Members of the Irish peasantry used the word Tory as an offensive term well into the 19th century
In a Word: Tory

One person’s heroic raparee is another’s uncivilised plunderer

The baby sister has a roundy birthday coming up, not that I can tell you about it

In a Word . . .

. . . ashes

Dorothy Parker was renowned for her caustic remarks

As I fell into the bog hole, my life flashed before me (it didn’t take long; I was seven)

 Ukrainian people at the Patria-Lukoil centre refugee camp in Chisinau, Moldova. According to data released by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR , over 6.4 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian troops invaded. Photograph: Dumitru Doru/EPA

Regulator calls on would-be donors to check fundraising organisations are registered and have a good track record

Last June, Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell said finances had been ‘severely impacted’ by the pandemic with the drop in income from the two collections at Sunday Masses down by ‘80 per cent and 86 per cent respectively for the first quarter (January to March 2021)’.

Church closures ‘had a very detrimental effect on income and collections’

The Revolutionary Workers Union have occupied the vacant property at 12-14, Eden Quay, and have renamed it James Connolly House. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times

Revolutionary Workers Union plans takeover of empty buildings to expose destitution

We indomitable Irish have a genius for bringing people down to size

The new adolescent and young adult cancer units will be at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, University Hospital Galway and Cork University Hospital. Photograph: Getty

Units in Dublin, Galway and Cork will specialise in adolescents and young adults

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs the Eurovision Song Contest, said “the EBU takes any suspected attempts to manipulate the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously”. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty

Ireland’s That’s Rich entry from Brooke Scullion of Derry was eliminated in that round

The departing papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, at a reception at Áras an Uachtaráin with President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina in early 2018. Photograph: Tom Honan

Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo in Ireland for five years but has appointed 12 bishops

It is not always easy being green when communicating with the neighbours

Government Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Prof Conor O’Mahony says he ‘would rather see this Bill coming back around next year than being enacted in its current form’. Photograph: iStock

International surrogacy committee given three-month timeline for recommendations

The seminary’s sanctury lamp was part of the auction. Photograph: Patsy McGarry/The Irish Times

Former seminary in Drumcondra selling contents in aid of Ukrainian refugees

The beloved month is much celebrated, including by Christy Moore in song

The former Bishop of Galway, Dr Eamonn Casey, at his home in Shanaglish. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy

Bishop Eamonn Casey’s life and career came apart 30 years ago today

Bishop Michael Duignan extends a warm welcome to a Ukrainian family at Galway Cathedral. Photograph: Sean Feeney

Bishop Michael Duignan says ‘much of what church has built crumbling before our eyes’

The assembly includes 67 randomly selected citizens of Dublin city and county and 12 elected counncillors. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

Dublin council chief warns against merger of councils under directly elected mayor

In a Word... phone

Humankind lived for millenniums without the phone – I have to remind myself

‘At least three pairs of the critically endangered curlew are attempting to breed on and close to the bog,’ Birdwatch Ireland has said. Photograph: iStock

Calls for cause of blaze near Lough Corrib to be investigated by gardaí

Lynne Freeman, a mother of two, drowned off Greystones beach last Saturday.

At school ‘the children adored her and her way of teaching’, her funeral heard

Not only was media ‘driving the students mad, but they’re driving the parents mad as well,’ TD says. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Press interest ‘undoubtedly’ contributes to student stress, exam commission chief says

Researchers played a story to 97 children aged between ages six and 11 and asked them a question every two minutes to check if they were paying attention. File photograph: Getty

Experts find that children ‘mind wandering’ 25% of the time and could not avoid tendency

Alexandra College student Emily Breslin with Fred Dean and Terry Lilburn from St Ann’s Church on Dawson Street at the launch of the 2021 annual Black Santa Appeal for charities in Dublin. Photograph: Damien Eagers for The Irish Times

Plans to turn city centre church into support centre for refugees from the war

Msgr John Joseph Kennedy, right, and Msgr Armando Matteo

Msgr John Kennedy will examine clerical child abuse allegations after shake-up

A story about Brendan Behan’s lighthouse painting days is amusing enough to be true

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the energy landscape fundamentally, a German official has said. File photograph: Andre Borges/Bloomberg

Russia’s ‘atrocious’ war has altered energy landscape fundamentally, German official says

The cost of living crisis is “an income adequacy crisis”, says Fr Healy

Increase of €27 a week necessary to protect vulnerable, says Social Justice Ireland

Former Sacred Heart secondary school, run by Presentation Sisters in Portlaoise town centre, to be turned into 52 new homes.

