After Stephen Donnelly, what’s left?
It’s hard to believe it is just over 6 months ago that Stephen Donnelly was hoisted to roaring electoral success on foot of 14,348 first preference votes in his home constituency of Wicklow. He was, until last week, one of the three joint members of the emerging force in Ireland, the Social Democrats. In the […]
Head to Head – Taking a Byte out of Apple?
Yes – Olly Donnelly, contributing writer The European Commission’s decision to make the Irish government claim the tax that we, as Irish taxpayers, are owed by Apple is a positive step towards reclaiming control of our economy, and towards making corporations work for us rather than themselves. Allowing any company, not especially Apple, the […]
What refugees? I don’t see any
Ireland to date has only managed to meet 7.8% of its promised refugee resettlement quota. The Irish Refugee Protection Programmes (IRPP) was established in September 2015 in response to the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. The Department of Justice and Equality has described the IRPP as a multi-faceted approach towards the international protection […]
The Key is Turned on our Uncertainty
Iúr Cinn Trá; the yew tree at the head of the strand. If my town, Newry, is the head, then the EU was the neck and backbone that gave it support in harder times. The head of the strand, the frontier, the edge. It seems that that is where my town now finds itself, […]
Leave Hillary alone
Arguably the biggest problem that women face in terms of political representation is that women don’t support women. I understand that as women, we have a tendency to deny this emphatically. But given that women still aren’t adequately represented at any level of government, I think it is only fair that we question if it […]
The key to understanding the future of economics lies in the past
Almost a decade has passed since the onset of the great recession which caused enormous damage to the world economy, both in its initial onslaught, and from ill-considered policy responses which have often proved to be nothing short of folly. This crisis brought a well-deserved public ridicule and criticism of the profession of economics; […]
Trinity’s QS Ranking Underlines the Desperate Need for Funding
The news that Trinity has dropped 20 places, from 78th to 98th, in the QS world university rankings, isn’t a Trinity story; it’s an Irish one. Of the 8 ranked Irish universities, 7 fell in this year’s rankings; only NUI Galway went up, from 271st to 249th. Of the 6 indicators that QS use to […]
Controversial Burkini Ban highlights wider debate on Muslim women
While the French secularisation policy of laïcité has been, of late, seen as an attack on Islam, it was, in fact, enshrined into French law in 1905 following a feud with the Catholic Church. In recent years this policy has been applied to France’s Muslim population, who are being brought into line with denizens of […]
Universal basic income: an alternative to social welfare?
Last month, Switzerland voted on a proposal that would give every adult citizen and permanent resident of that country a monthly salary of 2,500 Swiss francs (about €2300), with an added 625 Swiss francs (€575) per child – a universal basic income (UBI). Though the proposal was voted down by an overwhelming majority (77% voted […]
Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan anam?
By Féidhlim Mac Róibín on September 19, 2016 · 2 Comments
Identity politics are universally fraught. Ireland is not alone in having bitter disagreements in relation to language policy; however, it is unusual that the disagreements do not form along the lines of two cultural traditions, but that rather the intensity of the debate represents a highly internalised and conflicted notion of nation, tradition and […]
Category Comment · Tags cultural traditions, gaeilge, gaeltacht, identity politics, irish language, nationalism, tradition