Irish Election - Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs

This story may be in bad taste, and I have no doubt that it caused distress to Mrs. Harney herself; most people may dislike the newspaper that published it (and, indeed, that company’s whole collection of ‘news’papers); most people would think the story should have been reported more accurately and more sensitively, but there is an arguable point here for legitimate public interest in whether or not a politician’s relative gets preferential, not better, care.

As we prepare for the next general election it’s time to put alcohol advertisement and sponsorship back on the agenda. It seems clear that there is no deeply-rooted societal reason for deciding not to ban alcohol advertising: if it could be done so successfully with tobacco companies then why not also with alcohol? The answer is clear: vintners. Smoking is an infinitely easier societal evil to target through regulation because less people smoke than drink and most people realise that smoking has a detrimental effect on individual health, the health of those around them and the health service itself; but we’re all a bit more blasé when it comes to alcohol.

North Korea has finally lived up to its Team America reputation and tested its nuclear warheads (correction: for the sake of accuracy it was the missiles to deliver weaponry they tested), which might well have the capacity to reach the United States and the United Nations once more is called into focus. Will the Security [...]

Anyone who’s ever done it will never forget it, and this week we celebrate it throughout Dublin. We celebrate it for ourselves and prospectively for all those who have not yet done it or perhaps never will.
I’ll always remember the day that I did it, or should I say the night.

I’ve spent the last half hour staring at a blank page and thinking about what I should write. There are so many things playing on my mind at the moment – world cup politics, Charles Haughey, Big Brother, an historic parades agreement in Northern Ireland but still the page remained blank because what I really [...]

It’s that time of year again. The time that all academics hate and all students love: the start of the summer. As Ireland enjoys its 2.5 days of sunshine for this year many of us are stuck inside our offices and living rooms with attractive piles of pink, yellow and blue exam books correcting what [...]

Last week the Supreme Court held that the current crime of unlawful carnal knowledge (also known as statutory rape) was unconstitutional leading to a tidal wave of recriminations, worries and hyperbole (judgment). Doubts had been expressed about the constitutionality of this law for some time, and this decision shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone in government. As a result it is true that, as Joan Burton argued on Monday’s Q&A, the law should either have been amended at some stage between the 1990 report of the Law Reform Commission identifying this difficulty and the present, or there should have been draft legislation on hand to be introduced immediately should the court reach this (almost inevitable) decision. That emergency legislation would have allowed protection to be introduced for young people as quickly as possible while also creating an enabling environment for debate around the deep moral and social issues this Supreme Court judgment has forced us to consider. As it stands, the lack of any such emergency legislation means that we will now have a Bill before the Dail in two weeks time that will equalise the age of consent at 16 years (RTE News) and allow Ireland to continue to play the ostrich in relation to the sexualisation of young people. Some people never learn…

Gangland criminality is growing in Ireland and with it comes all the hall marks of violence: firearms, execution-style killings and sensationalist media coverage. In addition, in true Irish style, we find someone to blame and that person, for now, is Michael McDowell. While I secretly relish reading column inches slating the man I can’t help but worry that our rush to demonise the most demonic of the Ministers carries with it hidden dangers; what happens after McDowell? (Otherwise known as ‘the end of history’?). The only response the Minister can make to the criticisms being levied at him is to “get tough” on crime (as the Taoiseach advocates) but long after this media brouhaha has passed the tough laws will still be there and, I’ll wager, gangland criminality will be more widespread than ever.