HOW many Catholics were attending Mass before the pandemic began? How many have returned in the meantime? How many will come back when this is all over? These were some of the vital questions asked in a new Amarach Research poll commissioned by The Iona Institute. Here are the main findings: 27pc of Catholics were […]
On Saturday, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) decided at a meeting of its national executive to ballot its members on strike action. Although part of this concerns the on-going and legitimate concern over the status and pay grades of some teachers, it is evident that the main issue is the re-opening of […]
Former Attorney General and justice minister, Senator Michael McDowell has slammed NPHET’s advice to send Dublin into a fresh lockdown as flying in the face of science. “It hasn’t been scientifically justified, it’s wrong, it flies in the face of the strategy that this government announced two weeks ago that they were going to open […]
It is a well-known fact, accepted by psychologists and psychoanalysts that the more you repeat a concept or thought, be it negative or positive, the more you come to believe it and eventually it is likely to become a reality. If you wake up each morning and go to bed each night with the thought […]
After months of enforced closure, Ireland’s small town/rural pubs are set to re-open next Monday 21st September. Pubs in the capital will remain in limbo – unless of course they are serving a virus-busting plate of chicken and chips for €9. While the recently announced five level plan “Living With Covid-19” is an improvement on […]
The re-opening of schools has brought the illusion of normality to our country. After all, what’s better and more normal than seeing little ones and older children return to the business of books and school bags, lunches and learning, drop-offs and pick-ups. Families are the hinge of a healthy society, the pivot of a robust […]
This poll, it should be stressed, is from the UK, and not Ireland. But do we really think public opinion here would be drastically different? 62% of Britons – and all ages ranges – say they would support the introduction of a curfew between 10pm and 5am as a measure to prevent a second coronavirus […]
Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has directly called on an Taoiseach Micheál Martin at leaders questions in the Dáil to reopen critical health services across the country to those who desperately need them. “I received a message from a Doctor in the last few days. He said to me: ‘I’ve luckily had […]
Fianna Fáil Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, and NPHET chairman Dr. Cillian de Gascun, have both suggested that a second lockdown is not out of the question. We asked the general public for their reaction. #gript
The Rural Independent Group is set to move a motion this Wednesday calling on Dáil Éireann to rescind the new regulations for pubs and restaurants that were introduced by the Minister for Health through Statutory Instrument last week. The regulations have been widely criticised for requiring pubs and restaurants to a record of the meals […]
On Thursday, the Dáil passed a law giving the Gardaí the power to visit licensed premises to ensure that they are complying with the existing regulations regarding the need to serve food, social distancing and others. The Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid – 19) Bill 2020 was passed by 127 votes to 12. All of […]
“The government needs to trust publicans” Danny Healy-Rae explains why he opened his family pub. #gript