Category: Opinion

A lesson in a parking lot

Our natural instincts serve us well, to a point. They’re self-protective and that’s healthy too, to a point. Let me explain. Recently I was at a football game with a number of friends. We arrived at the game in two cars and parked in the stadium’s underground parking lot. Our tickets were in different parts…

Unequal focus of Government’s energy

Dear Editor, The Open Adoption Bill 2014 was sponsored by Anne Ferris and initiated on March 11, 2014. That Bill never progressed past stage two and has since lapsed. The Adoption (Identity and Information) Bill 2014 was sponsored by Fidelma Healy Eames, Jillian van Turnhout and Averil Power. It was initiated some four years ago…

Professorships just for women – is it fair?

Since I have little experience of academia, I cannot say whether Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor is acting judiciously in proposing to appoint female-only chairs to universities in Ireland. Some say that a 50-50 gender distribution needs an imaginative push with affirmative action, since women aren’t, apparently, being appointed in sufficient numbers to professorships. Others say…

Don’t write off post-war order

The View   Martin Mansergh   Commemoration of the ending of the First World War on Sunday, November 11, both here in Ireland and at the international ceremony in France where world leaders gathered, was conducted with great dignity and solemnity. The sacrifices of those who fought were acknowledged, but with the message that such…

Silent passengers on a European train

Christians are free to disagree about the EU, writes David Quinn   Ireland is rather smug just now about the whole Brexit situation. We believe that Britain has landed itself in a big mess (and it has) and we seem to be thoroughly enjoying its discomfort. I’m not sure we should be though, and there…

If money influences choices, does it influence advice

Ireland’s looming abortion law exposes key contradictions in left-wing thought, writes Greg Daly   “Follow the money,” may be the most famous phrase penned by the legendary Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman, who died last week. Uttered by the mysterious ‘Deep Throat’ source in the 1976 Watergate blockbuster All the President’s Men, it’s useful advice and…

Our lack of welcome

‘Widows, orphans, and strangers’ – that’s code in scripture for the three most vulnerable groups within a society at any given time. And both the great Jewish prophets and Jesus, himself, assure us that ultimately we will be judged by how we treated these while we were alive. It’s interesting to look at any given…

HSE’s €450 per ‘assassination’

Dear Editor, In the course of the last week, it emerged that the HSE, at the behest of the Department of Health, had offered €450 (around twice the normal delivery) to GPs, for each abortion (assassination) they performed. This stunning news was hardly mentioned in any newspaper. It was stunning, because of the value placed…