Ireland's political and cultural magazine
By Kieran Fitzpatrick. The Aarhus Convention aims to protect the environment and proclaims the public to be the best guardian of the environment. There are three strands to the convention: 1) Access to information; 2)Public participation; and 3) Access to justice to review environment-related decisions or to enforce environmental law. Ireland was the last member […]
Economist Constantin Gurdgiev v Village’s editor Michael Smith
By Kevin Kiely. Public sculpture in Ireland includes many monstrosities that are heavy and clumpy in their use of materials and ultimately non-artistic. The heavy-gang includes Edward Delaney, John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and Conor Fallon, but there are plenty of others. Delaney is egregious; his ‘Wolfe Tone’ and ‘Thomas Davis’ are part of street-lore. Tone […]
By Shirley Clerkin. While viewing the images in The Photo Album of Ireland exhibition, currently showing in the Gallery of Photography in Dublin’s Temple Bar, it occurred to me that we know exactly who we are. We just do not always want to admit it, or show it. Photos can make judgements just like words; […]
Frank Armstrong Iraq came shuddering back into the news this summer after the spectacular conquest by ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now preferring the term ‘The Islamic State’) of Mosul, the country’s second city. This was closely followed by the fall of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s birthplace, and threats to a petrified […]
By Niall Crowley. Sheila Pratschke, chairperson of the Arts Council, has boldly declared that the Arts Council needs “to conceive of our activities in a different way. We can’t keep shrinking to fit the budget. We have to be more imaginative and proactive”. This ambition is now being tested as the Arts Council publishes […]
Frank Connolly A former Fianna Fáil Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, has accused Wicklow County Council and two other state agencies of outrageous treatment of a family which has tried to build a data centre on lands near Newtownmountkennedy in recent years. In the latest zoning and planning controversy to erupt in Wicklow, […]