I was honoured to speak at a ‘Catholic Careers Summit’ for young people recently in Dublin’s Larkhill-Whitehall parish. This event brought young adult Catholics together to think about their careers in the context of their faith. What would be the challenges for living their faith while practising their chosen profession? And what opportunities might their work offer to bring themselves…
Take a €14 billion Apple windfall. Mix in the best-ever corporation tax returns, and what do you get? Election speculation. Lots of it. With Government coffers so awash with cash, the temptation may be too great for the Taoiseach. We may be days, or possibly weeks away from starters’ orders. Why wait until the spring, when another overpriced bicycle…
A view from the Seanad Before going into politics, I spent a brief period practising at the Bar. Going in and out of the Bridewell courthouse, I was often struck by the bold inscription above me: ‘Fiat Iustitia Ruat Caelum’, i.e. ‘Let Justice be Done though the Heavens Fall’. It is an important statement of intent that should apply to every…
Our President, Michael D. Higgins, let himself and the rest of us badly down with his recent comments about protests at public libraries. Sensible people are concerned about the highly inappropriate and sexualised, not to say obscene, material being pushed at children in the 12-17 year old children’s sections these days. Not the President, though. He referred…
The World is Big and I’m so Small’, is the title of a children’s book that I’ve never read. Maybe I should pick it up sometime. I suspect a lot of voters, as they prepare their list for the European and local election candidates, feel a bit daunted by the list of problems facing the…
The first person I met in the car park last Wednesday was Michael Healy-Rae. As usual, he had the phone to his ear. “Just a minute, Rónán,” he said, temporarily putting his caller on hold. “I’m hearing there’s a political earthquake about to happen and journalists are being summoned to Government buildings.” “You’re joking,” I…
The Government and the main opposition parties have a lot to think about. They should start by apologising to the people today, writes Rónán Mullen The people of Ireland have had their first chance in four years to give their view as an electorate on the way they are being governed. This referendum result is…
A view from the Seanad The statement from the Catholic bishops on the referendums on ‘Family’ and ‘Care’ on March 8 is covered elsewhere in these pages, but I’d like to offer a couple of observations. Bishops, these days, are slow to say ‘Vote Yes or No’ to anything. They rightly judge that any direct exhortation can…
A ‘No, No’ on the two referendum proposals would be an appropriate response. My Seanad colleague Michael McDowell was right to refer to this choice of polling day as a ‘gimmick’. It might otherwise be harmless were it not that, in order to secure the vote for this date, the Government rushed, and effectively subverted, the normal…