Is it curtains for Ireland’s World Cup chances now that we’ve been drawn against the, on paper at least, far superior French? Also, fair dinkum to Cork hurling keeper Dónal Óg Cusack for doing the unthinkable and actually penning an interesting sports autobiography

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The surprise passing of Stephen Gately forces us to reconsider questions of life and mortality – and to wonder if there ever really is such a thing as fate.

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Did you know it was illegal to sell mass cards not authorised by the Catholic Church? Only in a banana republic.

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The seeming indifference of the Department of Education has prompted the band TUPELO to release a song to highlight the plight of children attending Cabra’s neglected Gaelscoil Bharra

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Just in time for Halloween, the government and the media are conspiring to demonise public servants. All the while, the real monsters are being allowed go free.

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The major label system is finished. Or so said OSSIE KILKENNY, in a riveting polemic at The Music Show in Dublin. The question is: who’s to blame?

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After a lengthy Facebook campaign by fans of leading man Rupert Grint, gritty Belfast-based drama Cherrybomb has finally secured a cinema release for 2010. We catch up with co-director GLENN LEYBURN to find out about the movie that the world nearly didn’t see.

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An Bord Snip has been threatening wholesale cuts in the allocation of money to the arts. It would be a grave error, missing the importance of culture as a source of good citizenship and innovation in our quest for a new, more resilient economy, argues the former Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and President of the Labour Party, Michael D Higgins, TD.

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The man who represents over 1,400 record companies in 17 countries worldwide has called on the Irish government to clamp down on music piracy.

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In their analysis of Ireland's Olympic performance, the commentariat have taken a characteristically gloomy outlook.

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A glorious Olympic opening ceremony suggests a world at peace. But burning villages in Georgia and South Ossetia reminds us that human conflict is never far away.

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The most yawnful month of the year is upon us, but thankfully politics and sport are keeping the flame alight: the games have already begun.

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Why it’s time we removed the Bible from civil life and put it back on the shelf where it belongs with other classic works of fiction

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Bertie Ahern lied in public about his finances - but is still looked on with fondness by the public. What does this say about our attitudes towards wrongdoing?

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Is Erica Jong a free speech martyr in the making or just another paranoid android?

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Jesus, Mary and Joseph – it’s the holiday you can’t afford to miss!

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A bizarre ad campaign to prevent Jews inter-marrying with people of other religions and none is being used to lure young US Jews to Israel to occupy land stolen from the Palestinians

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As well as forcing Ireland to reassess its attitude towards Europe, the second Lisbon referendum was a reminder of just how nasty British euroskeptics such as UKIP really are

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The current treaty debate says a lot about the make-up of modern Ireland. But we have to look beyond that and recognise the extraordinary achievements of a united Europe

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The economy may be swirling down the plughole, but Ireland has a rich history of entrepreneurship. We need to build on this.

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Centres Of Excellence may seem like a good idea – but access is a fundamental consideration in cancer care and other health issues...

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Homophobes often claim gayness is a disease. But might there be real physiological differences between queer and straight?

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In an ironic twist, anti-gay marriage campaigners are now trying to cast themselves as on the receiving end of a "liberal" crusade.

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The government’s uncomfortably close relationship with business contributed significantly to our current economic difficulties.

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Why civil partnership is just the start – and definitely not the end – of the battle for gay and lesbian equality in Ireland.

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