In the News...

If you were ever wondering what is going on over here.... here are a few exerts from the news here.


It is being said that this week is the most depressing week of the year. The lull after the holidays mixed with the depths of winter darkness makes this week the week where most people suffer from depression on varying levels.



Will Farrel has been seen around Ireland. He is here researching his family roots. We have not seen him.



Irish movie "Once" staring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova has been nominated for an Oscar. The movie, about an Irish street musician and a Czech immigrant who strike up a friendship based on their mutual love of music, has been nominated for Best Original Song. Dee and I both bought this movie for each other for Christmas. We love it!! And the soundtrack!!



Grey's Anatomy's star Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy) is said to be looking to buy a home in Ireland.

Ireland is the world's friendliest country, according to a survey drawn up by the Lonely Planet travel guide group. Ireland beat the US and Malawi as the friendliest travel destination in Lonely Planet's 2008 Bluelist. Irish people have 'a deliciously dark sense of humour' and 'a welcoming attitude towards strangers,' Lonely Planet said. 'The famous ability of the Irish to find craic or fun times with convivial company, in boom or bust times means you're always in for a treat,' the survey added.

The Archdiocese of Dublin has approved a new school enrollment policy, which will see schools for the first time setting aside a quota of places for non-Catholic pupils. Until now all schools belonging to the Archdiocese were obliged to enroll Catholic applicants first. Last year, an emergency school had to be set up to take in the non-Catholic children they could not accommodate and most of these were the children of immigrants.

Voting has opened for the first ever world edition of the board game Monopoly. The manufacturer of Monopoly, Hasbro, has set up a website where people can vote for cities from a prepared list or nominate a city to feature in the game. Just 22 cities will make it on to the new game, which traditionally listed street names in each spot on the board. Dublin is the only Irish location to appear on the list and it stands alongside other major cities like New York, London, and Tokyo. Dublin is currently ranked 6th on the leader board with 2% of the total vote. Paris and London jointly lead with 2.9%, followed by New York, Paris, and Rome.

The most popular children's names (2007) in Northern Ireland are Jack and Katie. The most popular names in Scotland are Lewis and Sophie.

And that's about all the random news I can come up with for now.

Source for news: www.rte.ie