Ireland's political and cultural magazine
North’s planning and environmental protection as bad as Republic’s by Anton McCabe Environmental issues have been low in the North’s political agenda. They have, however, had political repercussions. First Minister Peter Robinson was perceived as close to developers in his East Belfast constituency. The main reason for his losing one of the safest seats in […]
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We don’t just have uninhabited estates, we have a largely uninhabited country by Terrence McDonough Recently several auctions around the country have been forestalled by hostility from locals. For example the auction of a farm in County Meath failed in the teeth of local opposition. The auction, instituted by a bank in payment of arrears, […]
Prosecute a banker (A DIY guide for Village readers) By Gary Fitzgerald Since the beginning of the banking crisis in September 2008, the government’s strategy has been to protect the banks at all costs. With the IMF/EU deal announced recently, it is now clear that the government intends that the taxpayer will pay for bank […]
Interview by Paul Dillon Michael D Higgins, veteran polymath TD for Galway West, was born in Limerick in 1941. His father, a lifelong republican, had been sentenced to death by the Free State for blowing up Mallow Bridge, but reprieved, the Cork Examiner having called for his execution. His father left his family and the […]
A journey through the complexity of former Yugoslavia By Frank Shouldice Agnostic Yugoslavs suddenly became Catholic Croatians, Orthodox Serbs or Bosnian Moslems. These differences were masterfully exploited by political leaders clinging to nationalist agendas – most especially by Milosevic in Serbia and Franco Tudjman in Croatia. The train that flits through the backwaters of northern […]
As Village went to print, the main governing party had 13% support and its grumpy leader satisfied only 14% of voters. The country looks likely to finish up losing 20% of its predicted GDP to ineptitude and corruption. The country is insolvent, unless it can maintain unsustainable 6.5% growth rates, even though our leaders pretend […]
Despite Angela Kerins’ claims, targets have not been achieved. Michael Smith Public-sector cutbacks and unprecedented levels of unemployment are reversing hard-won gains on the path to equality for whole swathes of society. In July 2009, the Equality Authority launched its Annual Report 2009. It is telling that Angela Kerins, chairperson of the Authority, chose to […]