Last Tuesday (April 9) could be called Simon Harris Day as Dáil Éireann, the media, Fine Gael and others pulled out all the stops to celebrate the political beatification of a new Taoiseach.

My father had a well-loved collection of old 78 records. They mostly featured the fiddle playing of Michael Coleman and the singing of John McCormack, but among them was a record made by a certain John Feeney.

For Ox Mountain people, wherever we may go in the world, when thinking of home and childhood, our place of origin is defined by our townland. Its name will be dropped in conversation as easily as the word 'mother'.

On a warm Spring morning in a beautiful island, a wind and rain beaten Mayo girl soaks up the sunshine and the happy vitamin D.

Sarah Lavelle had not envisaged herself working and living on her native Achill Island. But she is doing just that, as she runs the Achill Island Kitchen in Dooagh and immerses herself in local community projects.

A few years ago, Simon Harris made a splash on TikTok and Instagram, branding himself as a "millennial TD" who was speaking directly to younger generations.

This column comes with a health warning. It will be a bit heavy for some of you and if it is as hard to read as it is to write then we could all be in trouble.

Anyone who has not travelled on the N17 north of Ireland West Airport would hardly imagine the state of it. The ‘national primary road’ from the airport to Collooney has to be driven on to be believed.

As the inevitable encroachments of old age continue apace, and with the space we oldies inhabit progressively constricting, people of my vintage find ourselves musing about the state of the world.

The draining of the river Moy, which was carried out during the 1960s and early 1970s, was a project that was both welcomed and resented in equal measure by those most effected by the scheme.