My beloved Ireland is now dead and gone

Cormac McConnell is a regular columnist in our farming section and this week's contribution has caused quite a stir on social media. We thought, therefore, that we should bring it to a wider audience in the spirit of one of the Irish Examiner's core aims - to highlight diverse opinions and give voice to different views.  Feel free to comment on this story below. 

THE stridentine woman known as Twink jolted me onto a train of thought a fortnight ago. She set me rattling through the dawn of a new era, for me, where I encountered the alleged comic Tommy Tiernan, ‘dying’ on stages all across Europe.

Then, I physically ventured the few miles up the road from home, to earthy Lisdoonvarna, to get my head together, and, dammit, if there was not a gay festival weekend in full swing up there.