January, 2025

Enoch Burke and backbones

I think we should call people what they ask us to call them. My son Matt for many years was Matthew, but there came a point in his teen years where he wanted to be known as Matt. So we called him Matt. Just as one of my other sons was called Hugh David, and […]

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The Young Scientist – is that all?

  The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, which ends today,  is a noble achievement. It involves over 1,000 student finalists who are judged by 85 experts from Ireland’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)  sectors. President Michael D Higgins was right to praise it: “It is both an exciting and a morally challenging time […]

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Bangor Academy wants it but Minister Paul knows better

Oh boy. The DUP didn’t have to choose the Education portfolio up in Stormont, but it did. Likewise the party didn’t need to appoint Paul Givan as their Education minister but they did. Right now that looks like two very bad decisions by the DUP. Talkback on Raidio Uladh is buzzing over the fact that […]

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Shame and rape: whose shame?

Picture this. A woman sits in a court room, listening while a man who broke her arm and punched her face so hard the scars are permanent, is tried. The man is found guilty and sent to jail. The judge commends the woman, saying she showed great courage in coming to court and refusing to […]

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FF, FG and the company they keep

So now we know – both Simon Harris and Micheál Martin are willing to have Michael Lowry help them form a government. Simon Harris:“That’s the way our democracy, our parliamentary democracy, works. And the deputy [MichaelLowry] has been elected.” Micheál Martin: “Michael Lowry has been elected by the people of Tipperary three times since 2016, and […]

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The Brutal Murder of Sean Brown and the constant Intimidation of members of the GAA  –       by Joe McVeigh

  Since 1970, people involved in the GAA have been targeted and murdered by MI5, Loyalist killers and the British army.  Many others were harassed and threatened by British soldiers and the RUC. A new book, ‘Lost Gaels-Remembering the Members of the GAA Killed during the Conflict in Ireland’ by Peadar Thompson from West Belfast recalls many […]

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