? Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne and his girlfriend Anna George caused a flurry of rubber-necking in Dalkey last Sunday night.

The pair were spotted dining on pappa pomodoro and Caprese salad in celebrity hang-out Wine Not. There was so much interest in the pair that the patrons of Ragazzi and the Club bar across the road decided to brave the weather and have their post-prandial coffees and pints out on the pavement to have a better look. A journalist from the Indo who was in the restaurant was earwigging so much he nearly ended up in their soup.

There's dedication.

?Irish soul singer Laura Izibor has been tipped for stardom by Rolling Stone magazine. A recent edition says her forthcoming debut album is "one to watch".

However, Laura says she is determined not to be called the "next Samantha Mumba" after her fellow Dubliner, who was also tipped for great things.

"I'm not a dancer. I play piano. Samantha's music was more pop," she told me.

Good point, it would be pretty hard to boogie around the stage lugging a piano.

Laura plays Crawdaddy on 23 October.

? MAN UNITED manager Alex Ferguson's favourite film is Irish flick The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which he's seen a staggering 11 times.

No surprise then that he was all over its director, Ken Loach, when he turned up at Old Trafford recently. Loach was a guest of Eric Cantona, who stars in his new film, Looking For Eric. When Fergie spied him he rushed to shake his hand. "Alex was overcome," said Loach's producer Rebecca O'Brien. "He told Ken he'd seen the film so many times he could quote lines from it. He got so wrapped up in it Ken had to remind him to stop and go do his team talk."