It was a decade ago that I first encountered a Muslim in Belfast, for many years, a city of Catholics and Protestants, and few dissenters. His name was Yousef, and he had come to Ireland to escape persecution. We met on the Falls Road – the west Belfast, where it is more common now to…
Teachers must draw a clear line between their professional role as educators and as advocates for specific causes, writes Sandra Adams A recent Irish Times article by teacher Conor Murphy presents itself as a defence of empathy in education. In practice, however, it reads as an uncritical endorsement of a worldview that downplays the significance…
In this second article I shall continue with an examination of challenges facing Ireland in a security and defence context but first I need to say a little more about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). NATO’s woes As I wrote in a piece for this newspaper in July 2024, NATO has had its share…
One year on from the passing of Pope Francis, the world feels, in many ways, more fragile than it did when he left us. Conflict has deepened in parts of the Middle East. Political discourse has hardened, with the rise of polarisation, nationalism and, at times, outright hostility. Multilateral cooperation—so essential to addressing global crises—appears…
Let 2026 be the year we reject the quiet excuses that hold us back – “it’s too difficult,” “someone else will do it,” “my effort won’t matter.” These thoughts do not move us forward; they keep us where we are. Real change begins when we refuse to accept inertia as inevitable and instead choose to…
Ireland is famously a friendly country, and most visitors still seem to find a welcoming and sociable attitude to life here. So it seems a puzzle as to why there are so many studies and reports about the ‘epidemic’ of loneliness in this country. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre claims that 20% of Irish…
The last few years have seen members of An Garda Síochána participate in Pride events with garda cars in Pride livery, but how appropriate is this? Many other causes and businesses take part also from AIB to Dublin City Council, but a police force is surely in a different category. Last year, it was found…
Memories of being stopped at loyalist blockades haunted my mind as I watched scenes of fuel protests across Ireland. I remember quite well being stopped at Belfast’s Ormeau Bridge, which was blocked off by loyalist women and wee children, standing defiantly. I beckoned the police officer who was standing on the bridge, redirecting traffic. I…
Last year, I wondered on social media whether Donald Trump was the most pagan president the United States has ever had. I can’t remember exactly what had prompted this, but I remember having the same thought when he said at a remembrance service for the murdered conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk, that, unlike Kirk’s wife, he…
Dear Liam, Some letters are easier to write than others. This one is not. Not because there is too little to say, but because there is so much. How do you begin to write about someone who has been a priest, composer, companion and dear friend for so many years? How do you find words…
Martina Purdy
Eilis Mulroy
Mary Kenny
David Quinn