Come to Beara and leave your troubles behind, advises Alex Barclay who found it impossible to leave after attending a writer’s retreat

For years, my friends and I have line-fished on Beara Peninsula, practising ‘catch and release’, but stocks are being ruinously depleted by gillnetting from boats, says Ashley Hayden.

Areas in rural Cork and Kerry left facing 20km-plus round trips

As someone who grew up in a village, I remember it as quite a lively place in the 1960s and 70s, writes Donal Hickey

Fred Astaire and Charlotte Rampling were among the stars of a film made in West Cork 40 years ago. It gets its first ever showing in the region today, writes Marjorie Brennan.

DON’T use the weather as an excuse. Get out there, says Donal Hickey. 

YOU are almost at the end point of Ireland, when you get to Castletownbere and the narrowing and indented sections of the ridiculously scenic Beara Peninsula — so, it’s handy to a have a boat in your back yard to get around in, to explore the coastline, and perhaps do a bit of fishing into the bargain, writes Tommy Barker

The Department of Agriculture has revealed its intention to amend the licence at a fish farm in Eyeries, Co Cork.

Proposals have been put in place for an €8m double cable car and visitor centre to further boost tourism on the country’s most south-westerly island.

In the first of an occasional series journalist and cycling enthusiast, Dan MacCarthy, highlights some of the great cycling routes of Munster. This week, The Adrigole Circuit.

The 1916 Easter Rising commemorations will continue today around the country, including a state ceremonial event in Cork City — the only such event in Munster.

Some of the events taking place across Cork to commemorate the centenary of the Rising include:

SEÁN O’Hegarty had charge of 30 Volunteers who marched from different directions to Kealkill, where the plan had been to take control of the local Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks.

Cork County Council will not investigate claims that a number of people were removed from the electoral register in West Cork, as the onus remains on voters to ensure they are registered.

Sarah Walker’s new work was inspired by her children’s choice of sport, writes Alan O’Riordan

THE late Michael Sheehan returned to his native West Cork at the age of 82, after a lifetime of working on cargo boats and travelling around the world. An impulse to paint seized him and in just four years, until his death in 1996, Sheehan produced a series of naïve oil paintings depicting local historical events and the raw beauty of his birthplace, the Beara peninsula.

A BRILLIANT summer to date will reach a high point this bank holiday weekend with tens of thousands of people on holidays, and those not on holidays taking to the outdoors to enjoy beaches, forests, parks, mountains and lakes.

Bathing restrictions have been placed on three popular beaches on the rugged Beara Peninsula.

The court order to wind up a credit union serving the remote Beara Peninsula represents a "huge blow" to the area, according to locals.

A total of 114 candidates have declared for Cork County Council with more than one-in-three being non-party hopefuls.

I spent some time in Boston in my late twenties. America prides itself on its multiculturalism, but I would hardly be the first to remark that the country has a habit of reducing everything to a certain sameness.

A fascination with old houses, and the lives lived within their walls, prompted artist Avril McDermott to paint the towns and villages of west Cork.

A new book and art collection depicting West Cork’s village vistas opens as an exhibition today in Castletownshend.

Give Me Your Hand is a play with a simple premise that has been hugely successful both in Ireland and internationally.

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan race director Tadhg Moriarty has warned riders with designs on making an impact on this year’s event to be “prepared for one of the hardest stages in the history of the race.”

I love Cork.

A picture postcard village of just 70 people has been declared the best kept place in Ireland.

If you’re “on the way out” it might be prudent to check the availability of ever-decreasing grave spaces in West Cork. And, if not, it could be a good idea to invest in a “pay now and use later” scheme.

A Government TD has asked the Department of Social Protection to review plans to cut hours at an “outreach” dole office which services a remote West Cork peninsula.

Rural dwellers the world over are, in my experience, frequently resourceful, independent, and well able to manage the challenges that living in remote rural areas can bring.

Arts Editor Marc O’Sullivan met the late artist a few years ago and discovered to his delight that they shared a mutual admiration for each other’s work

A local authority is considering asking the public to acquire burial plots “well in advance” to help offset the cost of new cemetery sites.

THE CELTIC CAMINO IN WATERFORD AND TIPPERARY

Neil Jordan’s in-production Byzantium is just one of many films to use the Beara Peninsula as a backdrop, says Carl Dixon

ON a day that farmers were warned of the need for increased care in and around farms, the rural community lost another life following a tragic accident in West Cork.

IT’S downhill all the way to the sea beneath at Derrynanebeg, one of the best scenic perches bar none on the Ring of Kerry.

DOWN by the sea and down in price, too, is this large, European-style property at Gurteen, Beara. On the tip of the peninsula at Eyeries, the house sits on an acre of ground and looks straight out to sea.

A MAJOR air, sea and land search will resume in West Cork this morning for a Polish father and son feared drowned at the weekend.

GARDAÍ have asked parents to be vigilant following two reports that a man in a dark green car approached young girls in suspicious circumstances.

THE small Roscommon village of Keadue has been named as the 2003 winner of the annual Tidy Towns competition.

NIAMH O'SHEA was expecting to deliver her third child around New Year's Day but her parcel of joy was delivered on Christmas Day instead.

A post mortem is being carried out on the body of a woman who drowned yesterday in West Cork.