FATHER Des Wilson died in November 2019. I first met him in 1968. His long life was dedicated to helping people. During the years of conflict, he stood with the Upper Springfield community against the aggression and violence of the British state forces. He gave comfort and solidarity to those in need and was hugely respected and loved.
MICHAEL Portillo has been on two major career journeys: one in Tory politics, which ended in spectacular failure, and now a second as a gaily-clad TV presenter journeying to different countries and back to different time periods. Taking Sides: Britain and the Civil War (RTÉ ONE) takes him on a 100-year journey back in time to early 1920s Ireland.
SIR Charles Trevelyan (yes, Virginia, The Fields of Athenry) was a Godly man. He administered British rule in Ireland during the Famine years and he saw evictions of Irish peasants and the toll taken by An Gorta Mór as "a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence". The Famine, he declared, was 'the sharp but effectual remedy by which the cure is likely to be effected. God grant that the generation to which this great opportunity has been offered may rightly perform its part."
Young entrepreneurs and researchers from across Europe who gathered in the Donegal Gaeltacht last week for the MIT Innovators Under 35 Europe awards have been told their efforts to address humanity's greatest challenges show the importance of collaboration and partnership.