Cahir O'Doherty
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Arts & Travel Editor | Sé/é | 🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️| 🇮🇪 | 🇺🇦 Seen/Heard: New York Times, RTE, BBC, PBS, Frommers, Mr. Porter | Donegal Forever 💚
Articles by Cahir O'Doherty
Bob Geldof turns 75 and the Live Aid myth deserves a second look
Bob Geldof was born in Dún Laoghaire on October 5, 1951, which means that next Monday the Boomtown Rats frontman turns 75, a fair distance from the furious young man who dragged the pop world into a studio in Notting Hill and told it to do something about a famine. Live Aid riveted the planet on July 13, 1985, and raised a fortune, but four decades on, its most durable inheritance may not be the money at all.
Thomas Ashe, the Kerry schoolteacher who died on hunger strike in 1917
This Friday marks 109 years since Thomas Ashe, a schoolteacher from the Co Kerry Gaeltacht, a Gaelic League member and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, died at the hands of the state he had fought to break away from.
How to make Irish soda farls, the North's beloved breakfast bread
Long before toast became the default, Irish kitchens turned out soda farls, quartered rounds of buttermilk bread cooked low and slow on a griddle until golden. This simple recipe, adapted from Imen McDonnell's "The Farmette Cookbook," brings that Irish farmhouse tradition straight to your own stovetop. Imen McDonnell is an American-born writer who fell for an Irish farmer and then for Irish food.
Francis O'Neill: The Irish cop in Chicago who saved traditional Irish music
Remembered with pride for his efforts on behalf of Irish traditional music, Chief Francis O'Neill led an extraordinary pioneering American life that is no longer possible. Francis O'Neill led an extraordinary, pioneering American life that is no longer possible today, as detailed in the fascinating memoir "Chief O'Neill's Sketchy Recollections of an Eventful Life in Chicago," published in 2008 by Northwestern University Press.
Guinness, Baileys, and Jameson chocolate cupcakes recipe
Sometimes, not often, a good cook can create a symphony of taste and texture that you’ll treasure for the rest of your life. It’s not uncommon, if you’re lucky, to remember a truly exceptional meal with the rapture normally reserved for love. Just think of the French writer Marcel Proust. Biting into a humble Madeline once gave him such a blast of sensual nostalgia that he conceived the whole of his masterpiece “In Search Of Lost Time” in an instant.
Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn, a bridge to Ireland, Greece and Japan
So ahead of his time that we are still learning to become his contemporaries, Irish writer (Patrick) Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) carried a groundbreaking dual heritage. Born in Greece to an Irish father, Hearn was raised in Dublin in the mid-19th century, where his Greek-Irish upbringing lent him a unique appreciation of our twin mythologies - and in particular of our tales of the supernatural and the unknown – later resonated strongly with his appreciation of Japanese folklore.
Profiles in Pride: Declan Flynn, a death that changed Ireland
The savage murder of Declan Flynn in a Dublin park, in 1982, inspired the Irish gay rights movement and changed Ireland forever. Declan Flynn changed Ireland, although he would not live to see it. He had one of the furtive gay lives that it offered to a young man of his time. Closeted to his family and only slightly known on the gay scene, he darted between worlds like a spy in an espionage film. There was nothing remarkable about him, he was simply what the Irish call sound.
Banish the change of season blahs with this delicious Irish-style leek and potato soup
The Irish really know how to dress - and cook - for a colder climate. Try this Irish leek-and-potato soup recipe. When the thermostat drops, and the winter winds howl, what better way to revive your flagging spirit than with a truly delicious Irish-style Leek and Potato soup? What makes this recipe Irish?
Irish arts champion Georganne Aldrich Heller remembered
Georganne Aldrich Heller, who passed away on March 23, was president of Irish Theatre & Film Production, a production company devoted to presenting the work of Irish playwrights in New York, London, and Dublin. Outside the world of Irish theatre, she was not nearly as well known or feted by the Irish community as she should have been.
Roger Casement, 1916 rebel executed on this day, denied hero status because he was gay
If you’ve never heard of Roger Casement, who was executed by the British for treason 103 years ago today, August 3, the reason is as simple as it is sad: he was homosexual. For that reason, he was ignored when he was not being written out of our revolutionary history. MacDonagh, MacBride, Connolly, and Pearse. Every Irish schoolboy or girl knows the names of all the main players in the Easter Rising of 1916, but this revolutionary patriot has long been denied his due.
Irish songs to avoid this St. Patrick’s Day
We don't care if you're a toddler or an adult, all of these great Irish songs instantly become the worst ones to sing if you're trying to claw together the lyrics on St Patrick's Day. If your buddy feels compelled to sing the lyrics of a famous Irish ballad this Saint Patrick’s Day, be a good friend and make sure he or she removes the following ten numbers from their party piece list.
