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Why Do I Write?

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  Why Do I Write? By Kieran Beville Every writer is asked this question sooner or later. It usually comes from someone who imagines that writing is a hobby, a pleasant way to pass an afternoon with a cup of coffee and a laptop. I have never found it an easy question to answer because the truth is that I do not really know. I only know that if I stopped writing, something essential would be missing from my life. Writing has never been a career choice. It has never made financial sense. It has often demanded more than it has given. Yet I continue because, after all these years, I cannot imagine living without trying to capture something of the world before it slips away. The world disappears with astonishing speed. Buildings are demolished. Friends die. Conversations vanish into silence. A melody lingers for a moment before fading into memory. Even our own thoughts evaporate almost as quickly as they arrive. Writing is my way of saying, “Wait a moment. Look again. This matter...
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Bloomsday and Ulysses - A Personal Reflection on Joyce's Masterpiece

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  BLOOMSDAY AND ULYSSES  A Personal Reflection on Joyce’s Masterpiece By Kieran Beville Portrait of James Joyce (by Liam O'Neill) Every year on 16 June, Dublin becomes a city inhabited by ghosts. Men in straw hats wander along the quays. Women in Edwardian dress stroll through streets that have long since surrendered to modern traffic and glass-fronted offices. Passages from Ulysses are read aloud in pubs, libraries and public squares. Breakfasts of kidneys are consumed with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Tourists and scholars retrace the footsteps of Leopold Bloom through a city that exists both in reality and in literature. Bloomsday has become one of the most unusual literary celebrations in the world. Yet for all its pageantry and affection, it commemorates something far stranger than most people realise. It honours a novel that many who celebrate it have never finished and a writer who spent much of his adult life in self-imposed exile from the country that now c...
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ROCK RISING (UNIVERSITY LIMERICK)

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  Great Gig Ignites Musical Memories By Kieran Beville There are few things more reliable than the cathartic power of a great guitar riff. On Thursday, 30th October, at the University Concert Hall in Limerick, that truth was on full display when Rock Rising: The Supreme Classic Rock Show rolled into town. The audience was a cross-section of generations: grey-haired veterans in tour t-shirts from the 1980s sat beside students who might have first heard these songs through Spotify algorithms rather than vinyl sleeves. But once the opening chords tore through the hall, it didn’t matter who was from which decade. The music — the eternal language of melody, and shared memory — levelled everyone into a single, roaring congregation. The Concept Behind the Sound Rock Rising isn’t a band in the conventional sense, but a curated collective of top-tier Irish rock musicians dedicated to resurrecting the spirit of the greats. Conceived as a live theatre production rather than a mere co...
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The Human Cost of Unrestrained Capitalism

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  The Human Cost of Unrestrained Capitalism Power, Profit and the Erosion of Human Dignity By Kieran Beville The triumph of profit over people Capitalism has shaped the modern world more profoundly than perhaps any other economic system in history. It has generated extraordinary technological advances, raised living standards for many and fuelled remarkable innovation. Yet alongside these achievements lies a darker reality that is often overlooked or deliberately ignored. When capitalism operates without meaningful limits, social responsibility or democratic oversight, it can become a force that concentrates wealth, undermines communities and places profit above human wellbeing. Economics without ethics The issue is not commerce itself. Trade and enterprise have existed throughout human history and remain essential to economic development. The problem emerges when the pursuit of profit becomes the dominant organising principle of society. Under such conditions, human ...
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SELECTIVE OUTRAGE OR SELECTIVE DEFLECTION? Why Attempts to Redirect Criticism Away from Gaza Miss the Point

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  SELECTIVE OUTRAGE OR SELECTIVE DEFLECTION? Why Attempts to Redirect Criticism Away from Gaza Miss the Point By Kieran Beville The argument we keep hearing Over the past several months a particular argument has become increasingly common in Irish public discourse. Whenever discussion turns to Gaza and the immense suffering that has unfolded there, somebody invariably shifts the focus. The conversation ceases to be about Gaza itself and instead becomes a discussion about those who are expressing concern.      We are told that Ireland suffers from "selective outrage". We are asked why there are demonstrations about Gaza but not equivalent demonstrations about Iran. We are asked why Qatar's treatment of migrant workers does not attract the same level of public anger. We are asked about Saudi Arabia, China, Sudan and a long list of other states with troubling human rights records.      The implication is obvious. If Irish people are not protesting every i...
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Blood and Bone

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  Limerick Musician Releases Powerful Anti-War Single in Aid of UNICEF By Kieran Beville Peter Donnelly – aka Peter O’Malley (portrait by Kieran Beville)   A Limerick musician is using the power of music to support children affected by conflict around the world with the release of a new charity single. Peter O’Malley will release his latest track, Blood and Bone , on June 11, with all proceeds from downloads being donated to UNICEF to help children impacted by war. The song is a deeply personal project for O’Malley, who wrote, recorded, performed and produced the entire track himself from his home studio. Demonstrating a true independent spirit, he played all the instruments featured on the recording and oversaw every stage of its production. Speaking about the release of this poetic song, O'Malley said it was inspired by the devastating impact that armed conflicts continue to have on innocent children across the globe. “ Blood and Bone’ is my small way of t...
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