Perhaps An Taoiseach Micheál Martin now understands what Groucho Marx meant when he said that he would not want to be a member of a club that would have him as a member. I am thinking here in the context of a dinner reportedly hosted by for former Minister, now newly appointed Special Envoy for […]
If you go on to the HSE’s information page about abortion services in Ireland, and into the section advising people about what to expect after an abortion, one of the first lines you will read advises you that “around 2 or 3 out of every 100 people who have an abortion at less than 9 […]
Today, RTÉ published an article revealing that almost 5 million babies will be aborted worldwide in the next decade simply because they are girls. Except the publicly-funded broadcaster did everything it could to avoid using the word abortion, since, in the groupthink that prevails in the Irish media, abortion is always a social good. The fact […]
The protocols and safeguards for dealing with the challenge of Covid-19 should apply fairly across all sectors of society. There should be logic, coherence and consistency in both their formulation and application. That should be obvious but of course prejudice blinds and leads to anomalies and the singling out of certain groups for specified additional […]
This is one of those stories that functions as an almost perfect Rorschach test: If you side with Donnelly here, chances are you’re not a fan of the church and would cheer almost anything said about them. Because there is literally no other reason to indulge this nonsense: “When you’re dealing with a deadly virus, […]
Another study has shown that immunity to Covid in those who have been infected and recovered is long-lasting, “broad and effective” – raising questions about the Irish government’s decision to limit recovery certificates to just six months after being tested positive for the virus. A new paper published as a preprint in the scientific journal Cell found […]
One of the metrics that charted the improvement in working people’s lives over the past century or more was the increase in home ownership. From a situation where most people lived in rented or otherwise non private accommodation, home ownership rose steadily in the western democracies to a situation where most people in most countries […]
The Pandemic has been very bad news for some people – restaurateurs, publicans, students, anybody working part time in hospitality, and so on, but it has been absolutely superb news for some others. Mainly, of course, the media: Our subscriber numbers jumped by nearly 50 per cent last year to 126,000 – a great performance, […]
The folks in Cabinet seem puzzled by the public reaction to the news that former Minister Katherine Zappone had asked for, and promptly received, one of those ludicrous positions that are clearly invented to give one of The Deserving Few another job. Zappone had a chat with Minister Simon Coveney, presumably on the special direct-dial red phone reserved for ex-Ministers who want […]
During the worst economic downturn in decades, the government have announced that they will be allocating millions of euros in taxpayer funding for art projects that promote climate change awareness. Money well spent, right? The €2 million “Creative Climate Action Fund” unveiled by Green Party Ministers Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin is unclear in its […]
I should start this piece with a clarification, so as to avoid any confusion about the intention behind it, or the analysis which follows. This is not a policy proposal. It is not an attempt to convince Ireland’s policymakers that a mass rapid testing program would produce better health outcomes than their current strategy, that […]
The chair of NPHET, Dr. Cillian De Gascun, has finally admitted that covid is endemic and will not be eliminated. So what exactly are we continuing with the emergency measures for? As reported by Richard Chambers of Virgin Media news: “@CillianDeGascun says Covid is becoming ‘endemic’. It will not be eliminated. “If you haven’t been […]