The Minister for Education, Norma Foley, was the subject of an interview/profile in yesterday’s Sunday Independent, written by Hugh O’Connell, which was notable for several reasons. Perhaps the most glaring thing to note is that in a 25 minute interview with the new Minister for Education, the subject of how schools might safely and promptly […]
Majella O’Hare was just 12 years of age when she was shot twice in the back by a British paratrooper on her way to Mass in Whitecross, county Armagh, on August 16, 1976. The soldier responsible, Michael Williams was charged with manslaughter but acquitted by Justice Maurice Gibson in 1977. In 2011, the British Defence Secretary […]
As of a 2018 OECD report, Ireland ranks 4th out of 36 OECD countries and 3rd out of 27 EU countries for reading literacy among 15-year olds. But for how long? According to the OECD’s 2018 PISA Report (Programme for International Student Assessment). Ireland ranks 4th out of 36 other OECD countries and 3rd out […]
Following the enactment of the 2018 abortion Act, The Clinical Advisory Forum (CAF) was established within the HSE to “inform and enable the provision of a safe, high quality termination of pregnancy service.” It is accountable to the HSE’s National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP) and reports directly through its Chair, Dr Aoife Mullaly, […]
Contributors to this site have been among those pointing to the startling decline of Fianna Fáil which, despite having finally secured the temporary position of Taoiseach, appears increasingly rudderless. Its support among the electorate has nose dived since a poor enough 22% in the general election, to as low as 14% according to some recent […]
While many Government TDs are shredding each other to pieces over who got jobs and who didn’t, Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeil is quietly continuing to build a reputation as one of the more diligent and effective new members of the Dáil. Last night, the Dun Laoghaire TD took to social media to deliver a […]
Last night, the Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, went on the Tonight Show on Virgin Media to defend Barry Cowen, the Minister for Agriculture, after the stories in recent days about Cowen’s drink driving offence four years ago, and absence of a full driving licence. While Byrne was on the programme, Ken McFadden, a […]
Apart from delivering Cherish leaflets and attending a small number of meetings and the final rally, most of the huge effort that went into trying to trying to save the 8th amendment was unknown to me. I had been with Sinn Féin in Leinster House for many years and I am afraid to say I was […]
Is it time we stop badmouthing fathers and instead step up to support them? _ _ _ _ _ _ A recent post on Imgur caught my eye for its startling glimpse into the true state of American families. Seeking to be a help to others, a young man posted a link to his father’s new YouTube […]
‘Endorsement by association’, in the form of a photograph, taken at a book signing, next to a man wearing a T-shirt with the slogan,’ I am a proud Islamaphobe’, was enough to rescind Cambridge University’s offer of a visiting fellowship to Dr Jordan Peterson. Dr Peterson was not given an opportunity to either clarify or […]
A Dún Laoghaire County Councillor who posted a Twitter poll asking if Dún Laoghaire needed to change its name to become more inclusive has received a resounding NO from more than 11,000 votes. Green Cllr Daniel Dunne provoked a big response when he said “Public Consultation: We’ve been using the Irish version for 100 years. But […]
One of the more unusual things that’s been happening in the (increasingly ignored) world of Coronavirus recently is that the massive surge in cases in the United States has not, as yet, been accompanied by a surge in deaths from the virus. This has prompted some people – in and outside of science – to […]