holiday over which the ‘owners’ of the festival, the Irish people, would stand proud. It sets out to reflect the talents and achievements of Irish people on many national and world stages, and it acts as an exciting showcase for the manifold skills of the people of Ireland, of every age and social background.news, latest-news

A shock funding cut has forced the Australian War Memorial to cancel its travelling exhibitions. The exhibitions, including one to commemorate the centenary of World War I, were part of the memorial's program to take exhibits to people around Australia who could not travel to Canberra. Director Brendan Nelson said late on Monday the memorial had decided to halt "its popular and successful travelling exhibitions program immediately" due to budgetary cuts. The exhibitions being dropped include Remember Me: The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt, Ben Quilty: After Afghanistan, Nurses: From Zululand to Afghanistan, A Camera on Gallipoli and Reality in Flames. "After 17 years of its co-sponsorship, the Department of Veterans' Affairs informed the memorial last week that it has found it necessary to cease funding the travelling