Have you noticed that every pond and ditch you look into is full of frogspawn? The recent mild, wet weather is obviou...

The CPI has failed to get alternative funding and has laid off its staff. Colin Murphy reports

My father used to demand silence at the dinner table for “an important” programme at one o'clock every...

Community activitists and residents in Dublin's south inner city have been successful in their efforts to regenerate the local area. Its designation as a deprived community has brought in State resources but more are needed to address the poverty and inequality experienced by those who live there. Rory Hearne reports

The Rossport Five are due in the High Court on Friday 7 April to hear whether or not they will be punished for disobeying the court in 2005. The five men were jailed last June at the request of Shell E&P Ireland for refusing to undertake not to obstruct the laying across their land of the Corrib Gas pipeline. They were released 94 days later, again at the request of the company.

After Frankfurt airport, Shannon is Europe's most popular stopover airport for CIA planes, according to a new Amnesty report. Colin Murphy reports

Two great Irish writers were well remembered this week on TV. Flann O'Brien's 40th anniversary was featured in Lives of Brian, while an Arts Lives documentary was re-run on the eve of McGahern's funeral. By Dermot Bolger

An American classic gets a vigorous staging at the Peacock, but doesn't quite ring true for Colin Murphy

Darina Allen takes a chance on some authentic cuisine in India

An series of understated black and white photographs taken in Mali in the 1940s, and now part of The Paradise series at the Douglas Hyde's Gallery 2, is helping to put Gallery 1's little sister on the map. By Billy Leahy