THERE ARE always choices to be made. New research based on internationally agreed standards of living for individuals and households will challenge the Government to review welfare payments, services and the minimum wage, with implications for courts dealing with households in debt. Ireland has a long and shameful record in terms of social injustice.

There are scholarships for students who achieve decent grades, excel in sport or in extra-curricular activities

SMALL PRINT: When MIA “gave the finger” to America during the US Superbowl on Sunday night, the rapper and provocateur joined a long line of public figures who have offended middle America.

Shane Mullins’s world fell apart after a car crash seven years ago. Now that he has pieced his life back together, he tells JOHN HEARNE , he wants to help other people face up to seemingly impossible challenges

Something new and healthy is gathering in my bones like the hint of daffodils pushing themselves up through the gravel beside the shed

Unlike artists, architects have practical responsibilities to the people who enter their buildings. With the right mix, however, a special blend can emerge

ANOTHER LIFE: IN LAST WEEK’S COLUMN, a lonely blackbird launched his territorial song. Since then, a wren has chanced a bold solo, his tail well cocked, and a great tit has been pumping his bicycle tyre endlessly under the trees. As I lop away overgrown hedges, and shreds of last year’s nests come tumbling out, I could almost be fooled it’s the new beginning of spring.

Workers back LRC-brokered deal struck last week between management and unions

Rugby:The Ireland management is “hopeful” Stephen Ferris’s exemplary disciplinary record will count in his favour when the flanker appears before an independent disciplinary committee in London tomorrow.

Shane Mullins’s world fell apart after a car crash seven years ago. Now that he has pieced his life back together, he tells JOHN HEARNE , he wants to help other people face up to seemingly impossible challenges

ASK THE EXPERT: JOHN SHARRY responds to readers' questions

As part of our week-long series Ireland’s Squeezed Middle, CONOR POPE presents the first of a series of survival guides: how to take control of your finances

As Irish rugby fans flock to Paris next weekend, RUADHAN MACCORMAIC takes a tour of the places in the French capital where the Irish have left their mark

INTERVIEW: Rugby player Jamie Heaslip and Dublin restaurateur Joe Macken have formed an unlikely alliance, putting their reputations at stake in a new restaurant serving unfashionable cuts of meat, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL 

Good corsetry and underwear can do wonders for your shape, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN , and it doesn’t have to look like sausage casing

FLASH FICTION: They watch as she mumbles her regret, red-faced and awkward, choking on every word. Silence greets her hard-wrung apology

SCIENCE OF FOOD: The science, the ethics and the art of food are on the menu in a new exhibition at the Science Gallery, writes UNA MULLALLY