SCOTLAND once again turned green for St Patrick’s Day, with events up and down the country bringing Irish communities across Scotland together as they shared their culture with wider Scottish society, but it was the second annual parade through the streets of Glasgow which once again provided the most high profile spectacle.

TO LAND in Donegal Airport is to rejoice in a truly spectacular panorama. Descending where the rugged landscape meets the crystal-clear Atlantic Ocean breathes new life into the soul of the golfer, the emigrant returnee, or the business traveller back from a hop over to Glasgow or Dublin.

THE Men’s National Football League can be seen—from the outside at least—like the weigh-in before a heavyweight title fight. The pugilists get close, look each other square in the eye with maybe some shadow-boxing or actual pushing, before stepping off the stage knowing that the real deal is just around the corner.

CHRIST the King Hall in Glasgow’s southside was filled to capacity recently as An Evening with Pearse Doherty TD brought together generations of the Irish community in Glasgow for a warm, engaging and memorable celebration.

I HAVE been spending a lot of time around older people this past while and I’m never disappointed with their company, their humour nor their ability to embrace the modern times that are in it. I was down at the Shamrock Lunch Club in St Columbkille’s before Christmas and the craic was great. A grand lunch of homemade soup, sandwiches and all the cakes and pastries you could eat, some good music, dancing, and best of all, storytelling.

FOR those of involved with Tír Conaill Harps GAA Club, it has always been about more than football. Since the club’s foundation in 1994, its members have worked to build something that reflects the very best of community sport—a club where young people thrive, families feel welcome and culture, wellbeing and connection sit alongside competition. Three decades on, the Harps remain a living, growing expression of that original vision.

HAVING started his music school in Glasgow, Joseph Armstrong has brought his talent, skill and passion for Irish music to Donegal and gathered with 60 of his students to celebrate the first Joseph Armstrong School of Music Christmas Concert (above).

AS I watched my daughter, Eva, take part in her last blitz of the season with Glasgow Gaels at Toryglen Regional Football Centre in the shadow of Hampden Park, I allowed myself some time to reflect on what was a year of milestones for us as a family in GAA terms. 2025 marked her first foray into the world of Gaelic Football, initially training with the Gaels under the watchful eye of their highly skilled and dedicated coaches before moving onto playing in blitzes. She loves t

DEAR Santa, I’ve been a good boy this year—well, mostly. I’ve cheered, I’ve groaned, and I’ve written more words about GAA than I care to count. So instead of socks and selection boxes, I’m asking for something different: a few gifts for the game we love. After a rollercoaster 2025, here’s what I’m hoping for in 2026.

A NEW book entitled Glasgow Corporation Transport and the Donegal Connection by regular contributor to The Irish Voice, Hugh Dougherty, was launched recently in the County Museum in Letterkenny.

A TRAVELLING exhibition celebrating the work of Donegal men and women in Scotland between 1940 and 1990 opened to the public in the Glasgow City Archives at the Mitchell Library last month.

WHEN someone says: “I’m going home,” or “I’m heading over by,” I think there’s a universal understanding of what that means. It means going to a place where open arms and open fires await; with a heat that never fails to send you into a soft slumber. Where you head out on a beach walk and are warned: “The wind’ll blow the head aff ye.” A place where even a stroll across the fields, 40 shades of green, cut or wild, welcome you back with familiarity and knowing.

I’M writing these words in the last days of August. Here in rural Ireland, it’s a time to get busy with those summer jobs that get the home place prepared for the dark winter months.

I'VE ALWAYS loved Dublin city. The songs and stories; the people, the history, both the distinction and the raggedness of the place. It has so much to offer the every day tourist, from Kilmainham Gaol, the Writers Museum, the Guinness, and of course the Guinness factory. The literary tours, Temple Bar and Croke Park. What’s not to love?

BEING chosen as the Edinburgh Mary 2025 has been one of the greatest honours of my life. Representing Scotland—my new home—here in Donegal, where I was born and raised, made the experience even more meaningful. It felt like everything had come full circle.

WHEN Glaswegian Paul O’Donaghue ends up in lockdown after travelling to a small village on the north coast of Donegal for his mother’s funeral, he’s not unduly worried.

IT'S 8AM on William Street in the heart of Derry’s Bogside. Rain clouds loom overhead but nothing dampens the excitement as we check out of the B&B and climb into our hire car. The Wild Atlantic Way awaits.

Twenty years ago, I was with colleagues in Dublin for a once -per-term meet-up of participants in a postgraduate psychotherapy course. It was organised across Northern Europe with students from Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Ireland.

AN INFLUX from Scotland is not unusual when Donegal have business at Croke Park, but this year’s football semi-final at the home of the...

WHEN the ball is thrown in at 3.30pm this Sunday in Croke Park, it won’t just be the All-Ireland title on the line—it’ll be a referendum on the future of Gaelic football.