Tribute to a statesman Perhaps his greatest achievements were reforms around policing and justice, writes Martin Mansergh Seamus Mallon played an indispensable role in the SDLP as deputy leader of that party, of which he was part of the bedrock in deeply dangerous times. In later years, he received a great deal of…
The View We enter the first month of the year with a number of uncertainties settled, at least for now. Brexit is happening at the end of the month, with doubt now centred on the short deadline of less than a year for negotiating a trade deal. The arrangements for maintaining the status quo on…
The View Apart from communal worship and family festivities, the Christmas season provides a moment of peace, rest and reflection. There is more opportunity to read a book. Prior to Christmas, the publishing industry brings out many new books suitable for gifts, some celebrating effort and achievement individual and collective. One such book is The…
The View Many of the most uplifting international political events since the end of World War II took place in the ten-year period between the late 1980s and the late 1990s, reversing some of the effects of human catastrophes of the first half of the 20th Century. Foremost among them was the fall of the…
The View In 1782, towards the end of the American war of independence, one of the most respected of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, scientist and diplomat, who negotiated both war and peace, expressed the opinion, “there has never been or ever will be any such thing as a good war or a bad peace”.…
The View City and county libraries, along with other cultural bodies, make a vital contribution to public education, not least in remembering and deepening understanding of important anniversaries. The relatively new Lexicon on the seafront in Dún Laoghaire is hosting two exhibitions at the present time, co-sponsored by the Peruvian and the Polish Embassies…
The View 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Troubles, while the centenary of the formation of Northern Ireland and partition fast approaches, against the backdrop of a looming hard or no-deal Brexit, all of which provide a lot to think about. Few will dispute that nationalists today are in a…
The View The 2018 Annual Report of Christ Church Oxford, where I was at college 50 years ago, arrived recently. Christ Church is one of those institutions, which are both academic and ecclesiastical, with the cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford at the back of the front quadrangle. It was founded by Cardinal Wolsey,…