Breda O'Brien

Breda O'Brien

Contributor

Breda O'Brien, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes a weekly opinion column.

Republican Party can be wrong about guns but also right about abortion

If GOP is to be credibly anti-abortion, it has to stop preaching sturdy individualism in everything else

The Catholic church is listening - but now it must act

The Church at its best is a family - a fractious, bickering family, full of love and brokenness.

Children with autism are left by a broken system to suffer and deterioriate

Failed both in early intervention and when in need of specialised psychiatric care

Spare a thought for the Junior Cycle students of 2022

Previous generations faced far more challenging exam papers, but this year’s cohort have lived through challenges their parents would have laughed off as speculative fiction

So it’s good for teenagers to be online - but how much is too much?

TCD study says a ‘Goldilocks’ amount of time online is good, but surely digital wisdom is more important than counting minutes

Breda O’Brien: The malign influence of the US gun lobby will survive yet another school shooting

Breda for Saturday

All the Sisters of Charity achieved was ramping up anti-Catholicism

Maternity hospital site decision indicates no future here for Catholic healthcare

Ukrainian schools challenge exposes crisis in Irish education

Chronic underlying systemic problems a consequence of threadbare funding

Overturning Roe v Wade still leaves a battle for hearts and minds

Pregnant women need real choices so that abortion becomes unthinkable

Breda O’Brien: Learning to listen to those with whom we disagree is vital

People conceived through surrogacy have something important to say about its ethics

Church is really bad at communicating with its own members

Hope is springing from the grassroots through dialogue of small parish groups

Schools will be central to the integration of Ukrainian children

Teachers from that war-torn country continue to teach, many online from around the world

Teachers give cautious welcome for Leaving Cert reforms

Overhaul of senior cycle is long overdue but the devil will be in the details

Breda O’Brien: World still struggles to accept people with Down syndrome

Two cases before ECHR challenge idea of fast progress embracing genetic diversity

Non-violence is not naive, unrealistic or useless

Non-violent resistance is more successful than violence