When Gay Byrne spoke to Ray D’Arcy this week about the TV show, ‘Once More With Feeling: The Meaning of Life’, which aired last night, we all perked up a little bit, and listened. Perhaps because of his reticence in expressing his opinions over the years, Gaybo has been conferred, as he ages, with an almost [...]
Happy birthday to my son, Ferdia. It’s been one hell of a year since this little boy burst into the world in rather a rush, kicking and curious and ready for action. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEw7MqB6Sn/?taken-by=deshocks My beautiful blond boy has turned me into the kind of mother I always laughed at. My husband says he knew almost [...]
We've always celebrated Nollaig na mBan in my family. Whether it was the influence of my Limerick-born granny or my Clare-raised mother, we spent every 6th of January of my childhood in Ennis, having lunch with my Granny, her lovely neighbours who were such good friends to her and like grandaunts to me, and my aunt and [...]
It was my first visit to London in three years. It was also the closest thing I’ve had to a reunion of my college class in nearly ten years, as so many of my classmates have ended up there. The week before, I’d visited a friend at home on his family’s farm. One of four kids, [...]
Eleanor Roosevelt said once that we should do one thing every day that scares us. Yesterday, I got out of bed at 5.45am. That might not scare all of you, but to me, that’s the middle of the night, and not a time I regularly see on the clock unless I’m up for a train or [...]
On Monday evening I was in Dublin to attend RTÉ's The Frontline as a participant from the audience. The show was about the Presidency and my contribution was about the absurdity of the political hoops prospective candidates must jump through, before they ever get to our ballot papers. Our only directly elected national representative [...]
Students often get bad press, and with exams currently going on or in prospect in most colleges, they are having a tough enough time at the moment without doing it to themselves. But the utter stupidity of a Facebook page I came across this week proves that college culture creates an astounding ignorance of [...]
After a week of sleepless nights, it was time. I presented myself at Optilase at 4pm last Thursday, quaking. Within a few minutes I was waiting alongside another very nervous patient, having my eye area prepped (cotton wool and alcohol, while seated on a couch), and getting my surgical garb on. This consisted of some blue [...]
‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle’. This quote from the Greek philosopher Plato, is an apt one for the times we live in. Hurt, angry, upset, betrayed people who are worried and frustrated lash out, and lashing out at other people in the same predicament can only ever make [...]
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