Opinion
Silence is not always golden!
CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE By Judith Ashton Very few people seem to be talking about it, but the memory of Covid still looms large for so many who are still living with the trauma of their experiences from that time. Everyone’s professional and personal lives were subject to massive upheavals. Some more than others. There …
Hold the front page! Story may be fake
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS The American essayist Mark Twain noted: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Someone else said that tell people something often enough and they begin to believe it. In this age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and so-called …
Mental Wellbeing Support Naturally
BY CLAIR WHITTY Stress, I think most of us feel stress on a frequent basis. I know I do. Mostly we experience short term stresses from busy lives, and life goes on, no major problem or impact on our health. However, if you experience something that is more traumatic, for example, bereavement, illness, buying or …
Budget 2026 unveils €9.4bn plan, restraint dominates
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR Next Tuesday, Oct 7, will tell all for Budget 2026. Meanwhile the air is thick with anticipation and a healthy dose of realism. Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers are set to unveil a €9.4 billion package, split between €7.9 billion in spending and €1.5 billion in tax cuts. Coming …
Kirk: Have we reached a tipping point?
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON The assassination of rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk was described by Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox as “a watershed moment”. His words came as a warning to stop, take heed and realise that cataclysmic change is rapidly becoming irreversible. Like Malcom Gladwell’s Tipping Point, ideas can be like a virus …
For young voters, it doesn’t tick all the boxes
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS The referenda on marriage equality and the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, in the last 10 years, saw young people turn out in their droves, even hastening home from abroad – on borrowed money – to exercise their democratic right. Those referenda outcomes were not a vote …
The weekend back home from college
By Judith Ashton Many anxious parents await their precious offspring’s weekend return home from college with a mixture of trepidation and joy. It’s been their first foray out in the big wide world and you’re dying to know how they survived. It’s a minefield out there and seasoned parents know that the most important thing …
Dial M for Murder. But what for Genocide?
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran You know when you watch a movie, or documentary, that requires your pin number because there may be scenes (usually of a sexual violent nature) that could prove upsetting to some viewers. And you do. And after the credits have rolled the following appears on your screen: ‘If you have been …
Kilkenny goes to War …Against Foot and Mouth
BY JOHN FITZGERALD (Part one) As if rationing and belt-tightening weren’t challenging enough, another headache lay in store for neutral Ireland…twenty- seven months into the war. In the winter of 1941, as the German Army shivered and froze in the snowy wastes of Russia, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease ravaged Irish agriculture. Meat …
Healing and remembrance at old hospital site
BY JOHN FITZGERALD St Canice’s Mental Hospital in Kilkenny closed its doors in 2006, drawing down the curtain on a long history of care for those afflicted by a range of non-physical illnesses. Former residents, and their relatives and loved ones, have mixed memories of the institution. Treatment of the mentally ill has evolved through …
