John Dolan
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Articles by John Dolan
TV: Cork family in frame for fitness title
A family from Cork will be flying the flag for the Rebel County when hit show returns for a new series this weekend - and they certainly have the pedigree to win. The McCourt family will be getting a helping hand from a Cork mentor in the first episode of the 14th series in RTÉ1 on Sunday at 6.30pm. They will have camogie legend Anna Geary in their corner. Dad Morgan, 57, is a Dublin native who has lived in Cork for 19 years.
John Dolan: Ghostly monks, a foxy lady... Cork’s most terrifying spirits
It was more than 100 years ago now, on a beautiful Sunday in June, when a woman from Dripsey set off in her pony-and-trap to a farm near the city to purchase a horse, accompanied by her 16-year-old son. The business completed, they started to head home just as evening shadows were falling, and reached the bridge that spans the Lee at Inniscarra at twilight. Suddenly, the woman recalled many years later, the pony stopped dead, refusing to budge.
Cork entrepreneur and northside project feature on TV shows
A community project in Cork city is highlighted on RTÉ1 series next week. The team check out Northside Community Enterprises, which provides people of all ages with opportunities to develop new skills, opening doors to fresh possibilities in everyday life, in the episode on Friday at 7pm. For 33 years, the project has partnered with Cork communities to create opportunities for jobs, education and up-skilling for people who are long-term unemployed or otherwise disadvantaged.
Weekend guide: What's happening Leeside this Saturday and Sunday
: The start of the preview shows as the iconic play returns to Cork. Age rating 15+. Pig and Runt are Cork teens who share the same birthday, speak the same secret language, and whose joint inner world is about to be torn asunder by impending adulthood. : Final performance of the show billed as a whodunnit where the audience decide... it’s bound to be frightfully good fun. : More than 45 performances over three screenings, with the winners announced at 5.30pm.
What's on in Cork for the next week: Franks on stage, scary movies, and Disco Pigs
No sooner has the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival shuffled off the stage, and we are heading into Halloween. Every year, the unique former church at Triskel Arts Centre is the perfect spooky place to have fun and frights at the cinema. This year, they have vampires, a slasher, a murderous urban legend, and a resurrected rock star out for revenge.
TV: Documentary explores witch trial that shook the nation
In 1711, at a time when witches were feared throughout Europe and America, a witch hunt was underway on Islandmagee, a peninsula 20 miles north of Belfast. The inhabitants were mostly Scots Presbyterians who had arrived in the north in the 17th century. This close-knit community was shaken to its core by rumours an 18-year-old woman named Mary Dunbar was demonically possessed.
John Dolan: ‘Sinful, near-nudity, indecency’ - when jazz was all rage in Cork
If I were to suggest that the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival this weekend would include scenes of near-nudity, indecency, rampant promiscuity, and sinful passion, many of you might take it as an endorsement. Such lurid descriptions are normally more suited to a wild week in Ibiza - the type of hedonistic fun which, alas, my creaking back (and cruel wife) prevent me from currently pursuing.
Weekend Guide: Here's what's happening Leeside this Saturday and Sunday
: Written by and starring Tommy Harris, this is a new black comedy about local politics, paranoid conspiracy, and the sacrifices people will make to get what they want. Final performance. : Four of Ireland’s best-known and most experienced jazz musicians to explore the repertoire of Monk, one of the 20th century’s most unique composers. Just one of the events at the venue as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.
Meeting US Jewish leaders, pope warns differences must not fuel prejudice
Welcoming U.S. Jewish leaders at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the church's commitment to fostering friendship between the two faiths and to rejecting all forms of ethnic and religious discrimination. In an Oct.
Bishop John Dolan: What it means to be human in the age of AI
Artificial intelligence is becoming remarkably good at remembering things about us. It can retain our preferences, retrieve earlier conversations, recognize patterns in what we write and even anticipate what we may want to say next. A young person can spend hours conversing with an artificial intelligence that seems attentive and patient, remembers details friends may forget and remains available when friends are asleep.
