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 [...]
In 2010 I visited Port au Prince, Haiti, with the Irish charity Haven. Branding for Denis O'Brien's Digicel towered over UN refugee camps, cluttered market stalls, and even coated roadside shacks (I had never before seen the developing country 'fashion' of having your house painted for free by an advertising company... I'm amazed it's never taken [...]
I interviewed theatre maker Pat Kinevane this week for the Cork's 96fm and C103 Arts House. He's got a very strong social conscience, something that's constantly at play in his work - but I wonder - do people go to the theatre these days as a distraction from the news, or to make them think? I [...]
This looks like a really interesting event, it'll be on 18th May in Dublin and is free (although donations are welcome)
Coat of arms of Cork (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I had this editorial written for last week's paper, when the Vita Cortex news broke and bumped it! There is a lot to come yet on this story, I think... It can only be the outstanding success of worldwide capitalism in recent years that is provoking [...]
I love a good election campaign as much as the next journalist, but we are in danger of letting characters, spin and incomprehensible economic waffle cloud the real issues of this election. All the talk of the IMF leaves a lot of people cold, but the real repercussions of austerity are being felt and [...]
