It is very unusual for the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil to make any interventions whatever in political matters, given that the chair is generally sworn to neutrality. Which makes this one, then, all the more notable: Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl said he was refusing to allow debates on an “inordinate number of complaints […]
The figures in relation to elder abuse, released yesterday by the HSE, are simply astonishing. Here’s Newstalk with a summary: The health service’s National Safeguarding Office received almost 12,000 ‘concerns’ of abuse of vulnerable people last year. Some 3,337 related to adults over 65-years-of-age – a 9% increase on the year before. One third (33%) […]
The publication, last evening, of letters between the Chief Justice, Frank Clarke, and Mr. Justice Seamus Woulfe, in which Clarke tells Woulfe that, in his opinion, Woulfe should resign, have caused a major political headache for the Government. On the one hand, the politics of this situation are fairly straightforward: Woulfe is a villain, who […]
In June 2004, the Irish people voted in a referendum which inserted a new Article 9.2 into Bunreacht na hÉireann to limit the right to claim citizenship to children born here who had at least one parent who was an Irish citizen. An unforeseen consequence of the Good Friday Agreement had led to an amended […]
Nothing congeals in Ireland quite so quickly as conventional wisdom, and in the days since Joe Biden was declared President Elect by the US media, the conventional wisdom in Ireland has hardened like concrete: He’s going to shaft the British on Brexit and plant his flag firmly in the old sod of Ballina – take […]
Let’s face it: they’re not wrong. If ever there was going to be a time to legalise drugs, it’s now, right? We can all forget about this blasted pandemic and get high: Drugs could be decriminalised under the current government if all parties work together to help those with addiction issues, Labour said. Aodhán Ó […]
It wasn’t Leo’s fault at all you see, this whole fuss about the leaking of confidential documents. The real issue is that when you’re madly popular and powerful (and a media darling to boot), all these hangers-on start to think you’re their friend, when you’re not. It’s the kind of problem other globetrotting celebs like Prince Harry – and […]
Much is being made here of Biden being a “friend indeed to Ireland.” Actually if you examine these paeans what you generally find is that the purveyor of this means that he will be a friend to their friends, and unlike Trump, knows some mediocre poet who is also their chum. Real cosmopolitans are our […]
An interesting, but ultimately certain to be futile, move: NEW: Sinn Féin have put down a motion of no confidence in Leo Varadkar over the leak controversy. Will be debated next week — Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) November 6, 2020 With all the noise around the US election, the Varadkar/Maitiu O’Tuathail scandal has sort of faded […]
As we all know, Ireland is currently under a level 5 lockdown, which is the strictest level of lockdown possible under the current government plans. Throughout it all, we keep hearing from official sources about how quote-unquote “non-essential” travel and activities are forbidden, and how no public gatherings of any kind are allowed. Now, don’t […]
All of us will be familiar with what a PPS number is. It is a bit like a barcode that you don’t have stamped on your forehead. Any person born in the state will have one, as will anyone who comes here because it is a requirement in having any dealings with the state. You […]
‘Answer a fool according to his folly’, is advice that could be adapted to ‘answer your opponents according to their stated principles, rather than yours.’ It calls them out on their inconsistency and prejudice and tends to put them on the defensive. This is not what the delegation of bishops did when they met Taoiseach […]