Irish songs to avoid this St. Patrick’s Day
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On This Day: Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin was blown up in 1966
For many, the biggest surprise about the blowing up of Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin on March 8, 1966, is why it took 157 years. The resentment had run deep. Almost fifty years after the 1916 Rising an Englishman still towered over every other notable in the city, many groused. When the pillar was constructed circa 1808 the Protestant Ascendency class who had erected it celebrated.
Making A Truly Great Show Of Herself at the Irish Rep
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Leprechauns versus Irish fairies on St. Patrick’s Day
In Ireland, people never talk about leprechauns, so would it surprise you to learn that on Saint Patrick’s Day, very few Irish people dress up as them either? Usually, it’s only visiting tourists who walk around in bright red beards and buckled top hats shouting top o’ the morning on March 17 in Dublin. Your complexion may be as pasty as a native’s, but you won’t be fooling anyone. We’ll know you’re visiting from abroad at a glance.
Irresistible Irish pancakes recipe for Pancake Tuesday
A few years ago, while on vacation in Ireland, my American partner couldn't believe that the Irish didn’t serve pancakes for breakfast as they do here. And because he couldn’t find them anywhere, he started to crave them. To put him out of his misery, I made him some Irish pancakes. One bite and he was a convert for life. But how can pancakes have a nationality? Because they look and taste completely different from the American version. They’re just better.
The St. Pat's parade born from Irish LGBT equality struggle
A St. Patrick's Day parade that had its origin in the struggle for LGBT equality will step off in the New York City area again this March - and it deserves to be much better known by tourists and locals alike. Not all St. Patrick's Day parades are the same. Some are so vast they shut down major thoroughfares like Fifth Avenue in Manhattan or O'Connell Street in Dublin.
An Irish American celebration of San Francisco
This story brings together three unforgettable strands - the city of San Fransisco, the magical teenage summers I spent there in the 1980s, and the impact the city and its wider peninsula still has on first-time visitors. I'm going to say this with my whole chest: San Francisco is the most beautiful city on earth. It was in the 1980s - and it still is now. There's something magical about the place that stays with you forever.
On This Day: Ronald Reagan was sworn in as 40th President of the USA
Not every state in the nation celebrates the same presidents on Presidents' Day. Originally created as a federal holiday to celebrate George Washington's birthday, it has over time become an occasion to remember all the presidents (including Abraham Lincoln) whose birthday falls in February. Some states celebrate Washington and Thomas Jefferson's birthdays and notably leave Lincoln out. There is no national consensus about which presidents will be honored, in other words.
How an Irish doctor survived WWII, captivity and the Atomic Bomb
Some lives are crowded with incident. Cork-born doctor Aidan McCarthy was a prime example. He survived the historic evacuation of Dunkirk, fleeing Nazi bombs, burning planes, and sinking ships, to later become embroiled in jungle warfare in the Far East and then life under the appalling privations of a Japanese POW camp.
All the traditional Irish recipes you'll need for Christmas dinner
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All the traditional Irish recipes you'll need for Christmas dinner
Traditional Irish recipes from turkey to gravy to stuffing that will help set out the best-ever Christmas dinner table. Admit it, each Christmas you try a new gravy recipe, don’t you? With varying degrees of success, too, right? How did your Irish grandmother ever make it look so easy? Well, first of all, you need to stop relying on those powdered packet horrors and all the gloopy tinned stuff. Master Irish chef Kevin Dundon is here to help you crack Christmas.
Signature Irish dishes to complement your Thanksgiving dinner table
If the Irish had created Thanksgiving, it would have been called Giving Out Day. We’re usually much better at complaining than at giving thanks, but if there’s one thing we know how to do well, it’s cook for a cold climate. Thanksgiving isn’t an Irish holiday. When you first arrive here as a wide-eyed immigrant, you quickly come to see it as the most Yankee event on the calendar, even more so than Memorial Day or the fireworks and flag-waving of the Fourth of July.
On This Day: Easter Rising hero Padraig Pearse born in 1879
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On This Day: Easter Rising hero Padraig Pearse born in 1879
Irish rebel leader Padraig Pearse was born on November 10, 1879, and executed on May 3, 1916, in the wake of the Easter Rising. The more you study his life and work, the more elusive he becomes.
Letters sent home to Ireland from World War I
In military historian Tom Burke’s book "Messines to Carrick Hill: Writing Home From the Great War", he quotes the gripping real life letters of Michael Thomas Wall, a young Irish officer enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment during World War I. Like so many young people of his era Wall, who hailed from a happy middle-class family in Carrick Hill, north Co. Dublin, was seduced by the thought of high adventure and glory in the front lines of France and Belgium.
