Hopefully, all parties involved will do their best, and in good faith, to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol problem, and the vexatious bureaucracy involved in transporting a Marks & Spencer comestible from Cheshire to Belfast. Bertie Ahern – who brought so much to the peace process – says that with enough patient negotiation, it can…
I wouldn’t have voted for Sinn Féin in the Stormont elections and in general I am not an admirer of the party as it is presently constituted. It has changed a lot since my Galwegian maternal grandmother, Mary Conroy, joined it in the early days, soon after 1905 – supportive of its agenda of Irish…
There was a time when the laity didn’t take it upon themselves to advise a bishop, and the distance was maintained between the See and the flock. But we are moving at a different tempo now, as the new Bishop of Galway, Michael Duignan, indicated at his installation last weekend. Synodial measures are encouraging the…
I can understand Leo Varadkar being pleased and relieved that Marine Le Pen was defeated as French presidential candidate. There is a track record of racist ideas with her party – and besides, the Euro would have plunged in value if she had succeeded. So, even on practical grounds, we are spared yet another financial…
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, and especially since Russia’s recent brutal invasion of Ukraine, there has been a queue of European nations applying to join NATO – the western military alliance led by the United States. Fourteen new states joined between 1999 and 2020, and the most recent applicants are…
Emmanuel Macron, who is likely to remain President of France, was educated mainly by the Jesuits, at the Lycée la Providence in Amiens, and he chose to be baptised a Catholic at the age of 12. And according to a poll carried out by Ifop, 28% of French Catholics voted for him in the first…
How can a Churchman stand by Vladimir Putin and justify his utterly brutal attack on Ukraine? But the Russian ‘pope’, Patriarch Kirill has made it clear that he is fully aligned with Mr Putin and his ideological position – that Kyiv is essentially a part of Russia, in culture, religion and tradition. “It is my…
Professor Diarmaid Ferriter – probably the most influential historian in Ireland – has called for a “truth commission” to investigate the circumstances of Irish adoption practices in the past. He estimates that up to 20,000 Irish people may have been affected by historic illegal birth registrations, and this should be now be fully investigated by…
EU diplomats have been told by Sinn Féin that Europe must prepare for the reunification of Ireland – and that the EU must take the same encouraging attitude to Irish unity as it did to the reunification of Germany. “Our European partners must be energetic and proactive in advocating for Irish unity at every opportunity,”…
There’s currently a map of Europe on display on social media asking the question ‘Would you fight for your own country?’ Perhaps an apt question during St Patrick’s week. Portugal and Spain are on 28% and 22% respectively, and Italy on 20%” According to this geographical graphic, 38% of people in the Republic of Ireland…