Opinion
Our terrifying Halloween night in a US jail!
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran Some years back our family spent Halloween night in jail! In a penitentiary to be precise. Little did I know when boarding a flight for New York that I, my wife and two daughters, would end up in the penitentiary in Philadelphia! Such, I suppose, are the vagaries of trans-Atlantic travel. …
Pensions, and reducing your tax liability
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR As the end of 2024 draws near, so too does the critical Revenue ‘Pay and File’ tax deadline. If you wish to reduce your tax liability for 2023, this is a great opportunity as pension contributions made before the deadline can significantly reduce your tax bill. But there are key …
Why are so many of our TDs quitting?
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON As the Autumn leaves come tumbling down, loosened by Storm Ashleigh, they seem just like the ongoing cascade of TDs leaving politics. The latest to fall from the Fine Gael tree is Minister Heather Humphries, bringing the total of Fine Gael TDs who will no longer be on …
Cleanmarine MenoMin rebranded
BY CLAIR WHITTY Menopause can come with a wide variety of symptoms, so many in fact that you can think you are going crazy. Over the years it has been put to me that all these symptoms cannot possibly be all the menopause. But the truth is, they can be. And this is because of …
With hope in our hearts, we will thrive…
THE LAST WORD By Pat Coughlan Hope, it’s the lifeblood that keeps us all pushing on. Would you agree? Maybe not but anyway without it, we’d be stuck in the mud, dragging our feet through every rut life throws at us. I’ve always seen hope as the spark that lights up our path, especially when …
Food for thought and thoughts of food
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran Autumn – season of mists and mellow fruitfulness –and if you live in this beautiful city of ours a season of marvellous menus, fabulous food, and wonderful presentations about food, of course, by celebrity chefs. Yes, It’s that time of year again, folks, Savour Kilkenny time when the Parade and the …
Some spooky takes on turnip and pumpkins
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Back in the day I remember my Granda turning a humble turnip into a lantern. The smell of that turnip burning from the inside out with a candle was something else — a smell that still sticks with me. But today, the pumpkin has stolen the show, becoming the very …
Why Irish apples are ripe for development
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Apples have quite a juicy reputation ranging from their temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden to their connection with immortality in Celtic mythology. Before burly pumpkins muscled in on the act, apples had a leading role in Halloween tradition: featuring apple bobbing, toffee apples and the …
The clocks go back … and time moves on
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Mark, the security man at my local supermarket, says: “It won’t be long now.” Mark is an affable gentleman, and sometimes the only human contact I might have in a day – he and the lovely Nichole at checkout. “Long ‘til when?” I say. “Christmas,” he says. …
Coolagh Pattern -1987
BY JOHN FITZGERALD PART ONE The day started unpromisingly, with black clouds threatening to unleash a deluge, but these gradually gave way to a clear blue sky and the balm of warm sunshine- real pattern weather, as the man on the gate put it. There was excitement among pattern committee men and women. Donnacha O’ Dualin, Radio Eireann’s noted folklorist …
