. We’ve been here before. A knife attack by Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese asylum seeker in Nationalist North Belfast, triggered anti-immigration riots by Union Jack clad mobs. Loyalist-led pogroms are not new, but their target is. Catholic Irish have been replaced by people of colour.

BHUEL, a chairde, an mbeadh iontas ar bith oraibh dá mbeinn ag rá libh go bhfuil meancóg amaideach déanta ag Reform UK? Ní bheadh, is dócha, ach seans go mbeadh iontas ort go mbaineann a gcuid seafóid—an uair seo—leis an Ghaeilge.

IRELAND'S first railway was opened between Dublin and Kingstown—now Dún Laoghaire—in 1834, just nine years after the pioneering Stockton and Darlington opened for traffic. The Irish line made history as the world’s first commuter railway. Steam-powered, it was built to the standard British gauge of four feet eight-and-a-half inches between the rails and today’s modern, electric DART trains still use the route on their way to and from Greystones.

THE day after an uninspiring loss to Shamrock Rovers, my brother and I made our way by car to the cradle of the Hibernian Football Club—Ballingarry in County Limerick—to attend a service to commemorate the founder Canon Edward Joseph Hannan.

IT'S BEEN 12 years since Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 23rd iteration of the event—the 2026 Glasgow games—has now kicked off again in the city, far sooner than anyone would have predicted back in 2014.

AN ATTENTIVE audience of family, friends and invited guests—including Theresa C Gallagher, chair of Comhaltas in Britain and Rosemarie Cassidy, chair of the Scottish Region of Comhaltas—enjoyed the St James the Great Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Branch’s annual summer concert in Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, Glasgow recently.