Emer McLysaght

Emer McLysaght

Contributor

Emer McLysaght, a contributor to The Irish Times, is the author, with Sarah Breen, of the Aisling series of novels. She writes each Saturday for the Irish Times Magazine.

I love my robot hoover, Helen. She has shortcomings but she’d never show me an ad

I know I’m not alone when it comes to treating my robot like it really does have sentience

I’ve long been a curious observer of what I’ve dubbed Leo Varadkar’s ‘grim aesthetic’

The former leader of a country added another artefact into his record of domestic life - a dinner photo

I sometimes wonder if I’ll be on antidepressants for the rest of my life

I’m envious of people who know definitively whether these drugs are or aren’t helping them

Public-transport rage has taken me: open-mouth coughers, backpack users, phones on speaker

Dublin Bus has announced an ‘educational campaign’ on etiquette, and I plan to support it with my own campaign of passive-agressive sighing and stink-eye

My connection with my new friend in Gaza has made me feel more helpless than ever

Duaa’s family has moved 16 times in Gaza in the past 18 months

Ikea’s tantalising promise is that we are all just one good shoe rack away from nirvana

Might I buy a napkin holder to add to the three I already have but don’t use at home? That is my prerogative

I’m going to Oasis both nights, tissues at the ready

There’s something beautiful about seeing men weeping in public at something they love. It’s often sports-related

I’m a millennial and serial renter, but I’ve found a way to put down roots

Sure look, the way things are going I might be here forever

Destiny’s Child reunited? Michael Flatley’s Áras run? Recession indicators, big time

All signs point to another crash like the one in 2008 being unlikely, yet people are poised for disaster

Are we really going to pass up the chance to do the most hilarious thing in the history of world leaders?

Donald Trump’s hatred for O’Donnell is one of the few things he remains constant on. Imagine her sailing into the Oval Office on St Patrick’s Day

Handbags at dawn: It was obvious I was not the typical Chanel customer

Researching bags online felt like the snotty shop cows in Pretty Woman had reached through my ageing laptop to swat me for having such notions

Emer McLysaght: Sleeping in the heat is no joke, so I pulled out the pillow switch which is more popular than I realised

I believed I was among a small cohort who rely on a special method in times of insomnia. Of course TikTok rid me of that assumption

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

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

Common Ground

How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands