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…
There is a troubling aspect to civic discourse that is getting progressively worse. As a constituency, we (the Irish public, the ‘western’ public) seem increasingly less able to disagree without falling out, or to hold nuanced or contextualised positions on almost any aspect of civic engagement. This degeneration of discussion is in part fuelled by…
The election of Robert Cardinal Provost as Pope has been met with a certain amount of warmth outside of the Church itself, which is surprising considering the profile of the man. In a time that sees the Church as an anachronism in the ‘developed’ world, an American ought to have felt like a step back…
‘Man and woman he created them’, the Bible tells us. And now it seems that the UK Supreme Court agrees. Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the terms ‘women’ and ‘sex’ in the UK Equality Act refer to biological – and not legal – sex in the landmark case For Women Scotland brought against Scottish…
Dualta Roughneen argues that no matter which way we look at international aid or charitable giving to those living in less prosperous or more volatile countries, walking away shouldn’t be countenanced Are we suffering from an excess of empathy that creating compassion fatigue? In an increasingly globalised and interconnected world, the internet – and our…
The new programme for Government informs that it will “prioritise a radical step change in housing supply to rise to that fundamental challenge” and “build on the momentum generated to achieve our target of delivering more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030”. Considering there were just over 30,000 homes built last year,…
It took them long enough! Finally, the Iona Institute, whose CEO is David Quinn, a columnist with The Irish Catholic, has had their ban on X (formerly Twitter for those of you as social media disinclined as I am) lifted. Crazily, the ban on advertising on Twitter was imposed in 2019, so the charity (yes, it is a Charity) has been a victim…
I came across a video a few weeks ago from a mediocre Irish band from Dundalk, who were talking rubbish about religion. It was clear that they were not impressed: “We hate Imams as well.” “I shudder to think of what sort of a fella would say ‘I want to be an Imam when I…
For years I never paid much attention to the growing narrative around childfree couples – and more visibly – childfree women. I was living my life and hadn’t really got that call to have children. I am still suspicious of whether men ever really get the call the way women do. It is rare that…