The abbreviation “NGO” stands, as most people know, for “non governmental organisation”. In other words, it covers a whole range of charities, political lobby groups, and representative bodies who take part in the political process, but who are not political parties, or part of the Government. Amnesty Ireland is an NGO, as is the Irish […]
Last week Aontú leader Peadar Toíbín launched a Bill, co-signed by Galway East Independent TD Seán Canney, to introduce a minimum 10 month sentence for any person convicted of stealing a family pet. Unfortunately this appears to have been a bit of a growth industry over the last months, partly due to gangs whose normal forte is […]
To make sure everyone suffers equally, Gardaí are now making spot checks at Tesco and Dunnes and Aldi to be sure that nobody is buying coats or scarfs or underwear. Here was Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, explaining how he was saving us from the self-harm of buying coats and other ‘non-essential’ goods this winter. Tánaiste Leo […]
On Tuesday last, the Dáil allotted time to statements on the European Council of Ministers meeting that had ended on October 16. At a time when the Brexit negotiations and the Covid panic were exercising most minds, those topics took up the bulk of member’s contributions. Not so, Mick Barry the reticent communist TD for […]
The author, John Hamill, is Co-Host of The Free Thought Prophet Podcast Last week, the Seanad debated the Electoral (Civil Society Freedom) (Amendment) Bill 2019, which proposed to remove several restrictions on the influence of money within our political process. Currently, the Electoral Act places limits on the value of individual donations made for political purposes. This new […]
We should be wary of spending too much time analysing daily case numbers, but since we all do it anyway, here’s an interesting observation here from HSE supremo Paul Reid: The positivity rate in testing has now come down over the past 8 days. The number of close contacts is now down to an avg. […]
On Friday, the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said something that was, given its context, infinitely revealing. Speaking at a press conference, he addressed the use of batons and excessive force by Gardaí against lockdown protestors on Grafton Street on Thursday. He also welcomed the additional enforcement powers given to the Gardai to sanction people who […]
Habeas Corpus [ hey-bee-uhs -kawr-puhs ] late Middle English: Latin, literally ‘you shall have the body’ – a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, especially for investigation of a restraint of the person’s liberty, used as a protection against illegal imprisonment. The official death figures for Ireland this year, so […]
Is professor John A. Lee an expert in infectious diseases? Not quite. He’s a pathologist – he studies causes of death and the effects of diseases and injuries. He’s pretty qualified, but by no means a world leading expert. Still, he was more than qualified enough, apparently, for a guest slot on Prime Time last […]
One of the derailing issues for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign was the diplomatically sensitive correspondence she sent from her personal account while Secretary of State. But there were also other emails brought to light allegedly by Russian hackers. This became an attack point for Democrats against Trump and drew the media’s focus […]
Fair warning: What you are about to read is not objective journalism. Declan Ganley has been my friend, and my colleague, for thirteen years, give or take. When it comes to this subject, I have a conflict of interest, and it is very important to state that right here in paragraph one, so that you’re […]
On Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin reported back to the Dáil from the weekend’s EU Council meeting in Brussels. The main issue of concern was the implications of the lack of an agreement between the Commission and London prior to Britain leaving the EU at the end of December. Martin echoed the Brussels line that the […]