the Irish World January 5 available now

As The Gathering and 2013 finally arrive Ireland's Transport, Tourism and Sport minister Leo Varadkar says he favours giving the vote to emigrants, or the "diaspora" – as tourism bosses admit they have to take special action to reverse the continuing drop in numbers of people visitng Ireland from this country

You can win a pair of tickets to take part in Ireland's big Gathering showcase – the 2013 St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin

The newly released Cabinet papers show how in 1982 Irish people in Britain were set to become the collateral damage of deteriorating relations between Charlie Haughey and Margaret Thatcher, one the one hand, and escalating IRA atrocities in this country on the other as even Guinness wanted to distance itself from its Irish roots

London Irish social entrepreneur John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, on how financial education for his parents might have saved he and his siblings from homelessness and how today's benefits traps have turned a safety net into a prison

Some GAA clubs in Ireland have started to seriously suggest they field smaller teams as emigration – "at its highest levels since the Famine" – robs parishes of its young

As Britain puts up ever more obstacles to foreign students coming here Ireland is using start cricketer Kevin O'Brien to attract Indian third level and post-graduate students

David Hennessy on Irish indie thriller The Hit Producer about a film-maker who wants a box office success so badly she is prepared to kill 

Marcella Plunkett on her Irish-Swedish horror film Dark Touch and Tom Hopper on life after TV's Merlin and his Irish film Cold

And our review of all the best sport of 2012 and what to expect – or hope for – in 2013.

All this – and – more in this week's the Irish World dated 5 January 2013 on news stands now