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
'I left rubble, death and fear as Gaza became a graveyard'
'I left rubble, death and fear as Gaza became a graveyard'
As Gaza’s internet is cut again, Palestinian writer Eman Alhaj Ali — currently living in Ireland — shares her personal story of exile and heartbreak

Sun, 22 Jun, 2025

The events leading to Evan Fitzgerald's death deserve proper scrutiny
The events leading to Evan Fitzgerald's death deserve proper scrutiny
Evan Fitzgerald's entrapment and prosecution for firearms offences is considered a major factor in his suicide. How this is handled by the gardaí and the Department of Justice in its aftermath matters, writes Mick Clifford 

Fri, 20 Jun, 2025

TOPSHOT-US-ISRAEL-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-NETANYAHU
Donald Trump is 'all in' with Benjamin Netanyahu's illegal war on Iran
The West has been complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza and its overturning of the rules-based international order

Fri, 20 Jun, 2025

The Mick Clifford Podcast: What have Irish women been saying about their health? 
The Mick Clifford Podcast: What have Irish women been saying about their health? 
A major survey of women’s health in Ireland was carried out by the Irish Examiner 

 Listen | Thu, 19 Jun, 2025

 Listen |
Data centres are gobbling up water they cannot replace – there is a solution
Data centres are gobbling up water they cannot replace – there is a solution
Every Google search, photo upload, or ChatGPT response passes through a bank of high-powered, water-guzzling computers situated at a data centre, writes Muhammad Wakil Shahzad

Thu, 19 Jun, 2025

Israel politics
Dorcha Lee: Benjamin Netanyahu still stalling on US-brokered ceasefire deal in Gaza
The 13-point Witkoff framework proposes a 60-day ceasefire, with Israel’s adherence guaranteed by US president Donald Trump

Thu, 19 Jun, 2025

Nothing will improve at UHL without a problem-solving culture
Nothing will improve at UHL without a problem-solving culture
News again this week that UHL's A&E appears to be 'out of control' won't cause any surprise - but it will cause stress and worry for thousands of vulnerable patients, writes Siobhain Danaher

Thu, 19 Jun, 2025

Assessment of needs system backlog
Cara Darmody: The law breakers are at the Cabinet table
Cara Darmody is only 14, but she's been promised by three different taoisigh they would fix issues with assessments of needs. All three have failed dramatically, she says

Wed, 18 Jun, 2025

Land Development Agency sod-turning at Clongriffin
Enhanced tenant protections are welcome, but housing reforms fall short  
The reforms announced recently around security of tenure are welcome, but there needs to be a focus on new construction to counter the impact of the RPZ reforms, writes Michael Byrne

Wed, 18 Jun, 2025

Cianan Brennan: Covid inquiry should include probe into procurement of ventilators
Cianan Brennan: Covid inquiry should include probe into procurement of ventilators
The Narooma verdict shows that in Ireland if you want justice, you’ll have to get it for yourself, and be prepared to wait a long, long time for it, writes Cianan Brennan

Tue, 17 Jun, 2025

Von der Leyen dice que la respuesta de Israel a Hamás "mostrará que es una democracia"
S Billy Kelleher: Ursula von der Leyen does not speak for the EU on Israel and Iran
This is not the first time the European Commission president has exceeded her powers in relation to foreign policy — when it comes to Israel, she just can't help herself

Tue, 17 Jun, 2025

Mick Clifford: Arts Council CEO Maureen Kennelly was an easy target for minister
S Mick Clifford: Arts Council CEO Maureen Kennelly was an easy target for minister
Minister O'Donovan has thrown Arts Council's Maureen Kennelly under the bus rather than properly deal with departmental dysfunction, writes Mick Clifford

Tue, 17 Jun, 2025

Menstrual cycle tracker mobile app on the smartphone screen in the hands of a woman. Modern technologies for tracking women's he
Dr Suzanne Crowe: FemTech can fight medical misogyny — but not if it’s going to be used to monitor us
FemTech is here to stay. We must ensure the hand guiding its use is an ethical one, writes Dr Suzanne Crowe, President of the Medical Council

