Want to ruin an election canvaser's New Year? Bring up Varadkar's or Martin's popularity problem with younger voters.

As the deadline for the CAO application approaches, my thoughts go back to my own CAO form many decades ago. It is 30 years this year since I applied for a place as a student in Trinity College.

There are strange things going on in this little country of ours and I am not necessarily talking about that daft decision by Mayo County Council. You know the one. Embarrassing for the entire county.

In the All-Ireland Football Club final last year, Watty Grahan’s Glen (based in Maghera, Derry) fell short by one point.

Few sights conjure up as much sympathy as the forlorn robin skipping about in the middle of winter trying to get enough to eat. If we were to have a bird or a natural symbol for our Ox Mountain region, it could be well be the humble robin.

I can’t sleep. It is not, as Fr Ted might say, so much an ecumenical matter as a dermatological matter. I have an itch and I can’t get rid of it. I’m bothered by the fact that I could be an anti-Semite.

Elaine Kennedy exudes an air of positivity and you can immediately sense it when in her company.

Christmas 2023. Fairytale of New York echoed from every second pub and retail outlet; roads in and out of every Irish town were jammed with traffic.

With all the talk of elections in these parts, it could be missed that our nearest neighbour also has a general election on the horizon.

The title of last week’s RTÉ documentary, The Last Priests in Ireland, reflected the grim reality for Irish Catholics – no longer a perception or a wild prophesy – that priests are not just becoming fewer but in danger of almost disappearing in ...