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
Congestion Charging Begins In London
Don't let what's happened in London replicate itself in Cork
The streets are our own — except when they aren’t, writes Allan Prosser

Tue, 07 Apr, 2026

Generative AI Apps
Big Tech shouldn’t be writing the rules for AI
To prevent powerful technologies, such as artificial intelligence, from being shaped solely by corporate profit incentives, democracies must establish the institutions needed to oversee them, writes Gabriela Ramos

Tue, 07 Apr, 2026

Wordle moved to New York Times website
Why we’ve gone mad for puzzles
Our world feels chaotic, confusing and unfair, but puzzles offer clear rules, solvable problems and reward for effort expended

Tue, 07 Apr, 2026

The reality behind Ireland’s anti-submarine warfare plans
The reality behind Ireland’s anti-submarine warfare plans
Advanced surveillance is a 24/7 operation, writes retired navy commander Tony Geraghty

Mon, 06 Apr, 2026

Teacher pay and school funding on agenda of conferences
Teacher pay and school funding on agenda of conferences
Education Correspondent Jess Casey looks at issues 85,000 educators will consider at their annual union conferences this week

Mon, 06 Apr, 2026

President Trump state visit to UK
Enda Brady: Keir Starmer has set the clock running on Britain rejoining the European Union
The British prime minister tried to be a Trump ‘whisperer’, giving Donald Trump the royal treatment, only for him to backstab Britain in a matter of weeks. Now Keir Starmer has decided to move on from America and point Britain back towards Europe, where it belongs, writes Enda Brady.

Mon, 06 Apr, 2026

Assessment of need reform will not fix wider crisis of accessing care and children will pay the price
Assessment of need reform will not fix wider crisis of accessing care and children will pay the price
The assessment of need crisis is part of a wider failure by successive governments to build properly staffed, integrated child and adolescent services in the first place

Mon, 06 Apr, 2026

High school students doing exam in classroom
Seven deadlines and an AI dilemma: Is the new Leaving Cert fixing one problem by creating another?
Teachers back reform in principle but warn of inequality, AI misuse, and rising workload under new senior cycle

Sat, 04 Apr, 2026

'SSIA on steroids': Will the Government's new savings and investment account deliver?
'SSIA on steroids': Will the Government's new savings and investment account deliver?
Critics of the scheme say it will do little to help the 'squeezed middle' but will greatly benefit the millionaire and billionaire class, who will avail of its generous tax regime

Sat, 04 Apr, 2026

JD Vance
Marion McKeone: JD Vance needs all his Machiavellian instincts to avoid becoming Trump's whipping boy
JD Vance is not a natural diplomat so he will be hard pushed to satisfy Donald Trump in the Iran negotiations and to keep on course for a 2028 nomination, writes Marion McKeone

Fri, 03 Apr, 2026

Child sex abuse image crimes
European Parliament vote creates legal vacuum in battle against online child abuse
Vote sounded death knell for a system which was far from perfect, but which allowed for some limited monitoring by tech companies of online child sexual abuse material

Fri, 03 Apr, 2026

NASA Prepares For Artemis II Moon Mission
Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon?
The conclusion of the Apollo 17 journey in 1972 marked not only the end of a mission, but the close of an era. Half a century later, Nasa is preparing to return under its Artemis programme

Fri, 03 Apr, 2026

Free school meals
Our school meals programme must use community hubs and on-site kitchens cooking local produce
We need a school food programme where meals are cooked from fresh local ingredients, and where the meals nourish our children, our land, and our communities, writes Michelle Darmody

Thu, 02 Apr, 2026

Gerry Adams legal action
We don't just need to limit the number of TDs, we need radical reform of our electoral system
Does Ireland really need both a Dáil and a Seanad?

Thu, 02 Apr, 2026

Ireland's FM McEntee visits Kyiv
Paul Hosford: Ukraine war merely another chapter in Russia's aggression against its neighbour
Russia's full-scale invasion of the country has meant that up to one third of Ukrainian children remain displaced

Wed, 01 Apr, 2026

Taoiseach Micheal Martin visit to Wexford
The climate change warnings are getting louder — are we just refusing to listen?
A new report highlights worsening extreme weather and warns Ireland must urgently shift from reaction to long-term climate planning

Wed, 01 Apr, 2026

Life goes on in Cuba despite brutal US blockade
Life goes on in Cuba despite brutal US blockade
Niamh Ní Bhriain travelled to Havana last month as part of an international medical aid convoy. Although exhausted by life under the blockade, Cubans are defiant, she writes

