DESPITE the efforts of ministers loyal to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the Government will find it hard to dispel perceptions that a rift over his leadership is growing within Fine Gael.

IRELAND’S National Day of Commemoration was held across the country yesterday to honour Irish military personnel who gave their lives in historic wars or on peacekeeping duties with the United Nations.

CONSIDERING the political convulsions wrought by the tens of thousands of migrants arriving on Europe’s shores from war-torn countries, we could be facing an even bigger refugee crisis as a result of climate change.

AN GARDA Síochana has come in for a fair amount of criticism lately, particularly in the light of the O’Higgins report into malpractice, the treatment of whistleblowers, and disturbing revelations of its insulant and stagnant culture.

THOUGH Taoiseach Enda Kenny has won the latest chapter of Ireland’s long-running abortion debate by defeating the Fatal Foetal Abnormalities Bill in the Dáil, any feeling of satisfaction he may have derived from the outcome of that pyrrhic victory has been short-lived.

HARDLY a summer goes by without riots erupting on the streets of American cities over the killing of black people by white policemen. 

IN the circumstances, and without prejudging any subsequent events, the decision to close the suicide prevention charity Console seems to be the right one. 

OVER the coming years European democracy and politicians face a far greater challenge than any posed since the Second World War ended. 

EVEN if it was just some sad, drunken gobdaw who threw the wreaths placed on Cork’s First World War memorial earlier this week to mark the July 1 opening of the Battle of the Somme and to remember the estimated 4,000 Corkmen who died in that war into the Lee it was a dispicable, uncomprehending act of ignorance and vandalism.