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
Image Ref. No. 2005/017
Liam Quaide: Rural Ireland is not a costume to put on for political theatre 
Rural Ireland is far more diverse and inclusive than the monolith portrayed by some who patronise us by claiming to represent it

Fri, 08 May, 2026

Restaurants are desperately waiting for the reduced Vat rate
Restaurants are desperately waiting for the reduced Vat rate
Restaurants have absorbed huge new costs imposed by Government as well as price increases from the wider economy, writes Conrad Howard of the Market Lane Group in Cork

Fri, 08 May, 2026

98th Academy Awards - Show
Reaction to Timothée Chalamet's comment on opera and ballet prove they are not dying art forms
We need opera to keep reminding us of the frailty, failures and insecurities of humanity, and to learn from it, writes Aimee Kearney

Fri, 08 May, 2026

Ireland sees the risks but acts too late and pays for it every time
Ireland sees the risks but acts too late and pays for it every time
Across energy, housing and infrastructure, Ireland has a problem with timing and governance, writes Professor Aoife Foley

Thu, 07 May, 2026

Father comforting sad daughter at home
'Bad parenting' trope is back in the frame for autism
For many families, the hardest part of seeking help is not their child’s distress, but the suggestion they are somehow to blame

Thu, 07 May, 2026

TCS London Marathon 2026
Sabastian Sawe's story is incredible — and it's not about his shoes 
Joyce Fegan asks, what message will we take away from the Kenyan runner's history-defining moment?

Wed, 06 May, 2026

Business performance checklist concept, businessman using laptop doing online checklist survey, filling out digital form checkli
What have we actually learned from five decades of the CAO?
The CAO 'change of mind' opened on Tuesday — part of a set schedule by which parents and teenagers have marked the anxious year of the Leaving Cert for five decades

Wed, 06 May, 2026

grandmother in the garden gather the harvest. Selective focus.
Ireland's food strategy needs a radical overhaul
In Ireland, one in 11 people experience food insecurity, or food poverty. But this not down to the cost of food, it's due to the cost of everything else, writes Angela Ruttledge, head of policy at FoodCloud

Wed, 06 May, 2026

Seriously ill in Gaza: ‘I wondered whether the cancer or a missile would kill me first’
Seriously ill in Gaza: ‘I wondered whether the cancer or a missile would kill me first’
Fatima is one of around 11,000 cancer patients in Gaza. War and blockades have robbed her of specialist care and even the very basics such as pain relief, all while suffering the indignity of living in a cramped makeshift tent. This is her story

Mon, 04 May, 2026

Illinois
Carole Coleman: Don't ask Americans about news or politics. They're done
Democratic Illinois has little tolerance for the current Washington administration

Mon, 04 May, 2026

Senior vaccination concept. Elderly getting immune vaccine at arm for flu shot, pneumonia, and shingles(MMR) in hospital by nurs
Catherine Conlon: Giving older people the shingles vaccine is a no-brainer
While several countries provide for the vaccine, Ireland is one that doesn't because it is not cost-effective, despite it protecting against dementia, Alzheimer’s and heart disease, writes Dr Catherine Conlon

Mon, 04 May, 2026

US-POLITICS-VOTE-CALIFORNIA-GOVERNOR-DEBATE
California dreamin’: Could a Trump-supporting Brexit cheerleader capitalise on Democrats' dithering?
Democrats dominate Californian politics, and control 43 of their 52 Congressional seats, so you would think a Brexit cheerleader with a penchant for cycling shorts would have little chance of victory. But we’ve been down this road before, writes Marion McKeone.

Sun, 03 May, 2026

Margaret E Ward: Tech-enabled stalking and AI abuse are fuelling violence against women
Margaret E Ward: Tech-enabled stalking and AI abuse are fuelling violence against women
From hidden trackers to AI deepfakes, new technologies are accelerating coercive control and violence against women worldwide

Sat, 02 May, 2026

Russia Ukraine War
Ukraine saw 89 children killed in March. But we are sending them back?
Micheál Martin told president Zelenskyy that Ireland would support Ukraine 'for as long as it takes'. Apparently that meant five more months, writes Brian Killoran

Sat, 02 May, 2026

Louise Burne: Why is the National Children’s Hospital still not open?
Louise Burne: Why is the National Children’s Hospital still not open?
Years of delays, defects and disputes leave families still waiting for access to a long-promised world-class paediatric facility

Sat, 02 May, 2026

State visit to the US - Day Two
Enda Brady: Charles did his job well this week, but will it be enough to sate Trump?
This will go down in history as the UK’s honest attempt to make friends with Trump’s America

