Few of us can remain unaffected in the presence of a dog. Maybe it’s their loyalty that draws the eye or possibly some mischief that they have gotten up to, but our canine companions never fail to make an impact.

It must be all of sixty years ago that the first cracks appeared in that great bastion of male Irish hegemony - no, not the Catholic church - the Gaelic Athletic Association.

The long wait for All-Ireland success in Mayo has changed all of us who care deeply about the fortunes of our senior football team.

Following the economic crash of 2008, as banks imploded, businesses began collapsing like dominos and the Irish state teetered on the abyss of insolvency, I spent an absurd amount of time traipsing in and out of the Galway branch of Bank of ...

As I write the news headlines remind me that in Dáil Éireann this Tuesday morning, the Cabinet has its standard weekly meeting with, on its main agenda, housing. Or should that be - housing, housing and housing.

Volunteers are great. They add so much to the life of our region. They are the show-up, can-do kind of people that every place needs to feel vibrant and alive.

This week marks the anniversary of the greatest battle in the United States’ Civil War. That battle, at Gettysburg, was fought from July 1st to 3rd, 1863, and aspects of its legacy are still causing conflict in the United States today.

When you are in GAA outposts in Mayo like Achill, Ballycroy, Belmullet, Glenamoy, Louisburgh and Lacken, you get a great sense for how vast our county is.

There’s no fool like an old fool. There was I saluting Mr Trump for trying to secure peace between Ukraine and Russia. I should have known better.

There are times when I wonder – is it just me? Or maybe it’s that the world has lost its way, lost its connection to the essential truths that act as a kind of anchor protecting us from a sea of nonsense.