McKenny, John2011-02-022011-02-021996-101647-662Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.19/669The lowering clouds racing their shadows over meadows and hills, the foam -flecked waves of the swelling seas, the sudden deluge followed by crisp pellucid sunshine, the famous " soft-days". This everchanging climate plays a much greater rôle than most people realize in Irish affairs. There are mind-moulding forces at work in those grey swirling mists, coming in from the south-west Atlantic. It is from here that Europe gets most of her weather and Ireland much of her agriculture and hence her literally insular characteristics, amongst which a paradox is visible- we are a maritime race wich largely ignores the sea and lives off the land, with all the economic and character-forming consequences of this.porIrlandaIrelandjournal article