Your letters: Synodality in the seminary, Sheen relics, abortion and empathy
Following are NCR reader responses to recent news articles, opinion columns and theological essays with letters that have been edited for length and clarity. Synodal seminaries Reading Rafael Luciani's article calling for seminaries to inculcate the value and practice of synodality rings a bell for me (NCRonline.org/node/339966, Sept, 22, 2026). In my 50 years of lay ministry, I have seen a steep decline from our post-Conciliar vision of the role of the laity.
Lots to see in Cork aside from de Jazz, boy
We’re entering the flagship entertainment weekend of the year on Leeside, as the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival begins today, October 22, and runs to Bank Holiday Monday, October 26. But there are plenty of non-jazz events lined up for the long weekend, and into next week. One highlight will appeal to the punks out there, as El Clash Combo play at Sea Church in Ballycotton on Saturday, October 24 at 8pm.
John Dolan: What kind of people watched public executions in Cork...all sorts
What sort of person would willingly want to watch the public execution of another human being? That question was raised lately when dotty old President Trump and his U.S administration spoke of their plans to show the death by firing squad of a mass murderer live on the internet. There were reports this week that Trump had rowed back on this barbaric plan, and we can only hope common decency prevails.
Weekend guide: Our pick of the top events in Cork this Saturday and Sunday
: The magician is about to get inside your head like never before with his most unpredictable, jaw-dropping and hilarious live show yet. : Four hour-long events on the final day of the festival, starting at 3pm with the Ó Faoláin Prize Reading, with Lucy Caldwell & Guy Ware at 4.30pm, Billy O’Callaghan & Simon Van Booy at 7.30pm, and Dermot Bolger & Liz McManus at 9pm.
TV: Recalling the musical traditions around 1798
The year 1798 is etched in the memory banks of the Irish, and a new TV documentary series revisits the time of that fateful failed rising against British rule. Called , it starts a four-part run on TG4 on Sunday at 9pm, and sets out to explore the song traditions of the 1798 rebellion.
What's on in Cork this week: Grand piano show, Jack Dee, and Irish language Pygmalion
A special concert bringing together some of Cork and Ireland’s leading musical talents across classical repertoire, opera, musical theatre, jazz, soul and popular music, will take place in the Opera House this weekend. It’s all to celebrate the arrival of a new Steinway Model B classic grand piano at the venue. The show, aptly called , takes place on Sunday, October 19, at 8pm.
TV: Cork author delves into stories behind our fairy forts
There are thought to be around 40,000 ringforts across the island of Ireland, but how much do we know about them? We will be given an insight by Cork folklorist Jo Kerrigan in on RTÉ1 on Monday at 7pm. Kerrigan, who writes column each week, takes us to West Cork, and explains how the legends of the ringforts inspired her to write a book on them, along with her photographer husband Richard Mills.
Spooky Spike: Chilling tour on Cork’s island of the lost souls
I’m standing in a chilly and dank, pitch-black tunnel which used to house some of Ireland’s most dangerous convicts. I literally can’t even see my hand in front of my face. It’s the sort of hell on earth that would very quickly drive a man incarcerated here, stuck in solitude with only his mind for company, to take leave of his senses. A chill goes down my spine. Men were locked up here, shielded from daylight, for 23 or more hours a day; just them, a cold cell, and a latrine for company.
TV: Doctor details ordeal of sudden cardiac arrest in Cork
When musician Frankie Lane collapsed from a sudden cardiac arrest during a holiday in Cork, his wife Anita faced every family’s worst nightmare. Against staggering odds, paramedic Pat McCarthy resuscitated Frankie using CPR and a defibrillator. His survival set in motion a journey that brought together the people who made it possible, the family living through its aftermath, and the researchers working to understand what happens next.
Our guide to what's happening in Cork this weekend
: Relive the magic of the ’80s and hear hits by icons such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Go West, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Nik Kershaw and many more. Thunder Rolls – A Garth Brooks Tribute, Cork Opera House, €32.50, 8pm: Experience the wonder of country music’s greatest icon with a seven-piece band fronted by Stephen Butler. : After the success of Tadhg J Devery is back with a brand-new, bigger, wilder, and completely unhinged comedy show.
