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Want a glimpse of Ireland through immigrant eyes? Put yourself on a tight budget, without benefit of family or connections, and go apartment hunting in Dublin. Experience firsthand the thrill of mounting four flights of rickety stairs to enter a closet-sized fleapit, euphemistically billed a "spacious and newly refurbished double bedroom". Don't fret the sagging furniture: it's standard. The dreary neighbourhood? Chances are it'll liven up after 10pm. For an added touch of realism, give notice first. Nothing like a two week deadline to get the blood pumping.

Last weekend I stood in the beautiful hillside cemetery in Bantry, looking out over the Bay which is soaked in history. I was burying a dear friend from my university days. There were many of us, and we'd come from all over the world. But that is the way when you die young: your friends outlive you and they nearly all turn up to say goodbye.

Nationalists communities that have been affected by the recent loyalist riots are felling ignored by southern politicians

Paul Wolfowitz is having fun. “It's fun to have the chance to be a retail politician again”, he tol...

Martin Scorsese shows his understanding of the roots of American music in No Direction Home and The Blues; the judges on The X Factor cruelly break hearts for public enjoyment; Karl Spain tries to find that special someone and the BBC's antique shows really take the medal. By Dermot Bolger

 If you were in any way aggrieved by your resident young ones on Sunday morning (when they feed the iPod but let...

Rip Off Republic is causing quite a stir in the world of politics.

As Vinny Doyle eventually hands over the helm of the Irish Independent, Conor Brady reviews his editorship, looks at what lies ahead for Gerard O'Regan and is taken aback by the Sunday Independent's extraordinary (unsigned) rant against the Daily Mail

Some time ago I contacted Cloverhill prison to arrange a visit with the five men imprisoned there at that time for br...

Stormy was testy. He had put aside the guitar and packed his slicker. The First Weatherman was working hard, man, harder than he had in years, even spending nights away from home – and Barney – in strange places.