Prior to the cancellation of the Leaving Cert exams, a clear and unmistakeable picture of the educational inequalities that continue to exist within our state were brought sharply into focus. The geographical disparities in terms of broadband access and the resource inequalities that thousands of students endure have been laid bare. Some schools had the […]
There has been a noticeably greater opposition to the Covid lockdown in recent weeks. Alejo Sison claims that the state is “bent on turning us into just one more of the herd,” and having “segued into Leviathans” is intent on taking over civil society. Sison says that the state has dismissed the initiative of citizens […]
A new study published by researchers in the US warns that COVID-19 could lead to an unprecedented increase in ‘deaths of despair’ — a term used to describe deaths due to drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. The new report, from the Well Being Trust and researchers affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians, estimates […]
That’s all we need now, our old friends the Banks coming with the begging bowl. Which they will be, if things continue in this vein: Bank of Ireland slid into a loss in the first quarter as the Covid-19 crisis led to the group taking a €266 million loan impairment charge and racking up an additional […]
According to the HSE, all screening for Breast and Cervical Cancers was suspended because of the Coronavirus on March 30th. That’s five weeks ago. In Ireland, there are approximately 3,100 new cases of Breast cancer every single year. Using simple maths, therefore, you would expect there to be something like 62 new cases of Breast […]
To cut off the mic mid-sentence because the tone or substance of the question was not appreciated would normally cause an outcry from journalistic colleagues, but not apparently in the prosaic world of paid messenger boys simply relaying to the country what the authorities wish to convey.
Statistical evidence has played a central role in our society’s response to Covid-19. We gather and publish data on so many aspects of this epidemic – the number of deaths, the number of cases, the number of tests, the number of intensive care units available, the recovery rates among hospital admissions, the number of clusters […]
While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]
There’s been a strong reaction to the closure of Bewley’s of Grafton Street, in particular when it was revealed that a primary reason for the closure is the €1,500,000 annual rent bill demanded by the company owned by developer Johnny Ronan. That’s a rent of €28,846 every week; over €4,000 every day. Rent accounted for […]
I will be the first one to hold up my hands and say I wanted a lockdown too. I used the #stayathome #staysafe #quaranteam hashtags that began floating around only a number of weeks ago. I bombarded friends of mine with messages regarding staying home and staying safe. I panic bought Vitamin C and other […]
There is an interesting European collaborative mortality monitoring activity among 24 European countries called Euromomo (website: euromomo.eu). They collate and analyse weekly mortality statistics which are published on their website. The project has weekly mortality data since the beginning of 2016 and the mortality statistics are published below for the full period data is available. […]
On the one hand, this is excellent. As an ex-smoker, I’ve always wanted the excuse to go down and get 20 camel blues from the local shop. And now, for the first time in my life, I can tell my mother I’m doing it for the good of my health: Frontline health workers and patients […]