Ireland's political and cultural magazine
As politicians begin to throw around proposals for the last Budget before Fine Gael and Labour face an election, it’s worth remembering that this time is really the only window where citizens are encouraged to engage in economic debate. Even then the space of time is too short and the range of topics up for […]
By Seamus Maye What do you get when you merge two failed quangos? Last year the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority merged and became the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). To put the intended role of the CCPC into perspective, it should be pointed out that the Authority has estimated that competition […]
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By Grainne Healy On May 22nd when the Irish people voted an overwhelming 62% Yes to marriage equality for LGBT citizens they gave an emphatic ‘Yes’ to equality. Ireland now joins 20 other countries where marriage equality has been introduced and is the first to do so by popular vote. This referendum was all about […]
By Michael Smith In 2013, I wrote in Village that Denis O’Brien, Ireland’s most powerful media owner was exercising an extraordinarily chilling effect on journalism and journalists after grossly negative findings against him in the Moriarty Tribunal. I detailed his litigious “promiscuity”: how a large number of Ireland’s best-known journalists including Eamon Dunphy, Sam Smyth, […]
By Ronan Burtenshaw Since it emerged in mid-2014 the water charges movement has grown to become Ireland’s largest social movement. Beginning with small-scale, self-organised resistance to meter installations in Cork and Dublin, the campaign progressed with the formation of Right2Water to a kind of mass politics unseen in Ireland in decades. It successes include five […]
Frank Connolly interviews Mick Wallace When Mick Wallace raised some uncomfortable questions in the Dáil last October about the sale of Siteserv to Denis O’Brien and the role of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) in the deal, he was roundly abused by government ministers, including his constituency rival, Brendan Howlin. Phone calls were made […]
By Anton McCabe The UK General Election in the North saw the stalling of the Sinn Féin juggernaut. Its share of the vote fell by 1% compared to the last election – despite fighting an extra seat, South Belfast. This was the party’s first electoral setback in the North since 1992, when Gerry Adams lost […]