Going from door to door on the campaign trail in Navan last week, I was repeatedly surprised by how many people are extremely upset and anxious about the lack of services for people with disabilities. I have a son on the autistic spectrum, and I am very aware of the sense of frustration people feel […]
It was perhaps inevitable that Leo would do a Hillary and lash out at the rump of ‘deplorables’ who are muddying the electoral waters for him.
The response of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to Sinn Fein surging ahead in the polls show that the parties are too out of touch to actually stop Sinn Fein’s rise. According to polling Sinn Fein are now, at worst, tied with Fianna Fail as the most popular party in this country, and at current […]
You might not have noticed, but this was supposed to be the Climate election. It was all decided relatively far in advance of the thing, with most of the narratives pre-scripted. Young voters, emboldened and inspired by Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion, and Saoirse McHugh, were supposed to rise up and push Ireland to the international […]
Many people are aware of what happened to Paudie Gahon who was a Louth teenager raped by a member of one of the elite Belfast Brigade IRA families, the Marleys. Séamus Marley is the son of Larry who organised the H Block escape in 1983. Someone else now claims to have been the mastermind, but […]
As the General Election campaign trundles on, what was shaping up to be a straight shoot-out between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to lead the next government has been complicated by a surge for Sinn Féin in the polls. The two largest parties are not the electoral powerhouses they once were. Combined, their vote share […]
There’s understandably been grave concern in Fine Gael over the last week at the direction of the General Election campaign. Their party is third in the polls. Their star feminist candidate called the Taoiseach autistic. Their best photoshoot involved Simon Coveney eating a sausage roll. Nobody cares about Brexit. Sinn Fein are on the march. […]
The good news in this election campaign, if you’re an undecided voter, is that every problem the country has can be easily solved if you just vote the right way. If you want a tax cut, you’re going to get one. If you’re concerned about your pension, don’t worry – that will be fixed. If […]
Stockholm Syndrome. It is the psychological description of a state in which a captive comes to identify with their captor. On the day on which our nearest neighbour has formally departed the European Union, perhaps it is apt to reflect on this state’s relationship to that entity. There are many factors influencing the reaction of […]
A recent Irish Times/MRBI pre-election poll (20/1/20) has indicated that an overwhelming majority of Irish voters – no less than 75% – now want a change of government. Significantly, over one in three voters believe “it is time for a radical change of direction for the country.” Given the abysmal failures of judgment and leadership […]
I lived in Navan in 1982. I worked on an archaeology site of all things at Randalstown near where the mines had their dumps. It had been part of the Everard estate which grew tobacco but much longer ago had been a village on the Boyne. So in digging down into our past you might find […]
The reaction to the Brexit vote in Ireland is born of pure ignorance in all things
EU, ignorance existing within the highest echelons of politics and the media
right down to the ordinary Joe-citizen.