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Fabien McQuillan

Fabien McQuillan

The Irish News

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Fabien McQuillan: I will arise and go now... to get some peace from the feis and that Yeats poem

Fabien McQuillan: I will arise and go now... to get some peace from the feis and that Yeats poem

All the recent fuss over Mrs Davison meant I had taken my eye of the ball when it came to parenting: it’s only by the grace of God that I came out...

18.04.2026 10

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

The tragic story of the King Lear of Belfast’s Antrim Road

The plan couldn’t have been simpler and in the event, the great care home escape was executed with aplomb: Mrs Davison in the front seat of our car...

11.04.2026 10

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

Fabien McQuillan: The mystery of Mrs Davison and her long-missing son

David Davison was someone I had never heard of up until now, but I felt like I had known him all my life. Suddenly I was finding out so much about him...

04.04.2026 10

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

How to kidnap an elderly lady from a care home and not get caught

After a long discussion at the toaster in our kitchen, it was clear that Genghis did indeed want me to help him kidnap Mrs Davison from her care home...

28.03.2026 10

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

‘You’re afraid of flying, Daddy, and this is to help you’

I’LL get back to Mrs Davison in the care home in a while – suffice to say that her neighbour Genghis wasn’t happy about her being left there...

14.03.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

What I discovered during a visit to a Co Tyrone care home

‘Mrs Davison had a fall and broke her hip has been moved to a care home you have to help Genghis’ was the exact message Fionnuala sent me on...

07.03.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

What I have learned about farmers in Co Tyrone

We had to go to the hospital the other day to visit a cousin of Fionnuala’s, who was laid up for a week with a leg broken in two places. I wince...

28.02.2026 30

The Irish News

Fabien Mcquillan

The strange case of the phantom shoe shop in Co Tyrone

Fionnuala immediately noticed I was wearing someone else’s shoes when I arrived home, but the bunch of flowers briefly distracted her. Luckily, she...

21.02.2026 60

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Wet feet, warm stove, and some timely advice

The rain has been so dreadfully constant over this past while that everyone’s mood has been affected. It was mid-term this week and our house was a...

14.02.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Did you see that fight at the back of Mass last Sunday?

08.02.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The folks in Tyrone are nice. When you get to know them...

31.01.2026 10

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The morning after the night playing Buckaroo

24.01.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Pheasants, five-a-side and finding truth at the bottom of a glass

17.01.2026 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

It’s a wonderful life, even on another rainy day in Tyrone

11.01.2026 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Fabien McQuillan: What sort of person becomes a traffic warden anyway?

03.01.2026 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

George Belfast, cats on leads and the barber shop that time forgot

27.12.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright?

20.12.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be at Christmas time

15.12.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Please God, don’t let it be Christmas already

30.11.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Going on the pull with Genghis, McGovern... and Scruffly the dog

24.11.2025 40

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Fabien McQuillan: In the clear light of morning, ghosts of old friends come to mind

15.11.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

What really happens on a lads’ fishing holiday

08.11.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Toasties and tall tales with the two cowboys of Tobercurry

02.11.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

On the road to Mayo with Genghis, McGowan and Scruffly the dog

25.10.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The 7 surprising habits of highly effective Tyrone people

20.10.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Craic and carry-outs in Co Tyrone: the legend that is Genghis McCann

11.10.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Two boys, a fence and a lesson about division in the Northern Ireland countryside

04.10.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Welcome to rural Northern Ireland: Where the fields look the same, but the boundaries still run deep

28.09.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Fabien McQuillan: The boy from the other side of the sandpit – a story of Northern Ireland in two acts

21.09.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

What to do when it’s a big no from the little one to the first day at big school

13.09.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Fabien McQuillan: How to play the Bundoran slot machines and win

06.09.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

There’s nothing like an impromptu day trip to beautiful Bundoran

30.08.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The Squat Pen: Dancing in the kitchen, driving to Bundoran

24.08.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

I think I’m finally starting to understand these Tyrone folk

16.08.2025 40

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Irish country supermarkets and the curse of an unexpected awkward customer in the bagging area

09.08.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Singing, snorkels and sleep-deprived shenanigans on holiday in Donegal

02.08.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Toothbrushes, the taeman and a voice from the past

26.07.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The Irish county where the sheep are priceless and buns are strictly rationed

19.07.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

When the wheels fall off the holiday in deepest Donegal

12.07.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Why you should never open the blind in the toilet of a caravan

05.07.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

When end-of-term gifts for teachers go wrong (very wrong)

29.06.2025 40

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

The mystery of the poorly parrot, the psychopath, and the deep-fat fryer

22.06.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Strange encounters of the feathered kind in darkest Tyrone

15.06.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Head ’em up, hit ’em a skite – what to do when a herd of heifers appears in your back garden

08.06.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

Did anyone call for a racism-fighting, schoolgirl superhero?

01.06.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

There are upsides to having a dislocated shoulder: my stay-at-home tan is coming on very well

18.05.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

A dislocated shoulder, a deranged neighbour and a car full of cats: my weird night in Craigavon A&E

10.05.2025 20

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

From dreams of Tyrone GAA to my night in Craigavon A&E

03.05.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

‘Gaelic is easier than soccer. Sure you can use your hands’

27.04.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan

One Good Friday, two planks of wood, and a little boy dressed as Jesus: what I learned this year about the meaning of Easter

19.04.2025 30

The Irish News

Fabien McQuillan