In two minds about the green agenda

We need to have an honest and open-minded debate about climate change, writes David Quinn   I confess to being in two minds about the green agenda for reasons I’ll try and explain. Green issues have pushed to the forefront of public debate in the past year. Here in Ireland, the Green party did quite well…

Back to the era of chaperones

There is a scene in iconic film The Quiet Man when John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara go on a date. This being 1950s Ireland (in the imagination of the movie’s director, John Ford), they must take a chaperone along with them in the shape of Barry Fitzgerald to ensure all the proprieties are observed and…

Designer babies: the ultimate in family planning

Advanced gene-editing would lead to life being seen as just one more product rather than a gift, writes David Quinn Some 20 years ago, Cardinal Desmond Connell, the late archbishop of Dublin, landed himself in very hot water when he gave an address to mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of the papal encyclical, Humanae…