Australia is, we are often told down here, the most Irish country in the world outside of Ireland. From Famine era settlers to Fenian convicts, the popular memory of Irish immigration to Australia is largely Gaelic, nationalist and Catholic. The cultural and historical legacy of the Irish contribution to this country is well documented and recognised. Free article

THE DAILY TRAUMA endured by families whose children have vital hospital operations cancelled because of a shortage of nurses in the main children's hospital in the 26 Counties has gone virtually unnoticed by the general public and ignored by the Dublin Government. But the issue was thrust into the national media headlines this week when a Sinn Féin councillor highlighted the case of one Dublin family whose two-year-old baby son had crucial surgery to help save his lung cancelled no fewer than FOUR times in SIX days. Free article

In the 1940s, John Prior was sent to St Joseph's of Tralee by the ISPCC, never to be checked upon again. He was two years old when he entered the institutional home for boys and did not leave until he was 16, making him the longest person ever to stay there. Free article

Following a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) report that it took £16m from criminals last year, Dublin Central Sinn Féin Councillor Nicky Kehoe has called for the confiscated criminal funds to be reinvested in disadvantaged communities. Free article

People believe that the South West Region is minting money. After all, Wexford is on the east coast. But it isn't true. The jobs are leaving and Wexford is fast becoming a satellite town with very few employment opportunities for young people. Free article

Well, wouldn't it be great. You fall off a hayrick or a roof, a tractor runs over your head, or your child is hit by a passing motorist, and within 20 to 30 minutes a fully equipped helicopter is on the scene, with doctor and paramedic, loaded with all the most modern intensive care equipment. Churning gently along at two miles a minute, it has you to hospital in no time, from the remotest rural area. Free article

A North Donegal environmentalist organisation, The Alternative to Pylons Group (ATP), last week became an organisation with which government Chief Whip Seamus Brennan should get up to speed. Free article