The Splendid Years: The Memoirs of an Abbey Actress and 1916 Rebel by Máire Nic Shúibhlaigh with Edward Kenny, edited by David Kenny (Dublin: New Island Books, €15.95)
Questioning received truths about the nation
Irish Adventures In Nation-Building by Bryan Fanning (Manchester University Press, £18.99)
A positive vision of the European project
Dear Editor, John Bruton’s article (‘Brexit and the future of the European project’ IC 30/06/2016) made an impressive case of explaining popular disenchantment with the European project, and effectively refuted the common line that, for instance, the EU is torturing and impoverishing Greece, persuasively arguing that if anything the EU is helping that struggling country.…
The unborn today, someone else tomorrow
Dear Editor, The measure of how just, how equal, we are as a society is surely how we care for the most vulnerable among us. How should we apply this measure to the proposal being pushed by most media since the election, the repeal of the Eighth Amendment? It’s pretty odd that people want a…
Media bias is not just a religious issue
Dear Editor, With reference to Anne McGrath’s letter re media bias (IC 23/06/2016), this bias is evident not only in relation to issues with a religious dimension such as abortion but in relation to a range of social issues. While I still buy newspapers on weekends, I’ve almost given up buying them on weekdays because…
Irish Catholics are Irish citizens too
Dear Editor, I was interested to see how in calling for a secular state, Cardinal Marx drew a careful distinction between state and society (‘Facing the challenges for the Church’, IC 30/06/2016). Although state and society are not the same thing, too often we forget that the Irish State, like the Irish Church, is in…
Bethlehem Christians need pilgrim support
Dear Editor, I am very disappointed to see advertisements for pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 2017 staying in Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. The Christian community desperately need support at this time, much more than the tourist industry in Jerusalem. Surely tour operators should be made aware of this and ensure that pilgrims have time…
Lessons from history and geography
Dear Editor, To judge by Gabriel Kelly’s letter about the effects of Brexit (IC 30/06/2016), one might think the (primarily) English vote to leave the EU must have been done following a calculation that the peace in Northern Ireland that was so hard fought for is worth gambling with. Is it perhaps not more likely,…
Finding a forever home
Rachel Beard talks to volunteers who foster rescue dogs waiting for new families
Pioneering palliative care in Africa
Dr Anne Merriman tells Rachel Beard about the origins of a revolution in hospice care










