Hand-written drafts of a poem by Seamus Heaney tonight fetched €27,000 to help a small Irish village develop an arts and heritage centre.

A NEW film may go some way towards restoring the seal as a loved and esteemed creature in Ireland.

I RECEIVED an attractive book, Irish Wild Plants: Myths, Legends, Folklore by Niall MacCoitir from Collins Press last week.

IT’S the time of year when many people explore the shoreline, cagily wet their toes in the incoming tide, more daringly breast the white-fringed waves, or simply stroll along our beaches.

GRAPHIC images of man-eating sharks from Jaws come to mind following recent reports of shark sightings off the coast.

PREVIOUS generations ate a lot of shellfish - they overfished stocks almost to extinction, a process aided by pollution.