Columnists
Fr Paddy: Lord increase our faith
You don’t just wake up one morning, light streaming in from the window, birds fluttering about, and jump from your bed with exuberance declaring...
Musings of a modern Laois Mammy: Back to school
In her new column, Steph discusses some of the issues that face modern parents as they try to navigate their way through life with...
Peavoy Financial Planning: No speed limits on the road to success – case studies...
In our last blog we looked at some reasons why Public Sector workers might make AVCs. In a follow up to this, today we...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: A week of firsts and some very...
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Your local charity and thrift shops: How and where to buy the best books
Whether you get through one book a year or several a month, reading is a brilliant hobby.
Proven to be beneficial to our development and...
Fr Paddy: Jack Charlton … ”Put ’em under pressure”
Jack Charlton’s recent death left many deeply saddened. An iconic personality, that won the hearts of the Irish people.
He made people believe in themselves....
Weekend Read: The story of the Portarlington to Mountmellick Tramway
National Heritage Week began yesterday and runs until August 23.
Unfortunately due to the current Covid Crisis, Laois County Library Service is not in a...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Lockdown birthday, going to Carlow and pretend...
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Fr Paddy: Direct Provision – A failed system
This pandemic is far from over, whilst hopefully it remains contained, on our Island.
Here in Laois we face the second week of restrictions, which...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Reading books, play dates and taking a...
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Mary Theresa Lowndes: Poverty is the curse of society
My late father was a member of the old IRA. I remember when I was a child he used to tell me all about...
Fr Paddy: John Hume – An Instrument of Peace
John Hume put his devotion to what was right above what was best for himself, his life’s work was given its ultimate return in...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Father’s Day, getting to work and playdates
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Fr Paddy – Mind your mind and don’t judge others
I was moved by Brendan O Connor’s interview with Brent Pope recently. Brent spoke of his reflective-time during the lockdown.
He thought of his mother...
Fr Paddy: 19 ways to stay positive
Our world screams out for poetry even if it can’t cope with it. Faith can only exist in a world of poetry.
God is always...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Roast dinners, slurry and dealing with the...
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Peavoy Financial Planning: Tomorrow belongs to those that plan today
Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) are a simple and tax efficient way for public servants to save for their retirement. They are extra contributions that public servants can...
Conor Stapleton: Your health insurance status should not determine your cancer outcome
Inequality occurs when some people in a group have greater wealth, greater opportunities and greater access to resources than others.
Inequality occurs everywhere. In some...
Mary Theresa Lowndes: Why do we always have to have a scapegoat?
Is everyone perfect? No they are not. Does everyone make mistakes? Yes they do. Did I ever make a mistake? Yes I did and...
Fr Paddy: Ode to a mouse or a spider
Robbie Burns writes well on the little things. When he was ploughing, he disturbed the home of a mouse. He apologised in a poem....
Diary of a Stuck at Home: A visit from the grandparents and feeling blessed...
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Life after Normal People: Why we loved it and what you can read next
There’s never a bad time to release a series as brilliant as Normal People, but the middle of a pandemic induced lockdown that finds...
Fr Paddy: Suicide – a pandemic that continues to devastate
During the past ten days, five lives have been lost to suicide in Laois. Wonderful lives, abruptly ended, leaving behind families overwhelmed with grief...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Cutting hair, tractors and sleep deprivation
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Mary Theresa Lowndes: Work gives meaning to everything
Hopefully science will find a cure or a vaccine fairly soon for this vicious virus. But for some time to come our economy will...
Fr Paddy: Time to end Direct Provision
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Ireland have launched a new study, Protection with Dignity: Roadmap to System Change, which identifies necessary steps for system change...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Paddling pools, garden furniture and Donald Trump
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Fr Paddy: Returning to mass sensibly and safely
The global pandemic has had a shattering effect on humanity.
This deadly virus, has made no exceptions, its ugly presence has wounded Princes, Prime Ministers,...
Diary of a Stuck at Home Mum: Safe cycling, car sickness and messy rooms
Steph is a Laois mammy of 3 small kids. She has started a blog to document her life as a mammy muddling through parenthood and...
Mary Theresa Lowndes: What does the queing for Penneys say about society?
The reopening of Penneys after the Coronavirus restrictions were lifted is an education in how we are driven to buy.
We might not afford Brown...