Wed, 01 Apr, 2026

Paul Hosford: Ministerial meeting in Ukrainian bomb shelter reminds us of the stakes 
Paul Hosford: Ministerial meeting in Ukrainian bomb shelter reminds us of the stakes 
The pitch to ministers was simple: allow money to flow into Ukraine because it is in European interests to do so, writes Paul Hosford in Kyiv

Tue, 31 Mar, 2026

Donald Trump
If Donald Trump were your ageing father, when would you take away his car keys?
Presidential decisions can mean life or death for millions around the world, that’s why constitutional safeguards exist. But do they work in practice?

Tue, 31 Mar, 2026

PSNI announce new powers to randomly stop drivers and perform drink driving breathalyser tests, Northern Ireland.
'Drink‑driving is not an accident': Cork emergency consultant calls for urgent reforms to save lives
As a doctor, what is hardest of all to accept are the lives lost due to the reckless and selfish behaviour of others — too often, drink-driving 

Tue, 31 Mar, 2026

Stoneage hunters
Could AI be as transformative as the emergence of agriculture?
The biggest risk of artificial intelligence is that we sleepwalk into a 'new normal' that benefits the system more than the people living inside it

Tue, 31 Mar, 2026

Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity 
Mick Clifford: Sallins Inquiry gig a sold-out show of solidarity 
Nearly 50 years on, the Sallins Inquiry Now gig marks a renewed call for justice

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

Mick Clifford: Inheritance tax 'reform' calls show gulf between haves and have-nots
Mick Clifford: Inheritance tax 'reform' calls show gulf between haves and have-nots
Inheritance tax is a contentious issue, especially for those wealthy enough to pay it

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

The Ireland team dejected after losing to the penalty shootout 26/3/2026
Enda Brady: Last week shows that we need to merge our two football associations
It’s beyond ridiculous that a small island fields TWO international football teams. Just look at what the Ireland rugby team is regularly able to achieve, writes Enda Brady

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

Teacher and students in a classroom
Teachers are not trained as first responders to students’ mental health needs
Teachers are on the frontline of student mental health. It is time the system supported them for the sake of the children

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

Afghanistan Women
The Taliban has weaponised misogyny. They're not alone
It isn’t just in Islamic countries that religion is being harnessed to repress women, or to undermine their rights and freedoms and erode their equality as citizens, writes TP O'Mahony

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

Colin Sheridan: Lebanon’s endless war — a country trapped in other people’s conflicts
Colin Sheridan: Lebanon’s endless war — a country trapped in other people’s conflicts
Lebanon’s tragedy is not only that it is repeatedly drawn into other people’s wars. It is that this condition has come to be seen as natural, writes Colin Sheridan

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026

Czechia vs Republic of Ireland - 2026 FIFA World Cup European Play-offs - Semi-Final - Fortuna Arena
Paul Hosford: State must provide the facilities for sporting stars of the future
Sport Ireland found that there is a 19 percentage point gap between participation in sport at the highest and lowest socio-economic levels

Sun, 29 Mar, 2026

GERMANY-IRAN-US-POLITICS-DEMO
'Anti-war' groups drown out voices of Iranians opposed to Islamic Republic regime 
Mahya Ostovar says protests in Ireland echo a global phenomenon — Iranians protesting against the repressive regime are being swamped by the dominant political narrative

Sat, 28 Mar, 2026

US-POLITICS-TRUMP
Donald Trump is remaking the US media in his own image — and smashing accountability with it
Continuing his war against what he calls “fake news”, the US president is hobbling journalists and media outlets he considers to be hostile to him

Sat, 28 Mar, 2026

FRANCE-META-ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE-NEW-LOGO
Have we finally reached the 'Big Tobacco moment' for Big Tech?
Finally, a legal argument has pierced the protective shield Big Tech has been given by the three-decade-old Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (1996), writes Alex Cooney

Fri, 27 Mar, 2026

Limerick mayoral experiment will fail without legislative review
Limerick mayoral experiment will fail without legislative review
As Ireland's first directly elected mayor, John Moran has been given a mandate, but no way of delivering it 

Fri, 27 Mar, 2026

Rising fuel costs, Bantry, Co Cork. Ireland
Why Ireland’s energy supports are becoming part of the problem
What begins as emergency support can quietly become a standing feature of the system, rarely questioned and even more rarely removed

