An Irishman's DiaryVISITING friends in Laois over the New Year, my family and I were given a tour of their farm, the highlight of which was feeding…Thu Jan 19 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT IS ONLY a matter of time, surely, before that purveyor of traffic information, AA Roadwatch, has its credit rating downgraded…Wed Jan 18 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI CAN understand why Anna and Katie and Alice were all among the top 10 girls’ names last year, as recorded by the Irish Times…Sat Jan 14 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryPHIL HOGAN’S determination “to finally draw a line under the electronic voting project” will be welcomed by all right-thinking…Fri Jan 13 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWHEN buying our first house back in the early days of the C***ic T***r, my wife and I decided that one of the upgrades it needed…Thu Jan 12 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT USED TO BE SAID that Russia’s two greatest military figures were “General January” and “General February”Wed Jan 11 2012 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryFOR READERS of a certain age, Ruairí Quinn’s fears about the Leaving Cert becoming too predictable may have awakened memories…Sat Dec 24 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN HIS ATTEMPT to round the world in 80 days, as readers may recall, the fictional Phileas Fogg does not at first intend to visit…Fri Dec 23 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryFLICKING STATIONS on the car radio recently, I heard a piece of Christmas choral music that appeared to be titled “On Stephenses…Thu Dec 22 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI MUST admit it was rather cheering to read that story (page 8, World News, yesterday) about the butter shortage in NorwayWed Dec 21 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryABOUT 20 years ago in Paris, I was mooching around the bookshop Shakespeare & Co with my future wife when the elderly proprietor…Sat Dec 17 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF MY Leaving Cert class had had a “boy most likely to succeed” award, it would probably have gone to Gary SheehanFri Dec 16 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE IT’S 10 years today since the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after more than a decade of stabilisation workThu Dec 15 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryINTERESTING news for Irish exports this week with a survey suggesting that Jameson whiskey is now the second most shop-lifted…Sat Dec 10 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryOF ALL THE protests that greeted the Government’s short-lived cut of youth disability payments, few can have carried as much …Fri Dec 09 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryDRIVING ON the M50 yesterday, oppressed by both the gloomy December weather and the even gloomier Budget coverage, I saw sign…Wed Dec 07 2011 - 00:00
The inner lives of public playersSPORT: Four sportsmen all reveal a defining crisis, an event forcing them to look in the nirror without the light of success…Sat Dec 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryWHEN THE ACTOR Rupert Everett said this week that Oscar Wilde had lived life “from the dress circle to the drains”, it was of…Sat Dec 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI HOPE that kiss-proof screen around Oscar Wilde’s tomb fares better than another barrier, erected a few years ago in the same…Fri Dec 02 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE NAME of Hercules Brabazon Brabazon is not exactly calculated to attract sympathy from a modern audienceThu Dec 01 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT HAD somehow escaped me – until I read about those trees being removed to make way for it – that the new Luas line through …Wed Nov 30 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTRAVELLERS on Dublin’s Dart and Luas lines will have found themselves wrestling with some profound questions this week, the following…Sat Nov 26 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryI HEARD an academic introduced on radio recently as “a junked professor”, and at first it seemed a bit harshFri Nov 25 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT might still be premature to say that poitín is becoming respectable, but I see Cooley Distillery has just added a version …Thu Nov 24 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryDOWN in darkest Tipperary last week to visit the in-laws, I had the interesting experience of attending a firewood auctionWed Nov 23 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHREE YEARS in to the debt crisis, a number of bewildered readers have pleaded for an updated plain man’s guide to the jargon…Sat Nov 19 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIn the aftermath of a certain football match this week, I got talking to a man called Gerry Kearns about what it means to be …Fri Nov 18 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryDURING a relaxed moment at Lansdowne Road on Tuesday – and on an unprecedented night in Irish football, they were all relaxed…Thu Nov 17 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT’S SAID that the great Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetimeWed Nov 16 2011 - 00:00
Pushing it to the limitAUTOBIOGRAPHY: My Autobiography By AP McCoy Orion, 342pp. £20Sat Nov 12 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryTHE Ireland of 150 years ago was, not unlike today, a fertile field for visiting job recruitersFri Nov 11 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS THE demand for constitutional reform grows, I’ve been having a go at devising a new, updated Bunreacht na hÉireannThu Nov 10 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIN LATER LIFE, the actress Hedy Lamarr lamented that her beauty had been a “curse”Wed Nov 09 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryEVERY SO OFTEN I despair of the pile of books, letters, old newspaper cuttings, dried-up banana skins, etc, covering my desk …Sat Nov 05 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT SEEMS like only last week I attended the opening, whereas in fact it was in late 2006Fri Nov 04 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryA Nigerian reader has forwarded me an e-mail he received a few days ago, purportedly from this countryThu Nov 03 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryNINETY years ago today, the Anglo-Irish Treaty talks in London were reaching a critical pointWed Nov 02 2011 - 00:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF YOU’RE aged over 35 and still in one piece, you should probably pause at least once every day and congratulate yourself on…Sat Oct 29 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIT APPEARS that on at least one occasion recently, I have referred to something called the “Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies…Fri Oct 28 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF YOU’RE A vampirologist, or from Monaghan – and those conditions are not, of course, mutually exclusive – you may, like me, …Thu Oct 27 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryNO SOONER do I announce a major restructuring of my naming arrangements for the former Lansdowne Road, aimed at reducing “Aviva…Wed Oct 26 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryIF THE Aviva jobs disaster has a silver lining, it’s that maybe now we can go back to referring to a certain stadium on the banks…Sat Oct 22 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI SEE that our friends across the water (the water to your right as you look north, that is) are having a first-ever National…Fri Oct 21 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryA SOMEWHAT grisly anniversary falls due in Derry this coming December, when it will be exactly 250 years since the departure …Thu Oct 20 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryFIRST aired on Radio One last year and recently repeated, Brendan Balfe’s series The Irish Voice somehow passed me by both times…Wed Oct 19 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryI STOPPED BY the Occupy Dame Street protest on the way home the other night and what struck me most was how extraordinarily nice…Sat Oct 15 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiarySTUCK for a column idea the other day and with a deadline hovering, I did as I often do in such crises and went for a stroll …Fri Oct 14 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAT Lansdowne Road on Tuesday night, I found myself in the vicinity of a poignant sporting phenomenon: the football chant that…Thu Oct 13 2011 - 01:00
An Irishman's DiaryAS the presidential campaign grew dirtier, it was inevitable that, sooner or later, somebody would raise the poetry issueWed Oct 12 2011 - 01:00
