7 things to do this week
TODAY We'll all be seeing red in Dublin as Munster bring 45,000 fans to Lansdowne Road at 5.30pm to outroar 3,000 of Perpignan's finest for the Heineken Cup quarter finals. Leinster kick off in Toulouse at 3pm, so tune in to hear Michael Corcoran screaming his head off on RTÉ Radio 1. Constant gardeners, meanwhile, will have elbowed their way into the Royal Horticultural Society's spring plant sale, at Taney Parish Centre in Dundrum, starting at 12.30pm.
TOMORROW Attendant brides take note of the wedding fair at Powerscourt Centre, in Dublin, where purveyors of everything from gowns to planners to florists, snappers, beauticians and musicians will be installed. Fashion shows at 2pm and 4pm.
MONDAY Catch a preview of Enda Walsh's new play, The Walworth Farce - his first since 2000 - directed by Mikel Murfi and including a fine performance by Denis Conway. It's a funny but dark story-within-a-story - "Bailegangaire on speed," we're reliably told. A Druid production in collaboration with the Helix, in Dublin, it starts at 8pm (01-7007115). Runs until April 15th.
TUESDAY Cashmere fiends may want to take a few hours off today or tomorrow to go to Carrollstown, in Trim, Co Meath, for what is always a posh mill sale, organised by Blossom Cooper and Penny Lindsay-Fynn. You'll find great colours and shapes in cashmere and lambswool for men and women, and there's always a box of keenly priced scarves, hats, gloves, socks and pashminas to store away as gifts - all from a mill in Scotland. Savings of up to 50 per cent, credit cards accepted, coffee and light lunch available. On Friday they move to Blarney House, at Blarney Castle, in Co Cork. From 10am to 5pm both days. Inquiries: 046-9242455.
WEDNESDAY With Ireland now the world's seventh most oil-dependent economy, but with no security of supply, what kind of future do we face? The ubiquitous David McWilliams chairs a seminar at Mansion House in Dublin tonight, at 7.30pm, devoted to energy issues. The Global Energy Picture will include contributions from Dr Colin Campbell of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas; Gerard O'Neill of Amarach Consulting; Chris Skrebowski of Petroleum Review; and Dr Herman Scheer of the European Association for Renewable Energies. Tickets €25. See www.energyfutures.ie for more information.
THURSDAY The latest gifted singer from Co Donegal, Cara Dillon, launches a nationwide tour at the Empire Music Hall, in Belfast, at 8pm (tickets €14, 048-90249276) while Mary Black appears at the Olympia in Dublin, also at 8pm (tickets €33, 0818-719300).
FRIDAY Get lost in translation at Sheridan's wine bar in Galway tonight, where Yoshimi Hayakawa will read Japanese poems and Sean Donegan will read from his collection of haiku. The evening begins at 9pm. Admission is free. Call Kevin Higgins on 087-6431748 for more details. In Dublin, there's a reggae and soul night to raise money for an ambulance bound for Chernobyl, with DJs Bronagh Gallagher, Daniel Fitzpatrick and Mull doing the mixing. At the Life Bar, on Abbey Street, from 8pm (€10).