Catherine Butler, Charles Haughey's personal adviser and assistant from 1981 to 1992 concludes her memoir

Darina Allen on growing your own nutritious and delicious lettuce leaves at home

In fact, the coffee shop was the busiest business in a row of establishments in the station. Every seat was taken. Customers lined the walls. Even the employees were watching what was happening on the one small TV screen where Germany and Sweden were duking it out in the first knock-out round. It wasn't as if it was even a close game, yet it was extraordinary to see how every face was upward turned to the television. Nor was it as if the US were playing, or Mexico, or Trinidad. There were certainly no German jerseys or Swedish helmets among the crowd.

Elizabeth Magill: Arborescence. Kerlin Gallery, Anne's Lane, South Anne Street, D2. 01 6709093. www.kerlin.ie.  Until 10 July

A new guide to the World Cup, which gives a rundown of every country competing, is good for the lapsed football fan but often has nothing to do with football. By Michael McCaughan

Is Irish poetry is finding new favour across the water? The BBC has been reporting that Seamus Heaney has become the top attraction at the upcoming Edinburgh Literary festival (12-28 August), an offshoot of the annual Arts festival.

Casting With a Fragile Thread. By Wendy Kann. Henry Holt and Co., €25

'Have you got a few minutes for the homeless?", a man asked me on Georges Street, Dun Laoghaire last week. I shook my head and walked on, trying to explain to myself why. I already have, I reasoned, three or four direct debits which drip from my bank account on a monthly basis towards one "good cause" or another. Any more and I'll need to keep an eye on cashflow. Nearly every day now, there's a bunch of guys with clipboards lined up between the shopping centre and Penneys.

Tedious production and tangy glue at Hot Press in the 1980s lead to creative genius; nobody's talking Martin McGuinness on Let's Talk, but the Folks on the Hill have him down to a tee

Eamon Dunphy's departure from NewsTalk is a blow to the station. He is/was their highest profile personality and even if he can't interview and can't present, he was a sulphuric presence that always promised or threatened something – a serious loss of head, an expletive, a compelling row, or just simple, gorgeous boorishness.