Opinion
Janet… and The Only Way Out Is In
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran Saturday, October 10 is World Mental Health Day, a day intended to raise global awareness, end mental health stigma and advocate for better mental health support systems. Just three days before World Mental Health Day, Janet E Sahafi will launch her new novel which is based around this very subject – …
Don’t shut the door on your mortgage arrears
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR One of the headlines last week said more than 12,000 mortgage accounts had fallen into arrears for the first time. That is not quite what the Central Bank of Ireland published. At the end of June there were 12,315 family-home mortgages in what the bank calls early arrears, behind by …
Diana: Earl Spencer’s lament for his sister
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON The death of Princess Diana on August 31, 1997 is a date that, like the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, people recall where they were when they heard the devastating news. The tragedy of her death after a high-speed chase by paparazzi in the Pont de …
The goal of a level playing pitch
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS A week can be a long time in politics, but within three days in the world of sport a lot can happen. Just three days after Katie Taylor bowed out after a lifetime of glorious achievement, Sports Minister Patrick O’Donovan was once again talking of a “realistic” …
Seasonal Tips for Kids- Ears, Nose, and Throat
BY CLAIR WHITTY As the seasons change and everyone gets back into the rhythm of school, creche, and family routines, it’s worth having a few simple essentials in your cupboards so that you are prepared. Children can be unsettled by minor ear, nose and throat complaints, and a blocked nose, tickly cough or irritated throat …
Thanks for the memories…
By John Fitzgerald Callan had an impressive line-up for this year’s Heritage festival. Two retired Mercy sisters gave a tour of the former convent chapel, a building hailed in the National Inventory of Architecture as a structure of Regional Importance due to its exquisite stone masonry, Gothic Revival design, and features that include ornate terracotta, …
Car, heating, the mortgage… all driven up
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Diesel has gone above €2 a litre at many petrol stations. The AA puts the extra cost for a typical driver at around €235 a year. Home heating oil is up 44% on the year. A 1,000-litre fill is about €550 dearer than last winter. Food, for once, is relatively …
We must lift children out of poverty
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Child poverty sounds like a phrase which should belong back in Victorian times in tales like Charles Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’ or involve Tom the dirty chimney sweep in Charles Kingsley’s ‘Water Babies’. Hungry orphan Oliver has to live by his wits as a thief, while the luckless Tom …
Freedom and the price that comes with being wired up
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS It was the French philosopher Descartes who declared, “I think, therefore I am.” Today, it would be more apt to declare, “I am wired, therefore I am.” Today if you are not wired, you do not exist for those who are. Like radio and television in the …
The “Busiest Street in Town”
By John Fitzgerald (Part four) Concluding the story of Callan (with a special focus on Upper Bridge Street) in Seamus O’ Brien’ s youth. Parts one, two and three can be read elsewhere on the Observer website In number twenty-six Upper Bridge Street lived a Mrs. Shelly and her son, Jack. Mrs. Shelly’s maiden name …
