Politics

The reliable mudguard of Fine Gael

In Ireland as elsewhere – for good and bad – dynasties are surprisingly durable

By Rory Hearne. Last month’s Village editorial missed the point in disdaining the water protests and favouring a campaign about the (admitted) injustices of NAMA facilitating the return of the delinquent developers. The water protests are most important because  they represent a new form of citizens’ action and empowerment in Ireland. The water movement is […]

By Mike Allen. A person who is homeless can expect to live only until his or her mid-forties. Each year around 30 people who are homeless die in our capital city; most in emergency shelters, a few on the streets. You never hear of them. Their deaths get as little attention as their lives, unless they […]

  By Reuben Hambackachere. Background article by Niall Crowley follows below. On the 21st of April 2015 I officially submitted my resignation as the named individual representing the Core Group of asylum-seekers and Refugees on the Government Working Group established to examine improvements to the protection process and the Direct Provision system. The working group […]

By Richard O’ Leary. Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin insisted that the Roman Catholic bishops’ opposition to same-sex marriage is “not about homosexuality or the gay lifestyle” last November and fired the opening shot in their campaign for a No vote in the marriage equality referendum. Last March, in an interview on Newstalk, he went […]

By Aoife O’ Driscoll One in six adults in Ireland (521,550 people) finds reading and understanding everyday texts difficult, according to OECD research published by the CSO in 2012. This includes reading a leaflet, for example, or medicine instructions. In addition, a significant 40% of Irish people have limited health literacy according to the 2012 […]