What's on this week: Folk festival and hit play in Cork
For almost half a century, the Cork Folk Festival has found a groove in the city’s musical soul - and the 2026 edition starts today, October 8, running to October 11. Highlights include Máirtín Ó Connor, Cathal Hayden, and Seamie O’ Dowd performing at the Triskel Arts Centre, and the Lee Valley String band at Coughlan’s Bar, both on opening night. Plus, John Spillane and Altan are at the Triskel on Friday. There are also walking tours, events at the city library, and lectures.
Holy smoke! It will now cost €20 for a pack of cigarettes?
It’s hard to convey to anyone aged under 30 today how much cigarette smoke used to play a part in everyday life. Getting the bus into work? Smoke wafting over you from the fella sparking up in the seat behind. In the office? By noon, a pall of smoke often hung in mid-air, like dawn the day after the Battle of the Somme. Fancy a pint after work? The haze in the bar would be so bad that you would occasionally choke and your eyes would water.
Weekend Guide: Our pick of the best events in Cork this Saturday and Sunday
The comedian’s shows draw on his wide travels, cultural observations, attempts at language study, (occasional) drinking session(s) and being a mildly confused immigrant. : Strive Theatre and Cork band MacBóchra present the premiere of their bilingual theatrical collaboration. An experimental theatre work fusing music, poetry, film, dance, storytelling, and spectacle. Also on Sunday at the same times.
TV: A look inside three Irish houses that are brimming with history
Three of Ireland’s great historic houses are explored in next week. In the first episode on RTÉ1 on Monday at 7pm, Richard Downes heads to the Midlands, on the shores of Lough Ennell in Mullingar, where Belvedere House is situated. He explores the rich history of the house and estate, while also discovering the extensive restoration work carried out on the mansion. Richard also views the gardens and grounds of this place, which is now owned and managed by the Westmeath County Council.
Documentary shines light on Cork family raising both Deaf and hearing children
A Cork woman’s journey trying to navigate parenthood with Deaf and hearing children is told in a TG4 documentary on Sunday. Michelle Goodwin, of Ballincollig, features in which airs at 9.30pm. Presented entirely in Irish Sign Language. the programme follows three Deaf couples as they navigate life, love, and major decisions. Among them are Michelle and her partner, Kathy, from Belfast.
Weekend plans? Our guide to what's happening in Cork
: Award-winning film-maker Ken O’Sullivan talks about his 25 years exploring the seas around Ireland and beyond, including tales about swimming with dolphins and being surrounded by killer whales. : Telling the story of James Joyce’s The Dead from the woman’s point of view. A riveting performance from Lesley Conroy. : A new comedy musical with a cast of 24, supported by a live eight-piece band, exploring what happens when an independent woman wants her freedom again.
TV: Cork musician’s take on power of songs in childhood
Cork singer John Spillane reflects on the enduring power of songs within the traditional music genre aimed at children in a TG4 programme. Spillane shares his expertise in the second episode of Saturday at 9pm. The series returned for a second run last week, with renowned singer and musician Nell Ní Chróinín once again travelling through Ireland to explore the close relationship between traditional music and everyday life.
Extravagant love - The Catholic Sun
One of the most well-known stories in Scripture is the Good Samaritan. In the Gospel of Luke, we hear about a man who is beaten, robbed and left for dead. Religious men of high standing intentionally pass by him on the other side of the road. But then comes the Samaritan — who would have been his enemy in scriptural times — who treats the man with extravagant love.
TV: New series focuses on lives of immigrants who made Cork home
The lives of migrants to Ireland who have made our islands their home are explored in a new series on TG4. Called , it includes several visits to Cork’s islands. It began last Monday with a visit to Bere Island, where Arsenii Bohodist, 16, navigates island life and a daily sea commute to school. The episode - which can be seen on the TG4 Player - spent time with his extended family as three generations came together.
Donncha’s away day fun for new TV show
He may have hung up his rugby boots eight years ago, but beloved Cork sportsman Donncha O’Callaghan has never been far from our TV screens. Being a long-running coach on , as well as a stint as a radio presenter, have kept him in the public eye, and now the 47-year-old is back in a new TV series this weekend. In he takes a different celebrity each week to a different country to take part in some of the weirdest, wackiest, and most unusual challenges.
