Emer McLysaght: My three nights at Taylor Swift cost me €47 an hour. Cheaper than therapyStevie Nicks and Julia Roberts were there, and Swift played ‘my’ surprise song. Who knew one song had such healing powers?Wed Jul 03 2024 - 06:00
Was it Positano or Dubrovnik or Santorini? No, we were in WexfordUs two dopes from Dublin had the time of our lives over 48 hours in the sunny southeastFri Jun 28 2024 - 06:00
The places Taylor Swift needs to visit while she’s in Ireland From Tropical Popical to Karma Nightclub in Athlone, we have combed the country for the sights and experiences Swift should have on her Irish bucket listMon Jun 24 2024 - 06:00
People chat at concerts these days. My advice is to move to a more respectful area of the crowdAs summer concert season gets into full swing it’s vital that you’re prepared for the talkersFri Jun 21 2024 - 06:00
Six Irish cultural touchstones for Barry Keoghan’s popstar girlfriend Sabrina CarpenterSabrina Carpenter needs to be educated in the ways of Mattress Mick, stone-age election recounts and keeping corpses company before the big dayFri Jun 14 2024 - 06:00
I love Nicola Coughlan. She might just be my Princess DianaThe work she’s doing may seem superficial but it is incredibly, incredibly importantFri Jun 07 2024 - 06:00
Our local supermarket had a creche, and I happily survived itEvery Saturday I was faced with the dilemma of the week: go with Mam to do the shopping or go into The Playhouse and play with exotic toysFri May 31 2024 - 06:00
Good riddance Operation Transformation. Here’s what RTÉ should put in its placeIreland’s Best Bungalow, Normal People 2 and Daft on Daft would be perfect to fill a gap in the scheduleFri May 24 2024 - 06:00
Every time I travel abroad I am gripped by the fear that Ireland is making a fool of meEmer McLysaght: Even Disneyland’s neon lawns seem more affordable than DublinFri May 17 2024 - 05:18
Emer McLysaght: You’re going to see phones at gigs. Suck it upIt was a thrill to accompany a tween and her seven-year-old sister on their rite of passage at Olivia Rodrigo recentlyFri May 10 2024 - 05:50
I’d never wear my big straw hat on the streets of Dublin. Someone would call me JR Ewing Emer McLysaght: Irish people have developed the art of slagging down to the finest line between humour and crueltyFri May 03 2024 - 06:00
I’m all for AI as long as I can have a robot to do all the houseworkEmer McLysaght: I dearly wish it could hang out the clothes and defrost the freezer, but I’ll draw the line at asking it to write my next bookFri Apr 26 2024 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: The ‘cry laughing’ emoji has been my nemesis for as long as I can rememberEmer McLysaght: This tainted emoji has tormented so many for so long. Why then, do I now find myself softening towards it?Fri Apr 19 2024 - 06:00
The eight people you meet in the posh emergency department, including the minor sports-adjacent celebrityEmer McLysaght: A glorious hospital porter once allayed my fears on the way to theatre with some daring swerves of the bed and jokes about what they might do with my tonsilsFri Apr 12 2024 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: Dryrobes and Francis Brennan pyjamas – here’s Cillian Murphy’s actual bedtime routineThe New Yorker thinks it knows the Cork actor but, having met him twice – though we didn’t speak – I am best placed to speculate on his sleep preparationsFri Apr 05 2024 - 06:00
Irish people have been doing the Gaelic gasp since the Vikings first landed on our shoresIrish people love talking, and we’re not going to let pesky breathing get in the wayFri Mar 29 2024 - 06:00
All I’m asking is for the bloody Dublin Bus to show up. That’s not too much, is it?Emer McLysaght: Dublin busses regularly vanish into a Bermuda Triangle between app and reality, and nobody seems concernedFri Mar 22 2024 - 06:00
My whole body was engulfed in a shiver of nostalgia when I saw the viral TikTok on David Gray’s BabylonEmer McLysaght: The Welsh singer’s Babylon has the power to make you feel a bit less despondentFri Mar 15 2024 - 06:00
I did a DNA test and guess what? I’m as Irish as a bog bodyEmer McLysaght: I know I should care more about how I might be helping mega-companies to control and predict humansFri Mar 08 2024 - 06:00
The Government has made a dog’s dinner of the whole referendum thing, no?My first Dublin vote will not be an easy one, and the weight of it will sit heavier than in 1999 when the Leaving Cert and getting a summer job trumped who I thought should become a county councillorFri Mar 01 2024 - 06:00
Your week abroad hasn’t begun until you’ve taken in the beauty of the foreign crisps aisleEmer McLysaght: Fancy Dunnes, Big Tesco, regional Supervalu, Mercadona – I love them allFri Feb 23 2024 - 06:00
Taylor Swift has been on high for so long another tumble feels inevitableEmer McLysaght: Her Swifties would fight to the death to defend her. I’d call myself Swiftie-liteFri Feb 16 2024 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: I’ve never drunk a full pint of GuinnessAt the risk of setting feminism back to the marriage bar, there is a coolness about a woman drinking a pint of the black stuffFri Feb 09 2024 - 06:00
What would St Brigid make of 2024 Ireland? She wouldn’t know what vibes are, but she’d get the driftEmer McLysaght: The saint performed Ireland’s first documented abortion and other things the church don’t want you to know about herFri Feb 02 2024 - 06:00
I’m worried people think Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal have made a gentle, sexy romcom. Prepare to be devastatedEmer McLysaght: I’m comfortable saying All of Us Strangers is one of best films I’ve seen in yearsFri Jan 26 2024 - 06:00
