Opinion

Wednesday 11 December 2019

St Vincent de Paul Society released a report which revealed that in Ireland, which has the fastest growing economy in Europe, 140,000 children are living in homes that are cold and damp. (Stock Image)

Colette Browne: 'The rich get richer and the poor and middle-class stagnate because the system is designed that way'

Ireland has the fastest growing economy in the EU and the third highest quality of life in the world. So why are so many of us barely keeping our heads above water?

Shocking: Families queue up at The Lending Hand, a soup kitchen feeding up to 300 people every Monday on College Green in Dublin. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

Comment

Rory Hearne: 'We have the means to end homelessness - but our politicians lack the will to do so'

Imagine the entire population of towns like Wicklow, Tramore, or Ballina being uprooted overnight, along with their children, and forced into homelessness.

Former FAI CEO John Delaney. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Comment

Sinead Ryan: 'How Delaney birthday do took the cake'

I've a birthday not too far away. Normally I'd go for a quiet dinner with family and friends, minimal on the gifts and no big hullaballoo.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also been caught out on his claims about no checks on goods going between Northern Ireland and Britain.

Editorial

Editorial: 'Johnson's day of calamity offers new hope to Labour'

After all the focus groups, Twitter storms and spin cycles, could it be the picture of sick Jack Williment (4), forced to sleep on a pile of coats while waiting for treatment at a Leeds Hospital, that comes back to bite Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson’s dream is destined to steadily become their nightmare.

Letters

Letters to the Editor: 'Ireland will not escape lightly if Johnson comes to power'

A chill wind is blowing across British politics, leaving in its wake a sense of oppressive foreboding and despair, fuelled by the death of truth and integrity and the ruthless exploitation of a half-baked populism.

Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson arrives to speak at a general election campaign rally, near Gloucester. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Comment

Ian O'Doherty: '2019 has been rotten for Irish politics - but at least we haven't fallen as low as the United Kingdom'

As we prepare to wave goodbye to the year and enter a new...

Political failure: Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and the DUP’s Arlene Foster are ignoring the NHS crisis in the North. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Comment

Suzanne Breen: 'Health now a national emergency in North but Sinn Féin and DUP turn a blind eye'

One thousand people turned out at the Ulster Hall. Boris Johnston the British Prime Minister denounced, impassioned speeches from young folk and older hands, the pledge that citizens will not stand idly by if London...

Emotional reaction: The Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin adorned with coats intended for the homeless

Comment

Roslyn Dee: 'I understand the good intention but people on our streets do not need coats, they need homes'

Anger is a strange emotion - it can bring out both the worst and the...

'This process is all about what you remember rather than what you really know or understand.' Stock picture

Comment

Frank Coughlan: 'Exams a time for revision... and prayer'

All this week, and into next, Trinity students will be trudging out to that vast, Baltic airplane hangar that is Simmonscourt to frantically scribble down on paper all the stuff they can recall from that blitz of lectures and tutorials they've sat through, or not, since September.

Editorial

Editorial: 'Johnson can't be allowed to mess with border deal'

Analysis of the blindingly obvious is normally a waste of time, but living as we do in the post-truth era it is sometimes necessary if only to maintain a connection with reality.

Sports Minister Shane Ross. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Letters

Letters to the Editor: 'This Government is great at dictating nonsense to us'

Sports Minister Shane Ross says he’s willing to restore more than €2m in funding to grassroots soccer clubs.

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Colette Browne: 'The rich get richer and the poor and middle-class stagnate because the system is designed that way'

Rory Hearne: 'We have the means to end homelessness - but our politicians lack the will to do so'

Sinead Ryan: 'How Delaney birthday do took the cake'

Editorial: 'Johnson's day of calamity offers new hope to Labour'

Letters to the Editor: 'Ireland will not escape lightly if Johnson comes to power'

Ian O'Doherty: '2019 has been rotten for Irish politics - but at least we haven't fallen as low as the United Kingdom'

Suzanne Breen: 'Health now a national emergency in North but Sinn Féin and DUP turn a blind eye'

Roslyn Dee: 'I understand the good intention but people on our streets do not need coats, they need homes'

Frank Coughlan: 'Exams a time for revision... and prayer'