Sat, 02 May, 2026

100 years of Fianna Fáil: Party must move from analysis to action to survive another century
100 years of Fianna Fáil: Party must move from analysis to action to survive another century
As we reflect on 100 years as a party, I want Fianna Fáil to return to its roots as a political movement, writes Fianna Fáil TD James O'Connor

Fri, 01 May, 2026

Ireland must act on fossil fuel phase-out
Ireland must act on fossil fuel phase-out
Ireland and Tuvalu will co-host next year's conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. But the momentum between now and then is crucial, writes Trócaire’s Climate Justice Policy and Advocacy advisor, Sinéad Loughran

Fri, 01 May, 2026

Diversity and inclusion policies change lives — including mine
Diversity and inclusion policies change lives — including mine
Mahbooba Faiz fled Afghanistan at the return of the Taliban. She recently graduated with a Masters from UCC and describes here how DEI policies have made a real difference to her life

Fri, 01 May, 2026

Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin: People care about losing the natural world — politics must catch up
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin: People care about losing the natural world — politics must catch up
Our Independent Advisory Committee on nature restoration found that the Irish public cares deeply about its natural environment and its links to our heritage and culture — people feel the nature-related losses of recent decades acutely

Thu, 30 Apr, 2026

Ireland's small towns growing in population but shrinking in opportunity
Ireland's small towns growing in population but shrinking in opportunity
Independent urban towns are in a different level of social crisis to the rest of the country — unemployment at 5.9%, the highest of any area type, 17% at risk of poverty, and 20% of their households reliant on social welfare

Thu, 30 Apr, 2026

Ireland's small towns 'in trouble' as traditional shops and pubs disappear
Ireland's small towns 'in trouble' as traditional shops and pubs disappear
The latest research from the CSO passed without much notice, but it showed our 'independent' small towns are in big trouble, writes Listowel native Conor Keane

Thu, 30 Apr, 2026

Free travel will help people fleeing abusive homes
Free travel will help people fleeing abusive homes
A survivor of violence who leaves their home is already at a huge disadvantage — access to travel will make things a little bit easier 

Thu, 30 Apr, 2026

Mobbing at work - help me sign
Workplace bullying is not rare — and the response is not improving
Awareness of bullying has improved, but understanding hasn’t kept pace. Too often, behaviours are dismissed as 'management style' or 'personality clashes'

Wed, 29 Apr, 2026

Upset depressed young woman lying on couch feeling strong headache
Homeless figures don't count all those without housing 
Our definition of homelessness leaves out many single adults who are sleeping in cars, couch-surfing or leaving prison or hospital without a home, writes Dermot Kavanagh of Cork Simon

Wed, 29 Apr, 2026

Politician Addressing Conference
Supports have improved for women in politics but there is more to do
To keep women in local politics, we need to build a sustainable working environment that enables current and future female councillors to participate, lead, influence, and remain in public life

Wed, 29 Apr, 2026

Veterinarian examining German Shepherd Dog
Cost-of-living crisis is impacting how we look after our pets
I’ve become accustomed to seeing good-willed owners forced to surrender their pets or pushed into neglect, due to the sheer unaffordability of veterinary care

Wed, 29 Apr, 2026

Missing dogs tell a different story of greyhound welfare
Missing dogs tell a different story of greyhound welfare
Analysis of the discrepancies in the Greyhound Racing Ireland traceability system, versus its race management system, shows thousands of dogs missing, presumed dead

Tue, 28 Apr, 2026

HBO Harry Potter series
Millennials have a moral obligation to avoid the Harry Potter reboot
It’s time to ditch the nostalgia and extend that empathy to our trans siblings, writes David Monaghan

Tue, 28 Apr, 2026

Sprucing up the truth: Schools should not be a battleground for vested interests
Sprucing up the truth: Schools should not be a battleground for vested interests
As public awareness of the negative impacts of industrial forestry has grown, so too has the sector’s efforts to reshape the narrative with stunts like the deeply misleading booklet given to primary school children

Tue, 28 Apr, 2026

Mick Clifford: Nobody needs to 'lawyer up' to investigate treatment of Limerick gardaí
Mick Clifford: Nobody needs to 'lawyer up' to investigate treatment of Limerick gardaí
Some public inquiries have been very expensive and can take years, but an inquiry into lengthy suspensions and decisions to prosecute some gardaí could be done quickly and without huge cost