Tue, 17 Jun, 2025

Iran US
Trump, Netanyahu and Khamenei — three angry old men who could get us all killed
Whether inept, driven by survival or corrupt, they are unfit to lead their countries, let alone make decisions that imperil the whole world

Mon, 16 Jun, 2025

Mick Clifford: Kyle Hayes got community service. But what exactly will he be doing?
Mick Clifford: Kyle Hayes got community service. But what exactly will he be doing?
When the main thrust of penal policy in government is to build more prisons, it appears highly questionable that there continues to be a failure to properly utilise the alternatives

Mon, 16 Jun, 2025

Envelop for an eviction notice to a defaulting renter in due to missed rent in recession
The landlord: 'I never signed up to be that f***ing b***ard'
I shouldn't have to be put in the position of giving my tenants notices of eviction, but rent control changes are forcing me to sell up and get out 

Sun, 15 Jun, 2025

The concept of home ownership and Euro
The tenant: 'Safeguards' are just guidelines on how far landlords can push their luck
As renters know all too well, there is a world of difference between what landlords are allowed to do and what they're able to do

Sun, 15 Jun, 2025

TOPSHOT-POLAND-POLITICS-VOTE
Maria Walsh: Polish election result shows we cannot take trust in Europe for granted
The election of right-wing populist Karol Nawrocki as president, with his close ties to Donald Trump and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, shows we cannot ignore the steady erosion of the centre-ground

Sun, 15 Jun, 2025

Close Up Of Person With Addiction To Online Gambling Or Shopping Using Credit Card And Mobile Phone
Gambling industry raises 'concerns' over new regulations, watchdog says
Firms concerned about how much licence would cost, among other issues, Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Elderly care home patient is helped by male nurse in the common space of the dementia home
After building up years of public trust, what’s gone wrong at Hiqa?
The independent authority has gone from effective watchdog to box-ticking exercise

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Donald Trump
Israel’s strikes on Iran show Trump is unable to restrain Netanyahu as Middle East slips closer to chaos
Critics have said the US decision to retreat from the region has led to a greater likelihood of conflict

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Cianan Brennan: Why didn't government admit its error with biometric public services cards?
Cianan Brennan: Why didn't government admit its error with biometric public services cards?
Data Protection Commission slapped a fine of €550,000 — more than half the maximum allowable — on the State

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Old broken shoes of a little boy as a symbol for child poverty
Rosita Sweetman: I was poor when the country was — being poor in a rich Ireland must be torture
Ireland is now, statistically, one of the richest countries in the world - but child poverty, or children in consistent poverty, has increased by an astonishing 78% in the past year, according to a new report

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Israel Palestinians
The Mick Clifford Podcast: Fintan Drury on the forgotten people of Gaza
The plight of the Palestinian people has long been the issue that much of the west simply doesn’t want to know about. 

 Listen | Thu, 12 Jun, 2025

 Listen |
Royal College of Psychiatrists report
Psychiatry cannot be allowed to dominate debate on Mental Health Act 
In all the debate about the Mental Health Act, it is troubling that the discussion has been among doctors and commentators — and not those directly impacted, write Jennifer Hough and Liam MacGabhann

Thu, 12 Jun, 2025

Young woman lies on the bed and looks through the window of the sleeper train.
Europe was promised a new golden age of the night train. Why are we still waiting?
This summer, as you stand in interminable queues at an airport, or stare at the bumper of the car ahead of you in a traffic jam, remember all of this could be better. We need a night-train renaissance

Wed, 11 Jun, 2025

Allowing nursing home residents to live with dignity is very least we can deliver
Allowing nursing home residents to live with dignity is very least we can deliver
For those of us who work with nursing home residents, the revelations in 'RTÉ Investigates' were sadly unsurprising, writes Dr Joanne Fegan

Wed, 11 Jun, 2025

Could AI end grind schools?
Could AI end grind schools?
AI in education is not the Messiah, but it could improve things, especially where resources are tight 

Wed, 11 Jun, 2025

TOPSHOT-CORRECTION / PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT
Why is it so difficult to discuss genocide?
We find it difficult when using the word genocide, due to the challenges around what it really means, combined with the fear and silence imposed and necessary for it to thrive, writes Morgan McMonagle

