QUEEN'S VISIT - Britain's Queen Elizabeth has just finished a four-day official visit to Ireland, the first ever visit by a British Monarch to the Irish Republic. Dubbed by some as a "journey of reconciliation" and a "closing of the book", everyone appears to agree that the visit was a resounding success. The Queen visited various symbolic and historic sites in Dublin, Kildare, Tipperary and Cork, including Croke Park, the scene of a 1920 massacre by British troops, and Dublin's Garden of Remembrance, which honors those who fought for Irish freedom from British rule. At a State dinner in her honor, the Queen even spoke a few words in Irish, and in Cashel, she was greeted by a Sinn Féin representative! Read the text of President McAleese's speech at the formal state dinner, and that of Queen Elizabeth. See a gallery of photos taken during the visit or watch a short RTÉ video summary of the visit.

OBAMA VISIT - Next week, President Obama visits Ireland and on Monday he will speak at College Green, a three-sided "square" in the center of Dublin, an event which is expected to be attended by tens of thousands of people. He will also visit Moneygall, a small village in Co. Offaly which his great-great-great-grandfather left in 1851, and where he will probably meet some of his distant cousins. For the occasion, the 119 year-old Offaly Independent newspaper has temporarily changed its name to Obama Independent, while Moneygall has issued special T-Shirts with sayings like "ERIN GOBAMA" and "O'BAMA IS FEIDIR LINN" (Irish for Yes we Can)!

GARRET FITZGERALD - There will be a State funeral this weekend for former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Dr Garret Fitzgerald who has died at the age of 85. Fitzgerald served two terms as Taoiseach, from July 1981 to February 1982, and from December 1982 to June 1987. The highlight of his terms in office came in 1985 when he convinced Maggie Thatcher to sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave the Irish government, for the first time, a formal consultative role in the affairs of Northern Ireland. That ultimately led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

ABOLITIONIST RECOGNITION - Nettie Douglass, great-great-granddaughter of American abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass, recently laid a wreath at Daniel O'Connell's crypt in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery. Douglass visited Ireland in 1845 as part of a two-year lecture tour and spoke often of his admiration for O'Connell. Best known for his tireless efforts for Catholic emancipation, O'Connell was staunchly opposed to slavery and even refused to shake hands with slave owners.

OLYMPIC TORCH - Because of the demonstrations that followed the 2008 Beijing torch relay around the world, new International Olympic Committee rules specify that the Olympic torch must remain in the country hosting the games. However, because the Olympic Council of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland, it is likely that the Olympic torch for the 2012 Games in London will be carried from Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic and around Dublin. Assuming IOC approval is granted, non-Olympic sports such as GAA, rugby, and soccer will be involved.

FINUCANE INQUIRY - The British Government is expected to shortly announce a formal inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by Loyalist paramilitaries. British security forces are suspected of being involved in the killing.

SENIOR STUDY - A 10-year Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing shows that the majority of Irish people over the age of 50 are content with their lot, financially secure and looking forward to the future:

• The Irish population over 50 is 48% men and 52% women.
• Only 3.5% of Irish people over 50 use State-funded home help services.
• More than a quarter of Irish people over 50 volunteer at least once a month.
• 22% of Irish people over 50 have lived abroad for more than six months.
• Approximately 90% of Irish people over 50 visit with family and friends once a week or more.
• 97% of Irish people aged 80 or over have medical cards that exempt them from paying fees for primary care and hospital care. The figures are 91% for people in their 70s and 30% for those in their 50s.
• 70% of Irish people over 50 own their home and have finished paying off their mortgage, while 13% own a second home.
• A quarter of older Irish households gave a gift worth $7,000 or more to their children within the past decade.
• On the whole, Irish people over 50 perceive the aging process positively.

REDUCTIONS - An Irish government proposal calls for a reduction in the number of TDs (members of the Dáil) from the current 166, to about 146, to bring the number down to one TD for every 30,000 citizens (from one for every 25,000). The government is also considering completely abolishing Seanad Éireann, the 60-member upper house of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).

JOBS PROGRAM - The Irish diaspora is being invited to participate in a jobs creation initiative that will reward those who come up with successful ideas for jobs. The scheme involves a finder's fee of $4,250 for every job created in Ireland which lasts at least two years. The scheme is aimed at tapping the potential of small and medium enterprises around the world, especially in the USA.

THRIVING IRISH - The Gallup global wellbeing survey for 2010 ranked Ireland 10th in the world among people who regard themselves as thriving, two spots ahead of the US. Nearly two-thirds of Irish people (62%) rated themselves as thriving, compared to 76% saying they were thriving in 2007. Gallup claims its annual survey covered 98% of humanity.

CENSUS - Ireland's census of an estimated 1.8 million households was held on Sunday, April 10. In addition to asking about age, religion and occupation, the questionnaire also included questions about nationality, relationships to others in the house, languages spoken and methods of travelling to work.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES - Among the names being mentioned as possible candidates for election in this October's Irish Presidential race are those of Seán Kelly, currently a Member of the European Parliament and former GAA President, and also John Bruton, the former Taoiseach who was Grand Marshal of Seattle's St. Patrick's Day Parade in 2007.

