From toddlers to OAPs, everyone will feel the mental benefits of walking — our bodies were not designed to be sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, writes Dan MacCarthy.

To the charge that Harper’s Island in Cork Harbour, with its three points of contact to the ‘mainland’, is not an island, the rebuttal affirming its island status: The area is defined by its natural history and not its current structures, writes Dan MacCarthy.

Nowadays, the sounds that predominate on Hop Island, Cork, are horses’ hooves but in the mid-18th century it was more likely to have been the sounds of Bach or Mozart.

Archaeologist Enda Flaherty has been documenting abandoned schoolhouses, thus providing a snapshot of those forgotten places where many of our predecessors were taught, says Dan MacCarthy.

The subject of what constitutes an island cropped on this page a few week’s ago in reference to the minute Flea Island in West Cork.

THE obliteration of the Hawaiian East Island in Hurricane Walaka in the last few weeks serves as a timely reminder to the vulnerability of many low-lying islands, writes Dan MacCarthy.

Sitting high on the cliffs of eastern Inishvickillane the view eastwards to the other Blaskets is simply extraordinary, writes Dan MacCarthy.

An old map proves to be a clue to an amazing story. The old Ordnance Survey maps, which are available online, offer fascinating information about our history.

This Garinish at Glengarriff Co Cork, is one of four to share the name in the country.

Inishbofin is one of two islands so named in Ireland (not that there are others elsewhere) — the other is a beautiful scimitar of an island just off Magheroarty Beach in Co Donegal which is minute in comparison.

One of the more surprising facts about Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay is the size of its population in the 19th century.

It is hard to imagine now when strolling around Omey Island's sand-dunes and marshes that the island was once home to 397 people, writes Dan MacCarthy

Dan MacCarthy discusses Carthy’s Islands in Roaringwater Bay

We love to anthropomorphise the landscape — that is, to give human definition to an inanimate object.

Wandering around Horse Island, visitors must take the utmost care lest they suffer the same fate as the numerous sheep that have fallen headlong to their doom down deep mine shafts, writes Dan MacCarthy.

This week Dan MacCarthy looks at Kay Summersby's life on Inishbeg

Here's your morning news bulletin...

There is something magical about embarking on a boat trip into the past where for part of your journey there is almost nothing modern in the scene before you apart from the bow of the boat, writes Dan MacCarthy.

Overlooking Roaringwaterbay in West Cork is a house on a hill. A couple of Scots pine trees stand by the house as if on guard. The setting is majestic — the island of East Skeam. The views are otherworldly, writes Dan MacCarthy.

Dan MacCarthy explores llauntannig, an island where the Aud lay anchored off during the 1916 Rising.

Many of us tend to idealise life beside the ocean and imagine balmy summer evenings with the sea gently lapping nearby and a glorious sunset emblazoned on the sky, writes Dan MacCarthy.

It’s not every ferry from which you disembark that a king is there to meet you with a firm handshake, writes Dan MacCarthy

It is a place of worship, but not in the traditional sense. The towering cliffs of Inishnabro are known as the cathedral rocks as they resemble a magnificent church. Some, but not many, have come to kneel at their altar, writes Dan MacCarthy.

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Compared with the west coast, the south coast has a mere smattering of islands. From Hook Head in Co Wexford to Cape Clear in Co Cork, there are a few clusters of islands at Glandore, Cork Harbour, and Kilmore Quay, writes Dan MacCarthy. 

Dan MacCarthy discusses dragons and knights found on Clare Island, Co Mayo

Dan MacCarthy talks us through the Saltee Islands, named by Viking seafarers.

Observed mistily above the Sherkin hills from the Beacon at Baltimore, Cape Clear is an enticing island and by far the largest in Roaringwater Bay, writes Dan MacCarthy

FOR much longer than millennia, islands have been a source of intrigue, writes Dan MacCarthy. Someone gazes out from the mainland wondering: “What is out there?”

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Here's your morning news bulletin.

Two collections of photographs capture the magnificence of Ireland’s mountains, showcasing stunning surroundings and intimate portraits of the people who call the slopes home, writes Dan MacCarthy.

As a new greenway opens in the southeast Dan MacCarthy hops on his bike and takes in the splendours of the Déise country

To mark 100 years since Tom Crean embarked on one of the great feats of navigation, his descendants have decided to travel on the same epic journey, they tell Dan MacCarthy

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today