Background: A Notre Dame student, Matt Keough lives in Rye, New York.  He is currently completing an internship with Irish Central and the Irish Voice. 

Inspired by their own Irish ancestry, two cousins compiled generations of wisdom, gleaned from women of all walks of life, with one thing in common: a deep and abiding connection to Ireland.

Background: A Fulbright scholar, Paul May is an interaction designer and researcher based in New York.  Originally from Raheny, Co. Dublin, he moved here in 2010 and currently lives in Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn.

Sinead O’Connor is feeling pretty good about herself these days. She’s currently promoting her 2012 album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? in London, where she’s given a series of interviews saying that she’s happy to have the focus squarely on her music instead of her sometimes chaotic personal life – bipolar episodes, four marriages, a stint as a priest and as a lesbian, etc. etc.

Irish Minister of State for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works Brian Hayes visited New York last week for a series of engagements that included meetings to discuss the development of a new Irish Arts Center in Manhattan. 

Dublin boss Jim Gavin will lay down the law with his players after midfielder Denis Bastick’s was sent off late in Saturday night’s O’Byrne Cup final defeat to Kildare at Parnell Park.

Westmeath goalkeeper Gary Connaughton could be forced to return to America for the summer if he can’t find work at home.

Donegal All-Ireland winning boss Jim McGuinness would welcome any approach from close friend Paul McGinley to work with the European team at the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Background: Connolly has been appointed grand marshal of the 39th annual Greenwich St. Patrick’s Parade on Sunday, March 17. A life-long Greenwich resident, he still serves as what he calls the world’s oldest altar boy at Sacred Heart Church in Port Chester.

Once in a while a new Irish playwright comes along with the talent to surprise you with the freshness and originality of their work. Last September at Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Theatre Festival that distinction belonged to Laoisa Sexton, the New York-based Irish actress who wrote and starred in For Love, a brilliantly funny new play about the thorny pursuit of love in Dublin that delighted audiences with its raw wit.

Believing that you can do no harm because God is on your side has a long history, but it’s still one of the most dangerous ideas you can entertain. As Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has discovered, the consequences of that belief have been playing out for decades in the Catholic Church. In his new powerful new film Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, he tells Cahir O'Doherty why he holds the church to account for it.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the volume of retail sales fell by 0.1% in December compared with November on the back of weak car sales.