Irish Examiner arts editor Des O'Driscoll picks his top gigs from the weekend's event, at venues around Cork City.

Martin Hayes doesn’t like to stand still. The fiddle virtuoso from East Clare has made it a hallmark of his career to seek out creative ideas from beyond his musical tradition.

The international acts get most of the attention but Alan O’Riordan says there is no shortage of home-grown talent playing on Leeside this weekend.

In advance of his visit to Kinsale, author Donal Ryan tells Des O’Driscoll about some of his favourite music, books and TV shows through the decades.

Cormac McCarthy did not give a precise description of the cataclysm that destroyed much of the life on Earth.

Ksenia Parkhatskaya’s new show was developed with her Cork-born husband, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

“Sure there’s a catch, Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.” — Joseph Heller, Catch-22

How is it possible that this novel was written in 1985, and yet so little has changed in 15 years, asks Louise O’Neill.

Support services group DCC paid out over €3m in performance-related bonuses to its top three executives last year, driving combined executive pay levels up from €8.54m to just under €11.5m. 

One of the standouts in Dave Lordan’s Young Irelanders collection of new Irish writers in 2015, Oisin Fagan won the Penny Dreadful litmag’s €10,000 novella award this summer for The Hierophants and followed it up by releasing Hostages.

IN THE mood for cultural experience but not sure you’re up being confined to a concert hall seat for the duration? A Kaleidoscope night might be just the ticket for you, writes Cathy Desmond

Irish betting and gaming giant Paddy Power still intends to keep growing its retail network, despite its intention to enter a mega-merger with UK online rival Betfair in a bid to hold a sizeable chunk of the ever-increasing digital gaming market.

Paddy Power shareholders are in line for a fresh €80m windfall, via a special dividend payout, if the leading Irish betting services firm succeeds in its planned merger with UK-based online rival, Betfair.

SATURDAY

Bank of Ireland officials knew the bank might need taxpayer help as early as June 2008 to weather “a storm” descending on the financial sector.

The banking inquiry did not get answers on why two of Ireland’s biggest banks gave open support and millions of euro within days for one of the best-known failed boom-time developments after witnesses said they were restricted from talking about the deal.

ON A SNOWY winter’s evening in Toronto, a famous actor named Arthur Leander dies on stage during a performance of King Lear. 

New Paddy Power chief executive Andy McCue has seen his base annual salary jump by nearly 30%, to €700,000, since taking over from Patrick Kennedy, at the helm of the betting services company earlier this year.

Betting giant Paddy Power plans to return €392m to shareholders this year as it looks to cater for surplus cash in the face of a lack of attractive acquisition and investment opportunities.

by Dylan Evans

More than a dozen of Ireland’s most senior bankers during the boom and bust era — including one of the pioneers of 100% mortgages in this country — have been legally ordered to attend banking inquiry grillings from April.

Check out our guide to the best shows on TV tonight.

IT’S A LONG way from the Arctic that Cormac James was reared. Born and raised in Ballincollig in Cork — when he was still Cormac McCarthy — Cormac James has lived in Montpellier in France for the past 12 years.

Cormac James

By Edan Lepucki

NO road tax. No costly NCT, and you can repair a puncture yourself. Cycling is cheap, reliable transport, perfect for negotiating a city.

Paddy Power has begun the search for a new chief executive after Patrick Kennedy announced his intention yesterday to stand down after virtually a decade in charge of the company.

Total director pay at leading gaming and betting services company Paddy Power fell by nearly 2% last year, despite the firm seeing continued strong operational and financial progress.

Paddy Power expects its Italian operations to break even this year, despite seeing losses there increase by over 14% during 2013.

Later we'll bring you the best movies of the year but for right now here's 10 movies that you absolutely should miss from the year 2013

CORK Film Festival 2013 mixed old and new in this year’s programme, the first under new director James Mullighan. For fans of the big screen, it was a hectic nine days, and the event brought many surprises and rewards.

The Butler ***

Alan began to write in his late teens, starting with poetry, songs and short stories, He worked as an architect, in Dublin, then Edinburgh, returning to Ireland in 2009, when he became ill.

Repair work on an historic 600-year-old West Cork tower is now complete — and the ancient edifice and its surrounding Huguenot graveyard will soon be handed back into the care of local residents.

By Declan Burke, Pól Ó Conghaile, Richard Fitzpatrick, Ed Power, Marc O’Sullivan, Anne Marie O’Connor and Des O’Driscoll

Michael Fassbender has been tipped to win two Oscar nominations next year — by respected movie bible, ‘Total Film’.

A SON-IN-LAW of mine, living in the UK, has recently made a hobby of knapping.

Red Sky in Morning

Paddy Power has reported record annual pre-tax profits of €139.2m for 2012, but has warned that exchange rate patterns could hit its operating profits by around €10m this year.

Though he won’t divulge details of his new novel, Kevin Barry does tell Colette Sheridan about some of the other literary irons he has in the fire right now