Ireland's political and cultural magazine
As Frank Flannery revealed as overpaid consultant to Philanthropy Ireland as well as chair of Forum on Philanthropy read Niall Crowley on the corruption of philanthropy in Ireland (July 2013, Village) Worried voice. “The one percent difference?…Is this another tax?”. Authoritative voice. “This is not a tax. This is something only you can decide on.” […]
Cosy cartel if not secret society, Aosdána is an independent group which serves itself from without the bursary system administered by the Arts Council. Since its founding in the 1980s the primary function of Aosdána has been to ensure its membership continues siphoning off the cnuas – a pass-affording Gaelic term, they all are – […]
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Travellers have used the area of Spring Lane in Cork for at least four generations. An area known as the ‘old Spring Lane site’ was a traditional camping ground for Travellers. In 1987, Cork City Council created an official ten-bay halting site with very basic facilities – electricity, simple toilets, cold running water and a […]
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Hunched into the summit of a steep drumlin close to Glaslough village is Donagh old graveyard. Like many old ecclesiastical sites called Donagh, which means church, it is believed to be of Patrician foundation. Less than 15 miles from Armagh, where St Patrick was based between 440 and 490 AD, this lofty site in the […]
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The Local Government Reform Bill 2013 is nearly through the Oireachtas. It gives effect to ‘Putting People First: Action Programme for Effective Local Government’, published in 2012 by the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government. The changes proposed will give ultimate control over local and community development to local authorities. This has been described […]
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The Ballyphehane Togher Community Development Project (BTCDP) was accepted into the Community Development Programme in 1993. This was after two years of lobbying, letter writing and submissions. BTCDP recruited a Co-Ordinator and opened its first office, a two-room space over the doctor’s surgery in Pearse Square, in 1994. This year we are celebrating its twentieth […]
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Seamus Sheridan doesn’t want to talk about cheese. “I love what I do and I know the jobs it supports but this isn’t really about me or Sheridan’s Cheesemongers”, he says. As an advocate for Irish food producers and the slow food movement, Sheridan could talk for Ireland on the subject of food but today […]
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“Governments treat the information in their possession as a resource, to be doled out in amounts as they see fit, either copious flows or mean little trickles. I noted that ultimately, it is the Government that controls the tap” – Emily O’Reilly, Irish Information Commissioner 2003-13 In a serious blow to Freedom of Information in […]
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The Programme for Government’s commitment to review the policy-banning turf-cutting climaxed last month. And no one is sure who won. This is hardly surprising when Minister Deenihan’s full house was revealed to be more than 600 pages of documents – a draft National Peatlands Strategy, draft National Raised Bog Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) Management […]
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Everything about Temper-Mental MissElayneous is out of step with the world of modern pop. And that is a criticism of the state of pop rather than the artist I shall refer to as Miss Elayneous. If pop was once the battleground of maverick innovators it is now the playground of rich calculators. Every publicity photo […]
Student Transport Scheme Ltd (STS), a private company, wants Ireland’s school-bus-service contract put out to public tender and hopes that it will be awarded it on competitive tender. The company, with Tim Doyle and Brian Lynch as shareholders is intended as a tender vehicle for an Irish-American team in the bus industry. It initiated still-ongoing […]
May’s elections to the European people are far more important than just a test of public opinion about the state of our national political parties. Just over 388 million voters will elect 751 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who will play a key role in determining whether or not Social Europe can be rescued […]
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After Christmas my voice was knackered from shouting abuse at the tellybox. Such was the fury, I thought I’d share it with Village, for therapy. For instance, one 30-second Vodafone TV ad tickled my comedy tummy much more racily than three whole hours of sit-com by Jason Byrne? In the advert, a woman runs in […]
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On 12 January, Brendan O’Connor’s ‘Saturday Night Show’ featured a performance by drag queen Panti Bliss, followed by an interview with her alter ego, Rory O’Neill. During the conversation, O’Connor reflected that things were a lot better now than they were in the bad old days. O’Neill gave a considered answer to the question, reflecting […]
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A dynamic Seanad Éireann is crucial to a dynamic democracy. The Dáil hosts less and less challenging, expert-informed debate. Since last October’s referendum, many people are coming to a realisation of the need for Seanad reform that strengthens the institution. In its current form, although some great work does get done, the Seanad is only […]
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Is Ireland’s level of debt sustainable? The Troika drew attention to our high public debt in their final review of Ireland’s bailout programme. The first few weeks of 2014 have seen good news on Ireland’s cost of borrowing on the bond markets and the decision by Moody’s ratings agency, after all the others, to upgrade […]
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During his election campaign of 2008, US President Barack Obama made a solemn promise to the American people ‒ to close the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within his first year of office. Since opening in January 2002, Guantanamo had been embroiled in controversy with pervasive reports of mistreatment and torture of inmates, detention […]
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There are few people who are neutral on the subject of Alan Shatter. Almost by definition, Ministers for Justice stand in the eye of the storm almost from the very minute they take up office. Usually, they are blown along by events. The murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996 was the defining moment of Nora […]
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While focus over the past year has been on Loyalist alienation, there is also a significant level of nationalist alienation in the North. Dissident Republicans have small but real support. Far beyond their circles, there is a discontent: a feeling that the Assembly has not delivered, and that the DUP is running government: of dissent. […]
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Recently in the Irish Times (IT), Jennifer O’Connell wrote a column ‘Ten phrases we Irish could live without’ and the piece was as throwaway as the putrid prose she was targeting. She should look closer to home: leaf through that newspaper’s Saturday magazine and entertainment supplement – they are loaded with the very phrases she […]