Social media is flooded with influencers drinking water 24-7. How thirsty are these people?When I think back to my childhood, there was nobody drinking waterFri Jan 19 2024 - 06:00
When I first met Barry Keoghan, 10 years ago, he asked my friend for her number. She probably regrets saying noEmer McLysaght: Keoghan carries himself like a man who’ll say no to nothing, and that’s exciting in HollywoodFri Jan 12 2024 - 06:00
‘Vapewrath’ and Ireland’s first ‘she-seach’ – my 2024 word predictionsEmer McLysaght: In that moment I was giving ‘embarrassing millennial with zero rizz’Fri Jan 05 2024 - 06:00
The smell of farts was as unnatural as the metal can hurtling through the air at 30,000ftEmer McLysaght: I’m reminded of the epic journey I made home from Cambodia via Paris with a developing case of dysenteryThu Dec 28 2023 - 06:00
I’m going to a restaurant for Christmas Day, which goes against almost everything in my DNAEmer McLysaght: Is it finally my year to receive the My Little Pony Dream Castle from Santa?Thu Dec 21 2023 - 13:36
Elf on the Shelf? More like touts in the sprouts – we need to freeze out these toxic spiesEmer McLysaght: Do we need cease-and-desist letters to stop these rats in hats?Fri Dec 15 2023 - 06:00
Is the fear of saying unfamiliar words out loud a particularly Irish thing?Emer McLysaght: Also, I for one will continue saying ‘goo-dah’ and be haunted by the unsolicitied knowledge it’s pronounced ‘how-dah’ for the rest of my daysFri Dec 08 2023 - 06:00
The men who delivered my tree were the absolute heads off the Wet Bandits from Home AloneEmer McLysaght: The Christmas trees I’ve known and loved have often been far from perfectFri Dec 01 2023 - 06:00
It’s easy to be cynical about RTÉ, but here’s hoping for a magical Late Late Toy Show for allEmer McLysaght: Let’s get Patrick Kielty the biggest water gun on the market and give him free reignFri Nov 24 2023 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: Three wine tastings later and I’m still reeling from finding out my favourite wine is basically Um BongoI’ve never been fussy about my wine, but I’d like to introduce a little fuss into the experienceFri Nov 17 2023 - 09:03
Ireland won the Rugby World Cup, actually. That’s ‘Irish Maths’Emer McLysaght: Forget ‘Girl Math’, Irish Maths is what matters when it comes to bacon fries and paying rentFri Nov 10 2023 - 06:00
Matthew Perry spent millions on beating addiction, and we expect people to do it through stigma and willpower?Emer McLysaght: Matthew Perry was our friend too. To have such a cultural impact on a whole generation is truly astoundingFri Nov 03 2023 - 00:00
I ordered my Christmas tree. I won’t be decorating it until December 8th though. I’m not a complete animalEmer McLysaght: We’re being carried along on this tsunami of Halloween and Christmas fever and actually, it’s not so badFri Oct 27 2023 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: Death by €5 – I’m drowning in subscriptions and can’t seem to stopMy chaotic money diary shows I spent €5,000 on therapy last yearFri Oct 20 2023 - 06:00
Kerrygold’s masterclass in modern marketing: An all expenses paid trip for butter influencersEmer McLysaght: Thanks to the home-grown brand for making me fall in love with Ireland through the eyes of wholesome content creatorsFri Oct 13 2023 - 06:00
If you’re a man who never thinks about the Roman Empire, don’t worryFind yourself thinking about the Roman Empire a lot? You’re not alone. It’s a thingFri Oct 06 2023 - 06:00
I genuinely get a little thrill when I put on my clothing items that have pocketsEmer McLysaght: There’s nothing more wholesome than one woman declaring to another, ‘It has pockets!’Fri Sept 29 2023 - 06:00
I used to like Russell Brand. Hopefully there’s a day of judgment coming for the Irish comedy sceneEmer McLysaght: It’s a wonder any female comics rise to the top, given the misuse of power and necessary isolation that seemingly must be endured in order to be successfulTue Sept 19 2023 - 07:15
We’re halfway through September. Sea swimming has become a battle of mind over matterEmer McLysaght: Usually the waters around Ireland are torture for the cold-averse and challenging for the hardiest of swimmers, but there is a wisdom that comes with never regretting a swimFri Sept 15 2023 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: At 3am in an underground bunker in the woods at Electric Picnic, I came to my sensesI love the community of festivals. The camaraderie in the campsite. But enough is enoughFri Sept 08 2023 - 06:00
Emer McLysaght: I miss having tangible concert tickets to put in a memory box Smartphone photos and videos, social media posts, email confirmations . . . these 2023 memory box equivalents don’t really hold the same meaningFri Sept 01 2023 - 06:00
Farewell Aisling: Immense highs, excruciating lows and even heckling poor Graham NortonAs the final book in the OMGWACA series hits the shelves, Emer McLysaght looks back on six whirlwind years with the heroine she co-created with Sarah BreenSat Aug 26 2023 - 06:00
I’m a proud member of the ‘wokerati’. Should I use the phrase ‘Indian summer’? Emer McLysaght: In the year of our Lord 2023, I saw a man at an Irish festival wearing a Native American headdressFri Aug 25 2023 - 06:00
Freshers Week saw the hallowed cobbles of Trinity awash with vomit before lunchtimeEmer McLysaght: I joined both the Hist and the Phil when I started at Trinity, having never heard of eitherFri Aug 18 2023 - 06:00
When the soldiers boarded the bus at the Border I wasn’t afraid, I was buzzing Emer McLysaght: My summers in the North were all potato farls, Woolworths visits and armed soldiers in Granny’s back gardenFri Aug 11 2023 - 06:00
