comment and analysis

This is my father and it's the first time we met
This is my father and it's the first time we met
Climate World Court
Landmark court opinion shows the power of the youth climate movement
The Advisory Opinion last month by International Court of Justice on the obligations that states have with regard to climate justice was thanks to years of advocacy by the World’s Youth for Climate Justice. Now it must lead to action on fossil fuels

Wed, 06 Aug, 2025

Reaction to CMAT hit sounds warning to Fianna Fáil as they consider presidential candidate
Reaction to CMAT hit sounds warning to Fianna Fáil as they consider presidential candidate
CMAT's performance at All Together Now came in the same weekend that Bertie Ahern was named as the most preferred of a slew of potential Fianna Fáil presidential candidates

Tue, 05 Aug, 2025

Cork crime: Persistent and sometimes violent crime now routine for city pharmacists
Cork crime: Persistent and sometimes violent crime now routine for city pharmacists
Pat Dalton says in the last year alone, his pharmacy in Cork City has experienced 'several incidents of theft and of verbal abuse' 

Tue, 05 Aug, 2025

File Photo: Previous Tribunals
Media's role in fighting corruption must be defended
Thirty years after the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, it's important to remember that Ireland's path to transparency was paved by investigative journalists

Tue, 05 Aug, 2025

China-EU relations are now 50 years old
China-EU relations are now 50 years old
The Chinese saying 'A friend in need is a friend indeed' certainly applies to the development of China-EU relations, writes Chinese Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan

Tue, 05 Aug, 2025

Nature is worryingly absent from the National Development Plan review
Nature is worryingly absent from the National Development Plan review
It is imperative that nature is adequately funded, writes Ciarán Brennan, communications officer at the Irish Environmental Network

Tue, 05 Aug, 2025

Cork Crime: Beat on the street is still a key to crime prevention
Cork Crime: Beat on the street is still a key to crime prevention
Trevor Laffan says many policing challenges now are just the same as in the 1980s when he was a garda — and he fillets recent legislation to suggest it is of little help in curbing crime

Mon, 04 Aug, 2025

A prisoner serving life writes: ‘Why not help us instead of punishing us?’
A prisoner serving life writes: ‘Why not help us instead of punishing us?’
A book written by inmates in Mountjoy Prison highlights a project that shows many prisoners have the desire and potential to do so much good and stop the intergenerational cycles of violence and crime they experience

Mon, 04 Aug, 2025

If we want to stop crime, we have to talk to those committing it
If we want to stop crime, we have to talk to those committing it
'What We’re Made Of', a new book written by men in Mountjoy Prison, a section of society that gets little support — and less empathy — it challenges, inspires and chips away at the kind of prejudice they face

Mon, 04 Aug, 2025

The Arenal beach, crowded in the summer, Javea on the Costa Blanca, Spain
Hot topic: Why bake on the Med when you can have a 'coolcation' at home?
With scorching temperatures and heatwaves increasingly common in southern Europe, many people are opting for cool-weather tourism, a trend Ireland can take full advantage of

Sat, 02 Aug, 2025

Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) 'The Liberator'. Irish patriot and political leader who worked for Catholic emancipation which was
Daniel O’Connell personified the perpetual importance of an independent Bar
Daniel O’Connell demonstrated how a skilled barrister could transform an oppressive legal system into an instrument of political change.

Sat, 02 Aug, 2025

Science Chemical medical research lab with Microscope.
Trump’s global tariff agenda puts Ireland’s pharmaceutical industry at serious risk
Trump’s tariff regime has shaken global trade — and Ireland’s critical pharma sector is bracing for long-term change

Sat, 02 Aug, 2025

Donald Trump
Trading principles for predictability — what the EU gave up to avoid a tariff war
EU leaders face criticism over a 15% US tariff deal that hits Irish whiskey, German cars, and more. Some call it a betrayal of core principles

Fri, 01 Aug, 2025

Chris Heinhold: Would a reduced Vat rate have saved my restaurant? Probably not
Chris Heinhold: Would a reduced Vat rate have saved my restaurant? Probably not
For us, like many small businesses that are owner-operated and facing spiralling costs and unsustainable debt, no one solution could have saved us from closure

Fri, 01 Aug, 2025

Alcohol Drinking - Stock
Reducing Vat rate a blunt and costly policy instrument for hospitality 
The sector was subject to the lower Vat rate of 9%  from 2011 to 2018, and again from late 2020 to mid-2023 at an estimated cost of €3.6bn

Fri, 01 Aug, 2025

Why Ireland’s 9% Vat rate is crucial for the survival of restaurants and cafés
Why Ireland’s 9% Vat rate is crucial for the survival of restaurants and cafés
Policymakers must remember that hospitality isn’t just an industry — it’s part of the Irish identity, writes Adrian Cummins, CEO of The Restaurants Association of Ireland

Fri, 01 Aug, 2025

The Mick Clifford Podcast: Is the Wild West era of social media over?
The Mick Clifford Podcast: Is the Wild West era of social media over?
Ireland has a new Online Safety Code — what are the rules, what are the penalties, and crucially, do they have enough teeth?

