On July 27th, just two weeks ago, the Irish Times reported that the hospitality sector, which is in the process of re-opening its doors to customers, is facing an “acute labour shortage”: Indoor service in restaurants and pubs resumed on Monday after months of closure because of Covid-19 restrictions. Industry participants said the availability of […]
One of the most frustrating things about watching Simon Coveney before the Oireachtas committee, yesterday morning, was the sure and certain knowledge that you were one of very few people actually watching it. 10am on a Tuesday morning, after all, is not a time when the average person is free to sit down, fire up […]
Joy unconfined in media and political circles, yesterday, as Ursula Von Der Leyen and Micheál Martin posed for their photo opportunity at which it was announced that Ireland will receive an initial €989million from the European Union’s Covid Recovery fund to, in the words of Frau Von Der Layen, “support investments and reforms that will […]
The most revealing document released by the Irish Government yesterday was a text from Katharine Zappone to Simon Coveney sent in the early part of this year. Joe Biden had just been inaugurated as US President, and Zappone wanted Coveney to make an introduction for her to “Sam” (Samantha) Power, Biden’s UN Ambassador. Biden, she […]
Fascinating, and full credit to Justine McCarthy and John Mooney in the Sunday Times for drawing this angle to the public’s attention: Simon Coveney, the foreign affairs minister, will be quizzed at an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday if he deleted texts with Leo Varadkar, the tanaiste, from his phone after freedom of information requests were […]
On the one hand, it is perfectly understandable that Leo Varadkar’s legion of defenders – both those who are true blue Fine Gaelers, and those who are not, but who think the Tánaiste is unfairly targeted by his critics – should feel put out by the latest controversy engulfing their man. Yes, every single one […]
In all honesty, it has been a struggle to maintain any interest in the ins and outs of what Simon Coveney said, or did not say to an Oireachtas Committee investigating the Katharine Zappone fiasco. We have had the spectacle of one minister, Simon Coveney, spinning the country an obvious cock and bull story about […]
Any abortion decision from the United States Supreme Court generally gets people very excited, or worried, depending on their views on the subject matter. This week, there has been a tremendous outbreak of excitement from pro-lifers, and anger from pro-choicers, at the Court’s decision not to injunct a Texas law which bans abortion when a […]
We’re often critical of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties here at Gript, and nearly always because, well, they’re not very good at defending civil liberties. It is unusual, for example, for an organisation dedicated to civil liberties to be at the forefront of demands for restrictions on the right to protest, as they are […]
There have been sufficient articles written in Ireland about the legacy of so-called “catholic guilt” in Ireland that, if stacked one on top of the other, you’d be unwise to bet against them reaching the moon. How many times, over the years, have you heard people sobbing on the radio about dealing with the “legacy […]
Unbelievable. But bear in mind, the audience for this nonsense is not, in actual fact, the Taliban.
Increase.