The word ‘gombeen’ is the anglicised version of the Irish word ‘gaimbín’. The gombeen man is a despised figure in Irish history. It usually referred to shopkeepers who exploited their rural customers through extending credit at usurious rates to people in need. Over time however, the expression gombeen – in Ireland at least – has come to describe the activities of anyone who pursues personal gain (usually financial) by dubious means. In the book, we […]
Daily archives: May 8, 2016
The front cover illustration of our book ‘Gombeens at the Gate‘ is called Nights Candles are Burnt Out . It is a painting completed in 1929 by the Limerick artist Seán Keating (1889-1977) and depicts the ‘Shannon Scheme’ at Ardnacrusha. Here is Keating’s own description of the work according to the May 1932 edition of The Sphere magazine: “The title suggests that the dawn has come, when the dim candlelight of surviving medievalism […]