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In a week when The Irish Times reports an unseemly brawl between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks who physically battled over turf and influence in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, I was reminded of the unfortunate battle for the souls of Catholics in the aftermath of the Great Famine. This episode in Connemara’s long history still engenders passionate feelings today. The expression ‘they took the soup’ is still very much alive. At the time the campaign for souls splintered communities, and divided families. In a new book Soupers and Jumpers* Miriam Moffitt reminds us that Catholics and Protestants were convinced that their religion - and only theirs - was the ‘one true faith,’ and that anyone who lived, or more importantly died, outside their particular belief system could not enter heaven. From the middle of the 19th century, the poor of Connemara and the Dublin slums were targeted by the well intentioned Anglican Irish Church Missions.

At Shannon Airport five people took on the might of the US military – and put a Navy war-plane out of action. Astonishingly, they convinced a jury that to do so was not a crime.

THE Kilkenny County Council Arts Office has just announced a new chapter to their cultural programme. An exciting new literary event will be held over six weeks, and will feature a series of readings from a broad range of national and local poets and novelists.

Top officials at the Galway County Council were at odds with each other on how to deal with the findings of an internal investigation into “irregularities’ regarding invoices submitted by a councillor for works carried out during a Community Involvement Scheme in Ardrahan in south Galway in 2003, it emerged at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

The personal library of the former Taoiseach, the late Charles J Haughey, was presented to the National Museum of Ireland this week to go on display in Turlough House.

I have often been intrigued by the stories of German spies parachuted into Ireland during World War II. It was quite an intriguing time. De Valera was anxious to steer the country in neutral waters, despite serious pressure from Britain and America to at least open our ports to the transatlantic convoys which were being hammered by German U-boats. The IRA and its sympathisers, were pro German to such an extent that Germany believed it could foster a lot of trouble in Britain’s ‘back yard’ by encouraging the IRA to make mischief.

The African country of Ethiopia consistently ranks among the poorest in the world. Since 1984, when pictures of desperate famine raced around the world, the country has become a byword for poverty. But when journalist Liam Horan visited recently with Irish humanitarian agency Self Help Africa, he was pleasantly surprised to find many signs of progress. Here he focuses on the work of the agency as it tries to bring about improvements in the lives of people accustomed to living on the edge.

Ruby Walsh adorns the cover of the Irish Racing Yearbook 2009, published this week — and the Galway Advertiser is giving away copies to racing fans in an end of year competition.

Racing punters are being encouraged to trot along to the Cheltenham preview night at Langton’s in Kilkenny on March 3 to back some winners at the up and coming Cheltenham Festival.