Human needs, not profits should drive family policyImagine if Bank of Ireland was informed that its ATMs were spitting out receipts with soft porn on the backSat Mar 27 2004 - 00:00
Voting by paper ballot is not a badge of backwardnessThere are two distinct responses to the question of electronic votingSat Mar 6 2004 - 00:00
A living hell for those falsely accused of abuseImagine this situation. You are accused of a heinous crime, of sexually abusing young and vulnerable childrenSat Feb 7 2004 - 00:00
Headscarves should be welcomed, not bannedOn a recent Channel Four programme investigating Islam's attitude to women, presenter Samira Ahmed, herself a Muslim, professed…Sat Jan 24 2004 - 00:00
Manners maketh the man, or they used toSometimes it is the little things that get to youSat Dec 27 2003 - 00:00
The innocence of parents is being stolenOn a bus journey into the city centre of Dublin the other day, I noticed that Benetton's windows currently feature huge posters…Sat Dec 20 2003 - 00:00
'Non-violence lacks appeal of quick-fix curesDuring the past week the US Senate voted to ban partial-birth abortion, meaning that it only remains for President Bush to sign…Sat Oct 25 2003 - 01:00
Abdication of responsibility dressed as ethicsRemember being a teenager? Remember the excruciating self-consciousness, the fear of not fitting in, the desire to run back to…Sat Sep 27 2003 - 01:00
Why the whole sorry story needs to be toldSpeaking to people deeply involved in the issue of institutional child abuse, including one man who has spent several decades…Sat Sep 6 2003 - 01:00
Justice: snappier and cheaper, but less just?Funny, isn't it, in an era of openness, transparency and accountability that we are all so gobsmacked when someone tells the …Sat Jul 5 2003 - 01:00
Cohabitation is not the same as marriageMinister Mary Coughlan has instigated a series of meetings around the country on the subject of familySat May 17 2003 - 01:00
Out of the mouths of babes and siblingsOne of our little girls has very big eyes, with eyelashes that curl halfway up to her eyebrowsSat Mar 29 2003 - 00:00
Do we underestimate the spiritual impulse?Marching in the freezing cold with my children at the peace demonstration last Saturday, it was clear that many people see this…Sat Feb 22 2003 - 00:00
Survivors demonstrated a depth of spiritEna Reilly got a telephone call last Monday, for which you could say she had been waiting for 24 yearsSat Jan 4 2003 - 00:00
Dominant brands spawn new form of bullyingOne of my friends told me in disbelieving tones recently that her teenage son wanted her to pay €50 for a two centimetre strip…Sat Nov 23 2002 - 00:00
Bush gets it right on marriage and the familyTo celebrate the ringing endorsement given to him this week by the American electorate in the mid-term elections, President Bush…Sat Nov 9 2002 - 00:00
From facts to a humane system of educationThis week I read two books, both of which have implications for every child in this countrySat Nov 2 2002 - 00:00
EU's democratic deficit is causing resentmentIn the recent Dáil debate, politicians, in both veiled and explicit ways, asked the electorate not to use the Nice referendum…Sat Sep 14 2002 - 01:00
Lap-dancing on the slippery slope to despairThe shrugs which greeted the arrival of lap-dancing in Ireland a few years ago marked some kind of watershed in Irish culture…Sat Aug 31 2002 - 01:00
Cheers turn to a sigh over gender differenceReading Accord's recent research on marriage was one of those "2½ cheers" momentsSat Jul 6 2002 - 01:00
The folly of abortion at the taxpayers' expenseThe Irish Medical Times has a report that the E112 form has been used to procure an abortion abroadSat Jun 22 2002 - 01:00
Staring reality in the eye and denying it existsIn crisis-management terms, two months is the equivalent of several lifetimesSat Jun 8 2002 - 01:00
FG could become the party of social cohesionFianna Fáil seems convinced that market research ensured its election victorySat May 25 2002 - 01:00
Kind gestures now open to misinterpretationThe Church made a promise last Monday to do everything necessary to serve the truthSat Apr 13 2002 - 01:00
Silence on child abuse is bleeding the churchSean Fortune used to come in to where I worked as a video producerSat Mar 30 2002 - 00:00
Racism: long on opinion and short on factsPerhaps we should be more careful about how we bandy about words like "racism"Sat Mar 23 2002 - 00:00
Message from the people still far from clearLegislation is virtually impossible to frame. One vote per ballot boxSat Mar 9 2002 - 00:00
Imperfect but honourable bid to protect lifeA Friend faxed me a chapter from Tom Heskith's book on the 1983 referendum, The Second Partitioning of Ireland? Part of her motivation…Sat Mar 2 2002 - 00:00
Risk of suicide may be higher after abortionWhile attempting to write this column, I have found myself haunted by an image of another woman at a keyboard, who is searching…Sat Feb 2 2002 - 00:00
Staying together for the sake of the kidsA new American book, For Better or For Worse: Divorce Reconsidered by renowned researcher Mavis Hetherington is being hailed …Sat Jan 19 2002 - 00:00
Adelaide proposals fail to respect human lifeBefore the debate on the proposed abortion referendum has even properly begun, we appear to be swamped by ever more complex questions…Sat Dec 29 2001 - 00:00
Deaths of stowaways must not be forgottenThere is a great danger that the wave of sympathy caused by the deaths of the eight stowaways in Wexford will quickly subside…Sat Dec 15 2001 - 00:00
Christian Brothers also deserve fair treatmentOn Thursday last Tom Hayes, secretary to the Alliance Victim Support Group, had a letter in this paperSat Dec 8 2001 - 00:00
Brothers subject to sledge-hammer TV tacticsThe Christian Brothers are irredeemably corrupt and should be wound up immediately, their assets seized and sold to provide compensation…Sat Dec 1 2001 - 00:00
Supreme Court was right in McKenna rulingThe 1995 McKenna judgment precludes the use of public funds to advance only one side of a referendum debateSat Nov 24 2001 - 00:00
The State and children of a lesser status'You'd better get born someplace elseSat Nov 17 2001 - 00:00
Bill to redress hurt would inflict more abuseThe Residential Institutions Redress Bill is an attempt by the Government to provide compensation to those harmed in industrial…Sat Nov 10 2001 - 00:00
No simple answers to complex abortion issueOlive Braiden has a daunting but vital task ahead of her in her new role as chairwoman of the Crisis Pregnancy AgencySat Nov 3 2001 - 00:00
A role now for NI religious, civic initiativesRecently I heard a comment on a radio programme to the effect that conflict resolution takes a generation to take holdSat Oct 27 2001 - 01:00
Vision in national women's plan inadequateThis week Mary Wallace announced a draft National Plan for women, designed to facilitate the implementation of the Bejing Platform…Sat Oct 20 2001 - 01:00
We can all benefit from this advice to addictsFour hundred people attended a lecture last Monday eveningSat Oct 13 2001 - 01:00
Bertie, there are no good guys in any warLet's ease up on Joe Jacob. The ability to give the nation a good laugh is no mean featSat Sep 29 2001 - 01:00
Why a national day to mourn was worthwhileLike some others, I wondered about the necessity for a national day of mourningSat Sep 22 2001 - 01:00
The right to be a child needs to be upheldYou cannot vindicate children's rights by taking away the right to be a childSat Sep 8 2001 - 01:00
What stem cells reveal about humanityIt is perhaps appropriate that the first feature-length film using entirely computer-generated actors and backgrounds is called…Sat Sep 1 2001 - 01:00
Women deserve choice of childbirth optionsMarie O'Connor's recent article in this newspaper on routine interventions during labour raises important questionsSat Aug 25 2001 - 01:00