‘Could not have been achieved without the vision and courage of the religious congregations’

“You don’t need me to bring home to you the horror and darkness of these days … the graves of the innocent victims butchered in this ‘repugnant war,’said Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell.  Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times

Trócaire appeals for return of over 700,000 boxes as Lenten campaign ends

President Michael D Higgins inspecting a guard of honour during the 106th commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising at Dublin’s GPO. Photograph: Alan Betson

President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin among attendees

In a Word. . . Hope

In turbulent times it is necessary to remember that hope is the greatest virtue

Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell leading a ‘Way of the Cross’ procession from the Wellington Monument to the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park, as part of Easter religious ceremonies. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times

Advises parishes ‘to be courageous in moving beyond ways that no longer work in the Ireland of today’

Clonliffe College: Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese has offered its former seminary in Drumcondra for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees.  The facility could hold up to 620 people. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Archbishop says 30-40 religious congregations are offering rooms including former retreat centres

Residents prepare to leave their apartment complex following a night of Russian bomb attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

All 3,600 dead of Northern Ireland conflict to be remembered at Good Friday service

Musicians play at the 2008 Fleadh Ceoil in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Photograph: Alan Betson

Roscommon County Fleadh last held in 2019 due to Covid 19

The 2015 Way of the Cross ceremony in the Phoenix Park, led by the then archbishop of Dublin Rev Diarmuid Martin. This year’s event starts at midday on Good Friday. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times

Walk and concert in at St Patrick’s Cathedral to express solidarity with Ukrainians

Cllr John Kennedy: ‘Parents and teachers of Gaelscoil Laighean have been campaigning vigorously for a new site for a number of years, with their existing temporary premises in Deansgrange no longer available from June.’ Photograph: iStock

Three-storey, eight-classroom school possibly to be developed for Gaelscoil Laighean

Irish cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski with colleagues in Ukraine before his death last month.

Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and store manager Oleksandr Zavhorodniy died last month

Refugees from Mariupol and surrounding areas  departing Ukraine by train. Photograph: AP Photo

Religious communities offer rooms in convents and retreat centres to those fleeing

Inspectors are surveying properties and have 15 criteria to be assessed as ‘adequate’ or ‘not adequate’, including structural condition, food preparation, storage and laundry facilities, potential hazards for small children and sanitary facilities. Photograph: Getty Images

Number is around 12% of 24,411 pledges made through the Irish Red Cross to date

Michael Lyons grew up in Meelick near Swinford and graduated from University College Galway in 1990. Photograph via RIP.ie

Michael Lyons helped in remarkable rescue after attacks on World Trade Center

A queue in Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport before a check-in desk was opened. Photograph: Alan Betson

Operator to present plans to remove bottlenecks after Dáil committee’s visit to airport

The maternity hospital admitted that mistakes were made and the hospital’s master, Prof Michael O’Connell, apologised over the decision to administer leftover vaccines to 16 family members of staff late on a Friday evening after staff were vaccinated in early January 2021. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

Leftover vaccines administered to 16 family members of staff ahead of priority groups

It was the 1980s and we pirate broadcasters wanted to free Ireland’s regional accents

In a Word . . .Time

Spring into summer as clocks go forward an hour

Ireland’s Catholic bishops have decided that from April 17th, Easter Sunday, attendance at weekend Mass ‘will once again be deemed an essential expression of faith’. Photograph: iStock

Attendences at Mass are back up again, say priests, but congregations are still anxious

In a Word....

....gratitude

When ordering a round, I rediscovered I was dealing with the rudest bar staff in Ireland

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney: ‘We have chosen to take sides’.

