Decayed Centenary - Frank McNally on the history of Irish brain rot
A rather uninspired choice as Oxford University Press word of the year? Maybe not
Frank McNally
The Eyes Have It - Frank McNally on the feast day of St Lucy
The name Lucy shares its origins with the word lux, Latin for light, so it’s no coincidence her feast day coincides with the darkest time of the year
No Bloom at the Inn – Frank McNally on the delayed debut of a new (and old) Dublin pub
I just hope the ghost of Burton’s most famous non-customer has not entered an objection
Skeleton service - Frank McNally on why horses’ heads (and the occasional saint) used to be buried under buildings
The foundation sacrifice
Picture post - Frank McNally on Cork nuances, the late Colm Ó Briain, and a photo exhibition in Rathmines
Himself and yer man, from Cork to Dublin
Long day’s journey into Nenagh - Frank McNally on the stress of covering celebrity funerals
Deadlines, from filing copy to car park closures, leave this journalist late to the party
The Greatest Escape? Frank McNally on one man’s mission to make a movie about the Catalpa Rescue
Rollicking true story has been made into a screenplay ahead of its 150th anniversary in 2026
All That Glit – Frank McNally on the ancient origins of a slippery word
Patrick Kavanagh may not have used the word in his poetry, but Seamus Heaney did
Time waits for Naumann – Frank McNally on a buried tragedy in Joyce’s Ulysses
Investigating a possible allusion to a man not yet deceased
Fighting Talk – Frank McNally on the perilous pubs and less-than-mean streets of Dublin
Enjoying an oasis of calm in the early hours of Saturday
‘If you fall through the mattress, I’ll see you in the spring’: Readers share their favourite Irish goodbyes
The Irish Times received a number of replies following Frank McNally’s history of Ireland in 100 goodbyes
Sex and table quizzes: Frank McNally on why being an anorak is cool again
Courtney Love, risqué art, and the Charge of the Light Brigade
Rhyming hope and Heaney: Frank McNally on political poetry, rubbing Princess Grace, and a brand of shoes named “Bertie”
An Irishman's Diary: Joe Biden gets some brownie points for pronunciation
Nothing but the trout: Frank McNally on the colourful origins of the legal principle res ipsa loquitur
An Irishman's Diary: Lending folkloric weight to the facts that speak for themselves
Mauling Molly: Frank McNally on the rampant sexual abuse of Dublin’s most famous statue
We may soon have to update the lyrics of the ballad: In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my hands on…
Cultic Mist: Frank McNally on the weirdness of watching Irish sport in Paris
GAA in such circumstances seems to imply almost religious devotion
If the Easter Proclamation had been written by management consultants instead of poets
An Irishman’s Diary
The book now arriving on Platform 2 – Frank McNally on commemorating Ulysses in a Paris railway station
An Irishman’s Diary
Ulysses for cheats, chapter by chapter (feel free to skip the first three)
Frank McNally: Skim, slice and dice James Joyce’s masterpiece, from opening to climax
Jail Journeyman – On Behan’s lighthouse, the glory of French supermarkets, and confidence-building Christian names
An Irishman’s Diary
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