Ireland's political and cultural magazine
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72March/April 2022to participating in climate demonstrations – it appears that being photographed waving a banner remains a “bridge too far” for the majority of working scientists. Whether this too changes as climate impacts intensify remains to be seen.While as individuals, most scientists are happy to engage in advocacy, three quarters of respondents did not think […]
66March/April 2022WEXFORD-BORN CLAIRE Keegan burst in on the Irish literary world in 1999 with her aptly named collection of short stories, ‘Antarctica’. These studies in extremity were followed by another collection, ‘Walk the Blue Fields’ (2008), which saw Keegan apply a less heady, more sedate artistry. But it was in 2010 that ‘Foster’, her novella […]
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62March/April 2022SoulPÁDRAIG PEARSE, the Irish revolutionary leader of 1916, declared “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam,” which translates as “A country without its language is a country without a soul”. Certainly, by 1916 Ireland was a country that had lost its sense of self. Although acts of rebellion ultimately resulted in an independent state for […]
60March/April 2022Both the source of the Haughey money and his energetic libido deserve more detailed exploration GARY MURPHY of Dublin City University hit the pre-Christmas market with a 716-page tome on Charles J Haughey. Unfortunately it will not be the last word on his subject.It is not a criticism of this book to state that […]
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56March/April 2022GRADUATE RESEARCH students are often told of a drunk who has lost his keys elsewhere but insists on searching for them under a street lamp “because that’s where the light is”. It is a warning of the danger of relying on data merely because they are available rather than because they address a research […]
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March/April 2022 55“Fact Check!”. He proceeded to rollick through two minutes of almost entirely accurate fact checks while pointing at an ill-at-ease but plushly-suited Michael O’Flynn and a very not-ill-at-ease Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. Claire Byrne let herself down at one stage by interrupting him to confrm that his name was Tony. She would not have […]
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54March/April 2022Such campaigns could end up being at least as signifcant as any aid made available as a result of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Media. The funding problems the Future of Media Commission must address are obvious. In addition to plummeting newspaper audiences, RTÉ has not had an increase in […]
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52March/April 2022IntroductionWhistleblowing is usually seen as a cousin of “snitching”, whereas it might be more helpful to view whistleblowing on a spectrum of willing–ness to circumvent group consensus, either head-on or indirectly.This by-passes the tendency to scrutinise the whistleblower for personal “defects”, as is nor–mally the case in whistleblower conficts.According to a recent Village article, […]
50March/April 2022Over 60 per cent of households in County Galway, for example, were one-of houses, the highest in the country. Roscommon (56%) and Leitrim (52%) weren’t far behind.After 2016 there was an improvement as more apartments were built.5481, 5622 and 5292 one-of houses were built in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively – representing respecivel […]
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48March/April 2022How the media stoke the climate crisisYES, WE should rake over the coals. And the oil, and the gas. Democratic accountability means remembering who helped to stoke the climate crisis. We should hold the fossil fuel companies to account.In 1979, an internal study by Exxon concluded that burning carbon fuels “will cause dramatic envi–ronmental efects before […]
42March/April 2022Michael Williams wants an end to Judges trespassing into the role of elected legislators especially through inference of rights from the consitution. Michael Smith wants a new constitution but meanwhile, apart from theoretically (!), is relaxed about whether judges inferring rights is democratic and useful.OPINION March/April 2022 43Judges exceed their constitutional powers.In 1937 our […]
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March/April 2022 41Then a very terrible thing happened. In February 2017, he announced that he was joining Fianna Fáil which had: “the best team most closely aligned with my politics”. It was Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd to join Foster and Allen. The young man with the enormous brain who had come racing in to […]
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March/April 2022 39Fine Gael commemorating Griffth and Collins at Glasnevin cemetery, 2016Fianna Fáil commemorating De Valera, Ennis 2021Sinn Féin commemorating Wolfe Tone, Bodenstown 2019All the nationalist parties misappropriate history, immaturelyImmationalismPOLITICSFianna Fáil and Fine Gael deny any historical analogy between their own party histories and the process which Sinn Féin/IRA are currently going through to make […]
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38March 2022externally. This was deemed to be incompatible with the EU directive. It was also found the requirement to “cooperate, as required” with an investigation into wrongdoing should be removed, as there could be valid reasons for not cooperating with such an investigation. This recommendation was taken on board.• That the new bill/Act should be […]
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March/April 2022 35IntroductionCounty Armagh, 1982. In just over a month six men, one only 17-years-old, were killed in controversial circumstances by a RUC Headquarters Mobile Support Unit (HMSU). On 11 November, Sean Burns, Eugene Toman and Gervaise McKerr, all members of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) were killed after allegedly driving through an RUC roadblock in […]
March/April 2022 33THE BAN against naming Soldier F, one of the Bloody Sunday murderers, by his real name, remains in force, but only in the UK. Last July, Colum Eastwood, leader of the SDLP, got around the prohibition by naming him under privilege in the House of Commons. War criminal‘Soldier F’ shot a number of […]
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March/April 2022 31Infamous Death-Squad Killer Diesserious shooting incidents, but he has escaped justice once and for all. He goes to his grave with many of the UK’s secrets regarding its dirty war in Ireland.That suits the British government and its armed forces but leaves victims and survivors bereft of truth and justice.Clive Graham Williams (British […]
March/April 2022 29Recently, the Irish Times(of 22 January) reported the entry of a major American company called ‘Maximus’ into the Irish market ostensibly to “get the country back to work”. The report stated: “A large US government contractor has made moves to expand to Ireland and is understood to be considering bidding to run State […]
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28March/April 2022EnRight, twicelanguage”. Content andtone. And also found that “Mr Enright did not act in good faith”.Nevertheless by 30 in favour and 1 abstention [Councillor Pat Barden] the Councillors voted to “note [SIPO’s] Report and to take no further action in the matter”. Director of Services Eamonn Hore then made a statement on behalf of […]
