Your ancestors knelt in open fields to pray. Not because they had no church. Because someone had decided that practicing their faith was a criminal act. And they went anyway.
Under the Penal Laws of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Catholic worship was effectively banned in Ireland. Catholic churches were seized or destroyed. Catholic clergy faced imprisonment, transportation, or execution. The institutional structure of Irish Catholic life was systematically dismantled by a government that understood, correctly, that faith was the thing holding the Irish people together and that breaking it would break them.
It did not break them.
Mass rocks appeared across the Irish countryside. Flat stones on hillsides, in fields, at the edges of bogs, that became altars. Priests who had been trained in secret on the continent returned to Ireland and moved from townland to townland, saying Mass in the open air with lookouts posted to watch for soldiers. Entire communities gathered in wind and rain and cold to participate in something they had been told they were not permitted to do.
The punishment for attending was severe. The attendance was extraordinary.
Your ancestors were among those people. They knelt in a field in the rain because the alternative was letting someone else decide what they were allowed to believe, and that was not a concession the Irish were willing to make. Not then. Not ever.
The faith that runs in your family did not come from compliance. It came from defiance. From people who chose it when choosing it had consequences and kept choosing it every Sunday in every field for as long as the law said they couldn’t.
That is not religion. That is your bloodline refusing to be told who it is.
The Nobel Prize winning poet made his position unmistakably clear in 1983, responding to being labeled a British writer. Through his poem Open Letter, Heaney asserted his Irish identity with words that still resonate today:
“Be advised my passport’s green. No glass of ours was ever raised to toast the Queen.”
More than a line of poetry, it was a cultural statement. A reminder of Ireland’s distinct voice, history, and pride on the world stage.
Over 40 years later, those words continue to echo across generations
How Hanna Hats keeps Irish heritage alive through timeless style
A family-run Donegal brand blends tradition, craftsmanship, and everyday style to keep Irish heritage alive across generations.
A vintage-style cap from Hanna Hats of Donegal Ltd. Hanna Hats.
Their flat caps have become a lasting favorite because they are rooted in place, easy to wear, and built to last. For Irish Americans looking for something with both ancestry and everyday usefulness, Hanna Hats offers a clear Donegal connection with broad appeal.
Hanna Hats of Donegal Ltd has been handcrafting headwear in Donegal since 1924, and the company still describes its work as a family tradition carried forward across generations. On its site, they say each piece is made by hand in their Donegal workshop with locally sourced materials, while the heritage page notes that the business was expanded internationally and that the United States became its biggest market under John Hanna’s leadership.
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David Hanna, who established Hanna Hats in 1924.
Their signature look is the Vintage Cap Tweed, which the brand calls its best-selling tweed cap. The style captures the reason the label endures, since Hanna Hats describes it as “a timeless piece, worn for generations and treasured by many,” and the product page says its flat peak offers protection from rain, wind, and sun.
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Donegal Touring Cap from Hanna Hats.
That practicality is part of the charm. Their caps and hats move easily from jeans and a knit sweater to a suit, a wax jacket or wedding attire, which helps explain why the brand feels relevant far beyond nostalgia. Their linen caps are promoted for warm weather and formal occasions such as summer weddings, while styles like the Donegal Touring cap are presented as a slimmer, tailored option for modern wear.
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A skipper hat from Hanna Hats.
The Irish American connection also comes through in the way the brand is used as a gift. IrishCentral has featured Hanna Hats in its St. Patrick’s Day and Irish gift guides, underscoring how the company has become a familiar name for shoppers seeking something proudly Irish, useful and longstanding. That makes the brand especially meaningful for milestones, holiday giving and family occasions, where a cap can function as both a wardrobe staple and a keepsake.
Hanna Hats also leans into the poetry of place. The company says each creation is “a little piece of luxury from Donegal,” and that line neatly sums up its staying power for readers on both sides of the Atlantic. In a market crowded with fast fashion, they offer something sturdier, slower and more personal.
The family of murdered GAA official Sean Brown believe he was identified as a target at local level before his abduction and killing in 1997, according to remarks made during a recent meeting with an Irish-American delegation visiting the north of Ireland.
Clare Loughran, Mr Brown’s daughter, revealed her family’s suspicions during a briefing with a delegation from the US branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians on Monday.
Speaking at a briefing in Bellaghy, County Derry, Ms Loughran said the family suspect local involvement in the circumstances that led to her father (pictured, inset) being singled out.
Members of the US branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), on a 10-day fact-finding mission, met the Brown family alongside relatives including Mr Brown’s widow Bridie, now in her late 80s, and other family members (pictured).
Mr Brown, a former Bellaghy GAA chairman and a prominent local nationalist, was attacked as he locked the club gates. He was abducted by a Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) gang acting in evident collusion with the Crown forces. He was later shot dead near Randalstown, Co Antrim, on 12 May 1997. He was a father of six.
