Martina Devlin

The River Fane tracks the border between Ireland (left) and Northern Ireland (right). Photo: Getty

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Martina Devlin Opinion People need a blueprint to make truly informed decisions on the Border question

The Roman statesman Cicero tells us it is a mistake to compel others to believe and live the way we do, counting it as one of the six recurrent mistakes of humankind.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo: Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion As those in favour of Irish unity grow in numbers, the stars move closer to aligning

As hair and beauty salons, barber shops and outdoor attractions reopen north of the Border, shaggy-haired residents of the Republic are looking with envy at lockdown divergence between the jurisdictions, although catch-up will happen. But on the unity question, the two parts of this island are already moving into closer convergence.

Boris Johnson. Photo: Jessica Taylor/Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion A paradigm shift is afoot and if Scotland secedes, what Union is there to fight for?

Northern Ireland’s future has never appeared more ambiguous than in this, its centenary year, and only the rashest gambler would risk money on it lasting much beyond another decade.

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Martina Devlin Opinion My father was a bus driver during the Troubles, we would see flaming buses on the news and all you could do was hope he would come home

My father was a bus driver throughout the Troubles and dread for his safety became part of my childhood.

A master of striking imagery: White City is Kevin Power’s second novel. Photo by Steve Gallagher.

White City: A deep dive into the moral bankruptcy of Celtic Tiger culture

Remember the Celtic Tiger era? I once asked a former bond trader about the most outrageously wasteful use of money he recalled from that time. He reminisced about how a helicopter was hired for a group of financiers on a skiing jaunt so that, instead of queuing for the lift like everyone else, they were flown back to the top of the slopes every time they skied down.

The Moore Street area of Dublin city centre should be a vibrant cultural hub. It could draw in tourists and its history could be celebrated in a compelling and accessible way. Photo: Damien Eagers

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Martina Devlin Opinion The regeneration of Moore Street and its history has been delayed for far too long

If ghosts walk any of Dublin’s streets, they must surely pace the warren of lanes and alleyways around Moore Street – where our founding fathers and mothers helped to shape the national story.

A mother hugs her child after leaving flowers at the shrine which stands on a mass burial site, which was formerly part of the Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway. Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

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Martina Devlin Opinion Victims of mother and baby homes deserve much more than just our sympathy

‘It is, to some extent, our holocaust,” says lawyer Deirdre Moran. She’s acting on behalf of women and children who survived mother and baby homes – Ireland’s inhumane solution to the consequences of unmarried sex in an era when it was hidden away and denied.

The notorious Bessborough Mother and Baby Home

‘Many will be excluded in mother and baby home redress plan’ – law firm warns of narrow qualification criteria

Many mothers and children will not be eligible for compensation under the proposed terms of the mother and baby homes redress scheme, a leading legal firm has warned.

Senator Michael McDowell is raising matter in Seanad today

Don’t force politicians to vote on party lines in Seanad poll, McDowell warns Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil

Michael McDowell is warning against putting pressure on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil politicians to vote along Government lines in next month’s Seanad by-elections.

Pope Francis appears to be a more progressive pontiff but he has not reformed the Church. Photo: Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion Catholic Church is missing the point of Christianity with its tone-deaf treatment of gay couples

The Catholic Church has a Book of Blessings which contains a wide variety of ritual benedictions. From animals to farm tools to seeds, and from new homes to factories to sporting events – for almost every occasion and situation there appears to be a matching blessing.

Margaret Keane, originally from Westmeath, who died aged 73 in July 2018

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‘A moment in history’ as Keane family finally honour their mother with headstone in Irish language after two-year legal battle

Two years, five words, six determined people. It’s taken a court challenge, media campaign and their case raised in the British parliament – but a family’s long wait to have Irish inscribed on their mother’s headstone finally ended today.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their interview with Oprah Winfrey

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Martina Devlin Opinion It was glitzy entertainment but Meghan’s interview raised serious questions of us all

We woke up and smelled the conflict this week, when Britain’s royal family was given a roasting during that pop culture moment known as Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah.

US Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo: Saul Loeb/ Reuters

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Martina Devlin Opinion Let's honour more of our women who gave the glass ceiling a good, hard knock

If time travel was possible, here’s what I’d tell my younger self. Never say any of the following: I can’t, I mustn’t, I’d never succeed, what will people think?

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Martina Devlin Opinion Time for new perspective that acknowledges Irish and British loyalties are not mutually exclusive

‘Irish heart, Coventry home” is how barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher evoked identity for her clients, the Keane family, during a landmark case in Britain this week about the Irish language.

Family of Margaret Keane, above, who died in 2018, have won their fight to have on her gravestone the Irish phrase “In ar gcroithe go deo”, which translates as “in our hearts forever”

Is féidir linn: Family win right to Irish inscription on mum’s English gravestone

A family in Britain is celebrating victory in the battle to have an Irish-language inscription on their mother’s headstone.

