News

AFTER an already challenging year for companies, small businesses are being urged to refocus their minds on Brexit ahead of the December 31 deadline. Irrespective of what happens in talks between the UK and the EU, the transition period expires and that will change Ireland’s trading position with the UK. This means any business that …

Review by Jimmy Rhatigan IT’S a fascinating journey down Memory Lane, Talbot’s Inch Village to be precise, on the periphery of our city, with a focus on Lady Desart and Otway Cuffe. A book just published by O’Dwyer Books, College Gardens, written by Michael O’Dwyer, is exactly what we would expect from a great historian, …

OUR workers deserve a minimum pay of €12.30 an hour, Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion told The Observer. She was speaking after the contradictory position taken by the Government in denying a decent pay increase to low paid workers but gifting Junior Ministers with highly paid advisers. The Government-appointed Low Pay Commission could only manage a …

MACDONAGH Junction Shopping Centre has announced the introduction of autism-friendly retail hours. Aim of is to ensure a more inclusive shopping experience by regulating and reducing the amount of sensory stimulation taking place for people with autism. Reduced noise and lighting levels, priority seating, online social stories and the availability of ear defenders are among …

By Jimmy Rhatigan WHAT WAS our country’s most famous cottage industry? All kinds of everything will be mentioned including pig rearing, knitting and country butter making. These and many more would have been hugely popular but the one to hit the jackpot and maybe the pee-pot was the wonderful, if frowned on occupation of poitíin …

IT MAY be a contradiction but sadly it is also a reality. Our dithering Government has become a playground for perfectionists of imperfection. Ideas may have been thrown around with good intention but for the most part ended up in chaos. Crazy cock-ups since the formation of Government have been akin to a groom who …

WHEN politicians knock on doors seeking our votes they stop short of telling us they love us. But when it comes to any distribution of goodies, we are at the back of the queue as they mop up another generous wage hike. What we are putting up with is nothing short of reprehensible. The lads …

THIS YEAR has been like no other. How we live our lives has changed drastically and breastfeeding support is no exception. When the country locked down, La Leche League (LLL) responded, hosting its first virtual meeting on March 18. Since then, there have been close to 200 meet-ups, almost daily, on a wide variety of …

MRS MURPHY breaks the habit of a lifetime today. “All of my life I have admired young people and love their company but for the first time ever I am really disappointed with some of them who I feel are letting themselves and their families down badly. “As a young girl I loved to mix …

HIGH STREET business woman Ann Ryan of RJ Ryan Electrical has celebrated a special birthday. The woman who for decades has been so kind to those who may have been going through bad times was delighted that so many of her friends called to wish her well. Saturday signalled 70 years and the daughter of …