Gerard McDermott B.Sc. (Hons), AMRSC

Some things about me:I am a Chemistry postgraduate student, I have a degree in Applied Chemistry, in Dublin City University (D.C.U.). If you want to read more about DCU click here. I am aHUGELiverpool fan so if you are a Liverpool fan click here to go directly to the Official Liverpool Web site. For those of you that do not support Liverpool, you can find news about your favourite club here. I am also a Trekkie/Trekker, so to go to the StarTrek Web Site click here.

About this web site:I created this web site some time ago but, as I have no formal training in HTML or JAVA I never really made time to work on it until recently. Since I started teaching myself HTML, around the beginning of August 2000 I have done a lot of work just making what I think are little improvements to the site. I have included some pages where I intend to post My Pictures (beware DCU Postgrads). Also, when I get time, in My ReviewsI hope to review Games and other things that impress me! I have also included a Liverpool F.C. Page. which contains the results of all Liverpool games and transfers so far this season (2001/02) and last season . This page will be updated regularly. The selection box below should take you to whatever page you want to view in my site. Just make you selection and click go.

I have recently started creating web pages. If you would like to see what I sometimes do in my spare time then please visit the websites of Dublin City Univerity Chemical Research Society, Hassett and Fitzsimons and Byron & Woods.

McDermottThe surname MacDermot (and its variants McDermot / MacDermott etc.) comes from the Irish Mac Dhiarmada, "son of Dermot". Two separate derivations have been argued, one from dia, meaning "god" and armaid "of arms", the other from dí-fhormaid, meaning "unenvious". The individual from whom the surname is taken lived in the twelfth century, and was himself a direct descendant of Maelruanaidh Mór, brother of Conor, King of Connacht, the ancestor of the O'Connors, who ruled in the tenth century. Tradition has it that the two brothers came to an agreement that in return for surrendering any claim to the kingship of Connacht Maelruanaidh and his descendants would receive the territory of Moylurg, an area in the north of the modern Co. Roscommon taking in the catchment areas of the modern towns of Boyle and Frenchpark. For many centuries, their seat was a large castle on MacDermot's Island, in Lough Key just outside Boyle. The Moylurg branch remained powerful and influential in their homeland down to the final post-Cromwellian confiscations, when, in common with virtually all of the old Gaelic aristocracy, they were dispossessed of their ancestral lands. Unlike most of the others, however, the MacDermots of Moylurg did manage to salvage some of their old possessions. In the seventeenth century they moved to Coolavin, beside Lough Gara in the neighbouring Co. Sligo, where the line of descent from the original MacDermot chiefs remains unbroken. The current head of the family, known as "The MacDermot, Prince of Coolavin", and recognised as Chief of his Name by the Chief Herald of Ireland is Niall Mac Dermot.

Arms:The arms illustrated are those of the MacDermots of Coolavin. The presence of the boar's-head motif may be related to the well-known Irish romance Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne, "The pursuit of Dermot and Gráinne", in which Gráinne, betrothed to the hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill, elopes instead with Dermot. Fionn's pursuit of the lovers through the country ends when the great boar of Ben Bulben in Co. Sligo kills Dermot, or it could simply be because the boar was considered a symbol of potency and of unswerving and fierce determination. The lion is a later addition and would complement the already stated qualities of the boar. The cross is a clear affirmation of the piety and observance of Catholic values and virtues of the holder of the Coat of Arms.

Origin of name:The MacDermots are one of the few septs whose head is recognized by the Irish Genealogical Office as an authentic chieftain, that is to say he is entitled in popular parlance to be called The MacDermot; and in his case is enhanced by the further title of Prince of Coolavin. The family descends from Tadhg O'Connor, who was King of Connacht before the Norman invasion. The MacDermots divided into a few distinct septs. The most important sept, having precedence, is that of Coolavin, Co. Sligo, formerly of Moylurg, whose territory embraced much of Co. Roscommon; another important sept was called MacDermot Roe (i.e. Red). Madam MacDermot (1659-1739), of Alderford, wife of MacDermot Roe, was noted for her patronage of O'Carolan the harper at a time when aristocratic patronage of the bards was almost a thing of the past. O'Carolan was buried in the MacDermot family vault at Kilronan.

Variations:MacDermot, MacDermott, McDermot, McDermott, McDermitt, MacDiarmada, MacDormand, McDermont, McDerment, Darmody, Dermody, Dermid, Kermode, MacDermot Roe, MacDermottroe, McDurmon, Mulrooney