Wed, 11 Jun, 2025

Knife crime sentencing
Elaine Loughlin: Browne becomes minister for muddled messaging amid rental change confusion
New measures are aimed at 'attracting private investment while protecting tenants'

Tue, 10 Jun, 2025

Government can't replace triple lock with vague criteria for deploying our troops
Government can't replace triple lock with vague criteria for deploying our troops
We do not want future deployments decided by tight Dáil votes, where partisan, government versus opposition, considerations dominate, writes Derek Mooney

Tue, 10 Jun, 2025

Sad boy
Denise Charlton: Child poverty must not be our shameful legacy
Almost 5,000 children in emergency accommodation and 230,000 in material deprivation. Something has gone badly wrong

Tue, 10 Jun, 2025

Land Development Agency sod-turning at Clongriffin
Government yet again tinkering around the edges of the housing crisis with rent pressure zone plans
The opposition, homeless charities, and the housing industry itself are all critical of housing minister James Browne's proposed reform of rent pressure zones

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Is more congestion in Cork City an inevitability?
Is more congestion in Cork City an inevitability?
New report suggests we need to be far more ambitious about increasing public transport — or we remain doomed to sit in traffic

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Parents finding it harder to look away from scandals at CHI â€” if they ever could
Parents finding it harder to look away from scandals at CHI â€” if they ever could
The series of scandals is now threatening trust between parents and healthcare workers, as well as between staff and their employer, writes Niamh Griffin

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Trump
Why the Musk and Trump relationship has broken down â€” a psychologist explains
How will the most powerful man in the world respond to this sort of rejection from the richest man in the world?

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Podcast: Inside Ireland's first Bitcoin Conference
Podcast: Inside Ireland's first Bitcoin Conference
Listen to Irish Examiner business reporter Emer Walsh as she describes the conspiracies and distrust on display at the event

 Listen | Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

 Listen |
Teen woman with headache holding her head
Children are being re-traumatised as abusers weaponise the courts system
The contested idea of 'parental alienation' is giving abusers cover as court officials are not trained in domestic abuse 

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Gender based violence survivors
Open letter to ministers: Stop the use of clinical notes in rape cases
More than 60 professionals have co-signed a letter to five ministers saying defence lawyers should not be able to use clinical/therapy notes of rape and sexual assault victims as evidence in court

Mon, 09 Jun, 2025

Israel Palestinians
Famine in Gaza is hardening rhetoric in Israel
A new poll by Israel's left leaning newspaper Haaretz found that 82% of Israeli Jews favour expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza 

Sun, 08 Jun, 2025

The Mick Clifford Podcast: Clodagh Hawe's sister on why investigation into murder suicide should be published
The Mick Clifford Podcast: Clodagh Hawe's sister on why investigation into murder suicide should be published
Jacqueline Connolly is this week’s guest on the podcast

 Listen | Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

 Listen |
Thinking global and acting local sees our musical traditions survive and thrive
Thinking global and acting local sees our musical traditions survive and thrive
Joining Comhaltas and realising the people you're hefting chairs around the local halls with are trad superstars who have to be on the 'Late Late' that night is like seeing Taylor Swift running the U12 county final WhatsApp group, writes Darragh McManus

Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

Andrea Horan: Why are flags on fingernails less valid than those in windows?
Andrea Horan: Why are flags on fingernails less valid than those in windows?
We need to ask ourselves why some art forms are considered credible and others the butt of jokes, writes nail salon owner and activist Andrea Horan 

Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

Ireland is Israel's second biggest trading partner — we need to look at why
Ireland is Israel's second biggest trading partner — we need to look at why
Despite strong public support for sanctions, Ireland’s trade with Israel is booming — and multinationals are driving the growth

Thu, 05 Jun, 2025

We need to talk about our nursing homes
We need to talk about our nursing homes
Caring for older people is hard work - physically, emotionally and intellectually - so it needs to be valued and resourced. Prime Time shows that is not happening, writes Professor Rónán Collins

Thu, 05 Jun, 2025

How Cork City Council can move on from its robotrees fiasco
How Cork City Council can move on from its robotrees fiasco
The local authority should apologise for wasting taxpayers' money — and learn to listen to experts when considering matters beyond its own expertise, writes John Sodeau

Thu, 05 Jun, 2025

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