 Listen | Thu, 31 Jul, 2025

 Listen |
Two Palestinian brothers suffer from malnutrition amid Israeli attacks on Gaza
The psychology of the Gaza genocide
The Gaza genocide takes us to the outer limits of human cruelty and destruction. How do we, as onlookers to this darkness, retain our faith in humanity, asks Liam Quaide

Thu, 31 Jul, 2025

Retail worker filling shelf with drinks in grocery store or customer taking can of beer or soda. Staff at supermarket stocking s
Government's decision to delay alcohol health labelling is bowing to lobbyist influence
Rowing back on its own democratically introduced alcohol regulations shows a government in thrall to lobbyists with a clear agenda, writes Dr Sheila Gilheany, the CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland

Thu, 31 Jul, 2025

The new Garda Commissioner's wish list and two issues that will distract him from it
The new Garda Commissioner's wish list and two issues that will distract him from it
Security Correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe takes a quick look at what awaits the new commissioner Justin Kelly

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Media-Trump-Murdoch
Murdoch v Trump: Why the flawed media titan could be the final protector of press freedom
His companies may have hacked phones and broadcast lies, but Murdoch appears ready to battle the president to uphold editorial freedoms, writes Jane Martinson, a member of the board of the Scott Trust

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Facebook Campaign Ads
Meta's ban on political ads will mean less transparency and more slop for users
Ireland's presidential election could get a lot more interesting than expected, if Meta goes ahead with removing transparency and filtration tools, says Facebook’s first Political Ads representative in Europe

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

The racist attack on an Indian man in Tallaght recently was not a once-off. Ireland must act
The racist attack on an Indian man in Tallaght recently was not a once-off. Ireland must act
A recent attack in Tallaght shows what happens when misinformation and disinformation are taken at face value, writes Arpita Chowdhury

Tue, 29 Jul, 2025

Man with planet earth in hands
Could climate anxiety be a form of pre-traumatic stress disorder? A psychologist explains the research
The hypothesis arose from observations of climate scientists and their growing feelings of anger, distress, helplessness and depression as the climate situation has worsened

Tue, 29 Jul, 2025

Israel Palestinians
Paul Kearns: It's not as simple as Bob Geldof thinks for Israelis to 'snap out of it'
If families of the remaining hostages have been unable to pressure their government to prioritise Israeli lives, the lives of their children held in underground tunnels for two years, does Geldof think that they can pressurise the government to consider the fate of Palestinian children?

Tue, 29 Jul, 2025

'Abundance' is all around us - just look at all our empty buildings
'Abundance' is all around us - just look at all our empty buildings
The US libertarian concept of 'abundance' - deregulation by another name - isn't needed to unlock the housing market here, writes Theo McDonald 

Tue, 29 Jul, 2025

Government press conference
Paul Hosford: The game of roulette is sure to continue
Who is to say that the next time Mr Trump has a domestic issue to quell, a 30% tariff is not back on the agenda?

Mon, 28 Jul, 2025

Couple kissing behind the red heart
Is today’s political climate making dating harder for young people?
Gen Zs turn away from dating doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of desire for connection

Mon, 28 Jul, 2025

Twitter logo
Will tech giants finally take online safety for children seriously?
The second part of Coimisiún na Mean’s online safety code has come into force

Sun, 27 Jul, 2025

Milken Institute's Global Conference Held In Beverly Hills
Elon Musk’s fall from grace: how politics, pride and Trump broke the Tesla titan
Elon Musk's chaotic foray into US politics has damaged his businesses, tanked Tesla stock, and triggered a Trump feud

Sat, 26 Jul, 2025

William Wall: How a decades-old hip replacement turned me into a medical exhibit in Italy
William Wall: How a decades-old hip replacement turned me into a medical exhibit in Italy
When an artificial hip from 1982 gave way in Genoa, it sparked laughter, astonishment — and world-class Italian care

Sat, 26 Jul, 2025

Obit Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan: A larger-than-life character, as notorious outside the wrestling ring as in it
The biggest star in the history of WWE, Hogan also found fame in film and TV, and trouble over his racial slurs, latterly becoming a passionate supporter of Donald Trump

Fri, 25 Jul, 2025

TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT
TP O’Mahony: Pope Leo's words on Gaza have gone unheeded in the Knesset and the White House
In 2024 there were 61 'state-based conflicts' in the world, the most since 1946, according to the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. And that was before the Israel-Iran conflict. We may well ask: why are there so many wars?

