As I was ordained in 1973, that year became a pivotal point in my life for that and for a variety of other reasons.

Hallowe'en, as we know it today, had its origins in our Celtic past. It was a special time of year for the first settlers to our shores thousands of years ago.

‘If you build it, they will come’, is the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams. But in the Ireland of today, to turn fields into dreamed-of houses, we need to reverse the line: if they come, you will build it.

According to the findings of a recent Irish Times/Ipsos opinion poll, 40 per cent of the Irish public will not pay their television licence fees this year.

The recent Positive Ageing Week is a timely reminder for us – Oldies, Seniors, Elders, OAPs, Old Fogies or whatever we call ourselves now – to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, as the song has it.

Maria Boland is a naturally caring person. Her family has been in the undertaking and pub business in Swinford for years. Maria herself went to the UK at 18 and qualified as a nurse, a job which brought her to other countries and various specialties.

It is often said that if a person does something they love they will never work a day in their life. Elizabeth Toher is the living, breathing example of that.

There are advantages to a life spent in the big city, not least the sheer handiness of seeing and doing so many things. Whether that’s a big match, concert, or exhibition, a capital has always plenty going on.

Recent amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) represent a worrisome expansion of unelected and unaccountable bureaucratic power.

While I do not wish to diminish in any way the seriousness of what happened, one of the very big fears I have, as the political talk and controversy develops over the scoliosis and Spina Bifida surgeries, is that they will overshadow what is one of ...