Fifty years after the ‘marriage bar’ was lifted

The Department of Foreign Affairs proudly tweeted recently how Ireland was celebrating fifty years of having lifted the “marriage bar” for women working in the public service – with the support of the EU and its march towards equality. Yes, I remember that situation well: women, on marriage, had been required to step down from…

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Acceptance and respect – not pride

A multi-coloured banner at Dublin’s Heuston Station – one of a number celebrating ‘Pride’ – urges us to feel “Proud to be Myself”. It prompted me to ask myself if I was ‘proud to be myself’. My answer to myself was that I couldn’t really see why I should take any special credit for being…

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Sex and money…the two big temptations

Sex and money: two of the major temptations that lure men and women into a fall. Perhaps previous generations might have said – two of the weapons used by the devil to entrap humans into the error of their ways. Interestingly, the phrase ‘struggling with his demons’ is still very much in use. On both…

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Ukraine and the morality of cluster bombs…

Stand with Ukraine’ is a slogan which has elicited much support across the political spectrum in all our European countries. We have nearly all backed Ukraine’s case against the Russian invader, admired its people’s resistance, and Volodymyr Zelensky’s courageous leadership. But the supply of cluster bombs to the Ukrainian war effort? Here is a dilemma…

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In search of times past?

Some people enter a theatre of war and never see battle. I was in Paris last week, at the height of the reported violence, and witnessed nothing amiss. Wherever I went in central Paris, it was untroubled: the Etoile area, the Louvre, the Comedie-Française (playing to full houses), Montparnasse, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Latin Quarter,…

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Pagan Ireland was primitive Ireland…

This is the time of year – the summer solstice – when we usually see various homages to pagan Celtic Ireland, with druidic figures revering the turning of the seasons on the longest day. The remarkable Newgrange tomb – 5,200 years old – in the Boyne Valley becomes a focus for marking the solstice event.…

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On politics and God in Ireland…

When I was a young feminist, engaging in fiery discussions with the likes of June Levine, Nell McCafferty, Mary Robinson and Mairín de Burca, there was one principle on which we agreed: this was “the personal is political”. And furthermore, we affirmed that “everything is political”. We young leftists absolutely concurred that politics was part…