Dr Eoin Lenihan It is now a familiar story. A young media darling in a rush to the top is installed as the leader of Fine Gael and the country – without the electorate having a say in the matter. Mirroring Leo Varadkar’s meteoric rise to Taoiseach, Simon Harris is set to become Ireland’s youngest…
Category: Comment & Analysis
The vicious hounding of the Princess of Wales
Humanity has always been flawed. We do not need to read the account of creation to know the extent of those flaws. Since time began it seems, the world has been at war. A world which is capable of providing for all its people, if we all but lived as we are called to live,…
Success over integrity has become the name of the game in Irish politics
The first person I met in the car park last Wednesday was Michael Healy-Rae. As usual, he had the phone to his ear. “Just a minute, Rónán,” he said, temporarily putting his caller on hold. “I’m hearing there’s a political earthquake about to happen and journalists are being summoned to Government buildings.” “You’re joking,” I…
Free speech is under threat – Catholics should be very scared
Simply expressing what the Church teaches could be a crime, writes Michael Kelly A shocking new report from Britain published on Monday shows that three quarters of respondents, including teachers, councillors and academics, feel cowed into silence because they are frightened of being attacked for their views. The government report found that there is…
FF and FG have become ideologically homeless
At John Bruton’s funeral in February, the homilist, Fr Bruce Bradley SJ, spoke of how we live now in a rapidly secularising age. He said that is not all bad, pointing to the growth in confidence, prosperity and diversity that the country has experienced. Nonetheless, something has been lost. Fr Bradley cited Seamus Heaney’s comments…
A tale of two Simons
Soon after being elected a TD for the first time, Simon Harris wrote the following in the Sunday Independent: “Voltaire once commented that ‘the most important thing in life is to speak your mind’. That’s exactly what I did last week. At a private meeting amongst colleagues, I raised concerns about legislating for abortion in…
Fired for speaking the truth about Covid
Theo McDonald The Covid-19 pandemic left many victims in its wake. The scale of the pathogens’ spread led policy makers to implement some of the most stringent and far-reaching restrictions on everyday life. Individuals were prevented from travelling beyond a certain radius of their home with several thousand businesses and other public venues shuttered or…
Where the next Easter might come from
We must wait patiently for a pro-life and pro-family social revolution, writes David Quinn Even if you do not have a believing bone in your body, are totally sceptical of all religious claims and absolutely dismiss the possibility of miracles, it is still the case that something incredible happened over the first Easter period…
What’s love got to do with it – religious sisters continuing to make a stand
Dr Toni Pyke Gerard Gallagher On Saturday March 2, a coalition of national and local organisations that form ‘Le Chéile’, organised a ‘Stand Together’ march in Dublin city centre. This was their second such march, seeking solidarity, unity and acceptance of diversity in an increasingly divided Ireland. The march that Saturday wasn’t about any one…
Vatican reins in German bishops amid dispute over ‘synod’ reforms
Late last Friday March 22 evening, the Vatican announced that after holding an all-day working session with members of the German bishops, the latter have assured their national reform process will be in keeping with Canon Law and will not move forward without the Holy See’s approval. In a statement published at 8pm local time,…