Weekend

Visitors to the Connemara Gaeltacht are amazed by the spectacle of currach racing but for Micheál Ó Maoilchiaráin and the new generation of rowers it is part of life, ó ghlún go glún

The An Post Irish Book Awards nominee on how quitting running made her a writer, who she’d cast as the main character in her book Eggshells, and the dangers of scramblers

The killing of Bridget Cleary by her husband in 1895 was long a taboo subject in Tipperary

The deaths of two pregnant women in a snowstorm 200 years ago gave birth to ‘the Coombe’, a maternity hospital deeply intertwined with the capital and its history

Tracing the path of the bulging Roscommon waterway as its peak winter season approaches

Rarefied market includes jeans-wearing hipsters in their 20s and wealthy people in their 40s with family links to Ireland

Options are limited after Netanyahu lost ground and his rival Eisenkot failed to make a breakthrough. There could be new elections or renewed strikes on Iran

In Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, young people are subjected to a relentless campaign of indoctrination and young men now face the prospect of conscription to the Russian army. Some risk everything to leave

Your notes and queries for Éanna Ní Lamhna

The thinning of reality between the living and dead embraces the spirit world, fables and faeries, and underlines the huge importance in our heritage of story

Midterm elections next week are a referendum on the unpopular US president. They could herald the end of ‘The Donald’ era

While the spooky season might lure the thrillseekers, I will bury myself in blankets and carve friendly faces on to pumpkins

Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in November, its first chief constable reflects on his time in the nascent force

In Fanore, Co Clare, the community participates in the traditional herding of cattle to hill pastures warmed by the Burren’s limestone

Thuggish magpies, hummingbird moth tourists and a Latin American butterfly: Your notes and queries for Éanna Ní Lamhna

Halloween offers up a portal for neighbours to connect – even if it is only once a year

The spray-paint artist on why he decided to share his health updates on Instagram

Our photographer joined scientists and technicians on a voyage to recover Ireland’s M5 weather buoy and carry out marine research

Pets should be kept away or kept on leash as bay welcomes these beautiful visitors

How has our country ended up with perhaps the worst public access to the countryside in Europe? There’s none of the ‘right to roam’ you find elsewhere

After 24 years at the helm of Off the Ball on Newstalk, Gilroy has jumped to RTÉ to present a new daily sports podcast, Howler

Sarah Moss: Is it possible for me, an immigrant writer, to produce ‘Irish fiction’?

As the summer tourist throngs thin out, then disappear, the only thing keeping some businesses in the Co Galway town open is loyalty to staff

I admire Sharon Horgan but I strongly disagree with her depiction of dating in your 50s as scary

The Kildare woman, who divides her time between Stockholm and Dublin, on why her friends sometimes call her The Dictator

Some such parents have transformed their lifestyles in the hope of outliving offspring who cannot live independent lives

The country is being pushed closer to the once-unthinkable possibility of bankruptcy

The Chinese-born writer on her new novel centred on Irish composer John Field, how she goes about writing exclusively in her second language, and coping with suicide

Meteorologist at the centre of a storm: Englishman Austen H Nagle was a ‘tough and very capable administrator’

We’re now a family with two rats and two cats

Eye On Nature: Éanna Ní Lamhna responds to your notes and queries on mushrooms, caterpillars and hawks

Satirical masterpiece has been irresistible to illustrators, abridgers and adaptors since its sensational arrival - and its lessons on human nature remain prescient

My concerns won’t go away once it opens, as it will be expensive to operate, staff and expand

Journalist says he shed tears on hearing of Haughey’s death in 2006 but says the former taoiseach would have hated his upcoming book and viewed it as a ‘betrayal’

A project is under way to revive the entire fleet Dublin Bay 21-footer cruiser vessels, the older racing class in the world

A proposed new development in Kilmeaden village in Co Waterford has got local residents asking pointed questions including: who are data centres good for, and at what cost?

We’re paying a lot to clean polluted water, while investing little in restoring the rivers, wetlands and farmlands that could keep it pure in the first place

Kindness and community are to the fore at the Alicante event hosted by Marty Morrissey and featuring six of Ireland’s seven Eurovision winners

Young families make communities – and if they have no place to live, the community dies

Rooney’s Normal People has sold one million copies in UK while her first and third novels have each sold over 500,000 copies