Nearly eight years ago now, I honeymooned in Mexico for a couple of weeks. One of my abiding memories is sitting in a small-town square enjoying a local festival, watching the world go by, and being amazed by the sheer volume of children that were hanging out of prams, running around, screaming, shouting and laughing.…
The extraction by the United States of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, provided an early interruption into the dreams of a calmer, predictable 2026. Maduro is widely seen as being an illegitimate president, grimly holding onto power after a fraudulent election in 2024. He is considered corrupt – the US accuses…
St Oliver Plunkett was hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London on July 1, 1681. He was the last Catholic martyr to die in England. What a way to go. We casually use the phrase, unthinkingly, without pausing to reflect on what it actually entails. To be hung, drawn and quartered was a method of torturous capital punishment used principally to execute men convicted of high treason in…
It is a truism to acknowledge that there are people who saw last Christmas but will not be around this Christmas. It happens in the circle of life, but every empty chair at the Christmas table is a hole in the heart for their loved ones. Christmas is a time for remembering those that have…
Reading Robert Fisk’s posthumously released book, Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East, I was struck by something he said in the whistlestop tour chapter of the last century’s history of Israel and Palestine. Speaking on this particular subject, he observed “Anyone who tries to tell what he or she believes is the…
On the second Thursday in October every year, World Sight Day is celebrated. Or at least it should be celebrated because sight is hugely important. Everyone has an eyesight story that is close to their heart. If you don’t, then you are very, very lucky. Almost everyone will be affected by an eye health or…
Who were the 75% that said no to the family and care referendums? Have the government parties lost confidence in their offering and their politics? After a decade of consensus and coalition building, the overwhelming defeat of the apparent centrist position in the 2024 family and care referendums provided a bloody nose to the…
I started writing this piece while Gena Heraty remained kidnapped in Haiti, and better judgment of the editorial team meant that it was put on hold as we waited and prayed that she and her colleagues would be released safe and unharmed. Thankfully, that day has come to pass, after almost a month in captivity.…
Government redress schemes are undoubtedly a good thing. They provide the opportunity for the successor governments of past duty-bearers to provide something beyond superficial apologies on behalf of the State. Such apologies, while useful, are not real apologies. They do not involve any genuine accountability or acceptance of culpability on behalf of individuals who committed…
Bro. John Conway, a Jesuit, working in Zimbabwe in the fifties, conspired with the British colonial government to undermine the independence movement, claiming the natives needed the British in order to have their souls saved. Someone once told me that Michael Collins, upon initially hearing of Dev’s reaction to the Treaty, he actually agreed with…