Society

Pen pictures of Ireland's 26 bishops, who still wield very considerable power in Ireland. By Colin Murphy

In a lecture delivered before the Cork National Society on 13 May 1892, William O'Brien MP warned his audience against substituting piety for politics on the question of language. "It was emigration," he argued, "that drove the Irish language out of fashion.

Had the 'Pitstop Ploughshares' done more damage to US military aircraft at Shannon they might have been found 'not guilty' by now

More than 3,000 people have signed a petition asking the Government for an independent inquiry into the death of a young man who died after being in Garda custody. Terence Wheelock died on 16 September last, having been found unconscious in a cell in Store St Garda station on 2 June. According to gardaí, they found him with a ligature around his neck, indicating he tried to hang himself.

Head of the Moonies due to visit Dublin.

Is Ireland a multicultural society? No. I am Irish, my wife is Irish and my daughter is Irish. Ordinarily, such a statement would not be a big deal. By "ordinarily", I mean if I were from Galway, Roscommon or Cork, in the same way that my wife is from Mayo. But I am from the Yoruba land of western Nigeria. Therefore, many people here don't regard me as being really Irish. Nor, for that matter, do many of these people regard my mixed-race daughter to be as equally Irish as other children born on the same day in Dublin's Holles Street hospital.

Historians, according to one of ourselves, share with psychoanalysts a predilection for moments of high drama. "It is the great upheaval," observed T K Rabb, "the explosion of new possibilities that arouses most attention." This predilection is partly a product of the nature of history; it is, after all, the study of change over time, so it is scarcely surprising that sudden changes or changes of great scale attract most attention. And it is partly a product of the nature of the historical record.

The Bar Council has been reserved in publicising its own scheme, which provides direct access to barristers, on a no-fee basis. The Bar Council Voluntary Assistance Scheme was established in 2004 and facilitates direct, free access to barristers by the public, if the case is brought through a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Bishops who concealed felonies should be prosecuted; the crisis of child sexual abuse must be addressed

Five Catholic Worker peace activists, accused of causing $2.5 million worth of damage to a US navy plane at Shannon Airport, are back in court on Monday 24 October, after two and a half years on bail.