The late writer was ‘a unit of one’, fearless and singular, I learned in our two interviews

Martin Neary has permission to be buried on his own lands in Co Mayo when he dies

How do you stay open for more than a century? Own your premises, offer excellent customer service and keep up with the times

The writer on moving to a remote place, living precariously and not wanting children

'My wedding had just been cancelled. I had just been publicly humiliated... I felt so worthless'

The Art of Coffee chain has set up a charity centre in Dublin for refugees from Ukraine

My friend of old had given me a gift. She asked the most insightful of questions

Millions are out in the cold, unable to return to the places they left their things

Rosita Boland reads March 17th front pages of The Irish Times from 1942 to 2012

The death of your mother gradually nibbles into the life you must continue afterwards

At what point does the frantic volume of the merchandise begin to cheapen the work it represents?

Irish-born teen Ishitha Arekapudi is flying solo in the US, but wants to go higher

Given that so many of us have pets, Irish society should be more dog-friendly

In 1976, the career criminals travelled around Ireland, abducting, raping and murdering women

As I sat there in front of this man, I felt rage, humiliation and amazement

According to a 1962 guide, women should stop placing ‘burdens’ on men to buy things

Green shoots of hope as Micheál Martin told us – rightly – ‘Today is a good day’

Tens of thousands of people were resident in institutions – often for decades

The ability to travel has never seemed more of a privilege

For six months, I experienced severe and prolonged panic attacks, night and day

Rosita Boland: The day, making for a fantastically long weekend, has finally been announced

Hotel excels in friendly customer service when a stray cat is offered a four-star home

The reputation of Queen Elizabeth’s second-eldest son seems unlikely to recover

A Marie Antoinette doll, a plastic cow head, a Jesus money box form are the glue that binds a firm friendship

Four men died when an Air Corps helicopter struck dunes in Tramore in 1999. This is their story

Don’t call me love, and other maddening conversations with strangers

The call came from the hospital: ‘One family member can go in for 10 minutes, in full PPE’

My iPad and audiobooks are two wonderful things salvaged from a year I’d prefer to forget

Boo took one look at me and hid under the Christmas tree, a bauble in her mouth

How about a Porn Star Martini? No thanks. Normalising sexual innuendoes on menus is not okay

Keeping the contents of a will secret only increases the conflict later, experts warn

The customer is said to be always right but sometimes that’s just untrue

First we couldn’t upload our test results. Then only ‘one passenger in 20’ was being checked

My aunt used to telephone her pet to keep it company, and I kept her secret

A derelict building in any city is a building with no soul

Rosita Boland: I went feral while hitching across Australia, but still couldn’t stomach some foods

How shamefully ignorant we are about the free, wild larder around us in Ireland

Rosita Boland: Songbirds were eaten in vast quantities and turtle soup was an ‘aristocratic’ dish

The strange magician of time has brought me friends from different decades

New book compiles correspondence sent and received by Ireland’s presidents

Rosita Boland: I used to like the word ‘perfect’. It’s cancelled for me now

A monumental collection of Birmingham craftsmanship on display half a world away

A particularly Irish way to put people down, it says they’ll never belong, no matter how hard they try

I wondered if the woman in the charity shop told this terrible story to many of her customers

Four decades and several masterplans later, Shannon Town is having an identity crisis

‘I never know how things are going to turn out until they are finished’, says 94-year-old artist

Seanchaí were geographers, historians and psychologists with deep connections to the landscape

The reverend mother called us to a special assembly. What crime had been committed?

Rosita Boland reads the September editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Tatler

‘Fully booked’ is a common refrain in the Galway town. Our series on Irish tourism continues

Rosita Boland: What is it about us as a people that we seem incapable of putting rubbish in bins?

Queen’s former daughter-in-law has written her 77th book, a strangely chaste Mills & Boon novel

Our series on Irish tourist spots continues with a visit to the Kerry town, where little has changed

Bexy Cameron spent her childhood in the Children of God cult, expecting to die as a teenager

Property prices rise in west Cork town which is becoming a ‘very sought-after place to live’

‘It used to be pints of Guinness all day long. Now we sell more coffee than all other drinks’

A US book portrayed Ireland as a land of subservient housewives and men in pubs

Covid-19 has had enormous impact on Co Leitrim town that depends on visitors

Ireland’s third-biggest lake casts a unique spell over the locals living on or close to it

The crime novelist talked to Bernice Harrison at The Irish Times Summer Nights Festival

‘I think it is the most horrific story. Her death was so barbaric’ – biographer Anne Sebba

Substituting pesto for oil, this photogenic dish looks healthy, fresh and appetising

Westport won the 2012 competition. Residents have some advice for this year’s entrants

Schools cover the cost of food for the dog, any veterinary treatment and general upkeep

In 2009 the body of Peter Bergmann was washed up at Rosses Point, but who was he?

The Bench apparently began as a message to Harry. It should have stayed between them

Actor turned novelist on Florence flood novel and how pandemic may stifle memory

Janet Hawkins of Blessington Book Store will be on hand to advise whoever takes over

‘A fourth lockdown would destroy me’: Five people share their experience of living alone through every lockdown

The National Stud and a number of heritage sites reopened this week, providing a change of scene for locked-down locals

Music passes through my consciousness like water flowing downhill. I can never retain it

Eight women who disappeared in Ireland are the subject of a new audiobook from Audible

I wake up wondering how long it would take for someone to find me if I died in my sleep

Boy 11963 is an incredible story of a life changed forever by a Longford scandal

A pot of steaming porridge in a Dublin park and other mysteries found while walking

Call me a barbarian, but when lockdown ends, the theatre is not the first place I want to go

Chef-turned-writer Louise Kennedy creates a stir with her debut book of short stories

Rosita Boland: My servants are all on the pandemic unemployment payment

American in Dublin Liz Maguire has accrued an astonishing 80-plus penpals in the last year alone

In the late 1990s I built my own Galway, roaming the city day and night

Restaurants all over Ireland have reinvented themselves. Host in Ranelagh tells how it works

It has been a truly extraordinary year for the Dublin writer

I was up before sunrise today to queue online. The website taunted me to keep trying

Rosita Boland: The TV presenter’s mystifying obsession with Meghan Markle has hit a new low

James Crombie, press photographer of the year, spent months chasing the perfect shot

Lisa Harding on her new novel, Bright Burning Things, and the nomadic insecurity of renting in your 40s

Pavee Point calls the list of Irish surnames, some common among Travellers, ‘despicable’

Government must support those who chose family placement over mother and baby homes

Mother and baby homes weren’t the only places for women with unplanned pregnancies

Recent sufferers from the virus describe how they got it and how it has affected them

Sheila Shelton was adopted by a couple in the US from a Tipperary mother and baby home

Women who housed single pregnant girls in the 1970s and 1980s share their experiences

Rosita Boland: The events of the last year have followed us into this one

The Tetteroos live near Killarney and know at least six other practising druids in Kerry

2020 in review: There were picnics, Dubs in rural areas, no coaches and no American accents

The new normal is anything but normal, and social distancing is an oxymoron

Meet the people who have made a big difference to others in this strange, tough coronavirus year

'If there is a third lockdown in January, the next reopening after that would be very hard'

‘I became unemployed during the pandemic. I am excited to educate myself culturally here’