Ireland's political and cultural magazine
The Conservative Party’s view of the role of the judiciary in politics won’t work in Northern Ireland. By Christopher Stanley. This piece looks at the dangers for Northern Ireland of ‘Cummings-Type’ tampering with the British Constitutional settement. For readers of Village Magazine it is offered as a supplement to my recent post, Contempt in the Rose Garden, on […]
A reply to Conor Lenihan looking at the convoluted practice in Belgium. By John Vivian Cooke. In his article in Village, (¨Risks of high political instability are being underestimated¨, 30 May), Conor Lenihan outlined the factors threatening Irish politics with continued instability. He detailed the calculations of electoral advantage that, in the end, led to an […]
By Joseph de Burca. Introduction. Law-enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic have been – and continue to be – adverse to making inquiries into VIP child sex-abuse. This has been the position for decades. Donald Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn, was a paedophile who abused boys on both sides of the Atlantic, including one […]
Introduction by Kieran Glennon. In the immediate aftermath of the violence that erupted in Belfast in August 1969, Citizens’ Defence Committees (CDCs) were formed in many nationalist areas; barricades were hastily erected and patrols of vigilantes armed with clubs were organised to ensure that loyalist mobs, the B Specials and the RUC were all kept […]
Extinction Rebellion Ireland rejects the proposed draft Programme for Government as being “full of fluff, and not good enough” to address the climate crisis. In a statement, a representative of Extinction Rebellion Ireland said: We in Extinction Rebellion believe it is our role to always tell the truth as backed by science, and the truth is […]
Agreeing the Programme for Government has forced a defining debate on the Green Party but it is best left to the leadership contest. By Peter Doran. The Comhaontas Glas/Green Party’s internal debate on the Programme for Government will be a defining moment for both party and the country. We are at tipping points for the […]
By David Burke. Introduction. The story of the Arms Crisis is a perfectly simple one. It only becomes complicated when the lies, fantasies and myths that engulfed it are entertained as if serious. Only two participants in the débacle told the full, accurate and unvarnished truth: Captain James Kelly and Colonel Michael Hefferon, both dutiful […]
An Irish Times insider passed a spiked Ed Moloney article about the Official IRA to its commanders, who spread a rumour he was a terrorist, expecting the UDA would murder him. The material was later published by Vincent Browne inspiring plans by the Official IRA to murder him. By David Burke. Ed Moloney A MEETING […]
The leaderships of all three of the potential coalition participants – Greens, FF and FG – are in play. By Conor Lenihan. An initial political risk assessment for Ireland now would rate the country as “unstable”. There is little happening at Leinster House that would re-assure external investors. It is over three months since the […]
By David Burke. Part 1 of this series can be found at https://villagemagazine.ie/dw/ THE OFFICIAL IRA AND OFFICIAL SINN FÉIN The IRA fractured in December 1969 into what became known as the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA. Sinn Féin split along the same lines the following month. Before the division, the IRA had been […]
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Inside Dominic Cummings’ mind and project.By Christopher Stanley. On a sunny English Whitsun Bank Holiday afternoon we would have been ordinarily watching The Eagle has Landed or Ice Station Zebra. On ITV10 there was a (further) repeat of Midsomer Murders – how appropriate for these death-ridden Covid-19 strange and sad times. But no, we waited […]
Close analysis suggests Leo Varadkar (not for hanging out in Phoenix Park), Micheál Martin and (perhaps) Dominic Cummings should all resign, for basic and flagrant breaches of lockdown rules. By Michael Smith. We are all fed up with plague restrictions. Some of them were disproportionate; some of them are needed and will continue to be […]
A gunrunner in the family. By David Burke. Haughey’s father Seán (on the right) who was one of Michael Collins’ most trusted officers. Collins chose him for one of his most sensitive secret operations. THE HAUGHEY FAMILY AND THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE Haughey’s parents, Seán and Sarah (nee McWilliams), were born and reared almost next […]
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Once upon a time the US produced lacerating protest singers. Not any more. It has fallen to the Irish to fill the gap. Paddy Goodwin and the Holy Ghosts’ new song, ‘Jesus Is My Vaccine’, was written in anger at the treatment meted out by the knuckle-dragging neanderthals who abused nurses during the recent anti-lockdown […]
Quality-of-life indicators guarantee good policies and, crucially, implementation that can save Eamon Ryan from allegations of unrealism. By Michael Smith. The danger: farce When Napoleon III, nephew of the dictator Napoleon Bonaparte became dictator of France himself in 1851, Karl Marx wrote: Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, […]
The Assistant Editor of the Irish Times distorted the truth about the Arms Crisis. He was a friend of both the chief of staff of the Official IRA and the Taoiseach, ‘Honest’ Jack Lynch. The Official IRA had a vested interest in manipulating the story. Over time, the journalist portrayed Lynch as the hapless victim […]
Proposals to cover up the past breach elementary human rights and received wisdom built up over a generation. By Christopher Stanley. Through the pall of a pandemic Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director for Amnesty International UK, wrote in the Belfast Telegraph (19 April 2020), on the current crisis wrought by the coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic and […]
By Dr Peter Doran, Katherine Trebeck and Dr Tony Shannon. WELLBEING ECONOMY AGENDA FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET “Country marks a commons of earth and elements: a shared ecology of lands and waters”. (Richard Kearney and Sheila Gallagher, 2017) The Green Party may be lining up as relatively junior partners in the new government formation but […]
Named one of Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ in both 2004 and 2015, Irish-American Samantha Power served as US President Obama’s human rights advisor for four years and a further four as US UN Ambassador. She is famed for her achievements but also for her conscience. By Caroline Hurley. Samantha Power was born in 1970 to […]
Two recent hearings of the Independent Investigation Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in London heard arguments for and against abandoning its investigation into the allegation of sexual abuse made against the late Greville Janner. Now the Chair of the IICSA has determined that this module will go ahead but that the majority of its evidence will […]
