Opinion

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR First Holy Communions and Confirmations are upon us again marking not only a spiritual milestone but also an opportunity to encourage financial literacy in our children. The amount of money children receive is mind-blowing, into the thousands in many cases representing their biggest financial windfall to date and providing parents …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON It’s that time of year again, time to go wild and think about the birds and the bees, especially the bees. In Britain No Mow May is set to silence the seasonal whirring of lawn mowers – well some of them. Here the No Mow movement has the …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS A week may well be a long time in politics but my recent week went far too fast. The week my son and his American wife and my two granddaughters came to visit – the first time I had seen them in almost two years. Madeleine (6) …

BY JOHN FITZGERALD (Part one) A few months ago I recounted how Callan man Seamus O’ Brien, a future newspaper correspondent, took the train with friends to Dublin for the famous Thunder and Lightning All-Ireland of 1939. While the storm had been belting away over Dublin that day, the Dail was in session to tackle the deadly …

BY CLAIR WHITTY Are you studying for exams, and worrying about all the information you will need to recall? This is a common problem that we get asked about at this time of the year. You are not alone in this. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, inadequate diet, not drinking enough water, and simply …

THE LAST WORD By Pat Coughlan Asthma in Ireland is a silent struggle, often overshadowed in the policy landscape. Despite its prevalence, the Government has yet to formally recognise asthma as a disability, leaving many without the support they desperately need. Politicians, both local and national, ignore the issue. This oversight not only limits access …

Furthermore By Gerry Moran We don’t normally talk about the Pope in the pub. Soccer, rugby, horses, hurling – yes. But the Pope – no. One night in March 2013, however, was an exception. That night we had a new Pope. It was Wednesday night, the night the Pope was elected, so we were ‘full …

BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank (ECB) may sound like welcome news for mortgage holders but for those looking for a new home in Kilkenny and across Ireland it’s not all good. Despite ECB Governor Christine Lagarde’s previous comments that rate reductions might slow, escalating global tensions, …

AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON We have an epidemic of gender-based violence, with horrifying reports of violence, coercive control, rape and murder almost on a daily basis. We have an ongoing housing crisis, where the Government seems incapable of providing affordable homes for a generation that are priced out the market. But what …

THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Gen Z come in for a lot of flack, unfairly perhaps, being often considered by older generations as timid and privileged. One recent European survey found that 40 per cent of employers prefer not to hire Gen Z workers because they find them to be ill-prepared for …