Opinion

BY NED EGAN Part 2 – his nose pointed towards the cold Northern sky: “Buhrrd!” he growled, warningly. The children stopped their game – and their eyes followed his nose, his hard stare. They finally spotted – long after Doggo – against the dirty washing lines of threatening clouds – a ducking and swerving object. …

FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran Do you know what I hate? I hate it when people start a conversation with: “I hate to tell you this but you missed…a great match…show…performance…”. Whatever. Be that as it may but I hate to tell you all that, unless you were in St John’s Priory, the Lantern of Ireland …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Met Eireann at time of writing is advising of plummeting temperatures with snow and sleet forecast for some areas with the danger that homeowners could face bills running into the tens of thousands, or more, if a burst pipe causes damage to their home in the upcoming Big Freeze – …

AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON A lot of Christmas is about memories and tradition. We were busy making a Christmas cake in a cookery class where I volunteered as a helper last week. “Were you ever told not to slam doors when the cake was in the oven?” I asked “Oh yeah, you’d be …

BY CLAIR WHITTY Christmas is coming and most of you will be looking for gift ideas. I recently wrote about buying practical gifts, shopping local and buying online from Irish websites. But, what about going one step further and buying Irish brands. I think you’d be surprised how much you’ll find. By shopping local, buying …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER PAUL HOPKINS Back in the Eighties there was hardly a red-blooded Irish male who was not in love with the wonderful Sally O’Brien and “the way she might look at you” from across the crowded local pub come Christmas week and everyone having the craic as only we Irish know …

BY NED EGAN In Irish legend Leprechauns bury pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, but since a rainbow can only be seen at a distance, the gold is forever illusive – and elusive. In Greek and Roman mythology, Iris – the Goddess of the Rainbow – was one of the messengers of …

By John Fitzgerald The Beer Festival dancer whose performance I described last week told admirers that he only did his Cossack act when he had passed a certain threshold in the course of a given night’s drinking. His exact words, rightly deemed inapt for publication in a local newspaper, were “I dance like f…when I’m …

FURTHERMORE  By Gerry Moran I am in Wales visiting family. I am in Wales on Friday, November 25 in my son’s sitting-room watching the World Cup, Wales versus Iran with my grandson and granddaughter, ages three months and three years respectively, along with my daughter-in-law, a tad older! I am waving a Welsh flag. I’m …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR The most recent tax statistics for the year 2021 have been released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). According to the report COVID-19 restrictions impacted some tax revenues in 2020 but in 2021 we see a return to more normal tax receipts. A total of €93 billion in tax was collected …