She was opinionated, strong-willed, polarising and self-assured. She was a businesswoman with a gift for raising money. She was a fierce advocate for social justice and regularly criticised 19th-century landlords.

This big bold brave step is to dig out, dust down, update and implement the 1973 Kenny Report on the regulation of the cost of building land for housing.

It is easy to see the Church as a callous entity that continues to prioritise self-preservation over atonement but people are nuanced and multifaceted

No interest can now be served to try to charge somebody new, after all these years

Bishop O’Connell will be laid to rest on Friday in a crypt in the Cathedral of Los Angeles

Not many can say they are living their third life — but for Colleen Anderson, moving back to Ireland was a chance to heal from an abusive adoption

A long-time friend of a Cork-born bishop shot dead in Los Angeles has spoken of his "shock and devastation" at the violent passing of the 69-year-old.

The Government has moved a step closer to banning conversion therapy after a study from Trinity College called the practice "traumatising", "destructive", "anxiety-provoking", "horrendous", "harmful" and "damaging".

Sex education in schools is a crucial part of a more complicated societal picture, but it seems clear that the state has difficult choices to make

Apache Native American James Reyos has spent the last 40 years either in prison or confined to Texas on parole following his conviction for the murder of Doon priest Fr Patrick Ryan — but now US authorities are reopening the case after a review led to “serious questions as to Mr Reyos’ guilt”.

Parishioners at Sunday mass were told the Sisters 'regrettably' no longer had the numbers to maintain a presence.

On this day in 1988, the Virgin Store in Dublin started to sell condoms for the first time — and it was illegal until five years later

Every democracy requires a contest of ideas. Every society will have different opinions on aspects of culture that should be vigorously debated.  None of that, however, requires a stoking of divisions.

Fr Ryan had served in the US for three years before his death, after previously serving as rector of the House of Studies of the Pallottine Fathers in Stillorgan in Dublin

It can be hard to avoid the sense a golden age has slipped away

The children's minister has faced further criticism for the exclusion of many victims from the mother and baby home redress scheme, with Sinn Féin's Mark Ward calling it a "blatant act of discrimination".

While we reserved podium position for Patrick all these years, Brigid didn’t even make it to qualifying. But that’s more to do with patriarchy than meritocracy

The sheer sense of injustice provoked by the proposed exclusion of many survivors from the scheme shows that the Irish State continues to betray women to this day

We had a bit of a dilemma when our firstborn arrived: Do we get him baptised? I have no religion and my wife has less.

In small rural parishes, the loss of a priest through retirement or death is keenly felt, says Conor Capplis, with the Catholic Church slow to react to a problem they have known about for many years

'Padre Pio is extremely important in my life. He's done a lot for me and I'm here in thanksgiving'

The secondary school staff says the green field development site at St Flannan’s College 'is the last remaining site of its kind in Ennis'

The Irish hierarchy’s pastoral letter of 1922 forbidding republicans from receiving the sacraments showed a partisanship not appreciated by Rome, writes Gabriel Doherty

He was an ambulance driver and International Brigades volunteer from Co Tipperary.

Health Correspondent Niamh Griffin explores how contraception was viewed In Ireland 50 years ago

The lasting legacy of the late Pope Benedict XVI was not just his resignation as Pope in 2013 but the influence he exerted over the direction of the Catholic Church for 22 years from being head of the supremely powerful Vatican Congregation for the ...

It is sad after the violence of the attack against her husband and the ongoing threats against herself are significant features in Nancy Pelosi's decision to take a step back

A 66-year-old man whose modus operandi has been to fish money out of collection boxes in Cork has pleaded guilty to targeting a Share collection box at St Augustine’s church to steal cash.

A global synod initiated by Pope Francis has revealed an across-the-board desire for reform in a variety of Catholic cultures

Shy, unworldly, and donnish, Joseph Ratzinger was temperamentally unsuited for the presures and demands of the papacy, and incapable of coping with the in-fighting and jealousy of the papal court, writes TP O'Mahony

The year’s end brings with it time for reflection on some decent reads undertaken during the last twelve months.

With almost 90% of Irish primary schools remaining under Catholic patronage, about 5% have a multi-denominational ethos

I love a game that makes 9-year-olds giggle. Mikey is 9, and he introduced us to a card game on Christmas night called Kids Against Maturity.

What about the childer’? So went the cry of faux outrage a few weeks ago when it was announced that the crib in Dublin’s Mansion House would be without live animals.

As we prepare for Christmas and all that the season brings the debate continues as to whether the extraordinary suffering of people in conflict and drought affected countries in the Horn of Africa meets the definition of a famine.

Some dynasties conclude with a big bang, others limp out with a whimper.  Fianna Fáil experienced the big bang in 2011 and maybe now comes the whimper. Today, Micheál Martin ends his term as Taoiseach.

Can I be the devil’s advocate when it comes to what certain parties and groups call ‘the housing crisis’: There is no housing crisis per se, there is a lack of available housing.

Bishop Tom Deenihan made appeal at an Advent Mass attended by nine families of those killed during the Troubles

Eleven years ago, after contracting a respiratory viral infection, I was left with the diagnosis of ME. Back then, no medic knew what had happened to my body and what my prognosis would be.

I would like to respond to Leo Varadkar’s comments about the housing crisis and youth emigration. Specifically: “You’re not going to find that rents are lower in New York, or that it’s easier to buy a house in Sydney.

Still no Government commitment to establish an inquiry into abuse by religious orders at three schools

At least 11 people have made complaints to Cork’s Cloyne diocese since 2013 alleging abuse or inappropriate behaviour by priests, a new report has found.

Justice demands full and open accountability, by or on behalf of people who committed awful crimes, and by the organisations that protected them

It is the first time a canonisation process opened in Ireland in over a quarter of a century