Opinion

BY JOHN FITZGERALD (Part One) Farmers kept the country “fed and watered” throughout the Emergency years (1939-45). So recalled Nell Leahy. They coped better than most urban dwellers with the wartime restrictions and shortages, she confirmed, being well used to riding bikes or pony and traps in preference to motor cars, having their own meat …

FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran This year marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Thom McGinty, The Diceman, who died at the untimely age of 42. Thom was renowned on the streets of Dublin in the 1980s and early 1990s for his outrageous costumes and poses; he was also a regular visitor to Kilkenny when …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR From rural Tipperary to running Stripe, a $100 billion payments giant, Patrick Collison is a proud Irish success story. In March he told a US congressional committee that stablecoin, a digital currency tied to real money like the dollar or euro, could make the US dollar the top dog in …

BY CLAIR WHITTY There are eight B-complex vitamins, and they are known either by their numerical name or another name for example B1 is Thiamin, B2 is Riboflavin. Vitamin B1, Thiamin plays a critical role in energy metabolism, and therefore, in the growth and development of cells. Vitamin B2, Riboflavin is a key component of …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Cross the Border into the North and things change. For one thing your average life expectancy will be two years less in the North, you will have far less chance of having Third Level education – in the South we are just about the most educated nation in …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Ted: “I never miss the Lovely Girls Festival. My absolute favourite time of year. How is Miss Lovely Girl doing?” Organiser Fr Damo: “Ted, we had to strip her of her title. We found out she’d been in a film called Stallion Farm…” Fr Ted, chuckling: “I …

FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran We all love a good story and here’s a great one. It came to me from Mike Kelly (see below) the founder of the marvellous Young Irish Film Makers. In 1985 two boys from Darndale in Dublin, Keith Byrne (10) and Noel Murray (13), made headlines around the world when they …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Every year The Economist magazine ranks countries by wealth. This year Ireland was not included. Why? Our numbers are “polluted by tax tricks,” they said. Big companies like Apple and Google funnel profits through Ireland using legal tax strategies, making our economy look richer than it is. On paper, Ireland’s …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Decisions, decisions…. life is full of them, tea or coffee, walk or drive – mostly the mundane kind. Some of them are harder, like the ability to say ‘no’, something that we aren’t necessarily good at doing. The Presidential election provides interesting issues about saying ‘no’, as would-be …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS While we are, as a society, noted for our welcoming nature, every so often, and more often of late, we find ourselves badly wanting when it comes to being the land of Cead Mile Failte. Racism is a reality here. We may not be seeing an out-and-out …