Sentencing in Ireland is, not to put too fine a point on it, a sick joke: “A father who raped his adult special needs daughter while her mother was terminally ill in hospital has been jailed for seven years. The 66-year-old Munster man, who cannot be identified in order to protect his daughter’s identity, pleaded […]
The harrowing media reports detailing the brutal, senseless murder of Ana Kriégel make for very difficult reading. The thought of one of our own children being caught in that indescribably horrific situation is unimaginable. Ana was only 14 when she was killed, and the manner in which she died is the stuff of nightmares. […]
As more than 600,000 people in Dublin, Kildare and Meath face at least another four days without domestic drinking water we can apparently look forward to this becoming a regular occurrence. Apart from illustrating once more the disaster that is Irish Water, it is perhaps a timely forewarning of what is coming down the tracks […]
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has launched a new public consultation on hate speech with the clear aim of implementing new, stricter laws around hateful speech which he said with certainty on Drivetime RTE a few days ago, “is becoming common in Ireland”. But, is it? Searching for stats on hate crimes in Ireland is surprisingly […]
Mary McAleese in her contribution to a Trinity College conference entitled ‘Women the Vatican Couldn’t Silence’ read from a book by Pope John Paul II, ‘Love and Responsibility’. The book was written by the late Pope in 1960, and was a lengthy treatise on the nature of spousal love that focused on mutual self-giving, consideration […]
Over the years Kanye West proved he was no stranger to public vulgarity. Obscene lyrics and lewd displays were part and parcel of everything he did, from his overly-sexualised music videos, to his open discussion of his favourite porn categories, and even his marriage to Kim Kardashian, whose career was arguably jump-started by her notorious […]
A fascinating tidbit this, unearthed by a friend on twitter: https://twitter.com/scary_biscuits/status/1191868187027148800 The most popular story in the mythology of modern Ireland is the notion that our little country has recently stepped forward, out of the darkness and brutality of the past, to become a happier and more self-confident nation. Nearly everything written about the Ireland […]
Hate crime in England and Wales is defined as, ‘any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic’. Yes. It is actually that broad and yes, it is actually that vague. The definition was agreed in 2007 […]
Mary McAleese’s criticism of the Catholic Church (‘Women the Vatican Couldn’t Silence’, Trinity College 2/11/2019) is largely about attacking ‘strawmen’ targets. She had strong words for ‘cowardly’ prelates. Yet, the two she mentioned, according to Patsy McGarry of the Irish Times, could hardly be described as ‘cowardly’. Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan took a bold step against […]
The British general election on December 12 will be held almost 101 years to the day since the 1918 general election in Ireland. The last time there was a democratic vote throughout the island on the same day, the outcome was a decisive victory for Sinn Féin which stood on the platform of Irish independence […]
Charlie Flanagan, the Minister for Justice, is doing a terrible job of balancing the needs of migrants and asylum seekers with the concerns of local communities. The sheer arrogance shown by his Department is extraordinary. They’ve refused to consult with locals before making high-handed announcements about direct provision centres opening in jig time, with everyone […]
Irish parents, and indeed parents worldwide, now live in a world where their children, as soon as they are old enough to access the internet, are never more than two or three clicks away from the most hardcore pornography. The normalisation of pornography over the past thirty years, and the consequences of that, has been […]