Earnings at Paddy McKillen’s Irish restaurant, pub and nightclub entertainment group last year increased by 28% to €2m.

U2’s four-star boutique hotel, the Clarence, has had “a great year” in 2014 after recording the fourth successive year of profits last year.

Mark English has said he is aiming to get his 800 metre time down enough for a podium position at the Olympics.

Sports stars, politicians, pundits and broadcasters joined forces to wish the Irish women's rugby team good luck in the World Cup.

THE New Year: when a local authority’s thoughts turn to ... “I wonder how old this area is anyway. Maybe there’s an anniversary coming up”.

A 92-year-old US woman who met her colourful Irish husband in most unusual circumstances will tonight recall the event.

Take that, rain. The homecoming for Ireland’s Olympians began as a washout but, with a flash of gold, the downpour stopped, proving that a storm is no match for medal-winning boxers.

The sweat and the ballads still flow freely and when Christy takes to the Marquee stage, expect the unexpected. Carl Dixon reports

Thousands of people have converged on St Stephen's Green in Dublin for the final event of the Olympic Torch Relay.

1. Ashford Castle, Co Mayo

The decade that saw Ireland relax after years of austerity is celebrated in a new book of photographs, writes Jo Kerrigan

BACK when I was young and it was sunny all summer long, I got a job in a garden centre.

POLITICIANS are geared to think only as far as the next election. They go into liquidation if they lose their seat.

IF you want proof of how much Ireland has progressed as a country over the last 20 years you’ll find it in the achievements of the Celtic Tiger’s generation of sports stars.

DUE to circumstances somewhat beyond my control — events, dear boy — I’ve seen very little of the Olympics. I’ve read enough and heard enough on radio, however, to know that the usual whine has started about Irish sporting underachievement.

Ireland’s director of coaching Max Jones is upbeat his small Olympic Games track and field squad will fulfil their potential – and possibly steal at least one podium place.

Bob Geldof will be awarded the Freedom of Dublin today.

A flock of sheep owned by anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof could soon be running around a Dublin park after he was awarded the freedom of the city.

Anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof and olympic gold medallist Ronnie Delaney are to receive the freedom of Dublin city.

GREAT cities have a genius for throwing up characters and institutions, people and places that somehow manage to represent the quirks and foibles of the city.

Donal Musgrave

Irish rugby player and coach Mick Doyle is to be honoured at a major national awards event in Tipperary next month, it emerged today.

Ireland's Olympic gold medallist Cian O'Connor will be a special guest of the GAA at Sunday week's All-Ireland hurling final between Cork and Kilkenny.

Ronnie Delaney has been invited to unveil a full sized memorial statue to Paddy Ryan, winner of a gold medal and a silver insignia for the 16lb hammer throw and 56lb weight, respectively at the Olympic Games in Antwerp, in 1920.

THE GAA and the Australian Football League are in negotiations about committing themselves to a 10-year extension of the International Rules Series.

REMARKABLY there was still soap left in the men’s toilets for an almighty scrubbing up job had been done on Colin Farrell’s tongue.

The former radio and television commentator, Brendan O’Reilly, has died.