Ulster Bank will close down its Republic business over the next few years

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Martina Devlin Opinion Blood-sucking vulture funds set to prey on Ulster Bank during Covid and credit crunch

Consequences are inevitable when the bank you do business with pulls out of your home market, as Ulster Bank has announced. You’ll end up feeling squeezed – even if you’ve been a model customer.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood. Photo: Getty

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SDLP leader Colum Eastwood throws his support behind family’s fight to get Irish inscription on gravestone in Britain

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has swung his support behind a campaign to allow a family the right to use an Irish phrase on a headstone in Britain.

British Labour Party backs family’s battle to have Irish grave inscription

Members of Britain’s Labour Party are backing a campaign by a family which is fighting a court ban against five words of Irish being used on their mother’s headstone.

Respect: Sgt Fergus Gaughan watches the online funeral of Nora NÍ Mháille in Carraroe, Co Galway. Photo: Mark Condren

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Martina Devlin Opinion Rituals at a remove are counter-cultural to the Irish tradition and are leaving a scar

Once again this week I sat at my desk, switched on the laptop, turned off the mobile phone and attended an online funeral. Afterwards, I signed an online book of condolences. This is the only way most of us can pay our respects in the face of death, that great leveller.

Radical language: First Minister Arlene Foster with Finance Minister Conor Murphy in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, on Thursday. Photo: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA

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Martina Devlin Opinion Forget the paint pots and the paramilitary masks, the protocol is here to stay

And so we are forced to watch paleo-loyalism in action: vile graffiti, threats against customs staff, and a hooded show of strength in the wake of tensions around new post-Brexit inspection rules at Belfast and Larne ports. Violence and politics have long intermeshed in the North, a cycle broken by herculean efforts which led to the Good Friday Agreement. Unfortunately, that link has repaired itself with disconcerting ease.

Danielle McLaughlin caused a stir with her magnificent 2016 short story collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets. Photo: Claire O’Rorke

The Art of Falling: Danielle McLaughlin gets under the surface of love and lies

‘To be, rather than to seem” are the opening words — a school motto that catches the protagonist’s eye — and the author uses them to signal the novel’s core theme. This is a story about deception, both in life and art, and people’s capacity to lie not just to others but themselves.

Vaccine spat: The European Union is at loggerheads with AstraZeneca over supply

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Martina Devlin Opinion Inflamed AstraZeneca row casts a shadow on what should have been a day of promise

It’s enough to give you mental indigestion. The Covid virus has a striking capacity to outfox us – every time we think it’s been suppressed we are outmanoeuvred, with new mutations springing up to thwart us.

Missing class: Many special needs children struggle when they cannot go to school. Photo: Andy Dean

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Martina Devlin Opinion Special needs children and their parents must be shown a path back to school

They are at their wits’ end. Worn out, exasperated and disappointed. Expectations raised only to be dashed. Parents of children with special educational needs have been squeezed through the wringer in recent days.

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.

Martina Devlin

Martina Devlin Opinion People need a blueprint to make truly informed decisions on the Border question

Martina Devlin Opinion As those in favour of Irish unity grow in numbers, the stars move closer to aligning

Martina Devlin Opinion A paradigm shift is afoot and if Scotland secedes, what Union is there to fight for?

Martina Devlin Opinion My father was a bus driver during the Troubles, we would see flaming buses on the news and all you could do was hope he would come home

White City: A deep dive into the moral bankruptcy of Celtic Tiger culture

Martina Devlin Opinion The regeneration of Moore Street and its history has been delayed for far too long

Martina Devlin Opinion Victims of mother and baby homes deserve much more than just our sympathy

‘Many will be excluded in mother and baby home redress plan’ – law firm warns of narrow qualification criteria

Don’t force politicians to vote on party lines in Seanad poll, McDowell warns Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil

Martina Devlin Opinion Catholic Church is missing the point of Christianity with its tone-deaf treatment of gay couples

‘A moment in history’ as Keane family finally honour their mother with headstone in Irish language after two-year legal battle

Martina Devlin Opinion It was glitzy entertainment but Meghan’s interview raised serious questions of us all

Martina Devlin Opinion Let's honour more of our women who gave the glass ceiling a good, hard knock

Martina Devlin Opinion Time for new perspective that acknowledges Irish and British loyalties are not mutually exclusive

Is féidir linn: Family win right to Irish inscription on mum’s English gravestone

Martina Devlin Opinion Blood-sucking vulture funds set to prey on Ulster Bank during Covid and credit crunch

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood throws his support behind family’s fight to get Irish inscription on gravestone in Britain

British Labour Party backs family’s battle to have Irish grave inscription

Martina Devlin Opinion Rituals at a remove are counter-cultural to the Irish tradition and are leaving a scar

Martina Devlin Opinion Forget the paint pots and the paramilitary masks, the protocol is here to stay

The Art of Falling: Danielle McLaughlin gets under the surface of love and lies

Martina Devlin Opinion Inflamed AstraZeneca row casts a shadow on what should have been a day of promise

Martina Devlin Opinion Special needs children and their parents must be shown a path back to school

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

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

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

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

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

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

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