- Zelensky meets Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- Hello Hallyu: why is South Korean culture sweeping the globe?
- UK economy rebounds in August in boost to new govt
- Voice of Japan's beloved robot cat 'Doraemon' dies
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- 20 Pakistan coal miners shot dead in attack: police
- Blinken condemns China's 'increasingly dangerous' sea moves
- Toyota returns to Formula One as Haas partner
- EU chief says China must 'adapt its behaviour' to solve trade row
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- Lynx rally, stun Liberty in overtime in WNBA Finals opener
- Pogacar hunting 'perfect' season finale with Coppi's Il Lombardia record
- 'Soul of old Baghdad': city centre sees timid revival
- Kittle at the double as Niners hold off Seahawks
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Yankees advance in MLB playoffs as Guardians stay alive
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- Kamada says Japan can close in on World Cup place against Australia
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island
- Argentina held, Brazil leave it late in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Obama blasts 'crazy' Trump in first rally for Harris
- 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, a plea in favour of world order?
- Fry homers as Guardians down Tigers to stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Japan PM presses China's Li on airspace intrusion
- In Trump 'Truths,' conspiracies, attacks -- and doubts about the election
- How Sebastian Stan found a 'relatable' Trump for 'The Apprentice' biopic
- Panama's water wheel trash collector keeps plastic at bay
- It's still 'the economy, stupid,' says US political guru Carville
- Five key dates in the history of the America's Cup
- Zelensky to meet Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
Belief and hope in the pub of one of Ireland's last faith healers
Joe Gallagher is one of Ireland's last traditional faith healers, whose pub is visited by believers from across the country hoping for a cure for aches and pains, warts and rashes.
The 77-year-old former monk has even performed an exorcism.
Gallagher, who also runs The Pull Inn in the tiny village of Pollagh in central Ireland, sees himself as part of "a dying breed".
He is also a seventh son, which in Irish folklore traditionally meant someone likely to have supernatural or healing powers.
"Where do you have seven of a family now, never mind seven sons?" he said, with once common large families now a rarity in Ireland.
"There's nobody can afford to have seven children, and then it's just by luck if you have seven sons," he told AFP.
Belief in faith healers, curing charms and folk medicine is still a way of life for many in Roman Catholic-majority Ireland, if a fading one.
Every Sunday morning Gallagher's family offer cups of milky tea and biscuits to dozens of visitors who wait nervously in the bar.
"I'm praying for a miracle now, I'm 28 weeks' pregnant with my first child, but my baby's heart is in trouble," said Maryrose, 35, who said she travelled from distant Waterford.
Her 62-year-old mother said it was her "first time visiting a seventh son".
"I take medicine for high blood pressure, sometimes it works but more times it doesn't, so please God Joe might have a cure for me too," she said.
- 'The cure' -
The bespectacled Gallagher joined a Franciscan monastery in the 1960s but left when he was 25 as he was unable to work as a missionary abroad.
"Being a monk helped me with my faith," he said. "I have a strong belief in God and in prayer, there's nothing better than prayer," he said.
In 1971 he bought the pub, whose walls are adorned with photos of regulars and Gaelic football and hurling teams, and the entrance is topped by lucky horseshoes.
A blurry black and white photo shows a row of six brothers with a smiling Gallagher the youngest -- and last surviving -- in the line. Another brother, Oliver, died in infancy.
"When I was born the parish priest called to see my mother and said to her, 'This lad must have the cure, sure, isn't he the seventh son?'" he said.
To prove whether the infant Joe had "the cure", a worm was placed in his hand, and promptly died.
"From then on I've been doing the cures, long before I ever knew what I was doing, but as I grew up I realised I had this gift, and had to do it," he said.
Gallagher doesn't charge for his services but visitors can donate to a children's hospital if they wish.
Told never to refuse anybody, he was once asked to "do an exorcism" for a Polish man.
"That was frightening, it's not something I'd be happy to do too often," he said.
Inside the small living room where he receives visitors, religious items, crucifixes and vials of holy water look down from shelves.
After enquiring about the complaint, Gallagher places his hand on the affected area, rubs ointment and calls for divine help.
"Heal this little baby," he said, stroking the sole of an infant's foot as the father held the child.
"It's only a little touch of rash," he added soothingly.
- Hectic schedule -
Gallagher asks visitors to pray themselves and return three Sundays in succession, which makes for a hectic schedule.
"Sometimes people might have to come back more if it's not cleared up, but there's always an improvement," he said, adding that he has no intention to retire.
"I get a great feeling if somebody comes back to me and says, 'That worked, Joe', so why should I stop?"
For Dubliner Shane Brennan, 62, afflicted with joint pain and wincing with discomfort as he hobbled from the pub, "it's all about faith".
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe, now it's fingers crossed and pray to God, sure, what more can a man do?" he said.
"Faith healers offer something that is more than physical," Cecily Gilligan, author of a book on Irish traditional cures, told AFP.
"There is a psychological and spiritual dimension as well," she said.
"Even though huge changes have taken place in Irish society and religious observance has greatly declined, there is still something deep within people and when they need help they can turn to healers and the old cures," she said.
F.Bennett--AMWN