County Roscommon

No, I have two Irish-born grandparents.

Both my mom's parents were born in Ireland, County Mayo and County Roscommon.

Nice.

They met in Philadelphia.

Uh, there are biographies of, uh, Catholics and Protestants, uh, trying to, to create that balance as well.

Um, and of, of those who are, uh, both the elites, like Timothy Eaton and Frank Smith, two of the most notable entrepreneurs in 19th century Canada, to, um, orphan children who came over in the famine, someone like Daniel Ty from County Roscommon, who, you know, with his sister, uh, his nine-year-old sister, um, they're left to their own devices and placed in a, a French Canadian family south of Quebec City at Lotbinière.

And it's interesting that, uh, uh, he has huge numbers of children.

Um, they, uh, uh, they end up being river pilots on the Saint Lawrence.

So that's really the thinking behind it.

And also in terms of, I suppose, a few of the events, on the 20th of October, we have a job and training fair in Roscommon.

In Clifton on the 20th of October, again, County Galway, we have an employer engagement session in the Station House Hotel to basically speak to employers about what is available should you consider taking on somebody or hiring someone with a disability.

In Mullingar, on the 21st, we have a job and training fair in the Greville Arms Hotel.

And the fact that they celebrate that through feasting and also this belief that the other world and this world are quite close at that time is probably something that relates to the old religion that survived in folk tradition and in literature.

Rathcrochan in County Roscommon was once the most important royal site in the west of Ireland.

Kings and queens were crowned here, and it's a landscape rich in myth and mystery.

This ancient complex contains as many as 240 separate archaeological sites, encased within just two and a half square miles.

I specialise in osteoarchaeology, so that's the study of human skeletal remains.

So I've been fortunate to be involved in a number of projects looking at medieval burial grounds in Ireland over the years.

One of the most recent of these was the Ranelagh burial ground in County Roscommon.

The site at Ranelagh seems to be a settlement cemetery, so you've got secular activities going on as well as the burials.

That's exactly what I told you, and uh, wee bit annoying for them.

Aoife O'Rourke, uh, part of the dynamic O'Rourke sisters, uh, from Roscommon, has been awarded the sec- silver medal for second-best boxer at the European Boxing Championships, uh, John has just told me there.

West of Ireland sport thriving.

Roscommon ladies have an All-Ireland title.

Galway ladies, lest we forget.

Mighty Mayo.

Yes, but that's true.

Chris O'Dowd from Roscommon, who was one of my favourite artists from Roscommon at the time in Hollywood.

But if you look in Dubai or the mountains in Dubai, I mean, they have a lot of people.

I mean, Jack McCaffrey, for example, or, you know, Darren Deeney, he's a great example of that.