Welcome to the Metrostate
Just over one hundred years ago, Patrick Pearse famously stepped out of Dublin’s GPO to read the Proclamation to a somewhat bemused Dublin populace. Pearse’s reading of the Proclamation is generally viewed as the founding act of a new independent...
A Tale of Neoliberals and Leftists
We often hear the term Neoliberal being thrown about, sometimes as description, more often demeaning, but hardly ever used as a term of self-identification. Before we go further, it is important that we make a distinction here between ‘Leftists’ and...
Young People Need Options Other Than Traditional Universities
It’s that time of the year again. The summer is over, and more than 200,000 third-level students here are preparing to start another academic year. Some have recently expressed surprised at the slight decrease in the number of applicants who...
The Fresh Guide to Freshers Week
Yo, Fresh. Congratulations on getting your Fresh rear through the Leaving Cert and into your first Fresh year of being a Fresh in college. Fresh, right? But you're probably wondering what you're getting into. What is college life all about?...
The Death of a Republic II : The Death of a Culture
To whom it may concern; Éireann had changed since you last laid eyes on her. Despite her various ailments, she was once a rather lively and joyful young woman. However, in her latter years, she had grown addicted and dependent...
The Endless Generosity of the Irish is Our Achilles’ Heel
Most of us who went to primary school in Ireland will have memories of the Trócaire box being passed around at school so we could raise money for the “poor black babies in Africa.” The front of the box would...
The Death of a Republic I : The Death of a Democracy
To whom it may concern; I hereby regret to inform you that after a long battle with various afflictions, the Irish Republic (née Saorstát Éireann) passed away during the year 2018. She went relatively peacefully in her sleep, the last...
Michael D. Higgins’ Marxist Philosophical Circus
In his “King Lear,” William Shakespeare writes: “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.” I cannot think of a public figure in Ireland who exemplifies it better than our old-new presidential candidate Michael D. Higgins. He...
Ireland’s Traveller Policy: An Inherent Contradiction
The ‘National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy’ (2017 – 2021), published in June 2017 described Travellers and Roma as “among the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in Ireland”. The Report provides strong evidence for this marginalization citing for example that...
Acht na Gaeilge: Free State Failures for the Six Counties
Free State Failures: The Irish language occupies a schizophrenic place within the policymaking and public consciousness of the 26 counties. While institutionalised at an educational and legislative level and generally supported by the public at large, the language barely registers...