MUSEUM AWARD - Dublin's Glasnevin Museum was recently named the Best International Museum at an awards ceremony in London. The three-storey building on the grounds of Glasnevin Cemetery hosts exhibitions that cover, among other things, records of the 1.5 million people buried in Glasnevin since 1832, burial practices and religious beliefs, and special exhibitions on key historical figures.

COLLEGE GREEN - The Irish government wants Bank of Ireland to hand over its historic bank building on Dublin's College Green for use as a major tourist attraction. Built in 1739, the building began life as the first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house in Europe. It was Ireland's Parliament Building until the Irish parliament was abolished by the Act of Union in 1800 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The impressive building exterior is matched inside by huge tapestries of the Battle of the Boyne and the siege of Derry, and a 1,233-piece crystal chandelier dating from 1788.

STORY-TELLING - Everyone has an Irish story to tell and now you can share it in poetry or prose at writing.ie. The Tell Your Own Story section invites anyone with an Irish connection to share their family stories of emigration past and present, of settling in a new culture, the highs and lows, etc.

HISTORY ARCHIVES - Boston College has been subpoenaed by the US attorney general's office to release information collected in an oral history project about the conflict in Northern Ireland. The subpoena is in response to a request from Northern Ireland police for information about charges that current Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams led an IRA unit in the 1970s and 1980s that was involved in abductions. More than 50 republican and loyalist paramilitaries gave detailed interviews to Boston College based on the academic guarantee that details would not be disclosed until after their deaths.

PRESIDENTIAL ODDS - Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, Ireland's largest bookmaker slashed the odds on President Obama winning reelection from 4-7 to 2-5. Paddy Power says that Obama now has a 71% probability of winning four more years in the White House and he also quotes odds on other Presidential candidates.

O'TOOLE AWARD - Irish actor and Hollywood legend Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole has been immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Born in Connemara in 1932, O'Toole received eight Academy Awards nominations. According to London's Daily Mail, he was offered an honorary knighthood by the Queen in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons.

RI EXONORATION - The Rhode Island House of Representatives has voted to clear the name of John Gordon, an Irish immigrant hanged for murder in 1845. The public was so appalled by the anti-Irish bigotry of Gordon's 1845 trial that in 1852 the state abandoned capital punishment forever, making Gordon's hanging the last ever execution in Rhode Island.

IRISH RAIL - Ireland's Railway system plans to offer cheaper fares for those who book far in advance, and will offer some zero or €1 fares on certain routes. On the other hand, last-minute customers will be charged extra. Competition has heated up as Ryanair offers cheaper and cheaper flights especially on the Cork-to-Dublin route.

160TH ANNIVERSARY - The Irish-born inventor of the submarine, John Philip Holland, was celebrated recently at an event in the North Monastery CBS School in Cork where he was a Christian Brother teacher. Born in Co Clare in 1841, it was in Cork that he began experimenting with submarine models in the school's ornamental pond. He left the Christian Brothers in 1873 and emigrated to New Jersey where in 1875 he submitted his first submarine design to the US Navy.

GENEALOGY RECORDS - A new web site named Ireland Genealogy contains transcriptions of the hand-written Pension Records which provide information from the 1841 & 1851 censuses of Ireland. These pension records are only available on microfilm and are held in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (in Belfast) and The National Archives (in Dublin). For a fee, the new web site allows a search by surname.

NATIONAL ANTHEM - The copyright on Ireland's National Anthem expires in 2012, 70 years after the author's death. It was composed in 1907 by Peader Kearney who died in 1942. Originally written in English as The Soldier's Song, it is now best-known for its Irish-language version Amhrán na bhFiann. The music was composed by Patrick Heeney, and Liam Ó Rinn translated the lyrics into Irish.

NO CHRISTIANS - After a complaint by an Irish priest, the European Commission has apologized for printing and distributing school diaries that make no reference to Easter or Christmas. 330,000 copies of the 2010/2011 Europa Diary were printed which note Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Chinese festivals but no Christian holidays. A commission official admitted the omission was a "blunder", and a one-page correction was sent to all schools listing the main public holidays in every EU member state.

MANY FIRSTS - The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady, attended the royal wedding in London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, another first in a long line that includes him being the first Catholic Archbishop of Armagh to attend a Church of Ireland general synod and the installation of a Presbyterian moderator. He was also the first Catholic Archbishop of Armagh to meet members of the Orange Order as well as loyalist paramilitaries, and he was the first to meet the Rev Ian Paisley!

PASSENGER LISTS - A US ship's passenger list prior to 1850 provides the name of each person on the ship, their age, relationship to the head of the family, occupation, and country of origin. Later lists will give the precise place of birth, a physical description, and many other genealogically significant details. More information at Rootsweb.Ancestry.com.

GIANT STAG - A set of antlers from the extinct Great Irish Deer, also known as the Irish Elk, was sold at auction recently for $50,000. The antlers, with a span of 11.5 feet, were found in a bog in the 19th century and are thought to date back at least 12,000 years. The Irish Elk became extinct about 11,000 years ago.

THE "WORLDS" - In its 41st year, Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne or the World Irish Dancing Championships, were held recently in Dublin and 4,500 dancers from 30 countries attended, accompanied by teachers, family and friends. A large number of the dancers participating had no previous links to Ireland, but were enticed into Irish dancing by Riverdance!