This weekend, I had nothing written for this column. Not a word. Saturday night rolled around, I was off to Croke Park on Sunday and, with a blank mind and a deadline looming, panic set in. Like a fool, I turned to a friend for advice.

A conversation is needed about the kind of future we want for our older people

Leaders of Western democracies view Trump with a mixture of bafflement, confusion and fear

The Beach Boys, or rather a version of The Beach Boys, played a live concert in Hyde Park

A recent audit found the NSSO made ongoing errors over several years in respect of pension deductions from the salaries of public servants

The railway crossing in Castlerea drives me mad

One of the traditional joys of the summer break, following Roscommon football was unfortunately cut short last Saturday in Portlaoise

"Most people’s true worth is the sum of their experiences, their value to society and their love for others."

Quick trip to London to see Conor McPherson’s ‘The brightening air’ starring Chris O'Dowd

Remembering childhoods days of lying in a hammock and soaking in the sunshine 

West Roscommon hit by devastating forest fire which saw homes evacuated

The Housing Minister started with a flourish, rightly deciding to appoint a housing supremo to clear the logjams in the system

'While he was born in Chicago, his pastoral identity was shaped in the highlands of Peru, not the pews of Illinois.'

History was happening before our eyes

'Rap could be performed by anyone who could speak, in essence; you didn’t have to be able to sing or play an instrument to express yourself.'

The government has lacked spark and cohesion, without any sense of a coherent vision of where it wants to take the country over the next five years.

'If I’m being honest, I rarely think of myself as “European.” I doubt I’m alone in that.'

Why is unity further away now than it was in 1969?

His papacy reawakened conversations about what it means to live a faith that is both deeply rooted in tradition and boldly responsive to the modern world.

The death of Pope Francis was a shock but not a surprise.

He worked to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and compassionate while grappling with its darkest scandals

The Healy-Raes have stood out over their years in political life by being different

Novel campaign “Breathe in Roscommon” has been launched

Here in Ireland, we’re no strangers to conflict and division. We’ve endured hardship, occupation, and civil strife.

It’s all about forward planning

"We’re still paying more for everyday essentials, even as headlines try to reassure us that things are improving."

"It’s like a geopolitical version of the Olympics; we watch certain sports for the first time in four years, and within 10 minutes we are authorities."

The Irish public is enraged by the shenanigans of the nation’s politicians

Michael Lowry has once again found himself at the centre of controversy

We should ensure that our water supply infrastructure remains in state hands

'Sport is at the heart of what makes us Rossies tick, and unfortunately Sunday was a day of hard lessons.'

'What we do in the name of progress is regress.'

'Everything is different in the era of Trump, when diplomatic meetings with heads of the state have been turned into reality TV set-pieces.' 

While we have a better level of awareness among politicians nowadays, that dearth of ambition still emerges occasionally

On Friday evening after finishing work I was driving up the road to Donegal, listening to the radio, when I started hearing reports about what was happening in the White House between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Audiences at Roscommon Arts Centre will be treated to the cream of amateur drama

Policing demands continue to rise, yet Garda numbers cannot keep pace with Ireland’s growing and changing population

Part of the services provided by Esker House, which covers parts of South Roscommon, is to help guide and assist victims, and in many cases their children

His wingman, unelected billionaire Elon Musk, is dismantling the federal workforce, the US equivalent of the Irish civil service.

Ireland’s economy is tied to the US, and the decisions made by people like Trump could have a major impact on our future.

"Instead of metaphorically propping the wall however, Trump and his people took the view that they would remove large sections of it altogether and take their chances with the law of gravity."

While plans for a new unit are in train, it now seems that there will be a significant delay before anything concrete is done.

There seemed to be some kind of an expectation out there that Michael Martin should somehow pay people whose electricity was off for a protracted period.

News reports were buzzing about changes to speed limits on rural roads, but I couldn’t quite figure out how it applied to me.

Put simply, Tony was a great person: kind, good-natured and loyal.

Councillor Anthony Waldron was a lifelong community activist, he loved Roscommon to the core and was always keen to promote the county at every opportunity.

You’d have looked a bit foolish in recent weeks as you tried to warm your hands on a dead heat pump, while you considered ‘watching television by candlelight’ as one child was heard to say

The storm primarily affected the West, North West, and Midlands, and it’s hard not to feel that the response would have been quicker and more coordinated if it had hit Dublin or the Pale.

For those still affected, this has become a humanitarian crisis

Some programmes get out and about in all corners of Ireland, and can even provide us with useful information on top of the entertainment value

We’re on the cusp of a functioning government, and a fresh set of ministers is about to grace the corridors of power

All eyes in this constituency will be focused on Dr Martin Daly with genuine hopes that he could become a junior minister

Funerals, one of the things that we Irish do very well

It’s clear what happens in Washington is looming large over Irish politics

If politicians want a future as part of this State in particular, they all need to be on the same page, but that will take a lot of work.

