Irish Ferries has asked the public to name its new ferry, with the promise of free travel for life for the winner of the competition.

Irish Ferries has asked the public to name its new ferry, with the promise of free travel for life for the winner of the competition.

A potent mix of human rights, civil liberties, culture and history strongly dominated President Michael D Higgins’s four-day official visit to Cuba this week.

Reclaimed by Irishmen such as Yeats, from the canon of English Literature, Jonathan Swift has become an icon of Irishness, writes Josephine Fenton. Though he insisted he was English, he felt compelled to rebel.

There are only a few months left for World Rugby to ponder its options when it comes to the 2023 tournament, writes Michael Moynihan.

The promises of the 2011 election were universally broken, so we should be sceptical about claims that the universal social charge will be cut and the social welfare Christmas bonus and carer grant will be restored, says Political Reporter Juno McEnroe

PUBLIC discourse, that great, often enlivening, but always uncontrollable, entertainment is usually a reflection of the age and the experiences of those who participate in it — how else could it be? It is as much a barometer of the day as it is a process celebrating unchanging truths. It is often a chorus of fantasies and dangerous wishful thinking advanced as plausible policy.

THERE has always been a strain of science fiction concerned with exploring the human condition via journeys to faraway places. 

Even the National Association of Anticlimaxes would have refused the spring statement entry to its ranks for fear of reducing its already disappointing reputation to an all-time low in the minds of right thinking people.

Even the National Association of Anti-Climaxes would have refused the Spring Statement entry to its ranks for fear of reducing their already disappointing reputation to an all time low in the minds of right thinking people, suggests political correspondent Shaun Connolly.

Beware. The Rubberbandits are bringing their madcap musical to a town near you, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

The Chatsworth Spring Fine Art sale on Wednesday is full of glorious rarities, writes Des O’Sullivan.       

The great thing about the days on which Christmas and New Year happened, this time around, was the way it provided a week-long holiday.

The National Library of Ireland has said it is struggling to pay for new books and cannot open up some collections because of a lack of storage space.

From Dracula to Fr Ted and Boyzone, we have devised some of the most brilliant, but often annoying, things on the planet, says John Daly.

€620,000 is to be spent on developing a number of tourist attractions in Dublin, which are aimed at international visitors.

Eamon Morrissey talks to Pádraic Killeen about his links with writer Maeve Brennan, the subject of his new show

IRISH writer Julian Gough, who satirises our banking crisis in his witty novella, Crash! How I Lost A Hundred Billion and Found True Love, says living in Berlin gives him perspective on home.

Gulliver’s Travels, Everyman, Cork

The National Youth Theatre returns this week with an adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

The ongoing impact of the recession is pushing the mental health of families and individuals to breaking point, a leading private clinic has warned.

A national mental health service has experienced a significant jump in demand, including from adolescents.

The Central Bank was warned of potential design and copyright problems before issuing a flawed James Joyce commemorative coin last month — but went ahead regardless.

When Jonathan Swift was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral exactly 300 years ago, he wasn’t that impressed. Robert Hume explains why.

Our Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 100bn alien planets, and possibly many more.

Composer Shaun Davey says his new musical dips in and out of Jonathan Swift’s most famous book, reports Richard Fitzpatrick

The IHFA Open Day takes place on Wednesday June 20 on the farm of Tom and Maura Murphy at Swiftsheath, Jenkinstown, Co. Kilkenny.

Leading names from the world of art and culture gathered in Dublin over the weekend to celebrate the life and works of the late artist, Louis le Brocquy.

When the going gets tough, the tough get soppy in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, an old-fashioned, gung-ho adventure.

Biography

Dubliners are to be encouraged to read James Joyce's collection of stories named in their honour.

LEO Varadkar is extremely witty. To this I can testify, having seen him in action at the Trim Swift Festival at the weekend.

Political Reporter Juno McEnroe looks at the changes Fine Gael promised to make in its first 100 days in office and those it has actually delivered on.

TWENTY years of peace building have come to fruition with the queen’s visit, said former President Mary Robinson.

That we know what happens in the much-filmed version of Irish clergyman Jonathan Swift’s timeless parody on human nature – and travel writing – somehow tells against this latest version … it is, sadly, predictable and disappointingly lacking in novelty.

SEEING as our economy is totally banjaxed, and we are about to be screwed by those sleeveens up in the Dáil in next week’s budget, there might be only one thing for it, to go out and get peloothered.

The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry

THE Taoiseach has no clothes.

JONATHAN SWIFT wrote those lines in 1703, so it would seem builders have long enjoyed their reputation.

Emily Blunt and Jason Segel have been tapped to join funnyman Jack Black in a new movie version of fictional adventure book 'Gulliver's Travels'.

Jack Black has signed up for a giant new role, playing Jonathan Swift's fictional adventurer in a new movie version of 'Gulliver's Travels'.

SHORTLY before leaving office, Bertie Ahern spoke about our relationship with our immigrant population as one of the definitive challenges ahead of us.