THOUGH a good number of Irish people — 83,000 — express to their idea of being Irish by speaking some Irish every day the vast majority of us make little or no commitment to what is still called our first language.

COMING, as it does, just weeks after former priest and voracious paedophile and serial liar Tony Walsh was sentenced to 123 years in jail for the most appalling abuses, and as the publication of the report into how claims of child sexual abuse were dealt with in the Diocese of Cloyne is anticipated, the Pope’s Christmas message seems limp, wrong-headed and uninspiring.

CHRISTMAS can be a time of great stress, some of it self-inflicted, more of it brought about by an individual’s or parents’ inability to meet the expectations of their loved ones.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is often perceived, and justifiably so, as more concerned with its PR image than patient care, especially regarding promises to improve aspects of the health service.

LOVERS of Irish heritage will rightly be dismayed at the severity of cutbacks in projects ranging from the upkeep of nationally important buildings to research on landscape and waterways under threat from invasive species.

TWO unrelated events yesterday, and another on Thursday, suggest that we needlessly pay a very heavy price for our innate conservatism.

IT’S been 18 years since the Irish Supreme Court declared that abortion should be considered legal in all cases where the woman’s life might be put in jeopardy by a continued pregnancy — including threats to commit suicide. Since then the implication of that ruling has been ignored with a steely determination by all governments.

THE figures may be small, but the slightest flicker of light is very welcome on a dark, dark night.

Every week there seems to be a sensational disclosure that calls the judgment of political leaders into question.