Hold family close.. I'd give anything to have dad back for 5 mins

HAPPY Christmas to one and all.

- JOHN KIERANS

I hope you all have a wonderful time with your loved ones.Ireland may not be perfect but we have many things to be thankful for.

We are not at war, we are not starving, and our climate is very mild and one of the safest in the world.

We are not under threat from either extreme heat, extreme cold or monsoons. Yeah we get far too much rain for our liking, but we learn to live with it. We all know we don't have enough houses and the new ones are not being built fast enough.

The level of poverty here is nothing compared to when I was growing up. I remember lads going to school in their bare feet and very often their tummies aching for a half decent meal.

If you had no work, things were really tough because the money paid out on social welfare in those days was peanuts and wouldn't put food on the table.

People in those days didn't emigrate to go travelling for a couple of years to find themselves. They left the country because of rare poverty and for the chance of a better life abroad.