One by one, we are losing those who survived the Holocaust and could say ‘I was there’The age of living witnesses to the Holocaust is ending. But their warning must live on
No one’s laughing at Ireland’s unsophisticated ‘peann luaidhe’ elections nowAn electoral system is only as good as the people believe it to be – and Irish people rightly have a lot of faith in ours
The US will face a reckoning one day. In the meantime, Trump just gets more volatileMiddle East chaos, looting of public purse and collapse in respect for US just 16 months into his second term
Rotunda’s defiance of public policy shows us how some are born more equalLet this sink in: a hospital that gets €100m a year in State funding is sticking two fingers up to the State’s Sláintecare policy
Local authorities must take centre stage in fight against rising toll of road deathsWe have designed roads to suit cars and trucks to the point where it is not safe to walk or cycle
Does your life lack direction? Too much urgency may be to blameTechnology, capitalism and democracy itself seem to be accelerating short-term thinking
‘An inside job’: US public opinion on Israel has shifted World View: Disgust at Israel’s assault on Gaza and Iran war have precipitated a shift, including among prominent Jews
It is no surprise people are inclined towards radical direct action given the level of dereliction in DublinLeaving aside issues of trespass and safety, there is an ethical question as to why buildings remain derelict or vacant
What would a radical alternative look like for this island? A reconnected Ireland could meet the challenges of the future and materially improve the lives of ordinary people
Women are now being commanded to ‘lift heavy’ in the gym by algorithmsNothing about floor-shaking music, other people’s sweat and alarming metal contraptions tempts me
Irish senior cycle reforms have resulted in some farcical situationsHow Additional Assessment Components are working in classrooms and an increasing dependence on iPads and Chromebooks raise concerns
Maybe we should ask Ireland’s small population of Jews what they think about anti-SemitismThe Occupied Territories Bill might not be the biggest issue involving relations with Israel in the coming months
Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI is a striking manifesto of Christian humanismRite and Reason: Magnifica Humanitas considers what it might mean to safeguard the best parts of being human in the time of artificial intelligence
AI is moving fast. Official Ireland is notLooking at the AI boom now recalls the chaotic dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, though there is little doubt that jobs are on the line
Lack of flood-warning system raises the question: what is the State’s job?Devoid of critical integration, our State retains no institutional memory, as lessons from failures remain trapped inside whichever department or agency handles it
Violence against women is increasing globally – and police forces are not immuneFiosrú has been given wider powers to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by serving gardaí
Ireland’s climate is on steroids. The extremes of recent days will become the normEurope as a whole is now warming twice as fast as the global average
Mark O'Connell: This, and worse, is happening to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custodyMuch was revealed by the way Israel’s minister of national security treated activists abducted while trying to bring aid to Gaza
Commemorating the US Declaration of Independence in Donald Trump’s America proves trickyPresent politics seem to explain the discordant interpretations being placed upon the US brief foundational statement
Mark Carney proves Donald Trump can win elections outside his own country Carney’s unexpected victory in the Canadian election proved the US president is such a political force that he can win elections outside his own country
Here is something the ‘soft left’ parties need to pay attention toDublin Central and Galway West byelections show centre ground in Irish politics is capable of responding to threats from either left or right
Social Democrats are attuned to the recycling young Gaelscoil parents – not so much lefty as modernIn show business they call what party leader Holly Cairns has ‘relatability’
RTÉ should be accountable for its spending, but critics’ focus is too selectiveQuestionable if row over highest-paid presenters is serving debate about public service broadcasting
I’m a school principal. I find it unsettling what First Holy Communion has becomeIf you ask about the religious aspect of the day then it is often brushed off as naive or beside the point
Arsenal have become the club of the Irish diasporaPremier League title triumph was met with an outpouring of joy from an exceedingly good-natured mob
Sinn Féin’s natural coalition partner is Fianna FáilSitting in government in Stormont has located the party quite clearly on the centre left, with the emphasis on centre
In an age of misinformation and provocation, here’s who stood by the people in recent byelectionsThese byelections were arguably the anti-immigration movement’s big moment
Taoiseach was wrong to dismiss comparisons with famine-era evictions. Here’s whyAt a time when evictions have surpassed 19th-century levels, it is ill-advised to suggest lessons can’t be learned from the past
Post-byelection squabble among left-wing parties does not inspire confidence for futureA new way of doing things helped lift Ireland out of the doldrums in the 1980s. We need another today
Should Ireland copy the UK’s generational ban on smoking? Debate: UK move seeks to balance personal freedom and benefits to individuals’ health and the common good
There is little interrogation of public spend on car parking amid bike shelter angstAstonishing amount of space in most urban areas is given over to the publicly-subsidised storage of private vehicles
A party that cannot get a tenth of the vote in Dublin or Galway retains power. This is dangerousIt feels like we’re in that strange hiatus now. Fianna Fáil has no ground beneath its feet
Women’s role in boycotts: ‘No woman in Ballinrobe would dream of washing him a cravat’It’s not immediately obvious how boycotting a campy, polyglot song-contest like the Eurovision could be politically impactful, but boycotting has long history
I don’t like alcohol. People think I’m a recovering alcoholic and that’s fine by meI’m not insulted and if it makes others more comfortable to think that’s why I’m not drinking, it’s fine by me
Amazon’s ‘flying rivers’ are reaching a tipping pointWorldview: Deforestation, beef farming, mining, drug trafficking, gold mining and land grabbing threaten the delicate balance of these vital systems
Byelections showed increasingly fractured politics with dangerous consensus on one issueAmong 31 candidates in two constituencies, no one questioned the giving powers of the magic money tree
Ireland’s politics of strategic ambiguity served us well – until it didn’t‘Not Fine Gael’ is not a policy platform for Ireland’s opposition, any more than ‘not Trump’ helped the US Democrats
Struggling to get your children off Fortnite? There’s a reason for thatGames are designed to offer something to capture your attention every 40 seconds. No wonder it’s a battle
Fewer people are having babies. Could smartphones be the reason?We already knew smartphones are the product of a kind capitalism that is profoundly anti-human
Tech workers are so well paid, many don’t bother to join a union. That’s going to changeTech companies are demonstrating AI’s prowess by shifting workers internally to AI projects. In turn, AI will reduce the number of employees
Presbyterian Church is celebrating 100 years of women in leadershipRite & Reason: In 1926, the Presbyterian General Assembly decided that ‘women shall be eligible ... as ruling elders on the same conditions as men’
Ireland is facing a cocktail of uncertainty - two key signs this week need to be heededMore tech cutbacks are likely and Ireland’s jobs market is stalling- a response is needed
The paradox of Donald Trump: his popularity has tanked, yet he remains untouchableWhy won’t Republicans try to save themselves by moving against him?
Why does this cheery, propulsive love song make me feel so wretched?It sounds like music, but not like anything that needed to be made
Who would want the most difficult job in Ireland? Quite a few peopleNo matter what the substantial anti-Micheál Martin faction says, his will be big shoes to fill
Residents, not tourists, are the best way to re-energise our cities In the middle of an acute housing crisis, is it clever to have most housing stock set aside for Airbnbs and short-term rentals?