Society

David Vines and Max Watson say that Ireland's 'resilience' will see it through crisis. However, their analysis is more than a little light on facts, writes Michael Taft.

Cattle, the comprador class, and the Great Oil and Gas Giveaway - the attitudes of policy elites in Ireland have strong roots in Irish history. By Donagh Brennan.

Last week, researchers at UCD’s Geary Institute released a working paper ‘The Experience of Unemployment in Ireland’, the aim of which is “to capture the subjective experience of unemployment in Ireland during the current economic downturn.” Pointing out that “The debate about unemployment in Ireland has been restricted to discussion regarding the macro and micro-economic issues” the authors say “By listening to and documenting the views and experiences of people who have lost their jobs, the paper examines how material, emotional, psychological, social and physical well-being is being affecte

While the Government spun the sale of a 34.9% stake in Bank of Ireland to a group of private investors as a good news story, the sale mightn't be such good news for Bank of Ireland workers, or the Irish economy. By Paul Walsh

Poor success rates in Leaving Cert maths show an almost native incapacity to engage with the subject. Teaching methods aside, the general public’s fear of mathematics is an issue that needs to be overcome if post primary students are not to follow suit, particularly when so much interesting stuff is happening at third level. By John Holden.

The tax write-offs under Ireland’s licensing terms for oil and gas are so generous, oil companies could end up paying the exchequer as little as 7% of the revenue from Irish gas fields. This shocking figure is extrapolated from information provided by Brian O’Cathain, former head of the Corrib Gas project. He also predicted Corrib would not now pay any tax. By William Hederman.

The "unprecedented" release of documents relating to Fr Andrew Ronan by the Vatican to "assist those in the public who wish to study the matter carefully" has little to do with transparency, and more to do with its having its hand forced. 

The Vatican today (17 August) released a tranche of files (embedded below) relating to a priest – Fr Andrew Ronan - accused of sexual abuse in both Ireland and the United States. The files were released after an attempt by a man (named in court papers as John V. Doe) who says he was abused by Ronan to hold the Vatican liable for the abuse.

Democratic states could, and should, assert their political authority and start bargaining with the ‘market’ rather than bending down to its demands. By Aidan Regan.

How has Dr James Reilly fared during his first term as Minister for Health? Sara Burke reviews.

The political season has ended and James Reilly's speech to the MacGill summer school was upbeat, but immense challenges face him now and when the autumn season begins. At the 28 July meeting of the newly formed HSE board, many hard facts were tabled for discussion.

Rather than 'burn the bondholders' Ireland should lobby for its debt to be put in the category of a 'work-out', writes John Farrell Clark.

Back in the days when I was a commercial banker in America, and later in Europe, a career that spanned thirty years during which we sometimes had to say “no” when it came to loan requests because it was in the best interest of both the bank and the customer, we would at times have problem debtors to deal with.