Intelligence linked to the case has indicated more than 25 individuals may have been associated with the murder, including several state agents.
His family have heavily criticised the British government for appealing court rulings that declared its refusal to hold a public inquiry into the killing unlawful.
During the AOH delegation visit, Ms Loughran said the rural community context made it difficult to understand how the gang had identified her father without local assistance. Her sister Siobhan Brown also accompanied delegates along what is believed to be the route used by the killers after the abduction.
The delegation was also told that material disclosed during an abandoned 2024 inquest contained heavily redacted documents, with one file including 58 completely blanked-out pages.
AOH spokesman Martin Galvin told the meeting that if a basic “gist of the truth” could not be provided in Sean Brown’s case, it raised wider questions about legacy justice for all families affected by the conflict. He said the group intended to raise the issue in the United States and in Congress as part of their advocacy.
Alongside the Brown family meeting, the delegation also heard from representatives involved in other legacy cases, including the Springhill-Westrock inquest, where families of victims of a British massacre have recently secured a date for a verdict following a long-running legal process.
The visit has drawn political criticism. DUP MP Gregory Campbell described the AOH delegation as a “deeply one-sided exercise.
Responding to the DUP MP’s criticism, Mr Galvin said: “Given Gregory Campbell’s attitude to Bloody Sunday victims murdered in his own city, it’s no surprise that he would be hostile to our delegation, which is here to support those families and the families of Sean Brown and the Springhill-Westrock massacre.”
The AOH delegation is expected to continue meetings with campaigners, legal representatives and political figures throughout their visit.
New report proposes way forward for exchange of US driver’s licenses in Ireland
The Irish-US Driver’s Licence Campaign has put forth proposals “to develop less burdensome approaches to facilitating driver’s license exchange” in Ireland.
The Irish-US Driver’s Licence Campaign has published a new report with major recommendations to create a “workable licence exchange system” between Ireland and the US.
The campaign, which was launched in 2025 and features prominent Irish and Irish Americans, says that the inability to exchange American driving licences for Irish ones impacts thousands of returning Irish citizens, as well as US citizens in Ireland for work, every year.
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As it stands in Ireland, a driver can exchange their driving license issued by certain ‘recognized states’ for an Irish driving license. The US is not among the recognized states.
Ireland also requires proof of normal Irish residency – at least 185 days per year – to renew Irish driver’s licenses. With Irish driver’s licenses carrying a maximum ten-year term, many Irish emigrants are eventually prevented from renewing their licenses after moving abroad.
As such, Americans moving to Ireland and Irish emigrants returning to Ireland must go through the full Irish driver licensing procedure to get an Irish driver’s license – even if they have a US driver’s license and or despite having been previously licensed in Ireland. In these instances, however, only six essential driver training (EDT) lessons are required instead of the usual 12 lessons.
(This procedure does not apply to US tourists – US citizens are permitted to drive in Ireland for the duration of a visit up to 12 months, but after that period would have to apply for an Irish license.)
Announcing the publication of the report this week, the Irish-US Driver’s Licence Campaign labeled the current process as “unnecessarily burdensome.”
However, the authors of the report believe that, following extensive review of current Irish and EU legislation, as well as Irish Statutory Instruments related to driving licence exchange, “it is possible to use the experience and current practices of other EU countries to develop less burdensome approaches to facilitating driver license exchange for our returning citizens.”
This report concludes that under Irish law, Ireland could exchange foreign licences unilaterally, without a reciprocal agreement.
Under Irish law, Ireland could, via amendment to Statutory Instrument No. 527 of 2007, add a country or state for the exchange of a foreign license unilaterally, without a reciprocal agreement.
The report stated that, based on review of what is being done in other EU countries, a unilateral license exchange process is practical and permissible by precedent under EU law. This unilateral license exchange process is in alignment with and is permissible by EU driving license Directive 2205 of 2025.
Ireland could reinstate expired Irish driving licences for holders of current licences from other countries, the authors further concluded.
Based on the findings, the report put forth three recommendations for Ireland’s Minister for Transport Seán Canney and the RSA.
The first is to “prioritise license exchange agreements with US states that already have reciprocal exchange agreements with other EU countries.”
It also recommends, via amendment to Statutory Instrument, to allow for unilateral and reciprocal foreign license recognition, as is the case in other EU countries, as well as allow for reinstatement of Irish driving licenses that have been expired for more than 10 years if the person holds a current license from another country.
The campaign, which is co-chaired by Ciarán Staunton and Karen McHugh, is due to present and discuss the report and its proposals to members of the Oireachtas on April 28.
Your ancestors knelt in open fields to pray. Not because they had no church. Because someone had decided that practicing their faith was a criminal act. And they went anyway.
A powerful stand for identity from Seamus Heaney
