There are a great many things that are plain wrong or objectionable within the Bills and Acts that have emerged from the Oireachtas in the last number of years. This varies of course, from the attacks on life and liberty to the taxes they have levied or indeed that they have failed to levy, as […]
You may have heard the news that Ireland is the second best country in the world to live in, according to the human development index: Ireland is second only to Norway on a United Nations annual ranking of 189 countries measured according to average longevity, education and income. The measure puts Ireland ahead of countries […]
One of Ireland’s outstanding and prolific writers and intellectuals, Desmond Fennell turned 90 last year. Since the late 1950s, he has published over 30 books and pamphlets dealing with what he himself described as the condition of the human person in Ireland. That has been the basis of philosophy in the western tradition for several […]
Across the globe, countless millions of people have placed their hope in the Coronavirus vaccine as the fastest plausible path back to normalcy for families, businesses, and societies in 2021. If the vaccines work as expected, and can be delivered in a timely manner, they are expected to herald the end of the symphony of […]
In an odd sort of way, the Taoiseach was making a very reasonable point yesterday, when he stood up and told the country, in the Dáil, that the banks were not bailed out when his party last lead a Government. But rarely in Irish history can a reasonable point have been made in a more […]
Peter Nygard, described in the press as a ‘fashion mogul’ has been arrested and charged with trafficking dozens of women and teenage girls – with offences apparently regularly taking place in his private island in the Bahamas. Nygard, 79, owns a Canadian fashion house and it is claimed he lured his alleged victims to his Bahamas estate over […]
It’s a basic principle of Irish democracy that taxpayer funding may not be used to promote candidates for election, or sides in referendums. Actually, let me rephrase that: It used to be a basic principle of Irish democracy that taxpayer funding may not be used to promote candidates for election, or sides in referendums. But […]
The publication of an ESRI report on forecast population growths and consequent housing requirements was published on December 14. The report, Regional Demographics and Structural Housing Demand at County Level was compiled by TCD research professor Adele Bergin and Abian Garcia Rodriguez of the ESRI. As John McGuirk noted yesterday, all the forecasts contained are dependent on arbitrary […]
A fascinating new paper in a leading peer-reviewed journal should give parents of babies with Trisomy 18 hope – and should also give Irish doctors pause. The Associate Editor of the prestigious international scientific review, Pediatrics, notes that in regard to Trisomy 13 and 18, it has “become clear that these conditions are not lethal or […]
The European Green Party, which includes the Irish Green Party as a full member, recently held its 32nd Council with the aim of exchanging solutions on “today’s most urgent topics.” This included debates on “how to counter Rule of Law backsliding in Europe; and “how we can continue to fight for the human rights of […]
Leo Varadkar told the Washington Ireland Programme at a virtual event last week that Ireland, along with the rest of the world, is dealing with ‘a crisis of polarization due to the influence of social media’. Social media as distinct from mainstream media. According to the Tánaiste,one side of a story can become ‘accepted fact’ […]
Extraordinary. Usually, in Ireland, if you say that one way to reduce the demand for housing is to lower immigration, you’ll be dismissed as a rabid racist who’s peddling fake news. But in the Irish Independent this morning, no less an authority than the ESRI is out warning that a reduction in immigration, due to […]