Broadway shows to light up your Summer 2025
Here's a list of the best (in this reviewer's humble opinion) currently running shows on Broadway to blow away all those summertime blues. If you want to see what gifted comedy actors can do with a Broadway musical (based on a hit film), then you can't go wrong with "Death Becomes Her." You know the story about the two fading beauties who take supernatural steps to stay young, but nothing will prepare you for the high levels of camp and chaos hitting the stage in this glorious over-the-top romp.
Irish designer Clodagh's new collection harkens back to Tara
In the late 19th century, tin ceilings were all the rage here in America, but in Ireland, they still are. Just venture in to one of our legendary Irish pubs like The Long Hall in Dublin or The Crown in Belfast and look up - you'll quickly see why the fad got started and why it has endured to this day. Simply put, they're gorgeous, simultaneously making a statement and offering a warm but usually understated welcome, exactly the kind of twofer that designers love.
Following in James Joyce's footsteps in Northern Italy
Irish writer James Joyce famously hated to travel, so getting him to venture further than a local Oseteria was something only the most skilled writers could accomplish, and that's how, in June 1920, American poet Ezra Pound eventually prevailed.
How Ireland's HB Ice Cream still brings back lost summers
What's the very first thing you think of on a hot day in Ireland? For some, it's cold pints, but for me, back then, it was HB Ice Cream. Even now, the memory of those sugary and creamy indulgences can evoke a time and a place like almost nothing else.
Sweet Summer, let these Irish desserts take you to heaven!
It's summer and that means a little more time on your hands to try out those Irish recipes that you've been filing away all winter. Let's start with dessert, like the lunatics we are. Ireland has some truly outstanding dessert offerings and many of these desserts you just can't get anywhere else once you're wheels up over Dublin. Take the singular and deceptively simple dish Banoffee, for example.
Irish actresses Genevieve O'Reilly and Denise Gough light up "Andor"
Two gifted Irish women are currently playing on opposite sides of empire and rebellion in the tense and tightly written concluding season of "Andor," the "Star Wars" galaxy saga now showing on Disney+. Genevieve O'Reilly, 47, plays Senator Mon Mothma, an outwardly placid colonial leader who is secretly planning a rebellion against the evil galactic empire. Her opposite in the fight is Dedra Meero, a lieutenant in the Imperial Security Bureau, played by Denise Gough,45.
Award-winning documentary on The Troubles and Brexit seeks a streaming home
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Ireland's rising profile in Japan through our culture, exports
Ireland's economic investment in Japan is growing at an unprecedented rate, which explains why this year, Ireland is taking center stage at the Osaka Expo 2025 with a stunning new Irish pavilion that will introduce many of the estimated 113,000 visitors a day to our nation and culture.
What's Irish about Italy? More than you think!
Last summer, outside the famed Boboli Gardens in Florence, an elderly attendant examined my entrance ticket, read my name, and immediately launched into a insightful meditation on the Nine Years War. I was astonished, but I probably shouldn't have been. It turned out he was a historian with a lifelong interest in Irish history and English colonialism. “You have a famous name,” he told me.
What's behind Ireland's legendary love of ABBA?
Ireland's love of ABBA is legendary and ever growing, so what's behind this enduring intergenerational affection for the Swedish supergroup? Back in the 2010s, a friend of mine from Spain asked me why the hell ABBA are still being played in Ireland. “They're on the radio every day like it's the late 1970s,” he groused.
What's behind Ireland's legendary love of ABBA?
2 hours ago Sweden begins construction of massive underground nuclear vault that will last 100,000 years Sweden has broken ground on its ambitious $11 billion nuclear waste repository, where highly radioactive material will rest in an underground maze of … 12 hours ago Rumour: Zeidane Inoussa Named as Celtic Target Celtic are reportedly interested in signing Swedish under-21 international Zeidane Inoussa. The talented left winger, currently plying his trade with …
"Say Nothing" - The unmissable new drama about The Troubles, now streaming
Unless you were there, you'll never know the terror – and the unexpected exhilaration – of the emerging Troubles in Belfast in the early 1970s - the attacks, the resistance, and the hard choices circumstances forced you to make between pacifism and warfare. Few dramas tell that story with the energy and precision of “Say Nothing,” the accomplished new drama series by "Derry Girls" director Michael Lennox which premieres on Hulu on Thursday, November 14.
