Columns - Irish Examiner

Damien Enright

Damages award a set back for walkers in Ireland

Earlier this month the walking community in Ireland was greatly alarmed to learn that a woman, who slipped and cut her knee on a boardwalk when walking The Wicklow Way, was awarded €40,000 damages against the National Parks & Wildlife Service who had installed it, writes Damien Enright

Thu, 28 Apr, 2016

No country for old men... or any rural person for that matter

The countryside is closing down, the village shops, post offices and pubs closing their doors and the citizens without cars left grocery-less and drink-less. 

Mon, 18 Apr, 2016

A fine meal made from hare found on the road

After midnight, driving home from Cork Airport — the last leg of our 15 hour journey from La Gomera, a small island off Tenerife in the Canary Islands — we came upon a fortunate, if regrettable, treat.

Mon, 11 Apr, 2016

Spring bursting into life along clifftops of home

BACK on the ground — back on the Holy Ground, that is — I head for the woods and the cliffs that I know so well just to see how nature is progressing in early spring 2016, in Ireland, writes Damien Enright

Mon, 04 Apr, 2016

A king’s ‘ramson’ wouldn’t keep me from West Cork

IT’S goodbye to La Gomera and the canaries, their bubbling morning song from the fruit trees when we stayed in a friend’s house in the mountains, and from our neighbour Gerardo’s spacious aviary when we dwelt in the valley, writes Damien Enright.

Mon, 28 Mar, 2016

Hawks in flock — a sight to set birders’ hearts racing

Great excitement on the phone last Sunday morning, communicated via Skype from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by two friends of ours, British long-term residents there.

Mon, 21 Mar, 2016

How I hooked up with a beautiful bonito on La Gomera

THE other morning, I was down at the pier in Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera, when a two-man open fishing boat pulled in, brimming with bonito (Sarda sarda), 50cm long, tuna-like fish as beautiful as their name (which means “beautiful”).

Mon, 14 Mar, 2016

Carnival is over and long hot summer in Ireland awaits

Here in La Gomera, and throughout Spain, the Burial of the Sardine is over, and the end of Lent is celebrated with ‘Carnaval’, writes Damien Enright

Mon, 07 Mar, 2016

Trumpeting the wonders of snorkelling in La Gomera

In La Gomera, below the giant manta ray, a trumpet fish swirled and swam, slowly and gracefully, like a Disney creature, write Damien Enright. 

Mon, 29 Feb, 2016

Time-honoured traditions stretching to the Caribbean

Years ago, here, the ould fellas in this Canarian valley used to wear soft hats — like Irish farmers’ Sunday hat, but grey — and carry large knives at their belts, and have bloodstains on their shirts, or so they seemed.

Mon, 22 Feb, 2016