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
TOPSHOT-LEBANON-ISRAEL-IRAN-WAR
Marion McKeone: Another ceasefire, another dead end on Lebanon’s long road to peace
As violence intensifies, questions grow over Western inaction, sanctions and the future of Lebanon’s fragile democracy

Sat, 06 Jun, 2026

Henry Nowak death
Henry Nowak was failed in his last moments – and again by Britain’s disgraceful political class
There are vital lessons to be learned from Nowak’s death. Instead, it has been used to refuel a pervasive lie about ethnic minorities and ‘two-tier’ policing

Sat, 06 Jun, 2026

UPLIFT; NEUTRALITY; TRIPLE LOCK; FIANNA FAIL ARD FHEIS
Colin Sheridan: Why Ireland should keep the triple lock despite calls for reform
As conflict intensifies globally, Ireland should strengthen oversight and diplomacy rather than dilute military deployment safeguards

Sat, 06 Jun, 2026

Truth-telling is crucial for those who experienced abuse in Spiritan schools
Truth-telling is crucial for those who experienced abuse in Spiritan schools
Being a senior executive, a political figure, a successful lawyer, or medic does not provide immunity from the fear of speaking about childhood sexual abuse, writes Marie Keenan of the Restore Together initiative

Fri, 05 Jun, 2026

Dorcha Lee: Even with Trump's flaky ceasefire, Lebanon needs UN troops again
Dorcha Lee: Even with Trump's flaky ceasefire, Lebanon needs UN troops again
For Lebanon, the best hope is that a new Israeli Government in the autumn will commit to withdrawing the IDF, under UN supervision

Fri, 05 Jun, 2026

Arthritis Medical Exam
New migration law will shut out the home carers Ireland needs
The fuel crisis showed how quickly elderly and vulnerable people who need home care are forgotten when the loudest voices are shouting. The migration debate is the same, writes Joseph Musgrave

Fri, 05 Jun, 2026

Administrator looking at medical record
Patients forced to wait months or even years for medical records, despite legal right to access 
Legally, authorities are supposed to provide records within one month. In practice it can be a year or more

Thu, 04 Jun, 2026

School children in classroom
Terrible timing but some positives in Special Needs Assistants Workforce Development Plan
The Irish Examiner's Education Correspondent on a key document regarding SNAs — and the Department of Education's decision to publish it on one of the busiest days of the year

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026

young mum queries a bill on the phone .
Childcare: State is doing more than ever to reduce costs — but parents aren't likely to be grateful
Government is putting a total of €1.5bn into childcare to reduce maximum fees, freeze current rates, and increase wages for staff

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026

Mick Clifford: The house of Healy-Rae has fallen victim to 'The Split'
Mick Clifford: The house of Healy-Rae has fallen victim to 'The Split'
The smart money isn’t looking too smart of late, but it says there will be no coming back from this, writes Mick Clifford

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026

Meta Data Centres
AI backlash is growing — and tech execs know it
AI data centres are inflating a financial bubble — and even top tech execs know the bubble will burst if we don't all adopt AI, and fast, writes Patrick Brodie

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026

Ursula Shannon fought for the Bessborough babies — now we must continue
Ursula Shannon fought for the Bessborough babies — now we must continue
Trafficked as a baby and adopted from Bessborough, former Lady Mayoress Ursula Shannon fought for all the forgotten babies — we cannot allow them to be concreted over

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026

Pollution from smokestacks filling the air at the Boise Cascade Paper Plant in Rumford Maine
Irish people's lack of concern over climate action due to mixed messaging from politicians
What is clear from the Irish Examiner climate poll is that the gap between the intensifying global climate crisis and public concern is still very wide

Tue, 02 Jun, 2026

Ruti Lachs: Cork has so many precious memories of a vanished Jewish community
Ruti Lachs: Cork has so many precious memories of a vanished Jewish community
Cork's synagogue closed its doors in 2016, with a tiny number of Jewish people left in the city. Ruti Lachs set about gathering childhood memories of a vanished parallel city 

Mon, 01 Jun, 2026

APTOPIX Vatican Pope
The Pope has moral power but won't set the global agenda on AI
The lever of capital, and the institutions that control it at scale, may be our era’s most important and least understood governance actors

Mon, 01 Jun, 2026

Yvonne Daly: Funding changes threaten existence of criminal legal aid lawyers
Yvonne Daly: Funding changes threaten existence of criminal legal aid lawyers
There is a disconnect between the public perception of criminal defence lawyers and what really happens in Garda stations and courtrooms

