Martina Devlin

Catherine Corless stands beside the list of childrens names at the Tuam mother and babies site

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Martina Devlin Opinion Cruel solution suited Church, State and society – everyone but mothers and babies

Echoes from the past are sounding, reverberations from a socially conservative Ireland we thought was boxed up and dumped in history’s underground cellars. This week we came face to face with the State’s system for dealing with unmarried mothers – arrangements that are easier to explain than forgive.

President Donald Trump has been able to peddle his conspiracy theories unopposed on social media

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Martina Devlin Opinion Liberty given to social media giants needs to be revoked to avoid feeding more beasts

‘Every once in a while there’s a day with an absolute right and an absolute wrong. But those days almost always include body counts.” The words are a US president’s.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster walks to her car following a television interview outside the Stormont Parliament building in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters/Phil Noble

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Martina Devlin Opinion Shifting tides of UK politics flow towards Irish acceptance we’re stronger together

‘Unity is no longer a thing I can influence. Look out the window: the Rhine flows by there. You can’t stop it. I can’t stop it. It will reach the sea no matter what we do. That is the flow towards unity.”

Pope Francis had canonised almost 900 new saints by the end of 2019. Photo: Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion Good deeds deserve recognition but the fantastical acts of saints belong in great works of fiction

St Nicholas is among the better-known saints, if only because of his reinvention as Santa Claus. He was reputed to be extremely generous, which aligns with the Santy tradition, although stories that he ate only on Wednesdays and Fridays are at odds with the pot-bellied imagery.

Stormont by night. Photo: Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye

Time to open the debate on a united Ireland, urges Stormont politician Trevor Lunn

A sitting politician in Stormont outside nationalist groupings has opened the door to a discussion on a united Ireland.

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Martina Devlin Opinion Antipathy to an all-island Covid response is illogical and will cost lives in the North

Some people have had enough of being told how to lead their lives by doctors, either speaking to us directly or using politicians as mouthpieces. But doctors have earned this right during a pandemic.

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Martina Devlin Opinion After years of bluster and hyperbole, Brexit is finally meeting harsh reality

Everyone has some inclination towards that consoling condition known as Having It Both Ways but Brexiteers have made an art form of it.

US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take a more compassionate approach to undocumented people in the US than Donald Trump. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President-elect Biden to take ‘more humane approach’ to undocumented Irish, Congressman insists

THE undocumented Irish in the US can hope for good news soon under Joe Biden’s presidency.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in London on Thursday for negotiations. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Martina Devlin Opinion Deal or no deal, whatever Brexit we get at this stage will be an economic nightmare

Gleaming smiles, confident body language, “sunlit uplands”-style phrases. Some details still to be ironed out but you can trust us – that’s going to be the message. Best possible deal was struck under the circumstances, etc.

Martina Devlin Opinion Deal or no deal, whatever Brexit we get at this stage will be an economic nightmare

Gleaming smiles, confident body language, “sunlit uplands”-style phrases. Some details still to be ironed out but you can trust us – that’s going to be the message. Best possible deal was struck under the circumstances, etc.

New look: Paschal Donohoe needs to scrutinise Covid business support. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion Covid subsidies scheme needs a tweak – too many people are making a profit

Looking for logic during a once-in-a-century pandemic? Send out a search party. All sorts of contradictory behaviour has been highlighted, from some public resistance to mask-wearing to mixed messaging from the Government. Still, we expect logic from one direction at least.

Margaret Keane, originally from Co Meath, who died in July 2018. Her family wanted to put the words “in ár gcroíthe go deo” (in our hearts forever) on her headstone but were blocked by a court ruling. Photo: Chris Egan

Family’s long battle for Irish inscription on mother’s gravestone is raised in UK parliament

The plight of a family battling to use five words of the Irish language on their mother’s headstone has been raised in the House of Commons in London.

Members of the public wearing face masks at the site of the Clerys department store in Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion Ho-ho-ho is a no-no-no – but we deserve to meet with loved ones this Christmas

“The bubble, blown too thin, Seems nigh on bursting,” says Robert Browning. Our social solidarity bubble is feeling the strain, not least because of uncertainty over Christmas – it will surely pop if the Government’s arrangements prove too restrictive.

Margaret Keane, who died in 2018. Her family have been banned from inscribing a message in Gaelic on her gravestone without an English translation

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‘We’re fighting for right to display our heritage’ – family’s legal battle in UK for Gaeilge on mother’s gravestone without English translation

The Keane family are in the midst of a legal battle over five words they hoped would be used to remember their mother.

Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion Insensitivity is not a sacking offence – far bigger challenges than ‘Golfgate’ lie ahead

It seems a lot of people are keen to see Séamus Woulfe’s head on a platter but few want to wield the axe. In any case, some of those pushing for his decapitation don’t have access to a cleaver.

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Martina Devlin Opinion Drain the swamp? Even as he sinks, Trump is muddying the waters with his smears

Pennsylvania is no stranger to momentous decisions. In its historic city of Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, while 11 years later delegates deliberated on whether the US should be governed as a republic or monarchy.

President Donald Trump accompanied by first lady Melania Trump reacts to early results in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Photo: Reuters/Carlos Barria

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Martina Devlin Opinion Casting doubt on poll validity is a step too far, even for the Trumpeter

STOP that counting. I’m behind but I’m in front. I’m still the President. Me, me. Stop that counting. Only I can make America great again. If I lose it’s because they cheated. But I won’t lose because I’m a winner. Stop that counting.

