The Labour Party has introduced the Sick Leave and Parental Leave (Covid-19) Bill 2020. The aim of the Bill is to provide for an entitlement for employees to paid leave during periods of illness or injury and to amend the entitlement to leave on grounds of force majeure for parents whose children are unable to […]
Three Nigerian men resident in Ireland were charged in the Dublin District Court last Friday as part of Garda Operation Engulf which targeted online fraud including what are known as ‘romance scams’. One of the charges relates to a woman who was defrauded of money by a person who she had made contact with through […]
Last year, a Traveller family parked their trailer in a layby up the road from where I live. They had a fair bit of space, and a small generator was used to give light and heat. We’d often pass by walking the dog, or going to the shops, and sometimes we’d nod and say hello to […]
Important thing to note in this story: The word “controlled”: “Coronavirus should be let spread amongst people below 60 in a controlled way, the Dáil’s Covid-19 committee will be told on Wednesday. Sweden’s former chief epidemiologist Dr Johan Giesecke will recommend that the virus be let spread through the population alongside a programme that concentrates […]
10th of March 2020 – The Minister for Foreign Affairs appears on Morning Ireland. Gavin Jennings: “It looks like there are two choices – lock everything down before thousands become infected, or lock everything down after thousands become infected, like what’s happened in Italy. Why are we waiting to make more moves here? Simon Coveney: […]
If April’s testing rate had been what it is now, it’s fair to assume we would have found double the number of cases, making the entire attempt to gauge the severity and seriousness of the virus on the basis of case numbers a fool’s game.
At first glance, these numbers might shock you. But there’s little reason to doubt them, for reasons we’ll come to in a moment: Research: 47% think the worst of the pandemic is ahead of us, the highest level reported since April 52% think there should be more restrictions, similar to the levels reported in March […]
HOW many Catholics were attending Mass before the pandemic began? How many have returned in the meantime? How many will come back when this is all over? These were some of the vital questions asked in a new Amarach Research poll commissioned by The Iona Institute. Here are the main findings: 27pc of Catholics were […]
On Saturday, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) decided at a meeting of its national executive to ballot its members on strike action. Although part of this concerns the on-going and legitimate concern over the status and pay grades of some teachers, it is evident that the main issue is the re-opening of […]
The first thing that any new British Prime Minister has to do, upon taking office, is to pen “the letter of last resort”. We have no idea what’s in it, but we know what it is: Instructions given, in a sealed envelope, to the commanders of Her Majesty’s nuclear submarines, only to be opened in […]
It was a big weekend in media land for lengthy pieces about the apparently dangerous “rise of the far right” in Ireland. The Journal, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent and the Examiner (to a lesser estent) featured couple-of-thousand-word plus pieces this weekend claiming to be detailed investigations into the phenomenon, and its apparent connection […]
Every year since at least 2005, in the run up to Halloween, the Gardai roll out Operation Tombola. The main aim of the Operation is to disrupt, seize and prevent the supply of illegal fireworks and to mitigate the associated public disorder and anti-social behaviour that usually goes with such sales. As the law currently […]