Are we set for a repeat of the fuel protests from earlier this year? The cuts won by protestors to the excise duties we pay on fuel are due to expire shortly and if the Government begins to restore them, it is very likely that truckers and farmers will take to the streets again. The…
Some years ago, as a diplomat at the Irish Embassy in Lisbon, I went ‘on mission’ to Rio de Janeiro because back then the Embassy also handled relations with Brazil. Following my return to Lisbon from one such expedition, I headed straight to a reception at the house of a Finnish colleague and spoke enthusiastically…
I admit to being confused. I had been reading a lot of hyperbolic assessments of the first Action Plan for the National Strategy for Women and Girls. The strategy, launched last November, runs from 2025 to 2030, became news with the launch of its first ‘Action Plan’ covering the years 2028 to 2030. A three-year…
As Mayo’s footballers were heading Westwards with the Sam Maguire cup, I was making my way to the Accident & Emergency unit of Beaumont Hospital to get my acute stroke treated. If you have never been there, recall the railroad scene in Gone With the Wind, where dead and dying Confederate soldiers litter the ground…
The peace and security of all people depend on the establishment and implementation of a strong rule of law in all nations. Otherwise, chaos and atrocities of all kinds — including war crimes — will prevail, like what is happening in a number of countries. There are currently over 20 permanent and active international tribunals…
My journey with faith has been anything but simple. When I was younger, it came effortlessly. I attended Mass with my family every Sunday and on major holidays. I said my prayers in the mornings and before meals. But over time, these acts became routine, habits that I clung to and less about my connection…
For several years I visited a woman in my parish once a month, bringing her Communion. Over that time, I came to know her well, and I know her family appreciated the attention she received. A few days before she died, they rang to ask if I would visit her in hospital. I was glad…
I’m not much interested in crime, so the vast literature – and screen dramas – on ‘true crime’, and the even vaster canon on fictitious murder and gangsterism – have mostly passed me by. So I have only recently become aware of the existence of Daniel Kinahan, widely described as the boss of ‘the Kinahan…
In May I had the privilege of attending the 104th German Katholikentag in Würzburg, Germany. This was a gathering that brought together tens of thousands of Catholics from across Germany and beyond under the striking theme ‘Hab Mut, steh auf!’ in English, ‘Take courage, stand up.’ Over five days, the beautiful city of Würzburg became…
Glen Hansard’s recent untimely death left fans reeling. When someone dies in their fifties, particularly if they leave a widow and young child behind, the shock is enormous. And yet, given our human fragility, the surprising thing is not early death but how many of us manage to live well into our eighties and sometimes…
David Quinn
Mary Kenny
Breda O'Brien