In a significant victory for the local community of the south Dublin quays, the High Court this morning upheld an appeal against a heroin injection facility at Merchants Quay. The proposal included a needle exchange and the provision of what locals describe as a “shooting gallery” for heroin users in a basement at the facility […]
Sixteen European political parties, including some who are in government, have launched what they call a ‘Manifesto for Freedom” saying the EU is “becoming a tool of radical forces” who aim to build a “European superstate” to cancel “European traditions” and ‘transform moral principles’. The context of the document is the recent attempt by the […]
Is the Communist one party state in Cuba on the verge of collapse? The weekend has seen unprecedented protests across many cities including the capital Havana. It comes after a series of hunger strikes and other events largely ignored by the world media, though covered on this platform. Cubans, incensed by food shortages, lack of […]
Hungary, as every bien pensant knows, is beyond the Pale these days, mostly due to the decision by the Hungarian government not to facilitate the promotion of transgenderism in state schools. Of course, that is only the latest of the offences, as perceived by the establishment, to have been committed by Viktor Orban, Chief of […]
There were all sorts of rumours and speculation as the polls closed in the Dublin Bay South bye-election. The slightly higher turnout in Ringsend and Pearse Street as compared to the places where people dress up for dinner, apparently, had some pundits predicting that Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin was going to emulate Mark Ward […]
Last night the Government succeeded in passing a last minute amendment to the Finance (Covid and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 that will allow institutional investors, otherwise “vulture funds”, to avoid paying stamp duty on housing units if they agree to lease them to local authorities. This represents a huge concession to the investors who have […]
While Sinn Féin continue to attempt to portray themselves as opponents of the ham-fisted ongoing restrictions in the Republic, it would appear that where they have actual control that their approach will be somewhat different. In the wake of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement that almost all restrictions on masks and gatherings will […]
There is an interesting snippet of Irish republican history available on You Tube. It is part of Belfast IRA volunteer Jimmy Drumm’s oration in 1969 at the reinternment of Peter Barnes and James McCormack who had been executed in England in February 1940. The speech was a significant gambit in the simmering split within the […]
While the Government decision to “postpone” re-opening of the hospitality sector was the talk of the country, where was the main “opposition” party? That would be Sinn Féin, in numbers at least. But the party whose press office is a veritable incontinent atm of statements on everything from how much people ought to stake on […]
As the citizens of the Republic appear to be faced with another prolonged period of restrictions, with a few minor concessions thrown in as a distraction, some questions have been raised regarding the model which NPHET and therefor the state is basing its gloomy predictions on. That model is predicting a “worse case scenario” of […]
Winston Marshall deserves credit for standing up to the crazed mob Younger folk among you may be familiar with Mumford & Sons, the English folk rock band popular on the festival circuit. Anyway, they are not bad, but this is not a musical review. It concerns rather the resignation from the band of banjoist, Winston […]
A report on housing published this morning by Davy’s estimates that 200,000 new houses will have to be built over the next three years. That will require an average annual new build of 66,600 Less than 21,000 were built in 2020, with an even smaller number of completions projected for 2021. This will be to […]