In the last few days we learned that the Department of Social Protection has been busy tracking down people who have had the temerity to take a holiday while in receipt of Covid-19 welfare support – and punishing them by cutting off that payment. 104 people have had their Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) stopped “as […]
The development group which was reported to be in talks with the Irish government regarding the possibility of building a city for Hong Kongers in Ireland, has now confirmed that the discussion is ongoing. While the Department of Foreign Affairs seemed to downplay the possibility, Mark Lutter, the Chief Strategy Officer for the Victoria Harbor […]
A Report from Hotline.ie, which is Ireland’s national centre for monitoring activities related to online child sexual abuse and exploitation, is set to reveal that the rate of reported child sexual abuse material is at its highest level here since 1999, with a year-on-year increase of 79% on 2018 figures. According to the Law Society Gazette, […]
A stunning story from Ben Haugh in the Times at the weekend: Six locations in Ireland were discussed by government officials as possible sites for a new autonomous city named Nextpolis proposed by a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, The Times can reveal. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the Victoria Harbour […]
Tipperary TD, Mattie McGrath, has strongly criticised the government for what he described as its failure to fight for Ireland when negotiating the European Covid-19 recovery deal “We’re the good boys in Europe. We’re the lackeys. We accept everything and nod” Deputy McGrath told the Dáil. He said that other countries had demanded write downs […]
Yes, this would be the same Michael Lowry who, according to the Moriarty Tribunal, made untrue statements in the course of its investigation, which found that he corruptly secured the largest single contract in the history of the state for Denis O’Brien, and received bribes for doing so. Still, it is never too late to […]
Finally: Witnesses will no longer be required to swear before God or make an affirmation when filing affidavits under proposals agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday. Instead they will be able to make what will be known as a “statement of truth” and will face a maximum one year prison term for breaking it. The proposals […]
Three thousand, two hundred, and one euros. That’s the cost of the new EU deal to every man, woman and child, in Ireland. Of all the countries in the European Union, only Luxembourg residents will contribute more to the EU budget over the next few years. Irish people will pay in just under twice as […]
The report on this morning’s EU recovery deal in the Irish Times is very comprehensive, reporting all of the issues in detail, except for one, which is, very strangely, totally left out of the coverage: The 27 member states of the European Union this morning signed off on a €1.8 trillion package to fund the […]
The report on abortion presented by the Department of Health may have informed us that 6,666 terminations were carried out in Ireland last year (plus 375 in Britain), but aside from that, it is abysmally and purposely poor in terms of information given. It does not include typical data to allow us to analyse what groups are […]
In his defence, if you had to sit through one of Richard Boyd Barrett’s lengthy speeches about the oppressed proletariat of Dun Laoghaire, you’d probably consider having a quick forty winks as well. And goodness knows, anybody who’s worked in an office knows about the dangers of getting the food sleeps after a hearty lunch. […]
The problem with economic downturns is that all the bills tend to come due at once. When banks see one portion of their loan book fail, they send out the debt collectors to make good and this adds pressure to an already pressured situation. Something similar happens in politics. “Never let a good crisis go […]