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Causeway Flowers at The Giant’s Causeway by Chris Ibbotson

From fishy misunderstandings to Fermanagh not existing – the weird, wacky and wonderful Northern Ireland tourism reviews

Northern Ireland is becoming a prime tourist destination, with natural beauty spots and famous landmarks in abundance.

Armagh's Tiernan Kelly appeared to be attempting to eye-gouge Galway's Damien Comer during a violent melee at the All-Ireland quarter-final on Sunday. Image: RTÉ

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Siún Lennon Opinion Scratch the surface and it’s easy to see what’s behind most of the vitriol towards Armagh

THE whistle to signal the end of the game hadn’t even touched referee David Coldrick's lips before people clamoured to Twitter to commence armchair analysis of the Armagh v Galway match in Croke Park at the weekend.

Paramilitaries carry out punishment beatings to enforce territorial control. Illustration picture by Pacemaker Belfast

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New projects aim to weaken influence of paramilitary groups in the North

Three projects costing almost £900,000 are being established in a bid to further reduce the influence paramilitary groups have on some communities in Northern Ireland.

Balaclava-wearing crime gang ram prison van in failed bid to free suspected killer

AN ORGANISED crime gang from south Armagh are the chief suspects in the ramming a prison van in a failed attempt to free one of their members.

Seamus Mallon (left) and John Hume on July 13, 2001. Photo: Ferran Paredes

Editorial Opinion Northern Ireland deserves good solid governance

In the 1890s, Richard ‘Boss’ Croker defined a “mugwump” as a man in politics “who never votes for anybody, but who is always voting against somebody”.

Joyrider who killed three people while making Snapchat videos and speeding at 225kmh fails in bid to have jail time cut

A killer driver who claimed the lives of three people when he ploughed into the back of another car as he made Snapchat videos while speeding at 225kmh has failed in his bid to have his nine-year jail sentence reduced.

Tony Mitchell (70) passed away at Craigavon Area Hospital on Saturday April 25, 2020

‘My daddy worked up to the day he went into hospital’

Tony Mitchell (70) died at Craigavon Area Hospital on Saturday, April 25, 2020, after testing positive for the virus three weeks earlier.

BBC presenter Stephen Nolan had historians deep dive into his family, uncovering Ulster Scots roots

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Máiría Cahill Opinion Facing our shared history would ensure we never have to relive it

‘Downey, Ellen. Cannot read. Roman Catholic, aged three.” The respective boxes in the 1911 census: a brief entry, but no less precious due to the connection felt with my maternal granny, whose mother the census recorded, and whose details were now in front of me, eagerly sought and tenderly traced as my finger moved along the information as if to bring her to life for a fleeting second. I wish I knew more about her.

Rian O'Neill scores a goal for Armagh against Dublin which gave them a perfect start to their league campaign. Photo: Sportsfile

Kevin McStay: I’d prefer to be going well at this time of year than struggling

As cautionary tales about the vagaries of early league form go, Kildare in 2013 is a peach.

Archbishop Eamon Martin says he became exhausted by a life ‘just full of gloom and Zoom’. Picture by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye

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‘Of course I’ve been in love’ — Archbishop Eamon Martin discusses the struggles of priesthood, Covid and a United Ireland

If ever an image encapsulated the role of faith during the pandemic it is this: Archbishop Eamon Martin — leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland — walking through the deserted streets of Co Armagh blessing houses as residents fell to their knees in prayer.

Proud father: Lucy Montgomery with her dad Graham. Credit: Stephen Hamilton

‘Selfless and brave’ teenager nearly died as she saved her father and boy from drowning in river

An Armagh teenager has been hailed a hero and awarded one of the UK’s highest national bravery honours after saving the lives of a young boy and her own father before coming close to being swept to her death in a French river.

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10 best Irish New Year’s getaways

Perhaps you want to take a post-Christmas breather or spend a few days looking ahead to 2022. Maybe you enjoy ‘Twixmas’ getaways in the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, or prefer to wait until it’s all over and have a quiet break in early January. Either way, you will need to book now – and cross fingers and toes that the latest Covid surge has abated and hotels remain open.

The bullet-riddled minibus in south Armagh where 10 Protestant workmen were shot dead by IRA terrorists in the Kingsmill massacre in January 1976

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Máiría Cahill Opinion Troubles victims deserve justice, not just roadside memorials

‘There was love in her heart, innocence on her mind, truth on her lips.” The poignant inscription on a roadside memorial for a 12-year-old child at the scene of her tragic killing in south Armagh. Two bullets in her back on her way to church, Majella O’Hare didn’t stand a chance when her life was taken by a British Army soldier in 1976.