Why do so many people think they are worse off than previous generations?

Are we rearing a generation of absolute wimps, a generation that will never be able to handle any kind of multi-tasking or noisy environment?

Across various media outlets, a consensus emerged: this was a giveaway budget, with something “for everyone in the audience.”

Rarely has a story stopped this county or the wider region in its tracks the way the death of John Naughten has.

President Michael D. Higgins is far from quiet. He is outspoken on numerous issues, especially human rights and global affairs

Last January, Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald said the days of partition were numbered and a united Ireland was 'in touching distance.

It is often mentioned that Roscommon is one of the safest counties in the country. And, despite the terrible spate of burglaries and thefts across the county, this remains true.

The festival takes place on Saturday

Good things are happening all the time

Small businesses keep the economies alive in local towns and villages, and every euro spent with them tends to be spent locally again and again. But apart from local benefit, these businesses have other things in common.

It will be discombobulating to turn on the television this week, expecting to watch the Olympics and they won’t be there – replaced instead by a slew of silly season programmes or repeats.

For the past two weeks, I’ve focused on the Olympics, and there’s certainly no harm in continuing that conversation, is there? These weeks have brought immense pride in Ireland’s achievements and have shown us just how far we’ve come.

How strange that the most successful week in Ireland’s 100 years of Olympic participation should leave a sour taste in Roscommon.

The increasing number of reports involving threats to politicians has raised the pertinent question about how safe is it being a public figure in today’s climate?The issue about personal safety for politicians has become more heightened, reflected ...

If you’re at a loose end this summer, searching for something to do or a place to take visitors, I highly recommend the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough, just a few miles outside Castlebar.

The memories took me back to my childhood when the silage season arrived for our neighbours in Boho.

I was in Strasbourg last week to witness the opening of the new session of the European Parliament. I had been to the Parliament many times, but never on the opening day, and it was on my wish list.

It has already been a political summer of high drama with the promise of more shenanigans to come. Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the US presidential race was inevitable but sensational nonetheless.

A friend sent a text last week telling me John O’Mahony had been in hospital for the previous seven weeks. It was a shock but there was still hope that he could recover.

God, you can’t beat a good election, can you? I was in my element last week watching the election coverage from our near neighbours. Once the polling stations closed, we got the exit poll, and in fairness, it wasn’t that far off.

My generation has a love-hate relationship with Aer Lingus. We’re old enough to remember the time they operated in lock-step with British Airways on the Dublin-London route, code-sharing flights with identical fares.

An Garda Síochána was set up in 1923 and operated under what were known as ‘Peel’s Principles,’ a template for policing first proposed by Sir Robert Peel back in the early 1830s, based on the notion of policing by consent.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, few people in modern Irish history have been as lauded by others as Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, who died last Tuesday. His instantly recognisable, lilting voice was distinctive but not inimitable.

The start of July and the inter-county season for Roscommon has ended. It was great while it lasted: the sense of expectation, the hope, the dream, and of course, the entertainment. What next? Football or politics? My two great interests.

With the summer holidays looming for primary school children ALAN BEIRNE takes a trip down memory lane

They say a week is a long time in politics, but I’ll tell you, a week without Wi-Fi feels even longer. Here in Loughglynn we have fibre broadband with promised download speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

I want to preface what I am about to say by making clear my position on Israel’s response to the invasion of their country by Hamas in October last, when 1,139 citizens were slaughtered and 252 hostages were taken back across the border to Gaza.

"As part of the new regime, I’m getting a bit more exercise. I’ll soon be back up on the bike like the good old Covid times."

People are people, we’re all human and we can all get along, if we try.

A major health scare saw Hugh Lynn spend a number of days in ICU

I watched the Spanish TV news on May 1st. I’m interested in developments in the Coalition there, where a government wobble parallels our own situation. However, that story didn’t feature, it was all about Mayday, the workers holiday.

Beneath the surface, something joyful has been stirring

In 1981, in what now seems a lifetime ago, I clocked in for a night shift in a Dublin power station. It was Valentine’s night, a Saturday, and we looked forward to a quiet night.

The Better Half and I were flicking channels on Sunday lunchtime in the lull before the GAA extravaganza began.

All those who get involved in politics know how bruising a game it is. Those of us on the outside looking on can only marvel at the ruthlessness of its practitioners.

By Noel Fallon

There is an inevitability in politics that where a mistake is made, somebody’s head must roll. A politician or a public servant, it doesn’t matter as long as it satisfies the mob. Politics can be unforgiving at times.

Harris faces the challenge of returning the party to its traditional values

My first pair of football boots were acquired from my next-door neighbour.

“March brings breezes loud and shrill/stirs the dancing daffodil. " The lines from the poem ‘The Months’ by Sara Coleridge will resonate this week.