Paula Lenihan

When Jamie Monagan arrived in Cork back in 2000 with her husband and three young children, it was meant to be a year long adventure, before returning to life in the United States. But as Jamie herself now laughs, “If someone told me a quarter of a century ago that I'd still be here today, and that I'd have reared my children here, I would have said you're away with the fairies! Not that I would have known that saying back then,” she adds.

ON ICE at Marina Market is back for another magical winter season of sparkling skating, festive spirit and Christmas excitement. There's no better way to feel the season arrive than stepping onto the ice under twinkling lights and nothing captures that Leeside Christmas feeling quite like ON ICE. Now celebrating a major milestone, ON ICE is officially the longest-running traditional festive ice rink in Cork City, and it has become a highly popular staple of the Marina Market community, bringing festive fun to families, couples, students, and visitors year after year.

Just in time for Christmas, a brand new addition to Cork's shopping scene has burst onto the market with extraordinary momentum. Bulk Buy in Ballincollig has quickly become the one-stop shop everyone is talking about. At the heart of its success is the dynamic husband-and-wife team Kieran, Iris plus their team, who're driving it forward.

When Paul Sheehan thinks back to 2005, the year he returned home to Cork and joined Cork Simon, he remembers brightness, optimism and possibility. “Cork was buzzing,” he says. “It was the European Capital of Culture. Patrick Street had just been renovated, Oliver Plunkett Street had new lights and footpaths. The whole city felt lifted.” After years working in radio in Ireland and later with the BBC in the UK, he wanted to come home, and the role with Cork Simon felt right. At the time Cork was, as he puts it, “a great place to be.” But only a couple of years later came the financial crash, and ever since, he has watched homelessness move from a worrying trend to what he now calls “a real crisis.”

Good news for Cork food lovers, local restaurants and job seekers alike as drone delivery company Manna expands into the city, bringing a new kind of ultra-fast delivery service that could see food, groceries and everyday essentials arriving at people's homes in minutes. The company already operates the world's largest drone delivery network in Dublin and Cork is now the first location outside the capital that it has chosen for its next phase of expansion.

Six months after opening the doors of her Cork clinic, one of Dublin's best-known aesthetic practitioners is already building the same loyal following in the south. For Kerry Hanaphy, opening in Blackpool Shopping Centre is both professional and personal, as her partner Barry O' Driscoll, a dentist originally from Bandon, is part of the story.

Inspired by our son's holiday photographs, we swapped airports for a ferry to Wales and discovered honey-coloured villages, dramatic coastlines, incredible food and a side of England we'd never properly explored

Gina on growing up in Cork, life with the Champions plus love and loss. Share 14 Min Read SHARE

Beautiful beaches, historic towns, incredible food and hidden gems – this could be your next European adventure. Share 15 Min Read

No one would argue with Gerry Hussey when he says the pressures of modern life are leaving many of us with little time to look after ourselves.