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Spring has definitely sprung in Ireland, and the Pickings are better than ever. Don't forget, too, that we always need your suggestions. If there's a cool Irish site you think our team should see, email your suggestions to editor Sheila McDonald -- and don't forget to include the site's address. Click here if you only want to view this month's list of sites.
It's May, and that means just one thing in Kinvara, Co. Galway: it's time for Fleadh na gCuach, or the Cuckoo Festival, to you and me. This traditional Irish music and community arts festival is in its sixth year and lasts until Monday May 3rd. The Fleadh is just one of the events catalogued on the useful new Kinvara Guide, which includes information on local history, attractions and more. Read the full text of recent local newsletters, check out Kinvara golf course maps, or browse the beautiful gallery of Kinvara images. The site is one of a new genre of local Irish portals: if it's local and you need it, you'll find it here.
The Celtic Tiger may be in full roar, but at least one shrewd group of writers thinks the current cozy consensus needs a bit of shaking up. The Irish Tiger is the second in a series of spoofs of the Irish Times on the Web. This time, the spoofsters have taken on the new Ireland.com portal site featured in last month's Picks. The Irish Tiger not only pokes fun at the technical problems experienced by the new site (see the fake Javascript error messages), but also takes on everything from the peace process ("Deadlock over talks about talks about talks about talks about talks") to Irish prosperity in the light of the Balkan conflict: "A team of donkeys carrying tents supplied by the UN finally arrived in the mountain village of Maghi Bashti in eastern Albania at the weekend," reads one story. "But when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping....The latest spring bargains and stylish accessories are featured in our WELL & OFF section."
Whether it's woolly or feathered, animal or insect, you'll find the wildlife of Ireland at the colourful new WildIreland site. Students will probably get the most value from the site, but it's also packed with information for anyone with a casual interest in the local environment. An interactive, encyclopedic section provides drop-down menus leading to fact sheets on birds, plantlife, mammals, lichen and much more. The Wild Shop also stocks a selection of recommended books, from A Bug's Life to A Beginner's Guide to Ireland's Seashore. You can also find up- to-date weather and tidal forecasts, complete with satellite photos. Super stuff!
Contrary to the images the media portrays from motor sport finish lines, women don't have to be in bathing suits or busty dresses in order to have a place on the race track. Read here about mold-breaking racecar driver Sarah Kavanagh, check out her race reports, or learn about the history of women in Formula 1. The site needs further updates on Kavanagh's races, but it does include a cool Webcam, plus an updated discussion board for fans and wellwishers.
On a sober note, finally: if you've suffered from sexual harassment, child abuse or rape, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre can help. Clearly laid out, the site includes definitions to help you figure out whether you've been assaulted, plus explanations of hard-to-understand phenomena like marital rape, date rape and male rape. The Centre has a 24-hour support telephone line, and the sobering statistics and other data that are posted online are drawn from there. If you want to find out more information on your own, check out the links to groups that the Centre has set up working relationships with, including the Samaritans, the Gardai and the Rotunda Hospital's Sexual Assault Treatment Centre.