Mad about Monaghan

19/03/2026

It's been an unimaginable journey since March 2021.
To all the Mam members, thank you for your belief and faith in me to deliver on my vision. Ye made it happen.
To those key people who were there from the GetGo and offered huge moral support. Ye know who you are. Míle buíochas.
To the who afforded us massive national exposure.
To all those supporters in USA and UK, The Irish Embassy in Washington, Consulate in Chicago, thank you.

Remembering at this time, two Monaghan icons, Paddy Cole and Sean Rocks, who we lost in 2025, who were SO supportive of our journey. And the €15,000 we were able to donate to the Mater Hospital, Dublin as Proceeds from Showcase Monaghan.

Mad About Monaghan made a difference.
It allowed Monaghan to be presented to a national and international audience, which created an unprecedented interest in visiting and holidaying in our county since July 2021. It brought huge revenue into the accommodation, hospitality and retail sector and promoted our many natural amenities across the county. And still continues to this day.

Most of this achieved on a tiny budget of membership of 84 members...in year one. It carried on without any membership revenue since start of 2023...with a little help from the Mammy!

It will be great to witness the fruits of new initiatives from Failte Ireland and Monaghan County Council...as Monaghan continues to ignite interest as a destination of choice.
Thank you all. I hope you all enjoyed following the Mam Project journey. Sure, aren't we all MAD about MONAGHAN??
It would be great if you might share this finall post.

Farewell and Up Monaghan!!

11/03/2026

Is was only meant to be a lockdown project for couple of months, beginning in March 2021.
Five years on, Monaghan County has received so much exposure, promotion and an incredible uplift of inward visitor numbers to our fine wee county.
Timing is everything. And as launched a national campaign to find the Best Place to Live in Ireland in June 2021, that opened a huge opportunity to sell the virtues of Monaghan nationwide and further afield. Im a daily reader of the Irish Times.
Monaghan town and Glaslough made the shortlist. We beat Kinsale. Galway. Dunmore East and many famous locations in Ireland
Glaslough made it to the final five and the only inland location ..the other four were coastal.
Waterford city were worthy recipients.
No large €€ budget could have paid for the exposure we got from that competition.
Every weekend I put up a video of the competition to encourage everyone to vote for their preferred Monaghan location stating what was so great about it.
We had more submissions into the Irish Times competition than Dublin Galway n Limerick combined.
Power in numbers.
That summer of Staycation 2021, thousands n thousands of visitors flooded into county Monaghan.
It continued thru autumn, into winter 2021 and all through 2022, as people all across the country started taking an interest in Monaghan.
Then RTE Nationwide came calling in Februray 2022.
What began as discussion about a 12 minute segment on one Nationwide episode about Monaghan....25 mins into the conversation and we were looking at an entire week: Monday. Wednesday and Friday.
That was HUGE for us. The Monday night show started with myself and my camera phone travelling around, making videos and taking photos of very cool and interesting places and people doing amazing things across the county
Reasons to visit. Our fabulous natural amenities. Brilliant price friendly hospitality and great activities to enjoy.
I will follow up PART TWO as a video farewell over the next few days.
This was and continued to be a voluntary project. I thank all those businesses who supported with love and pride in their county. We sure did make a huge positive difference.

24/12/2025

Christmas greetings from Monaghan to all our friends here at home....but more importantly all our Monaghan diaspora all over the world.
Its a beautiful Christmas eve here in Monaghan.
Stay safe and well and enjoy this Christmas 🎄 wherever you are in the world.

16/12/2025

A very sad week.
End of a very long and illustrious era.
Thursday this week will see the very last ever edition of the Northern Standard.
It served as the principal communicator of all Monaghan news. The good. The not-so-good and the incredible!!

We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone associated with the NS, including the Printery ...
over the past 186 years.

It's not just sad. It's a grim reflection on how modern life is moving into the cloud...in this case the clouds.

Míle Buíochas Peter Hughes and all the team, present and past.

23/11/2025

What talented sister n brother we have here ....Eve and Rían McElvaney here at
RÍAN has invented a non chemical paint....un Real!!.
Hughies Christmas market opening today at 3pm til 7pm
Make an afternoon either before or after the Christmas lights go on in Monaghan town

30/10/2025

It happened!! I got to meet Keanu Reeves
It was an amazing night of theatre in New York last night. Came to see my cousin, Michael Patrick Thornton onstage in the Hudson Theatre, performing alongside Keanu Reeves in Sam Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
Michael's Granny was my auntie Mae ...who hailed from Rossmore Park in Monaghan and moved to Chicago many years ago. His mum, Rita, also in these photos with Keanu.
Michael, as a young boy came home to Monaghan most years on his holidays.
He is a wheelchair bound actor.
The play was staggering both in performance and staging. Keanu on stage really awesome...think better thsn film..as for my cousin....immense performer..
What a thrill to meet both Michael Patrick and Keanu Reeves.

12/10/2025

What a wonderful wrap to an amazing week. Its been my privilege to host the Mulcahy family here at Lynster House since Wednesday.
What an awesome couple are Miriam and Denis with an equally awesome family..and what an Immeasurable legacy they have gifted so many thousands of people both here and in the US.
Special mention to Catherine Flood without whose steadfastness and determination to get the Project Children archives homed now in Monaghan Peace Campus, it most likely would never have happened.
Hats off to you, Catherine.
Monaghan certainly pulled out all the stops for the 360 plus USA visitors who spent most of this past week in Monaghan certainly were given a mega immersion experience of many of our wonderful amenities and special gems.
Im sure you all have seen so much footage on the various platforms and pages.
For me, it was an honour to host this amazing family headed by two incredible people, Mariam and Denis Mulcahy.
See you all in Greenwood Lake in 2026.

08/10/2025

RTE news this eve. Fantastic...
NYPD

08/10/2025

Let the celebrations begin....Project Children this evening with The Garda Band and The NYPD EMERALD society pipe and drm band.
Check out Projrct Children on Google to see line up of the next 3 days of jammed packed activities ...and a special salute to Denis Mulcahy whose vision it was to bring ...what eventually turned out to be 23,000 Children ftom Northern Ireland to USA on summer holidays to get away from the troubles in the north during the 70s 80s n early nineties.
NYPD Emerald Society

13/09/2025

10/09/2025

Legends couple tonight. Susan and Seamus McKenna ....celebrating with family in friends in Glaslough tonight
Whoop whoop