other – RoI – Paddy Duffy Collection

Follow Me

2025-02-282025-06-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The 21st Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival (web) starts on Thursday May 29th in Ballyshannon, the County Donegal town in which the guitarist was born in 1948. In addition to the festival, Gallagher is remembered in the town by both a mural and a statue.

The mural is in Main Street, Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaıdh; the statue is on The Mall/An Mál, next to The Faeries. As of January, 2025, there is also a statue of Gallagher in Belfast.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Wild West End

2025-02-282025-03-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The “West End Horse” in Bundoran was painted by John Deegan (Fb) in 2013 (Discover Bundoran). The “Big wave” on the wall of Madden’s is by Nik Purdy of Blow Designs (ig), who also did murals of James Connolly in Sligo and of local literary figures in Carrick-On-Shannon.

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The Faeries

2025-02-282025-04-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren’t go a-hunting,/For fear of little men.//Wee folk, good folk,/Trooping all together,/Green jacket, red cap,/White owl’s feather! – Wm Allingham”

Customs-officer, magazine editor, and poet William Allingham was born in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, in 1824, and his ashes – brought back from London – are interred in St Anne’s church in the town (WP). “The Faeries” (poetry.com) was first published in his 1850 collection Poems (UCC) and remains a staple of children’s and mythological collections.

The art shown here is on The Mall/An Mál in Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaıdh.

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Cuıdıgh Lınn!

2024-03-182024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Help us!” Two Carlos Latuff cartoons are combined in this pro-Palestinian board in Donegal, with Errigal/An Earagaıl providing the backdrop.

On the left, an Israeli soldier with a smoking rifle and swastika armband walks away from a mother holding a bloodied child (Xitter), while on the right, bombs from an Israeli fighter jet (Xitter) rain down on “An Phalaıstín”.

“Díbrıgh ambasadóır Iosrael láıthreach!” [Expel the ambassador of Israel immediately!] The current ambassador is Dana Erlich; a motion to expel Erlich was defeated in the Dáıl in November (Indo).

(As with the recent board in Belfast for the ‘Joe Cahill memorial tournament‘, the pseudo-Gaelic font chosen here includes both fadas and (incorrectly) dotted “i”.)

Kindred Minds

2023-07-042024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

At the beginning of Joyce’s A Little Cloud (from Dubliners), Little Chandler is sitting at his desk in the King’s Inns (law school) rather than, as written here “the King’s Inn”, which is the nearby pub outside of which this painted electrical box can be found.

Atlantic Treasures

2023-03-172024-11-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Spanish galleass La Girona, one of the 130 ships that made up the armada that was unsuccessful against the English in 1588, docked at Killybegs, County Donegal, for repairs to her rudder (WP). When she departed, she got only as far as Lacada Point near Ballintoy, County Antrim, before sinking in a gale with the loss of roughly 1,300 lives and a substantial treasure that was recovered (in part) by Sorley Boy McDonell (portrayed in a Ballycastle mural) and (in part) by modern divers in 1968 (BBC).

Donegal Road, Killybegs, with a bonus image of the docks from the fish shop in Conlin Road.