Fri, 25 Jul, 2025

Barry O'Sullivan: ChatGPT is not your friend
Barry O'Sullivan: ChatGPT is not your friend
Taking advice from something that can't differentiate truth from fiction and tells you what you want to hear isn't the wisest choice, writes Barry O’Sullivan

Fri, 25 Jul, 2025

Climate World Court
Historic ruling finds climate change ‘imperils all forms of life’ and puts laggard nations on notice
The momentous case opens the door for countries impacted by climate disasters to sue major emitting countries for reparations, writes Jacqueline Peel

Fri, 25 Jul, 2025

The Mick Clifford Podcast: Unpacking the lacking National Development Plan with Louise Burne
The Mick Clifford Podcast: Unpacking the lacking National Development Plan with Louise Burne
Despite major funding references, the revised plan lacks clarity on housing, infrastructure, and external economic threats

 Listen | Thu, 24 Jul, 2025

 Listen |
Natural resource endowments more a curse than blessing for developing nations
Natural resource endowments more a curse than blessing for developing nations
Institutions must negotiate fair and transparent mining contracts with multinationals and uplift nations to escape the resource curse, write Rabah Arezki and Rick van der Ploeg

Thu, 24 Jul, 2025

litter washed up on a beach in county cork, ireland.
A global treaty to limit plastic pollution is within reach — will countries seize the moment?
Representatives from 175 countries will convene in Geneva next month for crucial negotiations on a UN treaty aimed at curbing plastic pollution

Thu, 24 Jul, 2025

Hamas Israel Conflict
Government must stand firm on Israel's illegal occupation and genocide in Gaza Strip
Each day, we get to a point of horror we thought unimaginable for Gaza, writes Karol Balfe

Wed, 23 Jul, 2025

Not all Jews are Zionists — Alan Shatter does not speak for me
Not all Jews are Zionists — Alan Shatter does not speak for me
The past 21 months have caused increasing tensions between those in my community who stand in solidarity with Palestine and those whose loyalties remain with Israel, no matter how many red lines they cross

Wed, 23 Jul, 2025

Live Aid Concert - Wembley Stadium
Live Aid's message of empathy and action should inspire renewed solidarity today
In 1985, Live Aid broke the deafening silence around famine in Ethiopia. Forty years later, the enduring power of its message of empathy and action should inspire renewed calls for global solidarity in the face of ongoing challenges, writes Dominic MacSorley

Wed, 23 Jul, 2025

Seeing Ozzy surrounded by generations he had inspired 'was a life-changing experience'
Seeing Ozzy surrounded by generations he had inspired 'was a life-changing experience'
Robbed of his ability to walk by Parkinson's, the Black Sabbath founding member still showed hallmarks of classic Ozzy, grimacing and flashing horns at the crowd before leading them to wave along to his music

Tue, 22 Jul, 2025

Paul Hosford: US tariffs take shine off summer economic statement 
Paul Hosford: US tariffs take shine off summer economic statement 
As of now, there is no clarity on just how much money Jack Chambers has to play with when ministers come banging on the door looking for their spending envelopes in September

Tue, 22 Jul, 2025

Troubled Ground - Episode 1: The first ever mass grave exhumation gets underway
Troubled Ground - Episode 2: Families hope that mass excavation can unveil the secrets of Tuam mother and baby home
Irish Examiner podcast explores how local research into a hidden burial site sparked international outrage and official action

 Listen | Tue, 22 Jul, 2025

 Listen |
Silence is allowing animal cruelty to thrive in our towns and cities
Silence is allowing animal cruelty to thrive in our towns and cities
We need proper reporting and enforcement measures to end the cruelty to and neglect of horses kept in appalling conditions in urban areas

Tue, 22 Jul, 2025

Stressed unhappy young woman sitting on sofa.
Next budget gives State chance to prove young people are a genuine priority
Engaging with our generation is key to ensure October’s budget supports meaningful policy change that will improve the lives of young people across the country

Tue, 22 Jul, 2025

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