Ten reasons pets improve mental wellbeing
BY ANDREW MCDONALD HYPNOTHERAPIST Pets reduce anxiety: Studies have shown that playing with animals, even just for five minutes, helps fight stress hormones. This makes having a pet, particularly one you can engage with physically, a powerful aid for anxiety sufferers. Cats and dogs v depression: Serotonin and dopamine, the body’s own calming and pleasure …
Explore the Aran Islands this summer
Doolin Ferry Co. ‘Cruise Company of the Year Ireland’, has set sail for the summer season, with their state-of-the-art ferries operating once again from Doolin Pier to the Aran Islands. Passengers can also opt to board a Cliffs of Moher cruise, or the thrilling Seafari experience, which was introduced in 2021. With the popularity of …
Moves to stop over-pricing at New York airports
A lot of Irish tourists who visit New York City to see family or just explore the Big Apple expect to pay a little more for things in the city that never sleeps. And most travellers have at least one story where they have paid a ridiculous amount of money for a stale sandwich or …
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
By Ned Egan Dust. We are surrounded by it. ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if God doesn’t get you, the Divil must,’ we used to sing at school playtime. There’s a great book called ‘A Handful of Dust.’ Then there is the dust of our ancestors, dead and gone. The dust of a thousand …
An income protection plan that works for you
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Income protection is the most tax efficient means to provide an income should you become ill or have an accident and be unable to earn. Who would pay for your mortgage, gas, electric, phone, food, children’s education, car payments, holidays, insurance, pension, home repairs etc, if your income dried up …
Creativity, and finding your everyday nugget
AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON The thing about working as a journalist is that you spend lots of time trying to have bright ideas about things to write about. Some of the ideas may not be so bright and are likely to shot down by critical editors with remarks like: “People don’t want to …
Bogged down in dealing with rising fuel poverty
THE FACT OF THE MATTER PAUL HOPKINS There I was, barely knee-high, struggling to put on my underpants on a bitterly cold winter’s morn, crouched down over the one-bar electric fire. And then walking to school, in short trousers, my knees exposed and eventually chapped. That was the norm back then. At night my dear …
A rocky road to Dublin
BY NIALL SHERRY SPORTS EDITOR ALL PIX: DANNY LAHART Cats look to end Dub’s unbeaten run Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Saturday May 14th Parnell Park, 7pm Kilkenny will look to bounce back from their narrow defeat to Galway, when they take on Dublin in Parnell Park tomorrow evening (throw-in 7pm). The race to be …
BY NIALL SHERRY SPORTS EDITOR ALL PIX: DANNY LAHART Cats hang on to claim Leinster title in Carlow cracker O’Neills.com Leinster GAA U20 Hurling Championship Final Netwatch Cullen Park, Monday 9th May Kilkenny 1-13 Wexford 0-15 With the clock having reached 64 minutes, a sideline cut was sent in and around the house by Wexford …
Premises taken over as Civil War erupts in Kilkenny city
In early May 1922, nearly two months prior to the official beginning of the Civil War, Kilkenny anti-Treaty IRA units took over 15 buildings in Kilkenny City, most notably St Canice’s Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle. This week, The Kilkenny Observer in conjunction with Cois Céim and The Saturday Walkers group, take a closer look at …
