Author Jude Collins

I’m sitting here listening to Talkback talkers elaborating on Simon Harris’s call to “Take back the flag!” There’s much talk of the flag belonging to everyone, IRA volunteers traditionally having their coffins draped in it, its history predating the southern state. It’s quite an interesting discussion but it has damn all relevance to Simon Harris’s […]

So it’s goodbye Leo, hello Simon. The new Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, delivered a speech to party members, a highlight of which was the rallying cry “Reclaim the flag!” Does that remind you of anyone? David McWilliams has written an article hailing the governing system of ‘subsidiarity’. Do people in Ireland  know what it […]

And so we say farewell Leo, hello Simon. But will this be good for Fine Gael? Or for the southern state? Jim Allister has hitched his wagon to the Reform UK party – is that a shrewd move? Or might it mean that unionism ends up with less successful candidates after the next Westminster election. […]

Gabriel McCaffrey (@gabefin) is an Irish immigrant in Canada and a board member Friends of Sinn Féin Canada. Gabriel left Ireland in the 1980s during the significant exodus triggered by the economic and political instability that was caused by the policy failures and corruption of the governments of Haughey and Fitzgerald.  He settled in Canada, becoming […]

There’s a scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm  where an American soldier is part of a group including Larry David. As is customary in the US, all of the group say to the soldier “Thank you for your service”. Being the contrarian he is, Larry David refuses to thank the soldier for his Service. It was hilarious […]

As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, and living in Canada, I wanted to share some thoughts on the Diaspora community here and how it experiences the reality of life as Irish in Canada. To put a context around this community’s identity and involvement with Ireland today, a little history is essential. The history of the […]

Now that Leo Varadkar has stepped down, there are at least three obvious questions:  why,  who will succeed him as Taoiseach and what will Leo do next. The first – why did he tender his resignation – remains a mystery. He gave no leads on that, other than saying that he believed somebody else would […]

In 2020, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar walked to the microphones  and said “Well. Will any of us ever forget St Patrick’s Day 2020?”  After today’s announcement that he’s quitting, Leo might have wondered if anyone would ever forget his ducking out of the spotlight just after Paddy’s Day 2024. Forty-six years old and he’s retiring from […]

I would not want to be standing in the elections as a Sinn Fein candidate when the chickens come home to roost.   Well well well , let us just take a moment of reflection to see were the parties stand on Palestine.   The first word that springs to mind is hypocrisy, the second […]

  That idea can only be held by those ignorant of history. In our long history we were neither injured nor insulted by the Russians. In modern history, Britain used Ireland as a safety apron, and prepared towipe her population out should one of Britain’s continental enemies effect a landing in Ireland. In 1911 the […]