John Dolan: Traitors cast are so judgy about jobs...
We live in an age when being judgmental is viewed as a sin. In fact, we’ve even come up with a snappy word for it - ‘judgy’. It’s a wholly negative insult aimed at anyone who jumps to a swift conclusion based on their own in-built prejudices. In modern Ireland, we pride ourselves on not being judgy - at least in public.
Weekend Guide: Upstart Festival, Creedon's play, and plenty of comedy in Cork
: Inflamed by women’s erasure in the prescribed history of art and the omission of female genitalia in classical statuary, Gina Moxley enlists the audience in a bid to right wrongs. Also Sunday, 2pm & 7.30pm. : A night of outrageous comedy, dazzling drag and unforgettable entertainment. : A full-throttle classic rock experience, with a powerhouse seven-piece band performing hits from the soaring soundscapes of Pink Floyd to the thunder of AC/DC, plus Journey, Queen and Thin Lizzy.
Work of Bandon family to feature on new TV series
After an arid summer, farmers across Ireland are facing into their hectic harvest time - but what is life like for these horny-handed sons and daughters of the soil and the people who work for them? Documentary series is back for a third run on TG4 on Thursday at 9.30pm to provide an insight into their work.
TV: Spotlight on Cork cemetery founded by Fr Mathew
Almost 200 years ago, Cork temperance campaigner and priest, Fr Theobald Mathew, founded a new burial place in the city for the poorest souls of the community. St Joseph’s Cemetery in Ballyphehane was set up in 1830 after he leased land from the Botanical Gardens, and was extended 50 years later, by which time Fr Mathew himself had been lain to rest there. The historic cemetery contains victims of the famine and the two world wars, and is featured in Nationwide on RTÉ1 on Friday at 7pm.
Weekend Guide: Laura Dowling, Steely Dan tribute, and singles festival among highlights in Cork
: Laura Dowling’s bold, brilliant and deeply engaging stage experience inspired by her bestselling book. : Written and performed by Michael Ryan and Sean Kelleher, this play blends uproarious physical comedy and absurd characterisations - a romp from start to finish. : Two distinctive voices from opposite sides of the Atlantic - New York-based Spring and Ó Faoláin, from An Rinn, Co. Waterford, come together for a unique co-headline performance.
TV: Cork town marks 9/11, 25 years after tragedy
A Cork tribute to the victims of 9/11 is explored on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy next week. A Garden of Remembrance on a hill a few miles from Kinsale was planted with 343 trees, each honouring a fire-fighter who lost their life in the attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. It provides a unique and poignant connection to the events of 25 years ago, and in on RTÉ1 on Friday at 7pm, Richard Downes hears how this remarkable memorial came to be.
John Dolan: My home heating bill is huge, thanks to Trump... and Harris
As the first chills of autumn begin to consign our long, hot summer to the memory banks, many of us will be planning a September ritual that can send a shiver down the spine. Filling the home heating oil tank for the winter is always an expensive task - but in this cost-of-living crisis, it is going to be a particularly painful chore. Sure, many city-dwellers don’t have this problem, but more than 700,000 Irish households — around 45% of the total — do rely on kerosene for their heating.
TV: Brennan brothers at our service for new run
The world of hotels may base its business model on the ethos of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ - but nobody could accuse brothers Francis and John Brennan of being fly-by-nights. The hoteliers return for a new series of their long-running show this weekend, and the run will chalk up a landmark 100th episode for the duo. The new series, starting on RTÉ1 on Sunday at 6.30pm, will see the Kerry brothers once again help out new and struggling hospitality businesses with their expertise.
Weekend Guide: Literary festival on Spike Island, feast of food, and more
: Vivid recreation of the career of Hollywood legend Judy Garland, featuring West End star Anna-Jane Casey. Final performance. : A spellbinding theatrical retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s timeless masterpiece, the story of an epic sea journey. : Presented as part of UpDown Circus Festival RAPT addresses our problematic relationship to the world through the tools of contemporary juggling.
