Caroline O'Donoghue: Thank you, and slán abhaile

"The rule for columnists, generally, is that they should be at least two of the following: political, controversial, well informed, outrageously funny, intimately personal, taboo-breaking. I am none of these things."

Caroline O'Donoghue: this week's column for the Examiner will be her last (for now, we hope)

In August 2011, I was 21 and had just spent the summer writing gig reviews for the now-defunct free newspaper the Cork News. I wasn’t being paid. I did it simply for the cachet and the free tickets — as well as the all-important byline.

Around this time, they called me in to talk about a junior position at the paper. It was everything I had been waiting for; it was a week too late. I had just been offered an internship at a film website in London. The internship was unpaid.