It’s 100 years ago. The Manhattan Bridge has just connected Canal St to Brooklyn, Henry Ford has already sold 10,000 cars and the young aviation industry has yet to ‘take off’. In Belfast, the noise of the hammering of rivets echoes around the city from the Harland & Wolff shipyard. There, a local workforce of [...]

If you saw a camera crew in Ireland 20 years ago they were probably a news crew recording our football fans during Italia ’90, or making another U2 documentary. These days however, you can hardly walk through Dublin’s streets without tripping over film maker’s cables, bumping into booms, and running into, well, runners. Famous faces from the [...]

Readers, I’m warning you: I’m about to say something painfully geeky and tech-obsessed. I reckon there are two distinct phases in a person’s life, divided by the discovery of the magical world of Apps. When a person is Before Apps (B.A.) their phone is just a communication device; it makes calls, sends messages, and they [...]

Travel writer Paul Clements has long been inspired by the Burren. An area of limestone in County Clare, the Burren fosters a profusion of rare flowers and plants, underwater streams, caves and megalithic tombs, and is famous for its natural beauty. Here, Paul tries to explain his personal attachment to the place and how it [...]

“I burn fat not fuel!” Words of wisdom from cyclists buzzing around Ireland’s cities. They’re totally right, of course; there they are saving the planet, beating traffic and getting great exercise in a pleasant, wind-in-your-face, world-at-your-feet type of way. And if you, too, are a committed member of the two-wheeled tribe, listen up. Our neatly-sized, [...]

Looking for a place to rest your feet and feast your eyes on the sights and sounds of Dublin’s fair city? Award-winning photographer Dave G Kelly shows us his favourite benches for people-watching, view-soaking and cuddling around the capital    King’s Inn No, your eyes are not deceiving you; this really is a tree slowly [...]

Writer and photographer Adrian Hendroff never ceases to be inspired by Ireland’s landscape. A qualified Mountain Leader, he offers advice on hill-walking and mountaineering around Ireland, and gives us a sneak preview of all his favourite peaks   Ireland’s landscape is varied and distinctive. Beyond the low-lying plains of the midlands are untrodden high places [...]

County Clare is preparing for the tide of dancing and romancing that rushes in with the upcoming Matchmaking Festival Picture, for a moment, an Irish farmer in September, carefully reviewing his To Do list and scratching off his tasks: 1. Gather harvest Tick. 2. Shoe horses Tick His eyes fall to the final line: 3. [...]

Pierce Brosnan did it in an 800-year-old Abbey. The Beckhams did it on matching thrones. Heather Mills and Paul McCartney did it beside a lake with fireworks, and Dita Von Teese did it wearing purple. So what were these celebrities up to? They were each having a spectacular wedding in Ireland, that’s what! The island [...]

Ever been to a play where the actor’s last line is delivered, lights dimmed, curtain lowered and the audience erupts…in riots? Welcome to Dublin, and its amazingly chequered theatrical past and present, says Julie Basque. Okay, don’t fret, you didn’t miss the morning paper! The whole riot thing happened back in 1926 when Sean O’Casey’s [...]