Editorial: 'Johnson can't be allowed to mess with border deal'

Letters to the Editor: 'This Government is great at dictating nonsense to us'

Editorial: 'Johnson's day of calamity offers new hope to Labour' Editorial

Colette Browne: 'The rich get richer and the poor and middle-class stagnate because the... Comment

Sinead Ryan: 'How Delaney birthday do took the cake' Comment

Letters to the Editor: 'Ireland will not escape lightly if Johnson comes to power' Letters

Ian O'Doherty: '2019 has been rotten for Irish politics - but at least we haven't... Comment

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Eilis O'Hanlon: 'Let's see what happens when the left takes charge'

Kim Bielenberg: 'How 'unpopular' Healy-Raes still hold keys to the Kingdom'

Daddy's home: fathers and the paternity leave dilemma

'I've no desire to see him in prison... I feel like he's in hell' - the Irish woman who helped bring down Harvey Weinstein

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Ian O'Doherty: 'Euthanasia will be next big cultural battleground - and it's time we faced that uncomfortable...

Editor's Choice

Rory Hearne: 'We have the means to end homelessness - but our politicians...

Comment

Rory Hearne: 'We have the means to end homelessness - but our politicians lack the will to do so'

The grandson of Mayo and Tipp emigrants who holds the keys to No 10 Downing Street

Mary McCarthy: 'Women have to share the blame when men don't do their bit around the house'

Mary O'Rourke: 'We'll all regret it forever if we don't help our small farmers'

John Daly: 'Penny Dinners' warm work is no small change'

Dr Ciara Kelly: 'Spare a thought for those not feeling the spirit of Christmas'

Eilis O'Hanlon: 'Let's see what happens when the left takes charge'

Ciara O'Connor: 'I'm A Celeb is no Love Island - there's too little snogging and too many clothes'

Richard Curran: 'Makhlouf lays down firm marker with the banks on his watch'

Wendy Grace: 'The church can open its doors to a fresh era of family faith'

Columnists

Sinead Ryan: 'How Delaney birthday do took the cake'

Bill Linnane: 'The upside of recoiling from human touch is I never get lice'

John Masterson: So you think you're shy? Join the club

Roddy Doyle's Charlie Savage: Using the c-word too early used to land me in a whole lot of trouble as a kid

Millennial Diary

Liam Thornton: 'Direct provision Just like in the past, the Irish solution is to hide away the problem'

Basic B*tch: 'Prosecco made me do it'

John Masterson: 'Just 30 seconds and I know you already'

Ian O'Doherty: The cranks have turned into a zombie horde - flee or fight!

Ian O'Doherty: 'Baron Cohen has inadvertently made the best rebuttal of his own argument'

Letters

Letters to the Editor: 'Ireland will not escape lightly if Johnson comes to power'

Letters to the Editor: 'Church teaching role flaws'

Letters to the Editor: 'From waste of money on children's hospital to disgrace on housing, FG's days look...

Letters to the Editor: 'Vatican’s concordat with Nazis did not make it an ally'

Letters to the Editor: 'Myth of Church's charity to State persists down the years'

Letters to the Editor: 'Birth of new baby Jesus era'

Letters to the Editor: 'We should all give ourselves a few moments to reflect on miracle and wonder of a child's birth'

Letters to the Editor: 'If you have emigrated, stay away - this State is broken'

Letters to the Editor: 'The Vatican has plenty of influence to be getting on with'

Letters to the Editor: 'FF policy on housing leaves more questions than answers'

Editorial

Editorial: 'Johnson's day of calamity offers new hope to Labour'

Editorial: 'Housing requires a proactive approach'

Editorial: 'The FAI old guard deserves to be booted into touch'

Editorial: 'TDs have enough work in tackling our multiple crises'

Editorial: 'Hogan has key role amid Pledge of greater EU unity'

Editorial: 'The real crisis in our midst'

Editorial: 'This state's broken health service fails our elderly'

Editorial: 'Politicians must be held to account for printer fiasco'

Editorial: 'Farmers' 'beef' is justified - but gridlock won't solve it'

Editorial: 'New speeding penalties are a matter of life and death'