Irish restaurantsWhen I think of good food at good value in Europe I think of France, Belgium, Spain, etc. I never think of Ireland. What you get in Ireland is mediocre food, worse service and high prices. Dublin, like many capital cities, has a bunch of poseurs hanging around the restaurant and food business who believe they have some superior intelligence when it comes to cuisine which allows them to praise the little in-coterie they belong to and make the rest of us feel that the problem is not the cuisine: it is us. – Patrick Hennessey

Renewable energy

I have a modern four-bed semi recently extended to a six-bed (about 250sq m/2,691sq ft). I had the entire ground floor concrete slab removed and relaid with underfloor heating and an air-to-water heat pump installed to heat the underfloor heating and conventional radiators upstairs. The Sustainable Energy Ireland grant helped (a little!). Also I had very high specification insulation and triple-glazing throughout. Am very happy with the outcome: house is warm all day and has lower running costs than the gas it replaced in the pre-extension house. The heating contractor (and their suppliers) were excellent. – Colm