Tag Archives: Damien Dempsey

AS A decision is awaited on proposals to grant a licence for mineral prospecting in East Clare, a new song and music video has been launched to highlight concerns about mining.  Keep Tulla Untouched, which is made up of landowners in the affected townlands around Tulla and Bunratty Upper, joined forces with TAU and the Drones of Praise to launch a track featuring Dempsey and Clannad’s Pól Brennan.   The video for ‘Eist le Ceol ón Chré’, includes Dempsey and Brennan, as well as nine-year-old Joris and seven-year-old Thuan Ligtvoet. The boys are sons of founder members of Keep Tulla Untouched. The video takes inspiration from a line in the song, ‘It’s a dream for the children’, and features Dempsey dressed as a mystical warrior figure, calling on people to protect the land. “The video is beautiful,” said Jacintha van Roij of Keep Tulla Untouched. “It was shot in Leitrim, where our friends are protecting 47 townlands from gold mining. …

“I’M really enjoying the shows, the people seem happier than ever, just to be out. I’ve never seen crowds react better.” So says Damien Dempsey of his current tour, which will seem him play at Glór on April 29. Like all musicians he was left idle throughout the pandemic, but says he coped quite well, focusing on nature and reminding himself that many had it harder than himself. “I just got back to nature, you know? I’m not far from Howth Head, there’s a native wood up there, cliffs, you can see up to the Mourne Mountains, the Cooley Mountains, Cú Chulainn country, you can see down to Wexford and you can see the Hill of Tara. “I climbed that a lot of days and looked at the east coast of our beautiful island. I got into the sea when I came back down and that was keeping me together. “I sort of put it in perspective, I said some …

LOOP Head Lighthouse is to play a key role in a moment of national solidarity this month. Photographs of front-line workers are to be beamed onto the Clare lighthouse in tribute to their tireless work during the Covid-19 pandemic. The images were taken by photographer Jeanette Lowe and are one of six projection instalments across the country which will be illuminated in the days leading up to the winter solstice. The art installations will form part of a nationwide multi-platform event Shine Your Light, or Lonraigh Do Sholas. The event will also feature a live TV broadcast on RTÉ One featuring Clare’s Sharon Shannon, and a radio special on RTÉ Radio 1. Funded by Creative Ireland, the Shine Your Light installations by Irish artists will be visible around the country from December 17 to 20 and will bring artworks from the Illuminations online gallery to epic and dramatic locations including Loop Head, bringing light, hope and colour to towns and …

SPARKS flew and voices were raised from time to time at a fractious meeting held at Tom Steele’s bar on Monday night, as local residents received information about plans for three concerts in Tim Smythe Park this summer. Collectively, the concerts in question make up Inis Fest 2015, which is set to take place from June 26 to 28, featuring a number of household names, including Damien Dempsey, Hermitage Green, Nathan Carter, Mundy and Finbar Furey. While acknowledging the scale of the events are totally different, a resident compared the situation with the Garth Brooks affair at one point and the issues being raised were indeed reminiscent of those aired over a number of weeks last year. Many of those who live around the Fair Green area are angry over a perceived lack of consultation. Also, there was scepticism about how effective the organisers’ proposals for dealing with the crowds will be, as there is expected to be up to …