‘We are actively funding and supplying equipment to the Ukrainian military’

Refugees wait to be transported after crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP via Getty

Special collection will be taken up at all Masses in Ireland for the people of Ukraine

A pilot arrangement involving the possible transfer of patronage for eight Catholic schools to other managements has been agreed. Photograph: iStock

Bishops and department favour reconfiguration process as project met with local resistance

Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell called for practical efforts towards bringing about peace in Ukraine. File photograph: The Irish Times

Archbishops call on Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, friend of Putin, to help bring war to an end

Titus Brandsma stayed with his Irish Carmelite brothers at Whitefriar Street  in Dublin and Kinsale, Co Cork.

Titus Brandsma arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Dachau where he was killed six months later, aged 61

The IFA has been invited to meet Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue on the matter. Photograph: Frank Miller

Amid rising costs and input availability issues, farmers sceptical about potential move

Irish people like it to be known that we are not overly impressed by fame

 Archbishop Eamon Martin urged people ‘to pray for peace, work for peace and make sacrifices for peace.’ File photograph: Tom Honan

Situation an ‘abuse of power’ motivated by ‘the desire to control and dominate’

More than 11,000 women and girls were held in 10 Magdalene laundries operated by  four female religious congregations from 1922 until the closure of Dublin’s Seán McDermott Street laundry (pictured) in 1996. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA Wire

Some €32m in awards of €11,000-€100,000 made to more than 800 survivors to date

In a Word . . . Shy

I must address a matter hitherto never spoken of before by men

Former world champion boxer Barry McGuigan and  Minister of State for Sport  Jack Chambers speak at the Sport Ireland Campus during the Shared Island Dialogue on ‘Breaking down barriers and tackling shared challenges: Sport cooperation on the island’ on Thursday. Photograph: Julien Behal

Former world champion says inclusive sport ‘particularly good at attracting minority communities’

Jillian Brennan, (centre) CEO the Humanists Association of Ireland says ‘ if you’re not religious, you should say so on the census form’ Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Applies to those who do not have a religion, or who no longer practise, says HAI

Osgur Breatnach being arrested  outside the High Court in Dublin in April 1976. Photograph: Dermot O’Shea / THE IRISH TIMES

Kerry Babies Tribunal ‘an aggressive and toxic inquisition’ by a judge then promoted

Frontline healthcare workers protest outside the St Mary’s and Caritas centres on Merrion Road in September 2020. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Order controversially closed St Mary’s and Caritas care centres in 2020

Family and friends walking to the graveyard for a ceremony blessing the headstone of Fr Enda McDonagh, on the first anniversary of his  death. Photograph: Alan Betson

With his death Ireland lost ‘one of its most original and important theologians’

Parents bringing children  to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in Swords in January. Photograph: Alan Betson

HSE urges parents with concerns to turn to ‘trusted sources’ for information

In a Word....

...aspire. Patsy McGarry

Many of the larger churches opened in Dublin during the long episcopacy of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, from 1940 to 1971, may be knocked down.

Archdiocese asks council to rezone several parish sites to address housing needs

The proposed Salthill cycleway is ‘the single most divisive issue which we have dealt with in Galway City Council’, said Cllr Peter Keane.  Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy

Lengthy meeting hears of threats being made to councillors and city chief executive

Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell reminded the more well-off faithful of their obligations towards the less fortunate.

Have ‘responsibility for acting fairly and in consideration of the needs of others’

In a Word...weight

This modest month rewards us every four years with an extra day for leaping about

The Catholic Bishop of Clonfert Michael Duignan (51) has been appointed ‘to minister simultaneously’ as Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Photograph: iStock

Bishop Michael Duignan will administer two dioceses, including Clonfert in east Galway

 Home of Michael Whiston in Sallynoggin in after unexploded ordinance was found Photograph: Alan Betson

Remains of Michael Whiston (76) found in house by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council workers

As well as speaking to survivors about their experiences, the programme also addresses their often traumatic journey through the justice system.

RTÉ programme finds major increase in incidents last year due to pandemic

Leona Maguire celebrates winning the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida on Saturday. Photograph: Douglas P DeFelice/Getty Images

‘Another fantastic Irish sportswoman leading the way internationally,’ says President

In a Word . . .

