Category: Social & Cultural

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat “If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” – Gus Grissom, 1926-1967, killed when Apollo I…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat So there’s myself, an Englishman, and a Scotsman, and we’re discussing the good old days. The Scotsman is relating how when he was a “bairn”, the teachers would give him a whack for speaking Scots Gaelic. Worse, having got the whack for speaking Gaelic, he then switched…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat The BBC has been making a lot in the last week of its list of ‘100 Top Britons’, with various fans exhorting viewers to vote for their own idols from the Top Ten. Some of the Irish national newspapers even got in on the act last Sunday,…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat So there I was, down the country for a country wedding, and after the belt-bursting meal and the speeches they finally wheeled out the band, and for the first few rocknrolly songs the young ones bopped away. Then the band slowed it down a notch, and the…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat Whenever Americans asked me why I’d left such a beautiful country and county to live in the concrete jungles, I used remind them of the old Connemara proverb: ‘You can’t eat the scenery.’ Later, when asked by those I knew had been to Ireland, I said it…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat Have you noticed how Eamon Ó Cuiv seems to look and sound more like his grandfather with every passing year? It can be a terrible distraction when you’re trying to listen to what he’s saying rather than how he’s saying it. Last weekend for instance, ‘Dev Óg’…

This article first appeared in the Donegal Democrat Have you managed the euro conversion yet? No, I don’t mean he onerous task of converting all our notes and coins to euros. Lets be honest, most of us took a bit more cash than usual from the ATM on New Years Eve, in case the banks…

This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner Cheaper internet charges may take some time to achieve, according to a consumer pressure group which fears the Telecoms Regulator does not have enough power to force through the changes quickly. IrelandOffline, formed to push Telecoms Regulator Etáin Doyle for flat-rate internet charges, had a number of…

This is the first article I ever sold. It appeared in the Irish Examiner on 5 July 2001. A follow-up article also appeared in the Examiner the following day. Representatives of consumer group IrelandOffline will today meet with Telecoms Regulator Etáin Doyle to press their case for affordable internet access in Ireland. Esat Fusion has…