Weekend guide: Our guide to what's happening in Cork this weekend
: A no-holds-barred look at the real and raw story behind the dazzle and glamour that surrounded the one and only Judy Garland. West End star Anna-Jane Casey takes the title role. : Created and performed by Úna Ní Bhriain, this spellbinding show blends storytelling with performance, navigating power, war, resilience, desire, love, loss, and transformation. : Reggie from the Blackrock Road has a brand-new show.
TV: Traitors Ireland makes a return to our screens
Eight thousand people applied to take part in the second series of , after the success of last year’s run. And when the first episode airs on RTÉ1 on Sunday at 9.30pm, we will get to see who has made it to Slane Castle with a chance of winning the €50,000 prize, and whether Cork gets represented at the famous round-table.
John Dolan: If you wear smart glasses, I’ll just assume you’re a wrong un
One of my warmest childhood memories is of hearing the letterbox clank early of a Saturday morning, jumping out of bed, and racing to the front door to try to beat my brother to the prized gifts awaiting us - the weekly comics. .. none of that superhero nonsense for me, just good, wholesome laughs and fun. I read them for the cartoon strips, but in those days, comics had pages of classified ads targeting gullible kids’ pocket money.
Weekend plans? Here's our guide to what's happening in Cork
: Tennessee Williams’ haunting play set in the French Quarter of 1940s New Orleans, directed by Aaron O’Keeffe and with Erin Stavrianos as Blanche DuBois. Final performance.
TV doc’ tells the story of Cork forest
The story of how one man transformed a piece of Cork land into an ecological wonder is told in a new TV series next week. Called the two-part series begins on RTÉ1 on Sunday at 6.30pm. It tells the story of how Eoghan Daltun, a Dublin sculptor, traded city life for 73 acres of ecologically ravaged land on Ireland’s wild Atlantic coast.
John Dolan: This has to be the finest café view in Cork... and all Ireland
Every cloud, and all that. It’s been a glorious summer, and Cork has basked in sunshine and warmth for months on end. The bad news is that this is seen as a sign that climate change is real and advancing at an alarming rate, not just in Ireland, but across the broiling and wildfire-riven continent. The good news, in comparison, may sound a little trite, but there is a growing belief that this country can become a haven for tourists in the years ahead.
TV sport round up-Gunners get the ball rolling on new season
Can Arsenal build on their success after being crowned Premier League champions in May? Or will new managers at Liverpool, Chelsea, and the Manchester giants propel those clubs to glory? All those questions, and plenty more besides, will be answered in the next nine months as a new Premier League season dawns. Arsenal get the ball rolling at home to promoted Coventry City on Friday and it’s live on Sky at 8pm.
Lexi flying Cork flag in Rose of Tralee
“I’m going to do everything I can to make my mother proud.” Those were the words of Lexi Linnane as she prepared to represent her home county of Cork in the Rose of Tralee festival. Lexi’s mother, Tracey, tragically died three years ago after suffering a devastating stroke at the age of 37.
John Dolan: Why Spike is jewel in the crown of Cork tourism
The story goes that one day in the 1940s, a few soldiers on Spike Island off Cobh decided to fire the 6-inch guns lying idle in their fort. I guess they thought it would be a blast. It sure was. Now, a 6-inch gun doesn’t sound much, but this was merely the size of its ammunition. The huge, then state-of-the-art guns had been left on Spike by the British when they handed over their so-called Treaty Ports to Ireland in 1938, and they had a range of 20km. They had never been fired in anger.
Weekend guide: What's happening in Cork this Saturday and Sunday
: The musical is wowing Cork crowds. Also running 1pm & 6pm Sunday. The show ends on August 23. : Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s beloved stories are brought to life on stage for the first time in an enchanting experience. : Final performance of the show, blending autobiography, live performance, multimedia, soundscape, and projected video, and transforming dyslexia from obstacle into theatrical language itself.
TV: Great ideas for an Irish staycation
Still hoping to squeeze in a staycation before the sunny days end and the kids go back to school? Some of Ireland’s greatest summer destinations are featured in a trio of programmes on next week. First up on RTÉ1 on Monday at 7pm, the team explore the breath-taking Copper Coast in County Waterford, named after the copper mines that operated there in the 19th century.
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