While the memory of that plain wooden coffin on the beautiful oriental rug will long linger, the feel-good factor of the Pope's funeral went out the window as soon as President Khatami got back to Iran and denied that he had shaken the hand of Israel's President Khatsav. What may or may not have been an exchange of "peace be upon you" and a chat in Farsi about their shared home place of Yazd was replaced by mutterings about "baseless claims by the Zionist media".

On 6 April I made an appeal to the IRA to commit itself to purely political and democratic activity. Before making these remarks I thought long and hard about this initiative. There has been adverse comment about the timing of my appeal. Some have dismissed it as an election stunt. Others have said it is a confidence trick.

The rise in evangelical, Pentecostal and gospel style churches in Ireland in recent years is relatively unknown to the general population. Village takes a soulful journey. Words and photographs by Tom Galvin

Imagine your child is at a school where neither the teacher nor anyone else in the school can communicate in his/her own first language. Imagine that all the children in the school share the same first language, but none of the adults who work there do. Imagine that your child will never be encouraged to communicate in its own language for the entire time it is at the school.

Dear Póilín,

Ronan Browne sorts through the books on offer this summer, sorting the thrilling from the trite to ensure you get the holiday read you deserve

If you consider yourself a Premier League Organic Foodie then you will have already pencilled in next Friday, 22 April into your recycled Green Party diary. You won't of course have used a charcoal pencil with which to mark the world wide "Earth Dinner" promoted by the American Organic Consumers' Association – that would inadvertently contribute to further removal of sections of the rainforest.

Cosmopolitan, multi-cultural, colourful – in a word a 'Europiccola' – Aoife Carrigy is lured to Trieste by the magic of James Joyce

Bertie Ahern has said the next general election will be his last. But be warned, the days of Ahern rule may not be finished when the Taoiseach hangs up his political boots. Another Ahern is quietly grooming himself for the big job and building a track record at home and abroad to enhance his leadership chances whenever the contest is called.

For some months now the Government jet has been cruising along nicely on the wings of strong economic growth and kudos from its showdown with Sinn Féin and the IRA. Opinion polls show support for the government parties growing while the opposition parties lose ground.