Online Irish genealogy

Instead of getting plastered on green beer this St Patrick's day, you could spending your time hunched over a screen doing genealogy.  Ancestry.ca announces free access to a slew of Irish-related family records between now and March 21 at this link here.

Also Irish-y is Thomas Keaneally's new play about Irish convicts on their way to Australia, which Bruce Chatwick of History News Network (right here) (  seems to be down at this moment -- google it) thinks is pretty terrific historical drama.

Image source (via Google images)