I have a good friend who lives in Kenya – we used to teach in the same school in Mombasa. Some years ago, I stayed for a couple of weeks with her and her family in an old stone and thatch cottage right beside the Indian Ocean. Around the nearby headland […]
The arrival of spring migrants from their over-wintering grounds in Africa is well underway. The morning birdsong chorus of our resident birds, such as Blackbird, Song Thrush, Great Tit has been joined by summer visitors like Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat. As we move into May, the volume […]
In recent weeks, two stories broke, almost simultaneously, that caused shockwaves amongst environmentalists and climate campaigners. The first was a warning from Simon Stiell, the most senior climate figures at the United Nations. His message was stark: Governments, business leaders and development banks have just two years to avert the […]
This month the ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ team has been checking in with local partners to see how the project is going: meeting with retailers, hotels, restaurants, schools and community groups ahead of our ‘farm to fork’ gathering. On April 25, food waste champions from across all sectors will have […]
Our ancestors believed that there is only a very thin veil between this world of mortals and the Otherworld. This veil disappears completely twice a year, at ‘Bealtaine’ (May Eve and May Day) and ‘Samhain’ (November 1). On these pivotal dates the spirits of the Otherworld intermingled with mortals. Supernatural […]
Standardised tests (Sigma-T, Micra-T and Drumcondra) have become quite a cause of confusion for parents, disruption for teachers and anxiety for pupils in Irish primary schools since they became mandatory in 2006. Such tests are compulsory, externally prepared, not directly based on school curricular areas and administered in a format […]