Due to physical distancing requirements it has not been possible for all 159 TD’s to meet in Dáil Eireann. An interim measure aimed at overcoming this has involved nominating a proportional number of Party and Group representatives to attend and vote on emergency legislation. But this is not seen as anything like a long-term solution-especially […]
Pop quiz: Who said this, on January 23rd? Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said his party will not form a “grand coalition” with Fine Gael after the general election. Mr Martin said his party was only interested in creating a new government with other “centre” parties such as Labour and the Greens. Asked if […]
It’s quite extraordinary, when you put it all in one place, how incompetent the Irish Government has been in relation to the management of the threat Coronavirus poses to nursing homes. At the time of writing, there are around 214 so-called “clusters” of cases in Irish nursing homes, out of 268 nursing homes in total. […]
Ireland is, both in population and land mass, a tiny country. As a result, the total number of daily deaths from Covid 19 in Ireland is unlikely – barring absolute catastrophe – ever to hit the horrifying four-figure numbers we’re getting close to seeing in the UK, and the USA, and Spain and Italy. Add […]
A leading crisis pregnancy support organisation says that it is busier than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is providing ongoing practical and emotional help to women “24/7” in the crisis. Gianna Care said that they were “thankful and delighted” at the public response to a new initiative which sought to sponsor pregnant women and […]
People are thinking outside the box. We have time aplenty these days to think and to consider what we might like to take from ‘new normal’ when what we used to call normality resumes again. Some things about new normal feel more normal and more rational than old normal. Some things about old normal seem quite […]
The Gardaí are struggling to walk the fine line as a result of the emergency regulations enacted by the Government. On the one hand, they are reassuring the public that resorting to arrest and sanction to deter people from breaking the restrictions on movement would be a last recourse and the hope would be that […]
In her 2007 autobiography, Infidel: My Life, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells an interesting story about her experience when arriving to Holland at age 20 as a refugee from Somalia. The story is a poignant yet simple one. Ayaan was amazed by two features of daily life in Holland which are, to you and me, things […]
A disability rights group has said that a GP surgery which sent letters for adults with autism saying they should a ‘do not resuscitate’ plan in place if they become critically ill during the Coronavirus crisis behaved appallingly. Yesterday, BBC reported that Voyage Care, who cares for the group of autistic adults, “was the sent […]
An interesting report in the Examiner the other day that, with all the Coronavirus news, got a little bit overlooked. But it’s genuinely surprising that it’s taken this long for something like this to be floated: A number of Fine Gael ministers do not believe a government can be formed and that a second general […]
We have written here here before about the increasing encroachment of overseas vulture and cuckoo funds into the Irish property sector. Government schemes such as the Immigrant Investment Programme, allow wealthy Chinese nationals who are being advised by Irish companies such as Bartra, to basically buy all the rights that go with being granted a […]
In May 2018, with just a week to go to the vote in the referendum, the Yes vote was slipping in the polls. An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, made an urgent and emotive pitch to voters. In an interview with Seán O Rourke on the country’s national radio station, RTE, he focused on the danger of using abortion […]