Category: Newspaper Articles

On Saturday 18th April the National Archives made freely available over 700,000 individual household returns from the 1926 Census of Population—the first census conducted after the foundation of the Irish Free State. Within hours, four million hits had flooded the site. Across Ireland and the diaspora, people leaned into their screens, searching for grandparents, great-grandparents,…

There were “audible screams of delight” from NASA scientists onboard Artemis 2.  One of the Astronauts, Victor Glover, had this to say:  “As we are so far from Earth and look back at… the beauty of creation… In all of this emptiness — this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this…

Easter is just past. An annual reminder that evil does not have the last word—even when it looks to have had it. Jesus Christ rose from the grave, conquering death and having paid the price for sin. But it is not simply a past event. It is a picture of now and a promise for…

“Imagine there’s no GAA in heaven? I’d have to come back down again!” Was Marty Morrissey joking when he said those words in a recent interview with the Irish Independent? He probably was, but I’m pretty sure he was serious when he said: “Butterflies appeared in the church during the funeral when my mum died,…

Last summer I read an excellent book called Margin, about creating margin in our lives so that we aren’t running ourselves into the ground. Space to rest, to wind down, to think, space for the unexpected. We have become fixated on time. Everything has to be fast—we time things to the second. We move from…

Those disarmingly honest words came from the mouth of the clinical psychologist Dr Tony Bates in conversation with Tommy Tiernan.  Bates, founder of Jigsaw, has spent years  working with young people facing mental health challenges.  His comment might sound stark at first—but I found it refreshingly real. I wonder how you reacted to it. Did…

90 seconds: the difference between life and death; salvation and catastrophe. In the unlikely event of an emergency evacuation of an airplane, the crew’s goal is to get every single passenger out of danger and onto the ground before one and a half minutes is up. The target is taken very seriously. Before a new…

“I was like a stone lying deep in the mud.”  (Patrick’s Confession, para 12) Perhaps you know a little bit of what Patrick was talking about? Do you ever feel trapped, stuck, like there’s no escape, maybe your stomach in knots. I felt a bit like that for about 8 years after my mum lost…

“Oh those sheep are so cute!”—said no farmer ever! Tourists or Instagrammers driving around Ireland might think so as they see sheep scattered across fields or wandering scenically along the road. Those who know better, know better. I recently saw a video of a farmer—he sounded like a Donegal man—looking at some straying sheep and…

I had my first general anaesthetic recently. I didn’t really know what to expect. I wasn’t looking forward to it. It’s a strange experience as you voluntarily walk in TED socks, something like a shower cap and surgical robe to lie down on a table under bright lights! All so that you can be put to sleep…