Fri, 27 Mar, 2026

Europe Frontex Migrants
What's behind the increased focus on European border security?
The billions allocated to border security and surveillance technology — and paid to the same arms and defence companies profiting from the conflicts people are fleeing — could be better spent on housing and social services for all

Thu, 26 Mar, 2026

Natalie McNally death
Emma deSouza: Too many women in Northern Ireland are dying at the hands of men
Northern Ireland's violence is not in the past — it's merely retreated behind closed doors, where women bear the brunt, writes Emma deSouza

Thu, 26 Mar, 2026

National Children’s Hospital shambles should warn us about future projects – Tadgh McNally
National Children’s Hospital shambles should warn us about future projects – Tadgh McNally
The NCH saga is far from over as it misses its 18th deadline. But we should be looking ahead to the way Ireland does tendering and procurement of major projects such as Metrolink

Wed, 25 Mar, 2026

Open female mouth during oral checkup at the dentist. Selective
Hygienists could solve Ireland's dental health problems
Workforce shortages, long waiting lists, widening inequalities and an over-reliance on crisis treatment have all contributed to creating a system that intervenes too late and costs too much

Wed, 25 Mar, 2026

Asylum-seeking children will bear brunt of changes to international protection legislation
Asylum-seeking children will bear brunt of changes to international protection legislation
New law will allow Ireland to detain children who are seeking safety here for the first time, writes Children's Ombudsman Niall Muldoon 

Wed, 25 Mar, 2026

Lebanon Israel Iran US
An Iranian woman's war diary: 'The fighter jets were like vultures circling their prey'
A young Iranian woman in Karaj, near Tehran, describes the devastating impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran on ordinary people. She sends fully verified daily updates when she can get online. Here, in the final of a four-part series she tells of a drone attack that reduced a house to powder

Wed, 25 Mar, 2026

Detail of a fuel pump in a gas station
Paul Hosford: Unwinding fuel supports may prove difficult 
The measures are forecast to cost the exchequer somewhere around €250m, but expire at the end of May

Tue, 24 Mar, 2026

Iran Daily Life
An Iranian woman’s war diary: 'The hellish sounds have become normal'
A young Iranian woman in Karaj, near Tehran, describes the devastating impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran on ordinary people. She sends fully verified daily updates when she can get online. Here, in the third of a four-part series, she tells of listening to somewhere being bombed nine times in a row on the 12th day of the war

Tue, 24 Mar, 2026

Lorcan Sirr: Meath house the latest example of our disrespect for planning
Lorcan Sirr: Meath house the latest example of our disrespect for planning
From the developer who superglued himself to a County Council office door, to the case of Chris and Rose Murray, our relationship with planning law has always been turbulent, writes Lorcan Sirr

Tue, 24 Mar, 2026

School stock
Convention can be cornerstone for teachers shaping future generations
As the National Education Convention gets under way, INTO president Anne Horan looks at the urgent need to address issues relating to disadvantage and inclusion in schools

Tue, 24 Mar, 2026

Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen: Why a stronger EU–Australia relationship matters
In this age of mounting geopolitical tension, we must draw closer to partners who share our values and vision, writes the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen

Mon, 23 Mar, 2026

Parent comforting helping sad emotional child at home, concept of bullying, stress disappointment, sadness.
'All the advice about having rhythms and routines — none made any difference' for child avoiding school
After two years of engaging with welfare services and being threatened with prosecution over her son’s school avoidance, a mother was told there were no autism class places available when he got his diagnosis, says Jess Casey

Mon, 23 Mar, 2026

Iran US Israel
An Iranian woman’s war diary: 'The news called it carpet bombing'
A young Iranian woman in Karaj, near Tehran, describes the devastating impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran on ordinary people. She sends fully verified daily updates when she can get online. Here, in the second of a four-part series, she explains how the current conflict has reawakened the terror she felt in January when thousands of protesters were killed

Mon, 23 Mar, 2026

Latest

Suzanne Harrington
Suzanne Harrington

Lifestyle

Lunchtime News

Newsletter

Keep up with stories of the day with our lunchtime news wrap and important breaking news alerts.

Revoiced

Newsletter

Sign up to the best reads of the week from irishexaminer.com selected just for you.

Mick Clifford
IE_Podcast_Logo

The Mick Clifford Podcast

Most Read

Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited