“See, hear, learn, use and love the language.”
The available statistical information on the Irish abortion regime is summarised in this article. The abortion regime put in place in 2018 was certainly not designed with information-gathering in mind, but we do now have two official reports from the Department of Health (2019 and 2020), and some additional information for 2019, the latter thanks […]
Vincent F Pintado’s Old Celtic Dictionary is a first of its kind, bringing together the fruit of 30 years of labour. This is the first time all these ancient Celtic words have been researched and brought together in one volume. Along with the dictionary, an inter-Gaeilig chart is included at the back. This chart shows […]
The enormous cumulative drop in the Irish birth rate was revealed in figures from the Central Statistics Office today, which will add to concerns about a shrinking and ageing population leading to a fall off in economic growth and an inability to meet future pension and healthcare needs. The number of babies born in Ireland fell […]
There’s an old rather twee song entitled If you’re Irish come into the Parlour written in 1920 by Dublin pantomime performer Shaun Glenville and Frank Miller. “If your name is Timothy or Pat, as long as you’re from Ireland, There’s a welcome on the mat.” Well, that was the theory. Now, if you happen to […]
On Tuesday last, the Dáil allotted time to statements on the European Council of Ministers meeting that had ended on October 16. At a time when the Brexit negotiations and the Covid panic were exercising most minds, those topics took up the bulk of member’s contributions. Not so, Mick Barry the reticent communist TD for […]
Phelim Roe O’Neill or Féilim Rua Ó Néill – was an Irish leader, from the famous O’Neill family, who led the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in Ulster on 23 October when the Irish rebels attacked Protestant plantation settlements and took garrison towns held by the Irish Army. The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation […]
A democracy’s fortitude and constitutional structures can only be judged by their performance through times of strain – times such as when there is no government in place or where a pandemic rages. We are in such a time now, and the rot within the democratic processes and the institutions of this country are plain […]
The Government has temporarily kicked the issue of “assisted suicide” to a yet-to-be configured consultation process through a Dáil committee. It will then come back to be considered and approved some time over the next year. Predictably enough the far left sponsors of the Bill and their Sinn Féin tail were not happy about this. […]
In 2019, Ireland’s birth rate fell even further, sliding to the lowest level ever on record according to the Central Statistics Office. That means we’re having far fewer children now than we did when this was a much poorer country, with less resources and supports available to families. If children, according to the UN, are an expression of […]
Identity politics is as much about the collapse of old identities as the forging of new ones. The current discussion about how the centenary anniversary of Ireland’s partition should be marked shows how radically political identities can be re-constructed over time. When Michéal Martin stood up in Dail Éireann about a year ago and declared […]
170 Irish soldiers previously stationed in Lebanon returned home today after a delay of several months due to the covid-19 pandemic. Though originally due home in May, the men’s return was delayed following a decision by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, who banned UN peacekeepers from returning, supposedly to prevent the spread of covid-19. […]