. . . barista

A Catholic network  has called on Pope Francis to establish an independent legal investigation of the files at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. File photograph: Riccardo Antimiani/EPA

Network wants investigation to ‘determine global extent of cover-ups of clerical abuse’

Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alison Gilliland, pictured at the National Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration Service which she said was a reminder of the collective responsibility to reject hate speech.   Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times.

‘Lack of understanding of faith and culture gives rise to fear,’ Gilliland tells forum

Hiqa’s inspection of the Kerry foster care service in October 2021 assessed progress made in the area to address risks identified in previous inspections. Photograph: iStock

Agency notes ‘satisfactory response’ after urgent compliance plan issued in area

A report found hundreds of children received 'risky' treatment from a doctor and significant harm was caused to 46 of them. File photograph: Getty

Recent revelations show ‘catastrophic failure of oversight, supervision and accountability’

Urantsetseg Tserendorj’s ‘kindness and beautiful smile will help us to build a safer city for us all’, her friend has said. Photograph via Facebook

The 48-year-old died of injuries two weeks after being attacked in city centre in 2021

New support organisation has been established to help distressed clergy of all denominations in Ireland. Photograph: iStock

Care4Clergy set up due to lack of opportunity to speak in confidential settings

The Chief Justice Liam Hamilton at the Supreme Court in Dublin in April 1997. Photograph: Joe St Leger

Implications of judges’s decisions can have far-reaching consequences for those involved

In a Word... Ulysses

It is probably the most famous unread book in history

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI: ‘Overwhelmingly likely’ he was aware of at least four child abusing priests among his clergy while he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images

The former pope excoriated Irish bishops for their handling of abuse allegations

Emily Breslin, a student at Alexandra College plays the harp as Fred Dean and Terry Lilburn from St Anns Church on Dawson Street launch their 2021 annual Black Santa Appeal for charities in Dublin. Photograph: Damien Eagers for The Irish Times

All monies raised go direct to city charities, including those dealing with homelessness

Ulambayar Surenkho holding a photograph of his late wife at the anniversary Mass which was held in St Kevins Church, Harrington Street, Dublin. Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times

‘Deep cultural change is necessary’ to address violence against women, says President

In a Word. . . Brigid

With St Brigid’s Day to become a bank holiday from next year, it might help make January 2023, and thereafter, go away faster

Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery was suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012. File photograph: Alan Betson

Issues he spoke of now discussed freely right around the Church with no fear of sanctions

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan . Photograph: Diocese of Limerick

Bishop challenged with having ‘completely distorted’ minutes of a meeting

Irish Thalidomide Association held a protest outside the Dáil last November. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Minister had previously refused due to ongoing legal proceedings

Joseph Marmion is believed to have abused dozens of boys. He died in 2000. File photograph: Courtesy RTÉ

Priest abused boys at Belvedere in Dublin, Clongowes and Crescent College Limerick

Singer songwriter Aaron J Hart and Sam Donnelly, owner of Sam’s Barbers. Photograph: INPHO/James Crombie

‘Young lads come in here and they really do open-up and talk to us’, says barber

In a Word . . . Nigh

It’s the end of the world as we know it – but then, it always has been

Over 60 per cent of respondents saw stigma-related factors as barriers to seeking support from healthcare professionals (63 per cent) or clergy (62 per cent). Photograph: iStock

Church of Ireland research finds 46% of clergy agree it provides good support for their mental health

Former Bishop of Clogher Brian Hannon. Photograph: Eric Luke

‘I couldn’t use the word Alzheimer’s for months, I hadn’t a clue what was going on’

Atheist Ireland calls on UN to raise the issue of religious discrimination in Irish schools with  Government. Photograph: iStock

‘We are now a pluralist country with Catholic laws that we are gradually dismantling’

Archbishop-elect Francis Duffy gets an elbow bump from Charles Ward as he waits to enter the Cathedral of the Assumption in Tuam for his Installation Ceremony as Archbishop of Tuam. Photograph:  Andy Newman

Francis Duffy installed as Archbishop of Tuam in reduced ceremony

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