Essay: Ireland at the crossroads – can the ancient Brehon laws guide the republic away from anti-immigrant sentiment?
Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, CHRISTINA KINEALY, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at the challenges immigration poses for new Prime Minister Simon Harris – and how ancient Brehon laws may provide an answer…
Harris completes steadfast journey to become Ireland’s youngest premier
Dublin, Ireland Reuters When Simon Harris made headlines in his local County Wicklow newspaper in 2003 for criticising the government, the future Irish prime minister was described as “a well-known local activist”. He was 16-years-old. Now 37, Harris became Ireland’s youngest ever premier on Tuesday, an ascent that while swift owing to Leo Varadkar’s shock […]
Harris pledges “reset” as he becomes Irish PM in waiting
Athlone, Ireland Reuters Simon Harris became Irish prime minister in waiting on Sunday, pledging to help small business, focus on law and order and tackle migration after his unopposed election to succeed Leo Varadkar as leader of the governing Fine Gael party. Harris, a 37-year-old minister best known for helping steer the country’s initial response […]
Ireland’s Simon Harris poised to become Prime Minister
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Ireland’s Simon Harris, a 37-year-old politician best known for helping steer the country’s response to COVID-19, entered the contest to become its prime minister on Thursday following Leo Varadkar’s shock exit. Harris, currently the only candidate in the race, will become Ireland’s youngest prime minister if he succeeds. He will also have […]
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar unexpectedly quits
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday he would step down as Ireland’s Prime Minister in a surprise move, saying the country’s coalition government would stand a better chance of reelection under another leader. Varadkar said he had asked his Fine Gael party to elect a new leader ahead of its annual conference on […]
From four-leaf clovers to some unexpected history, all you need to know about St Patrick’s Day
New York, US AP If it’s March, and it’s green, it must be St Patrick’s Day. The day honouring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of […]
Unexpected defeat of referendums shows growing power of Ireland’s traditional Catholics
Dublin, Ireland RNS At a Mass said in Latin on Sunday, Ireland’s traditional Catholics declared political victory, days after a pair of referendums aimed at secularizing the Irish Constitution were unexpectedly and resoundingly defeated. On Friday, the Irish Government put two measures to a vote that would have extended the rights of unmarried couples in […]
Irish Government “walloped” by referendum defeats
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Irish voters have rejected proposals to replace constitutional references to the makeup of a family and a mother’s “duties in the home” in a significant defeat for the government. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had pitched the vote, held on Friday to coincide with International Women’s Day and counted on Saturday, as a […]
Ireland to vote on removing ‘sexist’ references to women from constitution
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Ireland is poised to vote on Friday – International Women’s Day – to replace constitutional references on the importance of a woman’s “life within the home”, the latest attempt to update its socially conservative 1937 founding document. While social change in the once deeply Catholic nation has spurred the removal of bans […]
Sight-Seeing: Poverty, potatoes and peace – timely lessons from Ireland’s turbulent history?
HEATHER KEITH, a writer with Baptist World Aid Australia, looks at what experience has taught her about praying and hoping for peace in our conflicted world…