Emer McLysaght

Emer McLysaght columns

Most of the women in my life dread the eight-week primary school summer holidays

A friend has managed to secure the holy grail of summer camps – one that keeps the children even longer than the school day

The treks Irish concert-goers endure are almost always worth it

It’s tempting to imagine concert and festival planners sitting around the gaping maw of Mordor devising ways to make people suffer

I’m smack bang in middle age with no property, ageing knees and a scant pension

Modest, former council houses are pushing seven and eight hundred grand

My dad’s not around for Father’s Day but I know how we’d spend it if he was

I am now ready to relate the story of the time I massacred my late father’s tropical fish collection

Sarah Maria Griffin: ‘I will be trying to figure out what the internet means to me for the rest of my life’

The author on her new novel, Eat the Ones You Love; the importance of libraries; and her love of video games

Shout out to the woman who trapped me in my car in Tesco car park

It seems there’s little or no policing of bad motorist behaviour – so I guess I’ll have to go on my own personal traffic patrol

I’m the most efficient person to ever go through airport security. Here’s why

Will the bag-sizer of doom topple my crown for Best Girl at the Airport?

I’m a late convert to the charms of the self-important little dog

My friend’s dog rips through toys like he’s making a wage doing it. He steals shoes. He piddles on the curtains. He’s perfect

I decided to buy almost nothing in 2025. Here’s how it is going

In the local freecycle and swapping groups, anything goes – and the audacity of some of the posts are breathtaking

Now that I am a bus driver extraordinaire, I can pass my wisdom on to you

There’s no point in daintily pumping the huge brake pedal with your toes because next thing you’ll be through the window of a Spar

Smartphones at Pope Francis’s funeral didn’t feel out place to me. It’s 2025

We love to plonk a dead relative in the sittingroom for a day or two

Squirrels don’t hibernate? This information shook me to my core

These creatures have made a laughing stock of me. There’s an army of them working shifts, and I’m not the only local feeding them

Two decades after Weight Watchers, I still have unhealthy attitudes to certain foods

Weight Watchers is floundering but the damaging diet culture it spawned is going nowhere

The Irish live for a sunny day, but with it comes the pressure of having the ‘perfect’ day

Our fetishisation of a bit of sun causes me to retreat, to resent

Emer McLysaght: Fighting Big Tech, Big Landlord and Big Pharma seems insurmountable

I do care about Complete Aisling books being used by Meta to train its AI systems. I just feel helpless to do anything about it

Emer McLysaght: Five lessons Dublin can learn from Zurich

Before a work-related trip to Zurich, I received the usual ‘very dear’ warnings. And with good reason

A ‘middle-aged rave’ that ends before midnight? I’ll get my dancing shoes

Events are springing up for those who want an old-school club experience without the attendant exhaustion the next morning

Emer McLysaght: The best way to enjoy the hotel breakfast buffet and why I love a dry fry

Many poor, harmless fools will choose a nice, rounded time such as 10am. So, you want to aim for 9.20am or 9.50am

Is it hypocritical of me to go to a funeral but not a Communion?

I am church-averse but I know the comfort that religion can bring

I’m not ready to let Bridget Jones go just yet. She has been a constant comfort to me and so many women I know

Watching the fourth instalment of the series required meticulous preparation - and the film didn’t disappoint

I’ve had enough of men smashing into me with their backpacks

In less than an hour, no fewer than four men with substantial backpacks burst past me. After being clobbered by the first two, I was incredulous

I replaced a dripping tap all by myself and only cried four times. I am now unstoppable

I am a woman of the world, I reasoned. I could take on a pesky tap

‘When faced with the ugliness of Dublin, it’s hard not to worry about tourists thinking they’ve been sold a pup’

Plenty of other countries are green but get much less excited about it

Five years ago I entered a psychiatric hospital with an eating disorder

I’m not recovered from my eating disorder and the mental challenges behind it

I finally realised what was behind my ‘Maybe I like the misery’ approach to other people’s driving

Imagine landing down to some place in the country and being asked to move a car, only to have to admit you only drive automatic

My night at the bingo hall: I was waiting on one number. My heart was in my mouth

Wherever bingo happens, it’s taken seriously, but what a gorgeous way to spend an icy January evening

When the 46A ends in two weeks I will say goodbye to those first feelings of freedom and adulthood

A month after we thought we were saying farewell for good, the poor 46A is still traversing Dublin city, handbag in hand and mortified about all the fuss

The seven deadly things you should never buy a child at Christmas

Consider this a free life-lesson in what not to buy for a child. Or, alternatively, what to buy for the child of a sworn enemy

Tiny bowls are the secret to happiness. There’s little in life they don’t improve

Miniature things deliver such a shot of dopamine into our brains. I know you’ve giggled at those tiny Nutellas

If you haven’t already sorted your festive waste management plan, you might be beyond help

Anyone serious about their waste collection strategy has been Jenga-ing cardboard into the green bin since late October

You are one of six types of people – and your Spotify Unwrapped results will reveal which one

Your Spotify Unwrapped for 2024 is due: Best to fess up to the Sabrina Carpenter

There’s great drying out. Unless you live in an Irish apartment

In Ireland, property management companies seem wedded to ludicrous standards about what is and isn’t acceptable to be seen

Here are 14 reasons why teachers deserve all the respect in the world

Fine Gael is under pressure over comments about teachers by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary

Emer McLysaght: I often wonder what impact having a female president had on my generation of little girls

Emer McLysaght: Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson in her ninth decade continues to work tirelessly for peace and climate justice

‘Irish tapas’: These pub delicacies must be what heaven feels like

These divine snacks are just waiting to be pulled down and spread wide open for all to feast upon (is anyone else blushing?)

Salad days: When rocket came to Ireland

Before the peppery sprig entered the national food chain, my leaf knowledge was mostly limited to butterhead and iceberg

I’m a walking, talking example of how driving home the message of the Catholic Church in schools does not work

At a time when school divestment should be ramping up, it seems like boards of management are digging their heels in

Emer McLysaght: The Inuit may have dozens of words for snow, but in Ireland the vocabulary around rain is bountiful and necessary

There’s a slim line between the drizzle of a soft day and the heavy yet almost imperceptible precipitation we like to call ‘wet rain’

‘High protein’ fad sounds like repackaged diet culture to me

Emer McLysaght: Pathologising food to the point of seeing it only as a macro in a calculation is just another reason to obsess and judge and self-sabotage

Sally Rooney gets photographed with an owl, looking unimpressed. I’m asked to ‘look zany’

My comedic, commercial fiction has been described as ‘fluffy’ or ‘an easy read’ more times than my heart and ego can take

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