Israeli hostages not a priority for ministers planning Gaza takeover

Those of us who uphold the UN charter and support the right of Israel, a sovereign UN member state, to exist within its internationally recognised lawful boundaries and to defend that sovereignty – and that is the position of the great, great majority both of Irish and European citizens – are equally entitled to call […]

EU’s weakness shows up in migration as well as tariffs

It remains to be seen whether the so-called deal on tariffs announced on Sunday between the United States and European Union, imposing a general 15 per cent tariff on nearly all EU member states’ exports to the US, is a serious economic setback for the bloc in general or the Republic in particular. The official – and […]

You might think a planning application for a windfarm is good news. You’d be wrong

A recent planning application to An Coimisúin Pleanála has been made by a limited liability company called Gort Windfarms Limited (GWL). It concerns a windfarm on Slieve Aughty in rural County Galway with 70 major wind turbines with generating capacity to power 30,000 homes. You might think that was good news, bearing in mind that we […]

Many people won’t decide how to vote in a Border poll until they see what’s on offer

On July 12th, the BBC aired an hour-long segment on the main Orange marches held across Northern Ireland and included a piece on the earlier march in less-clement weather at Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal. Marches this year in glorious weather attracted record numbers of participants and onlookers compared with recent years. Colourful, musical and sometimes even flamboyant, there were more than […]