Kidney transplant recipients Joshua O’Halloran (16) from Galway, Luke Concannon (9) from Lucan, Co. Dublin, Salem Alhag (12), the 100th transplant recipient and Courtney Kealy, (17) from Slane, Co. Meath, the first transplant recipient, celebrate Temple Street Children’s University Hospital’s 100th kidney transplant.  Photo: Conor McCabe Photography

This year marks the 20th Bealtaine festival. Organised by Age & Opportunity the annual festival celebrates creativity as we age and is believed to be the world’s first of its kind. Bealtaine has grown to be one of the country’s biggest arts festivals, with an estimate 120,000 people taking part in this event. All across…

The Minister for Health has apologised to parents in the support group Every Life Counts for his remark that unborn children with life-limiting conditions were “dead” in the womb. Speaking in the Dáil last December on a private members’ bill tabled by Clare Daly, Minister Leo Varadkar expressed support for abortion in cases of fatal…

The Synod Hall in Armagh was packed to capacity as people gathered for a special evening: “Great people, great stories, come and listen.” The evening, organised by the Diocesan Vocations Team, saw two people sharing their vocation stories. The first speaker was Bro. Ronan Lennon, a St John of God Brother who has worked in…

Italian Manuela Bertonicini, from Corpo Italiano Di Soccorso Ordine Di Malta, presents a bell to Carl McClean, deputy mayor of Bangor, Co. Down to mark the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus, who travelled from Bangor to Italy spreading Christianity through much of Europe. The bell, for the parishes of Bangor, will be…

A photographic exhibition highlighting the work of the Irish Potato Coalition set up by Vita, the Irish NGO fighting against hunger and climate change in Africa, was opened on The Mezzanine, Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport by President Michael D. Higgins. Supported by Irish Aid, the Irish Potato Coalition is a research-led programme that works…

Campaigners for the ‘no’ side have called for action from the Government and ‘yes’ advocates, against an unlawful nationwide campaign of destruction of their marriage referendum posters. ‘Yes’ activists have posted videos and photographs from across the country of ‘no’ posters being defaced, torn down and destroyed, and a Dublin hotel has offered a 50%…

Garda involvement in the same-sex marriage campaign raises unsettling questions

The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has welcomed Fianna Fail’s decision to affirm its commitment to a pro-life policy and oppose any attempts to repeal the Eighth Amendment. Fianna Fáil members passed a motion at the party’s Ard Fheis at the weekend opposing any repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Article 40.3.3), which provides…

Parishioners of Annacurra, Co. Wicklow got a rare opportunity to view historical vestments and artefacts at a display held following Mass in St Brigid's Church. John Flood, Pat Kennedy, Tom Dalton, Jimmy Whelan model some of the pre-Vatican II vestments in the exhibition organised by Fr James Hammel PP. Photo: Ann Egan