Rosita Boland

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Rosita Boland

“If you ask for proof that I am alive again, they threaten to cut my foot off and send it to you ... The Dutch government is putting pressure on the Irish government to get me released in exchange for these three people: Hyland, Dugdale, Mallon ... Please help me.”This typed note, dated October 13th, 1975, is one of the documents now held in University of Limerick’s (UL) special collections and archives.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Rosita Boland

“We have 52 nationalities in this school,” says Adrian P Flynn, who is principal of Adamstown Community College, which has 980 students. “It’s diverse, multicultural, and multi-faith.”Among the many countries his students and their parents have come from are Afghanistan, El Salvador, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Nepal, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkey, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Rosita Boland

An Post announced on Wednesday morning that the price of a national stamp will increase from €1.40 to €1.65 on February 27th. By early afternoon, at least half the people coming and going from Dublin’s St Andrew Street post office were aware of the forthcoming cost increase. “I think it’s expensive; €1.40 was enough as it was,” says Paul O’Flaherty, who had been on an errand to withdraw money.

2 months ago | irishtimes.com | Rosita Boland

I leave my interview with Lynn Scarff wondering how many other people in Ireland can claim that their job includes the responsibility of caretaking millions of pieces of our history. Scarff is the director of the National Museum of Ireland, and is now seven years into a maximum 10-year term. It’s not unusual to be the boss of a couple of hundred people, but to be also safeguarding four million objects connected with our national heritage is definitely uncommon.

Jan 19, 2025 | irishtimes.com | Rosita Boland

In the 1990s my late aunt and uncle were members of the United Arts Club, on Fitzwilliam Street Upper in Dublin. My uncle, a visual artist, was a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and exhibited in its annual show. By that time they had retired from the capital to the west of Ireland and so, as members, availed of the accommodation on the club’s upper floors on return trips to the city. There were seven bedrooms, none en suite.