[caption id="attachment_69112" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Enda Kenny might be praying that the EU/IMF bailout is the lesser evil compared to the doomsday Mayan prophecy."]
Right, we're days into the year that, if the Mayans crunched their numbers correctly, will be absolutely, positively the last one ever. But on the basis that the Mayans might have had an off day at the office and existence continues, we can all proceed with out various projects, one of them being the election of an American president.
Across the water, where elections are not on the cards this year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his government are proceeding apace with, among other things, constitutional issues pertaining the manner in which the Irish president is elected and the issue of gay marriage.
There will be two referendums, one dealing with childrens' rights and the other concerning the Irish Senate, or Seanad, which may end up being canned.
A third referendum is also possible and it would be dealing with the EU agreement reached in Brussels last month - the one that the British thumbed their noses at - that is meant to deal with the eurozone crisis, a matter that may yet end up being even worse than a Mayan-style end of the world.
North of the border, meanwhile, preparations are well advanced to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and the signing of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, an event that is about as difficult to commemorate cheerfully as the demise of the world's most famous unsinkable ship.
Still, at least the memory of the Titanic is being put to positive use, what with the creation of Belfast's Titanic Quarter. It will pull in a significant number of visitors to the city this year and beyond.
The covenant? Well, it was indeed solemn so IF will move on to other things such as the decision to play the Irish Open golf championship at Royal Portrush in County Antrim. It's an inspired choice and absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and maybe even the Mayans were pulling for the venue.
There is oodles of symbolism in this decision of course, not least the fact that here is a course that will, be year's end, will have hosted both the Irish and British Open in its stories history.
the Irish Open will head south again next year, to Carton House in County Kildare, again assuming that the Mayans teed up their doomsday prediction wrong and ended up handing us a prophetic double bogey.
O'DONNELL ABU
The year ahead will being with it more hand-wringing on the constitutional future of not just Northern Ireland - where a Catholic majority is coming ever closer - but also the entire United Kingdom. The Scots are pushing for a referendum on independence by 2016, a year which, of course will be fully loaded with memories and symbolism on the island of Ireland.
In one of those splendid little ironies that history likes to present us with, the man who most publicly fretted over the possible separation of Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom bears a name linked for ever with the struggle to keep the historical province of Ulster free of England's control.
Holding the United Kingdom together would be an "enormous challenge", Britain's Cabinet Secretary, and thus most senior civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, said at year's end and as he prepared to retire.
And indeed it will given that the Scottish National Party seems absolutely intent on outdoing even Mel Gibson's lusty rendition of that sacred word "freedom."
THEY SAID
At a time when the Irish are leaving their home island in numbers again here are some words that have been penned in recent days by the editorial writers of the Irish Times, writer John Banville and the Irish Independent.
* Over the past year, The Irish Times - in print and through its website irishtimes.com - has struck up an ongoing conversation with individuals and families who have moved to different parts of the world, many to traditional landing spots, Britain (especially London), the US, Australia and Canada. It has been a remarkable engagement, most notable for the frankness and honesty about the circumstances which prompted departure.
There is the wrench from home, family and friends, and the terrible sadness of leaving - particularly so at this time of year.
Above all they have conveyed feelings of resoluteness, determination and willingness to confront upheaval and getting on with forging a new beginning. Often, especially for new migrants, they are living in difficult circumstances although the local economy may be performing significantly better than our own."
Threaded through all, however, is a sense of opportunity, particularly among younger emigrants. For so many it is a positive part of their lives, while texting, phoning, Skyping, and Facebooking become the mode of communicating with home. The ability to support one another, to network, and to use the benefits of third-level education is the hallmark of Generation Emigration 2012. Our collective history, our diasporic gene, has meant leave taking is almost the norm - even if it also acts as a valve in a social and economic pressure cooker." Irish Times editorial.
* "Today, the Irish of my generation have a distinct sense of déjà vu. Tens of thousands have left Ireland in this year alone. The age of the Celtic Tiger, those fat years in the 1990s and early 2000s, the first period in our history when we knew what it was to be rich, has given way to a time of crashes, debts, austerity and, once again, emigration. There is hardly a person here who has not been affected. The hangover that the years of false plenty left us with is the worst we have ever suffered - the worst, but not the first. And if there was ever a people that knew how to handle a hangover, surely it is we." John Banville in The New York Times.
* "It has been decades since emigration has been so painfully high, and at Dublin Airport yesterday the consequences were highly visible.
Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and friends tightly hugged newly returned loved ones as Ireland's latest lost generation makes its Christmas homecoming. If our forced era of flight was in need of proof, then this was surely it." The Irish Independent.