The Ulster Canal. Picture by Flynn Furney Environmental Consultants

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Rising costs stall work on cross-Border cycle path

The brakes have been applied to the latest phase of a major cross-Border cycle path due to rising construction costs.

So far this year 40 people in Northern Ireland have been beaten up by paramilitaries

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Máiría Cahill Opinion Paramilitary attacks: They hand down brutality, and call it peace

When I was four, while going to the shop with my relative, a young lad limped across the road in front of us on crutches.

Paul Quinn was beaten to death by up to 10 men in 2007

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Gardaí break down ‘wall of silence’ surrounding IRA mob murder of Paul Quinn

The “wall of silence” surrounding the brutal murder of 21-year-old Paul Quinn by a suspected IRA mob is breaking down as several new witnesses who never spoke to gardaí before have come forward after 14 years.

Seán McCourt-Kelly addresses the service to mark 100 years of Northern Ireland. Picture by Liam McBurney

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Sam McBride Opinion Cynical boycotts will not make partition history

Accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, Seamus Heaney defined the central problem of his homeland as two-fold: the ongoing partition of the island and “an equally persistent partition of the affections in Northern Ireland between the British and Irish heritages”.

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Joe Brolly Opinion Northern politics is divorced from the realities of Northern life

How dumb can a country be and still survive? By the looks of things up here, it won’t survive much longer.

Children sing during the service at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland. Photo: Liam McBurney

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‘Our past has shaped and scarred us, divided us, and brought us together’

Michael D had refused to go, so instead we sent Simon. Queen Elizabeth had cancelled, giving nobody enough time to even take out the line from the running order which told us that at 11am, “Her Majesty” would enter the church as the assistant organist played Handel’s ‘Solemn March’ from Joshua.

Queen Elizabeth has had to cancel her visit

Queen cancels trip to NI after being advised to rest on ‘medical advice’

The British Queen has cancelled a trip to Northern Ireland scheduled for Thursday after she "reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days”.

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LEADERS’ QUESTIONS

Sitting in the party office at Stormont, Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has a lot on her mind.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth with President Michael D Higgins

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Sam McBride Opinion Death notice unionists are dreading

It may come suddenly, or there may be time to prepare for the enormity of what is to happen. On a secure phone line, the British prime minister will receive a call from Queen Elizabeth’s private secretary which will include the words ‘London Bridge is down’.

John Hume believed any solution to the North's problems had to be based on parity of esteem

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Bishop Alan McGuckian Opinion The partition debate: Gathering together in faith and hope is more important than who’s on the guest list

Some of us will gather together on October 21 in Saint Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral, Armagh, to reflect and pray together in hope on the occasion of the centenary of partition and the formation of Northern Ireland.

Radio review: Gambling responsibly must come from the top and aside from ‘nanny state’ whining

Drivetime RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays, 4.30-7pm Today with Claire Byrne RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays, 10am-noon Screentime with John Fardy Newstalk, Saturday, 6-7pm

Breege and Stephen Quinn, the parents of murdered Paul Quinn, outside Leinster House, Dublin, in March last year

Gardaí, PSNI ramp up inquiry to find killers of Paul Quinn

Gardaí and the PSNI are set to continue a joint operation investigating the murder of Paul Quinn, who was killed almost 14 years ago, it has emerged.

Tragedy: Folly River in Armagh close to where Mr Teggart passed away

‘We are all in shock’ – man who died after falling into river had been celebrating 50th birthday

The brother of an Armagh man who died after falling into a river as he walked home after celebrating his 50th birthday has said he has been left heartbroken.

21/7/21 Businessman Tom O'Gorman pictured in Jonesborough, County Armagh. Picture: Arthur Carron

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Tom O’Gorman looks to turn his money into hope

One of Tom O’Gorman’s favourite ways to pass an evening is to buy himself “a big poke of ice cream” and stroll through the local graveyard in Newry.

The corner of Talbot and Gardiner Streets in Dublin after the bombing in May 1974

Convicted UVF murderer says he will ignore any truth and reconciliation plan

A UVF killer — who was part of the notorious Glenanne gang that carried out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, as well as the Miami Showband massacre — says he won’t provide any information about the group’s activities to a proposed truth and reconciliation initiative.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture by Peter Morrison

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Eilis O'Hanlon Opinion Amnesties for bloody crimes will not heal a divided North

It’s a common joke in Northern Ireland that if you’ve managed to upset both Sinn Féin and the DUP then you must be doing something right.

'Who will have the common decency to help me provide justice for my brother?’ asks Karen McKeever. Picture by Jonathan Porter

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‘I will fight to the bitter end for my murdered brother’

Karen McKeever is sifting through paperwork in her home, doing all the preparation she can for another meeting with senior gardaí this week, amid claims that the force colluded with the IRA in her brother’s murder 35 years ago.