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John Dolan

John Dolan

Evening Echo

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What’s the point of voting, if we can’t hand politicians power?

THERE is a smugness about our method of holding elections in Ireland that I often find quite baffling. It’s a smugness that tends to be restricted...

20.07.2024 30

Evening Echo

John Dolan

40 years ago today, Ford closure was the lowest point in Cork’s industrial story

TENS of thousands of us have strolled from the city down Centre Park Road in recent weeks, on the way to gigs at the Páirc and the Marquee. In many...

13.07.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Another road toll? Motorists in Cork already pay out enough

BY any yardstick you care to use, Irish motorists are taxed to the hilt. Whenever we buy a car, pay its road tax, have it fixed, and, of course, when...

06.07.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

It takes a lot for an Irish union to lose the room, pilots have...

BY the time you read this, I will be up, up, and away, off on my jollies on a flight from Cork Airport to a sun-baked foreign land. It’s a holiday...

29.06.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

We must discourage cannabis, but first we have to legalise it

LIKE, hey man, what on earth are we going to do about cannabis? On the one hand, a large proportion of us - and I would include myself in this - would...

22.06.2024 9

Evening Echo

John Dolan

A ban on ALL ‘restricted breeds’ of dogs? Surely a step too far

THE horrific killing of a Limerick woman by her pet dog this month shocked the country, and prompted calls for certain breeds to be banned. Few would...

15.06.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Brave Cork people should be celebrated on 80th anniversary of D-Day

AS the world marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week, the extraordinary story of Irish woman Maureen Sweeney’s pivotal role in it was once...

06.06.2024 40

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Cork restaurant boss answers SOS to aid Brazil flood victims

WHEN he saw the images of the devastating floods that had struck his homeland of Brazil last month, Cork city restaurant boss Leo Lemos knew he had to...

03.06.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Nobel prize winning author stayed in my Cork home!

THERE were warm tributes and richly-deserved accolades when one of the greatest female writers of all time, Alice Munro, passed away this month. The...

25.05.2024 30

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Will Cork's Bambie win? Our guide to all the Eurovision Final songs

1. SWEDEN 1. SWEDEN Marcus & Martinus - Unforgettable The hosts are seeking victory tonight to edge ahead of Ireland on a record eight wins....

11.05.2024 30

Evening Echo

John Dolan

A simple way to make roads safer: disable drivers’ phones

A FELLA started a thread on social media recently where he posed a simple question: ‘What is the No.1 problem that is making our roads more...

27.04.2024 60

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Back in the spotlight: 132-year history of city’s iconic Echo Boy

THEIR sight and sound have been an integral part of Cork city’s streetscape for so long, that they are indelibly ingrained in the culture of Cork...

22.04.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Dear Simon, make cost-of-living crisis a priority, or you’re toast!

DID you notice how ridiculously expensive Easter eggs were this year? Sure, I spotted a few tiny ones in the supermarkets for a couple of euro, but...

06.04.2024 7

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Rude, hostile customers must realise: they’re no longer king

THE phrase ‘the customer is king’ is so universal in business that there are versions of it in multiple languages. In German, der Kunde ist König...

30.03.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Simon in, Leo out: Did FG learn nothing from referendum loss?

“MEET the new boss, same as the old boss,” goes the lyric to the 1970s hit by The Who. Ironically, the song is a critique of power and, even more...

23.03.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Did YOU vote NO? 4 questions arising from referendum shock

WELL, it’s been quite the week. What, with Cillian Murphy landing an Oscar for Cork, and all kinds of rumours flying around about Britain’s Royal...

16.03.2024 9

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Birth, romance, death... phone boxes bore witness to them all

BACK in the era when fathers-to-be were kept well away from all matters pertaining to labour and birth, a worried husband in Cork left his home at 3am...

09.03.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

So much confusion over out-of- hours doc service in Macroom

MOST parents have been there. It’s the middle of the night or the weekend, and your child has taken a turn for the worse. Their temperature is...

24.02.2024 8

Evening Echo

John Dolan

This referendum should be an open goal... what an epic fail!

I SHOULD be in a state of heightened excitement about the forthcoming referendum. I should be counting down the 20 days between now and the moment I...

17.02.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

I despair at the bottle deposit whingers, do you LIKE plastic?

THE environmental issues facing our planet are now viewed as an undeniable fact of life in the worlds of science, politics, and the media. But despite...

10.02.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

I’m with you all the way, Cork Eurovision legend tells Bambie

“SO my record is broken!” I am on the phone to Cathal Dunne in the USA, to date the only Cork singer ever to represent Ireland at the Eurovision...

03.02.2024 30

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Bottle deposits are back... and this time charities may cash in

YOU know the drill when you head out for the weekly ‘big shop’ by now... Car keys? Check. Bank card or cash? Check. Plenty of bags so you don’t...

27.01.2024 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

"Send this Rebel to Eurovision!," declares Cork hopeful Bambie

AFTER years of dismal failures for Ireland on the Eurovision stage, a Cork performer is promising to shake up the annual song contest this year....

20.01.2024 7

Evening Echo

John Dolan

For 40 years, we’ve celebrated the Women’s Little Christmas in Cork

LAST Saturday night, these three Cork city women did something they have done every January 6 for 40 years. Catherine Scannell, Josephine Reidy, and...

13.01.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Too much, too young? Not at all - let’s celebrate this teenage darts prodigy

IT was late December, and the WhatsApp group that connects me to my buddies in my home town in northern England was lighting up like a Christmas tree....

06.01.2024 20

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Ban Israel from Eurovision? But their song may help bring peace to Gaza

THIS may make you feel antiquated, but 50 years ago this month, a song was recorded that would drill its way into the eardrums of generations of...

30.12.2023 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Poetry helped Cork teenager cope with tragic death of her beloved brother

WHEN you’re 14 years old, and your beloved big brother suddenly and inexplicably dies, how do you begin to deal with the grief and pain that...

16.12.2023 6

Evening Echo

John Dolan

Corkman's astounding River Lee rescue deserves  bravery award, 18 years after he died

IF you saw someone falling into the River Lee in Cork city, how would you respond? Would you spring into action and try to rescue them? Unless you are...

09.12.2023 10

Evening Echo

John Dolan

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