On International Men’s Day, Donal O’Keeffe asked some well-known Irish men for their thoughts on what it means to be a man, and what they’d tell their younger selves about masculinity

Right, here we go. Time to give the checklist a final once-over.

Deirdre O’Donovan is development consultant with West Cork Music and event organiser of the inaugural West Cork Chamber Music Fringe Festival which will take place in and around the town of Bantry from tomorrow.

Period dramas have us drooling over English historic houses of a grand and, often, ostentatious type, some lived in by generations of the same family, others conserved by venerable institutions like English Heritage and the National Trust.

FINALLY.

It’s not often that anecdote is backed up by hard scientific fact, but those who claim that Irish beef is in a class of its own are on to something.

The GAA are highly unlikely to change the throw-in times of the televised Leinster SFC semi-finals this Sunday in the event the Republic of Ireland qualify for the second round of Euro 2016 that same afternoon.

From the milking parlour to the beauty parlour may seem a bit of a stretch for most people, but not farmer Maurice Walsh.

Gardaí and Crimestoppers have renewed their appeal for information on the abduction and disappearance of an Englishman 25 years ago.

Bad weather can impact farm but can also hit the farmer’s mental health and contribute to depression.

Fledgling station UTV Ireland has increased its estimates for losses for a third time in less than a year, and now predicts it will post losses of £11.5m (€16.2m) in 2015 — its maiden year of operation.

Are you a fan of Love/Hate? Then get yourself to Whiskey Joe’s, Loughrea on Sunday for a ’killer’ offer.

Former GAA president Seán Kelly has recalled how he rearranged seats at the 2005 Congress to ensure the vote to open Croke Park to international rugby and soccer had a greater chance of succeeding.

Marty Whelan has admitted he still hopes to present his own chat show and would love to be the frontman on the Late Late Show.

Radio and TV broadcaster UTV Media has reported a 62% jump in half-year profits.

What, when you know he has a terminal illness, do you tell your eight-year-old son when he asks if he is going to die?

He’s known as the hard-living, sharp-tongued soccer pundit who’s always ready to put the boot in.

As the great and the good in Irish film and television gather together to be honoured at this year’s IFTAs tonight, Rachel Borrill asks some of our best-known faces for advice and tips on how to break into the business.

Irish ‘hang-ups’ about drink, sex, and unrequited love are explored in a TV series starting this week.

A 14-year-old girl vanishes on a drab Dublin afternoon, leaving her estranged parents to piece together the circumstances of her disappearance even as they try to reassemble their shattered lives. That’s the premise of RTÉ’s much talked about new drama Amber, a four-parter over consecutive nights, concluding on Wednesday.

Two childcare workers are suing RTÉ claiming they were defamed in a Prime Time programme.

RTÉ chiefs were left red-faced when they failed to broadcast a highly publicised, pre-recorded documentary in a prime-time slot and then struggled to air another programme in its place.

If women can be so easily shut out of a national debate on an issue like abortion, what chance do they have of being heard on traditional ‘men’s issues’ like the economy? Shaun Connolly says it’s time for change

RTÉ is implementing a 30% reduction in the salaries of its top stars, its managing director has confirmed.

The producers of a TV show have offered a lifeline to people swamped by debt.

The woman at the centre of one of the most difficult mountain rescue missions in almost 50 years has said she will be “forever grateful” to her rescuers.

THE programme was going well until this guy, Philip Nitschke, popped up on the screen.

Funny that the man who told me that irreverence was a good foundation for journalism is now accorded the sort of reverence more in keeping with pop stars and the Pope than pensmiths.

It dominated Irish TV in the 1980s — and now Dallas is coming back. Suzanne Harrington on the return of JR and Bobby Ewing.

Catherine Fulvio, Mulranny, Co Mayo

ONLY VIP fans are allowed on the set of The Killing 3. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, was presented with a “Sarah Lund sweater” by actress Sofie Grabol when she went on location in Denmark earlier this year, but commoners — especially journalistic ones — are barred from entry.

RTÉ personality Mike Murphy has hit out at the station’s “Cromwellian” approach to the arts after claiming his new show’s late-night spot means he has been “banished into the Connacht of broadcasting”.

Hotelier John Brennan has been warned by Kerry County Council not to develop a luxury camping and caravan park on the grounds of a 19th century manor hotel, near Kenmare, until an appeal to An Bord Pleanála is finalised.

Hundreds of grass-roots Labour members are set to gather in Galway today for the party’s 66th annual conference, its first major gathering since entering the coalition with Fine Gael 13 months ago.

A village butcher has told how sales of calorie-laden rashers and sausages have plummeted due to the influence of TV reality show Operation Transformation.

THE Voice of Ireland talent contest on RTÉ1 seems to have caught the public imagination, with 708,000 viewers tuning in for its debut.

'Mrs Brown's Boys' has been crowned the most watched show in Ireland on Christmas Day for the second year in a row.

WHY is our national broadcaster screening violence on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the holiest and most peaceful days in the year?

RTÉ chiefs will be hoping Ireland’s newest Lotto millionaire has not thrown away their winning ticket after watching their live broadcast on Saturday night.

Enda Kenny has breached the Government's self-imposed salary cap by granting a €35,000 pay increase to one of his former advisors.

THE failed legacy of the last Fianna Fáil-led government is revealed in a new two-part documentary in which events surrounding the bank guarantee and the party’s eventual loss of power are described by former ministers.