Well before the same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland– currently celebrating its tenth anniversary – I think I sensed that attitudes were changing. Back in the 1990s, after Mary Robinson held a soirée in Áras an Uachtaráin for gay citizens, I had a conversation with an entirely conventional Irish Catholic grandmother, who would then have been…
Last weekend, in the small, picturesque seaside town of St Agnes in Cornwall, a plaque was unveiled to the hundreds of thousands of unmarried mothers in England and Wales who had been subjected, in the past, to forced adoptions. The plaque is situated at Rosemundy, which was once a mother-and-baby home in the West of…
I hadn’t heard the word ‘neurodiverse’ until about a year ago, when a teacher friend mentioned the condition was increasing among school pupils. Since then, I’ve been aware of this widening diagnosis in children and adults. As I understand it, ‘neurodiverse’ basically means human brains function in different ways; but some people who are neurodiverse…
If there is a morality tale of our time, it may plausibly be woven around the sad story of Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell. In the tumult of what was known as ‘the permissive society’ – more accurately, a licentious society – two lives have ended in suicide, one in irrecoverable…
Pope Francis was a widely beloved personality, and it was graceful to see even some Unionist politicians pay tribute to the Holy Father. His memoir, Hope, co-written with Carlo Musso, was an enjoyable read and brought an insight into Francis’s thinking and influences. Growing up in a poor barrio of Buenos Aires, he learned to…
One of the most famous quips that Bernadette Devlin – as a young and fiery Member of Parliament at Westminster – ever made was: “There’ll be no rioting in the golf clubs!” She was responding to concerns about civil unrest in Northern Ireland, which arose to confront the discrimination that prevailed in its governance.…
Here’s a thing: I really would like to hear a sermon on the tangled issue of finance. It could be called ‘the moral maze of money.’ What are we to make of waking up each morning to the heated discussions about ‘the markets’? We tremble to hear that the Nikkei (Japan) has crashed, the Hang…
When the history-books are written, it is quite likely that the most influential Irishman of our time will be Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair. Yes, Clongowes-educated Mr O’Leary has probably made more impact on our world than all the politicians, leaders and general celebrities put together. He has made his low-budget airline the most dominant…
I was married on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, many moons ago, back in the 1970s. Friends said “You’re mad! Getting hitched at the end of the tax year – such bad timing!” I have always borne in mind, ever since, that money and fiscal policies often have quite an influence on matrimonial…
The modern trend in education is towards the co-ed school. Single-sex schools are in decline, and often regarded as archaic relics of a past time, unhealthily segregating boys and girls, Taliban-style. But what strikes me as I watch schoolkids piling boisterously onto trains and buses is how uneven the physical development of boys and girls…