The Kerryman Editorial & Opinion - Columnist, Analysis, Editorial & Letters Page

'Pre-Covid the housing crisis often received little more than lip service from Governments, one can only wonder if this will change.' Stock image

The housing crisis never went away and it is high time we saw real action

As the country, and the world, has grappled with the Covid pandemic, it is understandable that many important issues were allowed to fall by the wayside as the Government's focus switched, almost entirely, to dealing with the virus crisis.

A Covid poetry book with a unique touch is just what is needed

I am forever saying that it is the small things in life that so often work out to be the great and important moments. So often we miss a remark, a sentence, a gesture and we end up being so much the poorer for it.

Simon Bourke: Church has no role to play in sex education

It's a bit like asking a teetotaler which brand of wine you should purchase in the alcohol section, or calling a vegan when you're spoiled for choice at your local butcher's.

'Brexit has catalysed talk of a United Ireland, nationalism now walks tall and it’s unionism that is protesting for change.' (Photo: Jonathan Brady / PA)

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If it is broke, fix it - the North 100 years on

Well that went well, didn’t it? When the North’s first prime minister, Sir James Craig, boasted of a ‘protestant parliament and protestant state’, power sharing and equality in housing, policing, jobs and educational opportunities were alien to a unionist ruling class.

Simon Bourke: "Put simply: Buying Irish is costly. Even online, items are invariably between 10-20 per cent more expensive here, and that’s before you walk into an actual bricks n’ mortar shop."

Simon Bourke: 'Buy Irish mantra comes with a disclaimer'

I did a stupid thing last week. A stupid, selfish thing. In need of some retail therapy, a little pick-me-up after a challenging few days, I went online in search of something summery to wear on the cold, windswept beaches of Ireland this holiday season.

Covid catastrophe in India should be a lesson to all as the world reopens

Last week brought a new sense of hope with confirmation that the county is soon to start reopening with the removal of many of the restrictions that have been in place since Christmas.

'Within days of the five kilometre restriction being lifted last month Cormac arrives at my door with his mother's Christmas Cake. At last I have it'

My Christmas cake arrived last Wednesday week. No, I have not lost my mind.

Simon Bourke: 'Vaccine fear leaves us bucking and grinding'

Earlier this year it was decided Viagra should be made available to purchase without prescription. This heartfelt gesture had supposedly been in the pipeline long before the advent of Covid-19, had been due to happen this year regardless.

Biden’s tough line on Russia needs to be backed up by Putin’s appeasers

With much of the world and the media’s attention, understandably, firmly focussed on the fight against Covid, a number of major developments in Russia have gone under the radar in recent weeks.

Fr Michael Commane: "Ever so slowly I inch backwards until I find a space where I can allow the oncoming traffic to pass. Am I glad to see them all head off into the sunset."

From moral high ground to the ditch in puzzling times

In November 2018 I stopped driving my 00 Toyota Corolla. In 14 years it had never once let me down.

Simon Bourke: "Today's 18-30 year-olds may not even fully appreciate what they're missing out on, it may not hit them for another decade, until they're our age; worn down with responsibilities, wondering where the years went, why they lost some of their best ones to a pandemic."

Simon Bourke: 'Don’t let the young waste any more youth'

There are times when you'd wonder if half the people in this country were ever young. Whether they came out of the womb middle-aged and miserable, bypassing the joyous freedom of youth so they could get straight into the moaning without delay.

'There is a very real chance that, as Micheál Martin (above) and his cabinet have promised, much of the country will indeed have received at least a first shot of the vaccine by mid summer.' (Julien Behal Photography / PA)

Glimmer of light at the end of a very long tunnel was all the people needed

What a difference a week makes. After four long months of near total and seemingly endless lock-down there finally appears to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Talk show host Tommy Tiernan (above) asked Jesuit priest Peter McVerry what advice he would give when one encounters someone begging on the street. Make a point of saying hello, he replied

Council gloves that proved the perfect fit for a cold morning

I keep saying it, it's the small things that make the difference. And so often we can be oblivious to them.

A welcome respite from restrictions but we still have a long way to go

There have been many defining moments in Ireland's year long battle against the Covid pandemic and, when the history of the pandemic is eventually written, the next few weeks look certain to be among them.

Fr Michael Commane: "Since 2015 the government in Beijing has interned over one million Uighers."

Ominous signs coming out of China as it flexes its authority

On April Fool's Day I read a report in a national newspaper about RTÉ reporter Yvonne Murray packing her bags and leaving China. Unfortunately it was anything but an April Fool's joke. Instead it is a true story that I for one find extremely frightening and should cause the world great concern.

Simon Bourke: "Already, having only just sampled freedom, I can feel a bit of lockdown nostalgia stirring in my chest."

Simon Bourke: 'Here are the things I’ll miss after lockdown'

That was it. That was the last one. We're out now and we're never going back.

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A takeaway pint, a kettle and badly beaten biscuits

A first pint in five months; an otherworldly experience.

Covid state has turned us all into tattletales

It's one of the most important lessons a child will learn, a lesson which isn't taught in school nor passed down by parents. It comes courtesy of other children, from running with the pack.

Aside from the limited supply of vaccine much of the problem is due to the Government's woeful communications about its roll-out. Photo: Reuters.

Government need to drop the secrecy and be open about vaccine's roll-out

It was probably inevitable but vaccines have quickly become one of the most divisive issues of the pandemic to date.

Fr Michael Commane: "In a world of instant so-called free news, it's vital that we protect Irish media outlets that tell the truth."

Zooming in on the state of Irish media and its future direction

I hear many people saying these days that they are zoomed out of it and I have to agree, an overdose of zooming is not good for you. But like everything in life, it has its positive side.

"We don’t need exact dates – anyone rational knows that’s impossible – but a time-frame for reopening based on targets for case numbers, hospitalisations, and vaccinations is surely not too much to ask for."

The new plan for Covid can’t just be another useless ‘path’ to nowhere

By the end of the week we should all have a slightly better idea of where the country’s Covid fight is going and when we might begin to see some easing of the restrictions that have seen most of us incarcerated in our homes for the last three months.

"Realistically, it doesn’t matter where the vaccines come from or who provides them, so long as our people are protected." Photo: Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / PA

Simon Bourke: No need to wait your turn in vaccine queue

Keep this to yourself but I’ve got a connect, I know a guy. I’m limited in what I can say but rest assured he’s got everything you need.

Fr Michael Commane: I read about them saying how important a person's name is in the Nigerian culture. I always think a person's name is intimate and important and when people respect our names you get an idea they are respectful people."

Two brilliant Irish Nigerian artists make their mark

I'm a fan of The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTE One on Saturday evenings. I make it a must to watch it every week and every week I pick up at least one gem.

The Kerryman Editor, Kevin Hughes, outside our office in Tralee. Photo: Domnick Walsh

'We're open for discussion on gender but our name remains'

In a wider discussion on gender issues, Minister Josepha Madigan has suggested that The Kerryman considers changing its name.

Vaccine shortages show why Brexit Britain despised EU bureaucracy

In many ways it always seemed inevitable but the twin forces of Brexit and Covid-19 have led to something of a cold war between the EU and the UK.

Simon Bourke: "This is the world we live in now, where common sense is at a premium and debate isn’t permitted."

Simon Bourke: 'It’s still a man’s world, but only just about'

Some will say we've had it our own way for too long, that this prolonged day of reckoning is long overdue. For generations, centuries, millennia, ages, it's been a man's world - albeit one which wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl - and now our time is up.

Opinion

May 2021