Chicken Noodle Soup recipe from Irish chef Clodagh McKenna
Nov 12 is Chicken Soup for the Soul Day 2024! So how about a bowl of Clodagh McKenna's chicken noodle soup to fortify you and banish the winter blues? Celebrity Irish chef Clodagh McKenna calls this warming Chicken Noodle Soup recipe a bowl of hugs and you can see why; it's solace in a bowl. Note: You can swap the bok choi in this recipe with lots of other greens, such as kale, spinach, chard or even frozen peas - they will all work as well.
“Fun, filthy” Edna O'Brien documentary to debut in New York
In 1960 Edna O'Brien took an axe to the frozen sea of Irish social conformity with her sexually charged debut novel "The County Girls". In Ireland, the book was immediately banned – and burned.
On This Day: Easter Rising hero Padraig Pearse born in 1879
Irish rebel leader Padraig Pearse was born on November 10, 1879, and executed on May 3, 1916, in the wake of the Easter Rising. The more you study his life and work, the more elusive he becomes.
WATCH: Guinness and Baileys Irish cream cupcake recipe
With their lively mix of Guinness and Baileys, just one taste of these cupcakes will tell you that they’re a little triumph of the cake makers' art! Ingredients: Serving: 24 cupcakes 1 cup stout (Guinness) 16 tbsp unsalted butter 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 and 1/2 tsp.
Lesser-known Irish gems to explore in Co Donegal
Here's a handy list of lesser-known Irish gems in Co Donegal, known mostly to the locals and in-the-know visitors but still off the radar to wider tourism. Go this year, thank me later. A stunning ring fort located at the top of the Greenan Mountain, the site has been in use since the neolithic age but its current fort was probably first built in the sixth or seventh century. One of the royal sites of Gaelic Ireland boasts commanding views of Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone.
WATCH: Exclusive clip from new Samuel Beckett biopic "Dance First"
In this exclusive clip from "Dance First," a young Samuel Beckett meets James Joyce in Paris for the first time. In "Dance First," Irish actors Gabriel Byrne and Fionn O'Shea masterfully play Beckett, while Aidan Gillen plays his most formative creative influence, Joyce. O'Shea plays the young Samuel Beckett in a screen performance that's a compelling portrait of the artist as a young man. Buttoned down, watchful, and yet given to moments of great feeling, O'Shea is superb in the role.
Remembering the life of Ireland's favorite author
Maeve Binchy, who passed away on July 30, 2012, aged 72, was a woman of her time. Six foot tall and in her own words “rather stout,” as a young woman in the late 1960s, she confidently expected that spinsterhood was her future. That steely fatalism was a new development for her because her childhood and adolescence had brimmed with love and contentment, only darkening suddenly toward the end of her twenties. First - and worst - of all was the death of her adored mother in 1968.
Legendary New York-based Irish designer Clodagh heralded
Legendary Irish designer Clodagh was heralded by the top designers in America this month - so why doesn't Ireland do likewise? Ireland can be famously slow to recognize the grand achievements of our most gifted artists. Whether these artists are working as poets or playwrights, painters, or designers, we can take too long to appreciate what the world and his wife already know. Thankfully the top-tier American design world does not share our hesitation.
Don't sleep on gripping Irish crime drama "Blue Lights"
Featuring a top-notch cast and cracking straight-from-life scripts written by two former Belfast journalists, each episode of "Blue Lights" blazes to life in genuinely binge-worthy TV. Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson are the former journalists (now screenwriters) behind the hit show, "Blue Lights", which has just started its second season on Britbox, Amazon Prime and The Roku Channel in the United States, having aired first in March in UK and Ireland.
Nigella Lawson's perfect Guinness Chocolate Cake
It's summer. It's hot. You deserve a sweet treat. So how about a dive into the fathomless richness of Nigella Lawson's to-die-for Guinness Chocolate Cake? Hailed by the legendary chef and baker as “magnificent in its damp blackness,” this recipe is as easy to follow as it is to bake (truly, you won't believe the effort-to-reward ratio that we are talking about here). Any time is a great time for a Guinness, but there are few ways to enjoy one more.
An Irishman's guide to Crete - what to see and where to stay
Every Irish person has an idea of Greece and - depending on your age and interests - they probably include blue skies, beautiful islands, and chic resorts, or perhaps ancient temples and shrines, revered philosophers, and world-changing history. But what about the food? We don't talk enough about how good – and how good for you – Greek food actually is, or how their farm-to-table culture strongly resembles our own and how it can result in some of the greatest (and healthiest) meals of your life.
Harold Holzier on Abraham Lincoln's attitude to the Irish and immigration
In a recent talk at the Irish Historical Society in New York, celebrated Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer called the issue of immigration to America a civil war before the Civil War. Struck by the description, I asked him why in the 158 years since Lincoln's assassination has immigration lost none of its potency. Shouldn't America - and Irish America for that matter - be supportive of the net benefits of immigration to the United States?
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