But she wasn’t consumed by us either. I knew that she was her own person, that she had autonomy outside of her role as our mother. She would sign my birthday cards with “Mike and Marie”, a tiny rebellion, a reminder that she wasn’t just a ‘Mammy’. She had an identity that she wouldn’t relinquish.

The images last year of the small boy eating a plate of carbonara off a cardboard sheet laid on the pavement sparked public outrage and shone the spotlight once again on the homeless crisis. Noel Baker meets the boy and his mother to see how their lives have fared since and spends the night with the homeless freephone service in Dublin.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan has lauded Rosscarbery native John Hodnett after his man of the match Pro 14 league debut in the runaway 68-3 victory over Southern Kings at Musgrave Park on Friday night.

Talk about either a famine or a feast. Caroline Conway’s 3,914 days of Roscommon exile ended last month and now she hopes to line out for her native county for the third time in as many weeks.

Simon Easterby knows what it is to be dropped in at the deep end.

For all the elements that make up this brave new world for Andy Farrell and the Ireland team as they head into the 2020 Guinness Six Nations, it is one of the fundamental lessons from the disappointments of 2019 that will register the strongest on matchday one.

Wednesday sees the start of Week 4 of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, Florida, while a second fixture in the same area at Deeridge Farms also gets underway.

The departure of head coach, Joe Schmidt, in November, also left a vacancy for someone to steer Ireland’s offensive gameplan and successor, Andy Farrell, reconnected with former fellow England assistant, Mike Catt.

Legendary publican Brian O’Donnell of the Hi-B bar was yesterday given a fitting send-off by his family and a large gathering of friends who came together on a cold and cloudless day to remember a man as warm and as wildly eccentric as the city itself.

The late John Dineen made his final delivery last week and, as usual, it was on time.

The man on trial for murder shouted “I am the king of Mitchelstown”, a witness testified today, adding that his hand was left covered in blood after the accused shook hands with him that night.

Brian Ashton was a prophet in a land that couldn’t understand his message when he took over as Ireland head coach in the 1990s.

In the throes of the action, I’ll be like every other fan, intrigued by Racing 92’s Heineken Cup visit to Thomond Park tomorrow.

2007 hurler of the year Dan Shanahan helped St Mary’s to their maiden Munster championship win on Saturday afternoon at Fraher Field in his first year as team coach.

Openside flanker TJ Ioane dismissed the suggestion earlier this week that the Pacific Islanders would be preparing a special welcome for Ireland's Kiwi-born centre with Samoan roots

Aaron Gillane revealed that he lined out for Patrickswell in Sunday’s Limerick SHC final against medical advice.

Maeve Higgins may be involved in pro-immigrant campaigns in the US, but she also produces plenty laughs in her spooky bigscreen debut, writes Esther McCarthy.

Science fiction is brimming with visions of the future and the many wondrous things the human race can achieve. But it is full of warnings too – and we should be careful to take heed of some of the big messages that are more relevant now than they ever were before.

Wallabies legend Stephen Larkham wants to bring a more cutting edge to the Munster attack as he embarks on his new role as the province’s Senior Coach.

Valentia Island is the spectacular setting for a festival of chamber music this weekend that brings musicians from far flung destinations.

Trucks and cars beep their horns in solidarity as they glance past the ABP Food Group factory north of Bandon — and the makeshift camp that is now nearly two weeks old.

All athletes hide guilty pleasures but Marian Quaid has no qualms about digging into a pack of Starbursts.

Two decades after a memorable visit to the midlands, Martin Claffey returns to the Hidden Heartlands.

The rain definitely played spoilsport when Mary and David O’Keeffe were married in St Finbarr’s Oratory, Gougane Barra nearly four decades ago. Despite exchanging vows in a church located in one of the most photogenic locations imaginable, you’d never guess it from their wedding album which is filled with indoor shots only.

It felt like a missed opportunity on Thursday when 30 unique practices of Irish cultural heritage were recognised by the state — and there was no place for the pre-match shemozzle.

A woman in her thirties has been arrested in connection with the murder of two-year-old Santina Cawley

*Spoiler alert*

A 30-year-old County Clare man was dead within little over two hours of taking a cocktail of ‘liquid heroin’ and methadone, an inquest has heard.

Michael Healy has been appointed as general manager in the Republic of Ireland for Deliveroo, the food delivery app service.

Coming just over a year after the album Quare Groove Vol. 1 pulled back the lid on a hidden world of Irish funk music of the 1970s and ’80s, comes another compilation album from the same stable that puts the spotlight on the early jazz fusion and folk scene.

Renée Zellweger, 50, takes on her first leading role in television thanks to new Netflix miniseries What/If, a social thriller that explores the ripple effects of what happens when acceptable people start doing unacceptable things.

Brexit is creating uncertainty for the food industry across the border, but it’s well worth a visit writes Michelle Darmody.

PlayStations, personal stereos, third-level education and traffic — John Giles’ big four inhibitors of sporting talent.

Sainsbury’s, reeling from last week’s decision by the UK regulator to block its takeover of rival Asda, was alone among Britain’s big four supermarket groups in seeing sales fall in the latest 12-week period, industry data has shown.

Johann van Graan praised his side’s character as they edged past Edinburgh in a gripping Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Murrayfield today.

Carol Morley talks to Esther McCarthy about her new supernatural thriller, and her teenage years at the legendary Hacienda nightclub