On paper, we had finally made the great escape from British rule but, in reality, we never really got away.
As part of its Pre-Budget Submission, the overseas development agency Trócaire has called on the government to continue to grow Ireland’s aid budget from €868 million to €2.5 billion by 2030. Such a striking increase would mean that the proportion of Ireland’s national income that was being set aside for foreign aid would rise […]
The huge tech corporations like Amazon, Google and Facebook account for over 20% of all permits issued.
System is broken
The Green Party believe that the world is facing an existential crisis because people are burning too many fossil fuels. In order to save the world, they say, we must (their words) “keep it in the ground”. They want us to use less energy and electricity. They want us to become “more efficient”. In the […]
Ban on peat harvesting in Ireland
If you earn €34,302 in Ireland, then every single extra euro you earn after that will be taxed at a marginal rate of 52%. Once you earn that much, the Government feels entitled to take more than half of every extra euro you earn. In the UK, a person earning £34,302stg would pay an income […]
There’s Leo Varadkar, promising the public solemnly that there will be no electricity blackouts this winter. So, you all know what to do: Stop reading this, and go stock up on candles. And lighters.
What do you call a country that shuts down two of its power stations for ideological reasons, and then has to scramble to avoid the risks of electricity blackouts during the winter? If you do not know the answer to that, let me tell you: Stupid. A Stupid country does that. And it is exactly […]
So what exactly do they do, and how influential are they?
The general rule when we report on polling that shows a result which readers might not like is that we will get a lot of comments saying things like “fake poll” or “didn’t poll me”. So, for context, note that this is the same opinion poll which, over the weekend, showed that 83% of the […]
This is from the United States, not Ireland, it should be noted. Though, of course, there are a small but loud minority of Zero Covid activists who want to make scenes like this mandatory in Ireland as well: https://twitter.com/JamesHeartfield/status/1439329262738284546 “Child abuse”, many heartfelt people on social media declared. And, true, it is unpleasant viewing. Though, […]