Our built heritage matters for its own sake, as part of the fabric of our environment, but also as a tourism draw. We pay lip service to the idea of historic architecture. Yet cultural vandalism is allowed to have its way. Stock image

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Martina Devlin Opinion We treasure our writers - but throw away the ghostly remains of buildings they left behind

Today is the time of year when we like to surrender ourselves to the Halloween tradition of dimming the lights and frightening ourselves with ghost stories.

Grand plan: “Micheál Martin has no right to rule out such a plebiscite. It is the people’s right.” Photo: PA

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Martina Devlin Opinion Border poll deniers - like the Taoiseach - are no friends to the democratic process

'Border poll deniers" were cited by a prominent political figure yesterday, who suggested a referendum on Irish unity was inevitable and preparations should be made to argue one's case. Was it Micheál Martin, leader of Fianna Fáil - 'the Republican Party'? Not a chance of that in 2020's topsy-turvy world.

Experiment: Sweden has tried ‘herd immunity’ but it is seen by many health experts as dangerous

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Martina Devlin Opinion Herd immunity keeps resurfacing but it's dangerous and flawed and distracts from need to cooperate with public health measures

Let it rip, says the herd-immunity brigade. Hive off those inconvenient old people and allow the rest of society to resume their rightful role at the economic coalface.

Green Party influence: Minister for Biodiversity Pippa Hackett with Green Party leader Eamon Ryan in Dublin city centre yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney, Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion We'll aim to winter this one out, but Covid cannot leave us frozen as Brexit and climate change lurk

Knowledge is slender and hard-won compared with ignorance, which is vast and dangerous, observes the writer Rachel Cusk in her essay Coventry, from the collection by the same name.

The right road: Cycle paths are going to be more common in our towns and cities. Photo: Garrett White

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Martina Devlin Opinion It's time to get on our bikes and accept the personal and societal benefits of cycling

The best advice I have received was to take a day out from life occasionally. It's reclaimed time, something salvaged just for yourself. When I surrender myself to a stolen day, often it includes a cycle - partly because it's a form of transport in which dawdling along, admiring the sights or pausing for a coffee break is not frowned upon.

‘Pushed her luck’: Education Minister Norma Foley.
PHOTO: MAXWELLS

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Martina Devlin Opinion No point blaming outrageous fortune - this Government must start making its own luck

The Government is having a run of bad luck. A run of spectacularly bad luck. Its ministers may be convinced the universe is hell-bent on tripping them up.

Following the rules: A woman in a face mask walks at Baggot Street in Dublin’s city centre yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion Covid is testing our social contract - we must react by prioritising common good

It was Thomas Hobbes, the 17th-century English philosopher, who wrote: "Hell is truth seen too late." In his masterwork, Leviathan, he argues that peace and unity are best achieved through social contract.

In power but not in charge: Taoiseach Micheál Martin is facing criticism within his own ailing party

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Martina Devlin Opinion Divided Coalition has frittered away our unity of purpose to fight the pandemic

An attack of de Selbyism has broken out in Cabinet circles. The tell-tale symptom is a build-up of black air - darkness spreading - whenever ministers mention anything to do with the new strategy for living with Covid-19.

Destructive: British prime minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings. Photo: Simon Dawson/Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion Johnson and Cummings are wreaking chaos without care for law, reputation - or others

Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics, at the heart of which lies the principle that order and chaos are not necessarily polar opposites. Dominic Cummings appears to have imported this theory into the British political system.

Wrong tone: Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has used an ‘it’s for your own good’ approach. PHOTO: FRANK McGRATH

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Martina Devlin Opinion Telling pubs to keep details of who ate what will just eat up what's left of public goodwill

It's sometimes said each actor gives the public their own Hamlet and not Shakespeare's. Similarly, on the political stage, every Taoiseach offers up their own version of leadership.

Apology: Phil Hogan resigned as European commissioner for trade this week after attending the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner last week. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

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Martina Devlin Opinion Sorry seems to be the hardest word - if you are too arrogant to accept you were wrong

Phil Hogan wouldn't have landed himself in such a pickle if he'd taken the precaution of consulting the 12th-century rabbi and philosopher Maimonides, a leading Torah scholar during the Middle Ages.

Saga: Dara Calleary (left) stepped down as Agriculture Minister, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin was less than clear in his message. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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Martina Devlin Opinion Coronavirus is smart - unlike, unfortunately, some people who are in positions of power

Sooner or later life shows its claws, says Russian writer Chekhov in his short story Gooseberries. We have just seen a demonstration of that. Containing the spread of Covid-19 remains a work in progress, actively thwarted by a toxic fusion of disarray and rule-flouting from our political class.

'Trumpery': Tánaiste Leo Varadkar criticised Sinn Féin this week on Twitter. Photo: Gerry Mooney

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Martina Devlin Opinion 'Ireland of equals' out of reach for women judging by Varadkar's self-serving tweets

Wistful speculation about a reconfigured world after the pandemic can be heard. Granted, it would make worthwhile use of a crisis - but let's not hold our breath, judging by the bounce-back to business as usual following the 2008 economic collapse.