How important is a flashy Communion? 

How important is a flashy Communion? 

Last week there was welcome news when a UNICEF league table on the overall well-being of children showed that Ireland ranked 10th out of 29 industrialized countries.

Please Bale, if you have a tattoo, keep it hidden 

Tuesday: Every parent, I imagine, has a daily 'window of silence' that they crave, in much the same way that a deserted islander might wish a rescue ship onto the horizon. Mine usually arrives at approximately 8pm, when the young lad and younger lad are bunked up in their beds playing Hangman, or chewing over the events of the day in their school and crèche respectively.

Clamping Dubs show no mercy 

I am not looking for sympathy. I erred and strayed like many a sinner before me. Retribution was in order – but the scale of the retribution still came as a shock.

Nature is cruel 

The scene at Raheenvarron in Newbawn was like something out of an Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn novel. You remember Aleks. His books shook the world as they exposed the evils at the heart of the Soviet empire. They also left a lasting impression on readers of merciless east winds and desolate landscapes populated by gaunt spectres wondering where their next meal might be coming from.

Grand National fever grips the household 

Saturday: This morning, the young lad arrived into the kitchen with his cupped hands full of coins. 'I want you to back two horses in the Grand National for me,' he explained, and I worried that he's been spending too much time in my company.

Bargain hunters descend on Ballykelly Hall 

THERE were plenty of bargain hunters present at Ballykelly Hall on Sunday

Letter to the editor 

Dear Editor,

The days of my mam's famous burgers are now over, sadly for my other half 

Justine O'Mahony

IREALLY don't understand what all the fuss is about regarding the detection of horsemeat in burgers recently. I've eaten far worse than horse meat - my cooking in general is pretty gruesome, and it's never done me any harm! I went through a phase when I was in college of loving steak and kidney pies and God only knows what's in them!

No mercy shown to slain Garda 

THE KILLERS of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe showed no mercy when they shot the father-of-two at close range. Senior officers say the armed robbers, who gunned him down in cold blood with a shotgun, were intent on murdering him as he approached them at the Lordship Credit Union outside Dundalk.

Drink drive proposal shows contempt 

DEBORAH COLEMAN

ITHOUGHT it was some sort of tasteless joke to learn of the motion carried at Kerry County Council last week that members will lobby the Minister for Justice to grant permits to rural dwellers to drink and drive.

Too many forgetting how to cross the road safely 

A FRUSTRATED reader was in touch to complain about the number of people who seem to have forgotten how to cross the road safely.

Seems the customer is always lazy 

ENNISCORTHY shopkeepers trading in the centre of the town have experienced a fall in the number of customers darkening their doors recently. So what could be the reason for the drop in business? The worldwide recession compounded by the collapse of the Irish financial system might have something to do with it: they admit that.

Hanging is too good for these scumbag criminals 

The shocking and coldblooded murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe in County Louth by a scumbag gunman on Friday night has rightly horrified the nation, and shows just how out of control that criminal gangs have become on both sides of the border.

A visit by Obama would bring huge benefits for all of County Wexford 

HOPES have been building in Co. Wexford since the idea was first mooted last November, that US President Barack Obama might visit New Ross this summer to honour the county's most famous son, President John F Kennedy.

Exchange AND for OR – to stop my yelling! 

I WORSHIP the ground on which newsreader Michael Doyle walks. He is the very model of broadcasting clarity and excellence. Nevertheless, I find that the financial slot at lunch time on local radio is utterly wasted on me.

Councillors, nurses and just wages 

FR BRIAN WHELAN

'THE LABOURER deserves his wages' is a familiar phrase from the Gospels that was uttered by Christ and repeated by St Paul in his letters. Those five words stand as the foundation of Catholic Social Teaching, and I remember well being lectured about it in college, and hearing about Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum, and Pope John Paul II's 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus.