Description
Book SynopsisWhat makes the Irish unique? Why do over 70 million people worldwide embrace their Irish heritage? What does it mean to be Irish today? These and other questions are addressed in this fascinating new book. Being Irish gathers a diverse group of 100 people - including well-known actors, musicians, novelists, sportspeople, journalists, political and religious leaders, community activists, asylum seekers, students and others - each trying to give expression to that special something that is more or less recognisable as Irish. This is not a sociological study; it consists of highly personal responses to a question of identity. Twenty-one years ago, Paddy Logue compiled the original edition of Being Irish to better understand the recent changes Ireland had undergone. Now his daughter, Derry-based solicitor Marie-Claire Logue, takes up the challenge to take a fresh look at Irishness, this time against a backdrop of Covid-19, Brexit, economic insecurity, weakening influence of the Catholic Church and a rapidly changing Northern Ireland. The contributions come from the ranks of the famous and not so famous, people at the centre of things and people at the margins, people who live in Ireland and those who live abroad, the Irish and not-Irish-but-interested. Some delve into their personal histories to give meaning to their identities; while others rely on storytelling, humour and lyricism to approach a tentative sense of self. Above all, the reflections in this volume show that we can be Irish by birth, Irish by ancestry, Irish by geography, Irish and British, Northern Irish, Irish by accident, Irish by necessity, Irish and European, Irish by association, Irish by culture, Irish by history, Irish and American and Irish by choice. The life stories contained herein are sure to illuminate and entertain.
Table of ContentsAmong the many well known contributors to Being Irish are: * Gerry Adams * Sonia O'Sullivan * Eamon Holmes * Annie MacManus * Lisa McGee * Olwen Fouere * Archbishop Eamon Martin * Leo Varadkar But also included are many others who have fascinating stories to tell: * Dr Teresa Lambe - Co-inventor of the AstraZeneca jab * Eimear Noone - Composer and conductor, and first woman to conduct an orchestra at the Oscars * Merlin Holland - Oscar Wilde's only grandchild * Jack Coulter - Artist, featured in 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 list * Major General Maureen O'Brien - First woman in the history of the Irish Defence Forces to reach the rank of Major General * Emma deSouza - Successfully took forward the first Human Rights case of the Good Friday Agreement over the right to be accepted as Irish * Tomi Reichental - Irish Holocaust survivor, born in Czechoslovakia in 1935 * Gen. Marty Dempsey - Former Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in the USA * LeAnne Howe - Recounts the wonderful story of how the Choctaw Nation sent a gift to Ireland during the famine * Dr Norah Patten - In training to become Ireland's first female astronaut * Dr Sinead Flanagan - Rose of Tralee * Marguerite Penrose - proud Black Irish woman born with congenital scoliosis * Eileen Flynn - The first Traveller to serve in the Oireachtas * Mervyn Gibson - Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland * Yaser Alashqar, born in Gaza, now an adjunct assistant professor in the International Peace Studies MPhil programme at Trinity College, Dublin. * Linda Ervine - First Irish Language Officer based in a loyalist area of Belfast * Dr Mary Valarasan-Toomey, biologist, botanist, entomologist and ecologist, originally from Sri Lanka. Taken together, the absorbing life stories contained in Being Irish will provide an illuminating and entertaining look at what it means to be Irish today.