Mon, 01 Jun, 2026

BELGIUM-IRELAND-EU-POLITICS
Can Ireland benefit from leading the EU? What to expect from the 2026 presidency
Thousands of delegates, major security operations and diplomatic opportunities will define Ireland’s six-month EU role

Sun, 31 May, 2026

Irish tech workers at Meta and Covalen can turn to unions to help fight AI replacement
Irish tech workers at Meta and Covalen can turn to unions to help fight AI replacement
Unionisation has helped workers deal with the challenges of automation and industrialisation before.  It'll work better than slick videos and funny protest songs, says Darragh Golden

Sat, 30 May, 2026

TOPSHOT-SPORT-DOPING-ENHANCED
What have we really learned from the Enhanced Games?
The Enhanced Games presents as the future of elite sport, but it looks like a merger with Silicon Valley, writes Colin Sheridan

Sat, 30 May, 2026

Woman using injection pen to administer weight loss drug
Unqualified influencers are promoting dangerous peptides and regulators can't cope
Regulators are struggling to keep up as peptides are pushed by social media influencers as shortcuts to fat loss, anti-ageing, health and recovery, and muscle growth

Sat, 30 May, 2026

IKEA Opeening
Geothermal must be in the mix for solving energy crisis
Vistakon in Limerick, Ikea in Dublin, and the Giant's Causeway Visitor Centre in Antrim already use geothermal energy, but we need a strategic plan to develop it properly in Ireland 

Fri, 29 May, 2026

AI Search. Search Interface for AI Search and AI Chat on Digital Display with Chat Bot Icon on Top. Showcases Multi Modal AI Tec
Why is Ireland's Government cheerleading for privately owned AI?
As Eric Schmidt found out recently , ordinary people are not as keen on AI as the industry is. James Lawless should take note, writes Liz Carolan

Fri, 29 May, 2026

O'Connell Bridge
Tracy Martin: Over a million Irish people have a disability, but nowhere is accessible
Why are people with a disability or long-term condition faced with an obstacle course every time we leave the house, asks a frustrated Tracy Martin 

Thu, 28 May, 2026

Programmers in data center panicking after viewing malware security breach alert
AI has led to a rise in fraud and identity theft
Research we've carried out at the Compliance Institute shows that AI has turned data protection into an uphill battle for companies

Thu, 28 May, 2026

Beauty in solarium.
ieExplains: Why sunbeds are under scrutiny — and could face a total ban
As the Government considers restricting commercial sunbeds, health experts are pushing for a full ban as a Category 1 carcinogen

Wed, 27 May, 2026

Umar al-Qadri: We can be both proudly Irish and proudly Muslim this Eid
Umar al-Qadri: We can be both proudly Irish and proudly Muslim this Eid
As Eid begins, we can honour the special heritage of native Irish people while recognising that contemporary Ireland includes people who became Irish through belonging, contribution and shared civic life

Wed, 27 May, 2026

Electric vehicles bound for shipment at a port in China
As Ireland's EV sales surge, is the age of oil-powered vehicles nearly over?
Nearly 17,000 EVs were sold in Ireland in the first four months of this year — that’s one in four cars purchased. Is the age of oil-powered vehicles nearly over?

Wed, 27 May, 2026

Elon Musk Javier Milei
Jim Clarken: Ebola is spreading in DRC because of cuts to global aid funding 
This outbreak is the predictable result of international powers withdrawing support from already fragile health systems

Wed, 27 May, 2026

Paul Hosford: Nobody in a rush to applaud Government's version of Occupied Territories Bill
Paul Hosford: Nobody in a rush to applaud Government's version of Occupied Territories Bill
Micheál Martin hits back at opposition TDs who criticised the omission of services from the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 

Tue, 26 May, 2026

Jillian Godsil: Aidan Turner or not — after Epstein and #MeToo I just can't stomach ‘Rivals’
Jillian Godsil: Aidan Turner or not — after Epstein and #MeToo I just can't stomach ‘Rivals’
Having enjoyed Jilly Cooper's bonkbusters in the 1980s, a more mature Jillian Godsil now says: 'I am over stories that romanticise the innocent young woman being claimed by an older, powerful man'

Tue, 26 May, 2026

View of the European Court of Justice for human rights with the two cylindrical buildings of the court halls in the evening
Politicians playing political football with European Court of Human Rights to gain anti-migrant votes
Victims of abuse by institutions and by the British Army have got justice in the Strasbourg court. Why is the Irish Government playing politics with it asks Andrew Forde

