Ireland's political and cultural magazine
By Donncha O’ Connell. Academics exist professionally in universities and work within academic units, usually within one unit of primary affiliation like a Faculty, Department, School or Centre. Thus, after announcing that one is an academic, the reflexive, almost existentialist, response is: ‘What Department are you in?’ Immediately, one is defined by one’s departmental […]
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By Oliver Moore. Berlin in January is a very cold time to have a demo. Yet 50,000 people – about the same number as attended Dublin’s biggest water protest, the zenith of Ireland’s opposition to long and oppressive austerity – marched the frosty streets that month not for a high profile march against cuts or […]
By Micheál Collins. Despite its prominence in various public policy discussions over recent years, detailed information on wealth in Ireland has been sparse. For the most part discussion on the distribution of wealth, and concepts such as a wealth tax, were based on hunches and guesstimates or assumptions that the wealth distribution must have in […]
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By Grainne Healy. In many ways the coming out of Minister Leo Varadker was the starting gun for the marriage equality referendum campaign. His announcement brought the forthcoming campaign to the attention of the media and the public in a manner few expected. On a yet to be determined Friday in May the Irish electorate […]
By David Connolly. Thursday the 19th February 2015 is a day of great significance for workers and organisations in the Local and Community Development sector. On that day Local Development companies will be informed of the outcome of a tendering process imposed by the Department of Environment (DoE) for participation in the new Social Inclusion […]
By Frank Connolly. In the Spring of 1996, I met with Jim Gogarty at his home in north Dublin. Over a conversation lasting a couple of hours he told me of the day in June 1989, during a general election campaign, when he was present in the Swords home of then minister, Ray Burke. He […]
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By Michael Smith. Intrepid followers of architectural tumult will recall how a letter arrived in the in-boxes of polo-necked members of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) on 11 November, from the President Robin Mandal. “Let me state there is no basis to any allegations of corruption or fraud in the organisation,” […]
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By John Gibbons. In 2009, some months before the ill-fated UN climate conference in Copenhagen, an Earth system framework was proposed by an international collaboration of environmental scientists. Their aim was to establish a measurable set of ‘planetary boundaries’ with a view to identifying a ’safe operating space’ for humanity. The researcher team, involving scientists […]
By Gerard Cunningham. Ireland’s slow-motion media retreat from the open internet is set to accelerate in 2015, as the Irish Times rolls out its much talked-about subscription offer, joining the Sunday Business Post behind a paywall, though a more intriguing move this year may come from the Sunday Times, which is planning a seven-day Irish […]
By Ian Lumley. Galway Harbour Company is seeking permission for the development of a 27-hectare, €52m extension of the harbour, which will include the creation of commercial quays, a deep-water docking facility and the reclamation of lands from the sea. The State-owned company wants a new commercial harbour to accommodate ships up to 40,000 tonnes […]
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By Rachel Moran With the relentless practicalities of running a country it is perhaps unsurprising that our politicians don’t often propose legislation which has, at its heart, the goal of human harmony. November 27th of this year was a welcome exception. With Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s proposal of ‘The Sexual Offences Bill 2014’ we have it […]
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By Sinéad Pentony Health is life-defining. We all experience ill-health during our lives and need health services. Health inequalities are reflective of injustice and inequality in society. Austerity has exacerbated this injustice and deepened these inequalities in Ireland. Three studies have recently been published which examine the impact of austerity on access to health services […]
On the provenance of Kevin Kiely Dear Editor: Some of your contributors merit a brief – and very useful – biographical note. Others do not. For this reader at least, the most glaring omission in the November issue was the lack of any provenance of the writer of the bilious article ‘The I.T. Gang’. While […]
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In the following pages Village publishes the Ansbacher dossier which ‘Authorised Officer’ Gerard Ryan has been attempting to submit to the Public Accounts Committee. We print it because it seems to us there has been a whitewash to prevent investigation of its mostly tightly documented allegations of widespread offshore untaxed bank accounts being held by […]
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By Michael Smith. Floppy-haired RIAI president Robin Mandal recently wrote to members expressing his exasperation at allegations of impropriety and misgovernance at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI). “I am genuinely at a loss to understand how there could be even a perception of lack of appropriate governance at the RIAI and, […]
By Rachel Mullen. The Government is opposed to the introduction of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). There is, however, a lack of transparency about how the Department of Finance position of opposition to the FTT was arrived at. There is also a failure to update the Oireachtas on recent developments concerning the proposals for a […]
By Frank Connolly. The Syriza victory in Greece has its foundations in the polarisation of that society following the collapse of the economy in the great financial crash of 2008/2009, and since. It is rooted in the implosion of the traditional parties, and in particular of Pasok, the social democratic party that dominated the Greek […]
Saving trees from themselves. In keeping with its general philosophy of doing more to achieve less Dublin City Council has erected signs in Merrion Square signalling that it is about to begin cutting down 300 trees there in accordance with a Conservation Management Plan. The idea is… well actually Villager couldn’t really see the […]
New commission has learnt nothing from manifest anger in recent elections. By Lynn Boylan So it’s business as usual at the European Commission. At best. Anyone hoping that the European elections would change the eurobureaucrats will be deeply disappointed. Last month Jean-Claude Juncker, the new EU Commission President, having vowed contrition after his role in […]
Private educational privileges. By Niall Crowley The current defence of inherited privilege in the debate about the Education (Admissions to Schools) Bill is ugly no matter how you dress it up. There is the call to ethos and tradition, the soothing reassurance that this is not about excluding the disadvantaged, and the satisfying flexing of […]
