By Aisling Bea, Mary McAleese, Richard Ford, Marian Keyes, Tolü Makay, Blindboy and more

Familiarity breeds contentment in some of our best-loved family-run hotels and country houses

‘We’re going to lose money hand over fist, but this is about keeping a financial flow for staff and giving a service to tourists’

Some 30 upset listeners petition RTÉ boss Dee Forbes to halt closure of radio station

Parknasilla resort buys Rossdohan Island in Kenmare Bay

Lego rooms, movies, falconry and long walks some of the activities on offer during hotel stay

With low-brow copies of low-grade British shows, Montrose insults Irish youth

In Francis Brennan – All Hands on Deck, the ebullient hotelier has finally gone overboard

Focus on climate change and Sean Quinn in offering from ‘flat broke’ broadcaster

TV review: The fastidious hoteliers do their best amid glum huts, concrete slabs and scrap metal

Forget the numbers – when it comes to buying bedlinen, you need to touch and feel

A handy guide to thoughtful last-minute presents

Cormac Sheedy has seen the phenomenal growth of Dubai first hand with Irish people at the centre of it

Frank McNally – An Irishman’s Diary

The TV personality on his love of Villagers and the Christmas cracker item he can’t live without

Review: ‘Grand Tour of South Africa’ is bewilderingly fond of jokey cheesy tourism gestures

Francis Brennan takes 12 tourists to South Africa while John Creedon takes the roads less travelled around Ireland

Cabinet made to wait for emancipation in Daniel O’Connell’s former home

Deal with celebrity gardener seen as part of chain’s strategy to bring its brand upmarket

At Your Service: The Brennan Brothers tackle Irish hospitality in a very Irish way