It sounds like a rude sort of phrase but ‘pulling a Peter’ is about to enter the lexicon of Irish politics. Haven’t you heard it yet? It’s Irish for finding a handy target, preferably an ethnic minority, then accusing it of criminality and in turn blaming it for all our economic ills, in order to win [...]
I'm very excited to share the news that I will be interviewing Mary Robinson at the West Cork Literary Festival in July. The former President has written a book, Climate Justice, on the fight for climate justice by grassroots women around the world. It ties in very well with her podcast with Cobh comedian Maeve Higgins, [...]
Waste is big news at the moment. With the introduction of pay-by-weight, minds have been concentrated on keeping rubbish to a minimum in a way that environmental concerns have not to date achieved. (There was a documentary on RTE last night about this too - I didn't get to watch it but it revealed some shocking [...]
A hundred years is a blip in the history of humanity, but for most people, the end of World War One feels like a remote historical event. The decade of centenaries in some ways makes it feel like ancient history - a pity, because we make the mistake of thinking history does not repeat, and progress [...]
As I sat down to write this column, I realized that trying to sum up the current crop of presidential candidates is impossible. Between conspiracy theories about everything from vaccines to German discount supermarkets, commitments to dressing up as Marilyn Monroe should the national interest require it, promotion of stag hunting, and bizarre proposals to install [...]
It’s easy to blame Church and State for all the ills that have blighted Irish society. Warehousing the poor in workhouses; separating children from their parents in industrial schools for the crime of poverty; enslaving women in Magdalene laundries for the crime of pregnancy. But those whose ancestors incarcerated women with the temerity to bear children [...]
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth yesterday to a beautiful baby girl. Mother, baby, and soon to be stay-at-home Dad are reportedly all doing well. She will take six weeks’ maternity leave, and her husband will take over childcare duties after that. The overwhelming reaction online was ‘Woman gives birth. So what?’. But it’s [...]
One of the slogans adorning pro-repeal t shirts before the referendum was ‘In Awe of Mná’, and following the astonishing result of Friday’s referendum on the 8th amendment, it’s clear that slogan was prescient. Yes campaigners at the count in Cork city. Photo: Fiona Corcoran We are all in awe of mná. Politicians, particularly, [...]
Vicky Phelan is my hero. This brave woman is battling on all fronts. Fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis, the Limerick-based mum has had a lot to contend with in life already, but after learning that a smear test from years before her cancer diagnosis had been wrongly given the all-clear, she started asking questions. She learned [...]
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