In his 1845 book The Condition of the Working Class in England, Friedrich Engels excoriated those wealthy philanthropists who placed themselves “before the world as mighty benefactors of humanity when they give back to the plundered victims the hundredth part of what belongs to them.” Back then charity was the preserve of austere Victorians and […]
Peadar Toibin wrote movingly and well on this website yesterday about his principled objections to the Government’s now-cancelled commemoration for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police: “There are few families in Ireland that do not have mixed heritage. One of my Grandparents was a member of Cumann na mBan, while another […]
In an article in the Irish Times in February 2014[1], Fintan O’Toole reviewed the marriage rates in Ireland on foot of a CSO annual report that had been recently published. He was motivated to write the article in response to a press release from the Iona Institute some months earlier which had ended with the […]
On 27 November 1920 Galway brothers Patrick and Harry Loughnane were arrested on their family farm by the Royal Irish Constabulary’s Auxiliary Division. The men were locally prominent republicans and the RIC was determined to exact revenge on them for an earlier IRA ambush. A few days after their arrest, the Loughnane brothers’ bodies were […]
Former President Mary McAleese seems to rather enjoy courting controversy these days, as demonstrated in her recent deliberate attempts to slur Pope John Paul II by taking a quote out of context from his book Love and Responsibility and failing to give the full details regarding its meaning. Indeed, one can only wonder why McAleese […]
A prominent academic and media commentator has accused a Galway hotel of racism after she was served the wrong drink. This week saw Dr Ebun Joseph, who is the module coordinator for the first Black Studies focused module in Ireland, take to Twitter to let the public know that she had been a victim of […]
A consequence of the way society has changed over the course of most of our lifetimes is that fewer and fewer of us live close to our parents. The increase in university education, and careers that take us away to Dublin, or London, or further afield has meant, amongst other things, a collapse in the […]
Yesterday, New Years Day, saw a small group of pro-life protestors conducting some form of silent vigil/protest outside the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, an action that provoked anger from consultant obstetrician Dr. Mary Higgins: Right here (national maternity hospital), right now 1/1/20; wonder why we need exclusion zones @LeoVaradkar @SimonHarrisTD – beneath the windows […]
The food served in Limerick last week, which was labeled by some as “slop”, would be considered a rare treat in much of the world, not least because we have the luxury of cutlery and meat.
Earlier this month, picking up on the 2019 United Nations Human Development Report, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tweeted out, “Worth reading. No country is without its problems but overall we’re doing pretty well. At least according to the @UN: Ireland has third highest quality of life in world…” But the amount of evidence that can […]
The most striking aspect of Charlie Flanagan’s proposed “hate speech” legislation is the extraordinary alliance that has formed in its favour. As previous reports on Gript have shown it not only seemingly includes the entire “range” of parties within Leinster House, but everyone else from Pollyanna overseas charities to the “New IRA.” The latter, which […]
The news, it must be said, is often bad. There are several reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to the fact that people will usually react more strongly to bad news than good news. Bad news is generally more emotionally impactful. But good news matters, too. Every day, Irish people, and people the […]