Society

The phenomenon of compulsive hoarding is not a behaviour many of us encounter very often but recognition of the disorder is increasing in Ireland, writes John Holden.

Is the constitutional model appropriate as a framework for the protection of freedom of choice in education, asks Eoin Daly.

Suicide rates have not decreased, despite improved treatments for mental illness, probably because those most at risk are not being identified and treated. In Ireland, Minister for State with responsibility for this area Kathleen Lynch may have the will to tackle the issue, but not the funding. By Vincent Browne.

Muhammad Younis, originally from Pakistan, has been awarded €86,000 by a Rights Commissioner, following an official complaint about alleged breaches of employment rights. However Mr Younis’s ex-employer, Amjad Hussein - trading as Poppadom - has not yet paid the award. The Labour Court yesterday ordered Hussein to pay the compensation. 

Dean Baker recently released his latest book, The End of Loser Liberalism, under a Creative Commons license and as a free download. Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and a regular contributor to the Guardian, Truthout and the Huffington Post. 

Introducing the book on his website, Baker writes:

Pursuing fiscal adjustments aimed at the ‘structural deficit’ can damage parts of the economy that would otherwise help us overcome structural problems. There is an alternative: investment (public investment which can ‘crowd-in’ additional private investment) - to increase output and productivity. By Michael Taft.

Communication between people happens in bursts, with long periods of conversation and also long periods of inactivity, according to the findings of a major research collaboration in Spain, writes John Holden.

A badly designed Nursing Homes Support Scheme means that 1,100 older people are now waiting for nursing home places. By Sara Burke.

Official and private forecasters are already revising growth projections downwards, even as they project continuing strong export growth. This is the inevitable effect of austerity on the domestic economy. By Michael Taft.

The breathtaking hypocrisy of the government is matched only by the casual brutality of their attacks on education, a press conference heard yesterday. By Alison Spillane.