In The Irish Times today…

…Sydney resident and Irish Times contributor Pádraig Collins writes about his observations of smoking prevalence, flag protests, HMV vouchers and promissory notes while home in Ireland over Christmas in Glimmers of hope on the homefront.

…Washington correspondent Simon Carswell reports on proposals to overhaul US immigration laws that could offer hope to the tens of thousands of undocumented Irish living in the US, whose illegal status prevents them from leaving the country to return to Ireland. (Obama will give a landmark speech calling for immigration reform in Las Vegas this evening).

…In the Health & Family supplement, Ronan McGreevy interviews Dr Ronan Margey, a highly trained cardiologist living in Connecticut who can’t come back to work in Ireland because of the recruitment embargo in the HSE.