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David Robbins: I got a real raw deal when I couldn't resist tasting the fat of the land

It was at the top of the fridge, unobtrusive in unmarked Kilner jars. It was the dairy equivalent of the top-shelf magazine -- illicit and reputedly a risk to one's physical and moral well-being. It was raw milk.

David Robbins: Everything you wanted to know about hyphens but were afraid to ask

I have just come up with a great idea for an academic thesis -- or perhaps even a book. Ready? Well, the title I have in mind is The Role of the Hyphen in Irish History. Catchy, eh?

David Robbins: Please form an orderly, British queue... or else!

Queues are the crucible of human behaviour. If you can remain civilised in a queue, then you have reached a certain level of calm and wisdom. Queues have a way of testing our belief in our fellow man.

David Robbins: I'm not going to be anyone's whipping boy when it comes to writing about sex

Despite frequent advice, inducements and even threats, I have managed to keep this column largely free of sex. It's true that there was that one mention of a swingers' scene at a local park, but that was for dogs.

David Robbins: I may have been a little Green - but I developed a soft spot for FF

By now, the initial shock of the Mahon Tribunal's report will have diminished. More than a week later, deeper responses will be resonating in people's minds.

David Robbins: The sporting life -- it ain't as simple as coaches would have you believe

You often hear professional coaches or analysts propound that their chosen sport "is a simple game". And, at one level, they're right: success is usually as simple as scoring more points than your opponent.

David Robbins: For years I was a hard-nosed hack. Then I became a dad -- and it all changed.

Journalists have a hard-won reputation for cynicism. Things that make ordinary civilians go "ahhhh" usually make journalists go "yuk".

David Robbins: E-books may be the future, but you simply can't put a price on memories

My brother was a keen student of psychology, even from an early age. He knew, for instance, that our father would never sign the book club order form for the complete works of Charles Dickens bound in red leather and embossed with gold lettering.

David Robbins: Dev was short for 'Devil' to Da - even when the Long Fellow became our neighbour

The last of the de Valera line died and was buried this week. Like her father, Emer Í Cuív was blessed with long life. She lived to 93; he died just short of his 93rd birthday.

David Robbins: Though I work in the shadow of the valley of the trolls, I will fear no angry emails

There is a certain advantage to writing a small and seldom-read column tucked away in the corner of an inside page of a supplement which is in turn tucked inside the main paper.

David Robbins: Strange how you can find happiness even in the most prickly of predicaments

Spring is the deadliest season. Encouraged by warmer weather and longer evenings, people undertake all sorts of strenuous activities. The result is injury, embarrassment or, at the very least, a nasty chill.

David Robbins: Identity parade -- why I'm having the full Irish for St Patrick's Day

If past St Patrick's Days are anything to go by, I am now sitting in my kitchen in a sea of green. I am wearing a plastic shamrock which my daughter has pinned to my chest. She is often a little over-eager, but the bleeding usually stops soon enough.

David Robbins: Our rain-soaked search for a rural home from home

There are few things as depressing as a journey into the forgotten middle parts of Ireland on a dark, wet January morning.

David Robbins: Emigration once again? I'm happy at home, thanks

Professor Richard Tol is what an older generation might call a quare genius. Prof Tol, who has just departed these shores after a stint as a researcher with the ESRI, proved a rather divisive figure during his time among us.

David Robbins: A Christmas story

Christmas and I have never got along. We never saw eye to eye. Despite the best intentions on both sides, it just didn't happen.

David Robbins: There's no denying it -- Santa is as real as they come

Disturbing news has reached me from a remote village in a mountainous part of rural Ireland. It concerns a case of Santa denial.

David Robbins: My daughter - the bottomless well of questions

As the father of a now six-year-old daughter, there are times when I hanker for the old days of when she was, say, 18 months old and life was simpler.

David Robbins: Scarlett O'Hara, my daughter and a real-life fairy tale

The choice of actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind caused a national sensation in 1938. But it was nothing compared with the drama that attended the casting of my daughter's Christmas school play this week.

David Robbins: The adventures of a pipe-smoking, girl-shy teenager

It is clear to me now, at a distance of some 30 years, that I hadn't much going for me as a teenager. I was large and unprepossessing. I smoked a pipe, of all things. About the only place I fitted in was the front row of a rugby scrum. (I forewent the pipe during matches.)

David Robbins: Voices of the past speak to me from the strangest places

When the great (and relentlessly bitchy) American writer Gore Vidal published his memoirs under the title Palimpsest, I thought: what a pretentious, puffed-up, showy word to use.

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Dublin Sightseeing Reaches New Heights

Ireland’s most iconic venue, Croke Park Stadium, announced the opening of the much anticipated Etihad Skyline tour on the roof of the historic ground. Sponsored by Etihad Airways and opening to the public on Friday 1st June, the tour offers access to a unique Croke Park rooftop walkway and spectacular panoramic views of Dublin city.

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McAreavey suspect accuses police

Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, confessed to police about his involvement in strangling Michaela McAreavey, but now insists he was forced to sign the statement.Treebhoowoon and co-accused Sandip Moneea, 42, deny murdering the 27-year-old teacher on her honeymoon at the Legends Hotel.

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