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Breda O'Brien

Breda O'Brien

Breda O'Brien is a weekly columnist with The Irish Times, and is also a second-level teacher. She is a frequent contributor to media debates on social, religious, ethical and education issues. She is married and has four children. In the past, she has worked as a columnist with the Sunday Business Post, as a researcher in RTE, and as a video producer. Breda is also a patron of the Iona Institute.

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald holds the “Children First” document at its publication in July 2011 in Dublin Castle. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
Needs of children trumped by politics and economics

Column: Despite all our rhetoric about cherishing children, cultural factors stand in the way of progress

“If a publicly-funded body like Mabs was in the driving seat, the Government could not pretend it was unaware of the human cost of the austerity measures it is enforcing.” Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Our treatment of those who can’t pay their debts is misguided and destructive

Column: The Central Bank’s proposed framework for restructuring debts at least makes an attempt to see people as human beings

Jennifer Akandu (16), Owen Brennan (18), Unicef executive director Peter Power, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald and Clara Barry (16), at the launch this week of Unicef’s Report Card 11 on child wellbeing in rich countries. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA
Any decent society prioritises children and people most in need of care

Opinion: Sometimes the people who need it most receive neither justice nor mercy

Participants in an anti-abortion demonstration in Dublin in January. Photograph: Alan Betson
Abortion legislation is enough to make you weep for this benighted little country

Column: In what other instance would the Government consider killing another human being because a mother is in distress?

It does not matter if you set up panels with six doctors, or 600: there is no mental health benefit to abortion. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Evidence showing ‘no mental health benefit to abortion’ cannot be ignored

Column: Those who believe abortion should be available in Ireland are ignoring scientific evidence in favour of faith-based dogma (...)

Marchers cross O’Connell Street in Dublin at a recent Dublin Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride march. Photograph: David Sleator
To oppose gay marriage is not necessarily a bigoted position

Thoughtful conservatives are not bigoted, intellectually inferior or vile: they just see the balance of values differently

A screen grab from the SpunOut website. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
Young people should be told that sex is not just another recreational activity

Opposition to violent and degrading porn is an issue on which conservatives and progressives can unite

There should be a wraparound service of care from the moment of a child’s diagnosis.
No family should be left alone to deal with a child’s terminal illness

Respite and homecare packages should be available to all regardless of location

People at a rally outside Leinster House protesting about the treatment of asylum seekers on World Refugee Day in 2011. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Inhumane asylum-seeker system needs radical reform

People living in ‘direct provision’ centres are lonely, fearful and sometimes malnourished

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