Tue, 26 May, 2026

People think 'Irish food culture' is hot chicken rolls and Taytos — we need to change that
People think 'Irish food culture' is hot chicken rolls and Taytos — we need to change that
A conversation at an awards ceremony in the UK showed me the contrast between how foodies think of Irish food and how it's experienced by most people - super ingredients versus overfeeding and ultra processed junk

Mon, 25 May, 2026

Offshore Energy Skills event
Ali Sheridan: It's a key moment for climate transition — we must show people the benefits
We need a more open and honest conversation about our climate transition, and about how people will be supported through change, writes Ali Sheridan

Mon, 25 May, 2026

Irish presidential election
Fianna Fáil’s by-election collapse exposes bigger problem: what does the party stand for?
Bertie Ahern's transactionalism is spoken about in reverential terms, his teams keeping track of every representation so that it could be sold back to the constituent at election time

Mon, 25 May, 2026

Dublin Central by-election
Theresa Reidy: By-election results will be troubling for Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin 
Sinn Féin has been positioning itself to lead a left government after the next general election. On these results, the party will be some way off the running

Mon, 25 May, 2026

My grandmother fought for reproductive rights over 50 years ago — why are we still fighting?
My grandmother fought for reproductive rights over 50 years ago — why are we still fighting?
The three-day wait for an abortion in Ireland is medically unnecessary, patronising, and unjustified, writes Aisling McGee

Sun, 24 May, 2026

PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-GAZA-CONFLICT
In the Occupied West Bank, I witnessed apartheid
Smaller than Co Galway, the occupied West Bank has over 900 military checkpoints, roadblocks, and barriers

Sun, 24 May, 2026

Yves Sakila protest
Emer O'Neill: I was born here. I represented Ireland — when will I be Irish enough for the racists? 
Yves Sakila's death after an alleged attempted theft inspires EMER O'NEILL to ponder racism in Ireland — against immigrants, certainly, but also against black Irish people

Sat, 23 May, 2026

Reese Witherspoon
Joyce Fegan: Even girl bosses Reese Witherspoon and Mel Robbins can't convince women we need AI
Cui bono — who benefits — from all of us blindly adopting another Silicon Valley tool we never even asked for? 

Sat, 23 May, 2026

Anti-Trump protesters rally outside CBS Late Show Studio over Colbert Firing
Marion McKeone: By getting him fired, Trump has unwittingly cemented Stephen Colbert’s stature as a cultural icon
As the billions of views Colbert draws on YouTube and other social media outlets illustrate, there is an enormous thirst for his brand of political satire, one that Trump’s authoritarian tendencies have not sated

Sat, 23 May, 2026

Israel kidnapped and mistreated Irish citizens. When will the Government act?
Israel kidnapped and mistreated Irish citizens. When will the Government act?
Even as Ben-Gvir livestreamed his video taunting kidnapped flotilla activists, a majority of TDs in Dáil Éireann voted down the Occupied Territories Bill. SARAH CLANCY isn't holding her breath for a better response

Fri, 22 May, 2026

Micheál Martin invites Pope Leo to visit Ireland during state visit to Vatican
Micheál Martin invites Pope Leo to visit Ireland during state visit to Vatican
But Martin may not be in office for such a papal visit: Taoiseach's Paris and Rome trip during a by-election campaign comes amid rumours he may step down as party leader after Ireland's EU presidency

Fri, 22 May, 2026

Cruise Ship MV Hondius To Dock In Tenerife
We must be better prepared to prevent the next pandemic
Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks expose a gap not in our ability to respond, but in our willingness to anticipate, prevent, and use precaution, experts say

Fri, 22 May, 2026

Pouring, kitchen and man with wine, home and alcohol to relax on weekend, window and guy in apartment. Lens flare, break and per
Sheila Gilheany: New alcohol labels should have been introduced today, but lobbyists derailed them
More than half of all deaths in Ireland are caused by four industries — alcohol, tobacco, fossil fuels, and unhealthy foods, all of which resist public health measures

Fri, 22 May, 2026

Rents and house prices up in Limerick and Cork as Munster cities become investor playgrounds
Rents and house prices up in Limerick and Cork as Munster cities become investor playgrounds
Rents have increased across Munster counties and house purchase prices have more than doubled since 2015, while 14,000 households wait for social housing 

Fri, 22 May, 2026

Podcast: The rise of Kneecap and what Cork audiences can expect from their live shows
Podcast: The rise of Kneecap and what Cork audiences can expect from their live shows
Eoghan O'Sullivan fills in for Mick Clifford and is joined by music journalist Dean Van Nguyen

 Listen | Thu, 21 May, 2026

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