Mon, 27 Apr, 2026

Meet the team in Cork helping to make dementia become a more manageable chronic disease
Meet the team in Cork helping to make dementia become a more manageable chronic disease
'Early diagnosis will be commonplace, it will be normalised and early intervention will slow the progression of dementia'

Mon, 27 Apr, 2026

Netflix's "Too Much" UK Special Screening
Colin Sheridan: Has the world finally caught up with Lena Dunham's vision?
Lena Dunham's Girls changed how we watched television. As her new memoir is released, Colin Sheridan asks whether the rest of the world has finally caught up

Mon, 27 Apr, 2026

Workers Preparing for a Construction Task
We need a change in attitude to construction jobs if we are to deliver on housing and infrastructure
Labour shortage in construction-related roles is no longer a blip — it's a structural challenge shaped by multiple factors that urgently need addressing 

Mon, 27 Apr, 2026

Rows of books in shelves
Barry Andrews: Big publishers are ripping off our public libraries
Libraries are for everyone. In a noisy and hectic world, they are one of the few quiet places we have left, but the public library model is in danger, writes Barry Andrews

Mon, 27 Apr, 2026

Losing my dad during covid is something I will never get over
Losing my dad during covid is something I will never get over
As the interim findings of the Government-appointed independent review into the covid-19 pandemic response emerge, Darina Clancy recalls the "very particular kind of torture" her father had to endure before his death amid lockdown restrictions.

Sat, 25 Apr, 2026

Tadgh McNally: Fine Gael has good reason to wish Leo Varadkar would just go away
Tadgh McNally: Fine Gael has good reason to wish Leo Varadkar would just go away
With the party's rural TDs still smarting after the fuel protests earlier this month, and the looming by-election in rural Galway-West, the former taoiseach's remarks on rural Ireland have not gone down well

Sat, 25 Apr, 2026

Cyberattack and internet crime, hacking and malware concepts. Digital binary code data numbers and secure lock icons on hacker'
Major changes to espionage laws abroad sparks domestic review
The 1963 Official Secrets Act — enacted before developments in physical spying technologies, the internet, digital spying technologies, cyber espionage — needs to be updated, writes Cormac O'Keeffe

Fri, 24 Apr, 2026

Louise Burne: Back and forth over shed laws shows unease still lodged between coalition parties
Louise Burne: Back and forth over shed laws shows unease still lodged between coalition parties
Now that they are back on the same page, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will have to begin defending the modular homes plans as the parliamentary scrutiny begins

Fri, 24 Apr, 2026

Shallow focus of summer flowers seen in a back garden.
Shed laws: New planning rules will cut red tape for homeowners
Exemptions 'will empower people to make minor changes to their homes without planning permission, while creating housing options' 

Fri, 24 Apr, 2026

Shed laws: We can't allow the creation of a shadow back garden rental market
Shed laws: We can't allow the creation of a shadow back garden rental market
bad actors will exploit any loophole they are given, and this proposal risks handing them a significant one, writes Labour TD Conor Sheehan

Fri, 24 Apr, 2026

Wooden garden shed in a summer
Small, practical measures can work alongside big ideas on solving housing crisis
The Government's move to allow small, self-contained units in gardens without planning has drawn sharp criticism but Ireland’s housing crisis is too urgent to turn down ideas that could improve people's lives in the here and now

Fri, 24 Apr, 2026

Offshore Wind Farm
Fuel crisis shows Ireland cannot build a secure future on imported energy
Ireland needs to harness its own abundant renewable energy resources as quickly as possible and reduce its exposure to volatile global fossil fuel prices, writes Scott Sutherland, project director of Codling Wind Park

Thu, 23 Apr, 2026

Adi Roche: Forty years have passed but Irish commitment to Chornobyl remains
Adi Roche: Forty years have passed but Irish commitment to Chornobyl remains
The disaster sparked four decades of compassion, resilience, and radical kindness demonstrating the remarkable spirit of human solidarity

Thu, 23 Apr, 2026

Singing together can help build community in divisive times
Singing together can help build community in divisive times
Singers have always known that singing is not just an art form, but something that contributes to public health and community connection, writes Peter Stobart, director at the Cork International Choral Festival

Thu, 23 Apr, 2026

Woman with red manicure holding blister with contraceptive hormonal pills in her hands closeup
Contraception is free, but it's not reaching everyone who needs it
Migrant, Traveller, and disabled women, along with older women and members of the LGBT+ community, face significant barriers accessing the scheme, new research shows

Wed, 22 Apr, 2026

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