• Search
  • Newsletters
  • Crossword
  • Notices
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In
The Irish Times
Thu, Jan 21, 2021

  • The Irish Times
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Life & Style
  • Culture
  • More
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • Executive Jobs
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Sign In
  • Opinion
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Editorials
  • Letters
  • Columnists
  • An Irishman's Diary
  • Martyn Turner
Labour leader Keir Starmer. The Labour Party has launched an education initiative for its 500,000 members on the Belfast Agreement. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP via Getty Images Starmer gives British Labour a lesson in Irish history
  • Finn McRedmond
  • January 21, 2021

Labour leader signals he understands need to uphold Belfast Agreement

  • 1 comment
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster: Stormont is united in bemusement and frustration at the Republic’s stonewalling. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire The Republic has never taken cross-Border co-operation on Covid-19 seriously
  • Newton Emerson
  • January 21, 2021

Newton Emerson: North’s politicians are baffled at refusal to share passenger data

  • 5 comments
Availing of the contraceptive pill in this country will set you back anywhere between €150-€215 each year. Photograph:  Cyril Byrne Stigma may be gone but Irish women still face obstacles in accessing contraception
  • Bláthnaid Corless
  • January 21, 2021

If Government does not owe women access to free contraception perhaps Catholic Church does

  • 1 comment
US president Joe Biden, standing alongside his wife Jill Biden, takes the oath of office. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA Holy Joe – Frank McNally on more Biden relatives and lessons for the president from a seventh-century saint
  • Frank McNally
  • January 20, 2021

An Irishman’s Diary

  • 1 comment
15 Usher’s Island – the house has been empty for several years now, its future uncertain Mean, Green Grass of Home – Frank McNally on the greatest of all Irish curses
  • Frank McNally
  • January 20, 2021

‘May the grass grow before your door’

  • 2 comments
US president-elect Joe Biden  in Wilmington, Delaware: In recent months Biden’s lifelong interest in Ireland has returned to the fore. Photograph: Alex Wong/ Getty What can Ireland expect from Joe Biden?
  • Jim Sharkey
  • January 20, 2021

New US president will defend Belfast Agreement against any undermining by Brexit

  • 62 comments
US National Guard troops march on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Tuesday ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. Photograph: Amr Alfiky/The New York Times Kathy Sheridan: There is no fairytale ending to the Trump version of American Psycho
  • Kathy Sheridan
  • January 20, 2021

Biden’s inauguration is a moment of hope but myths are too ingrained to be shifted easily

  • 93 comments
 Tuam mother and baby home: managed by the Bon Secours order for Galway County Council. Photograph:  Tuam Home Graveyard Committee/PA Wire Michael McDowell: Church, State and society all owe redress over homes
  • Michael McDowell
  • January 20, 2021

Pointscoring on mother and baby homes distracts from what politicians must now do

  • 79 comments
US President Donald Trump. The Capitol riot tipped the Republican Party into an existential crisis. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Biden and US democracy need strong and united Republicans
  • Shana Cohen
  • January 19, 2021

Capitol Hill riot can be a catalyst for positive political reform in US

  • 55 comments
Names of some of the children who died at the Tuam mother and baby home. The moral ground was ceded to the church and with it came the authority over sexual morality and the family and therefore the shaping of national identity. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Why the State had such a big problem with unmarried mothers
  • Alyson Staunton
  • January 19, 2021

Extra-marital sex was a threat to our self-perceived identity of moral superiority

  • 53 comments
The church had the monopoly on damnation and salvation. The  mother and baby homes  were the outward sign of this inward terror. Photograph: iStock 5:01 Fintan O’Toole: Spiritual terrorism created world of mother and baby homes
  • Fintan O'Toole
  • January 19, 2021

There was no ‘society’ separate from the church’s power to inflict damnation

  • 207 comments
In the Seanad in 1974, Mary Robinson tackled the personal and legal limbo of children born out of wedlock Pragmatism v Principle – how the Seanad attempted to tackle the issue of children born out of wedlock
  • John Horgan
  • January 18, 2021

An Irishman’s Diary

  • 4 comments
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia, at a campaign rally in Stonecrest, Ga., Dec. 28, 2020. One January day, with Senate victories for Warnock and Jon Ossoff and a mob at the Capitol, encapsulated the politics of progress and grievance that have defined the Trump years. (Nicole Craine/The New York Times) Raphael Warnock and America’s legacy of racial tyranny
  • Jesse Wegman
  • January 18, 2021

The election of a black man to the Senate followed hard on by the violent ransacking of the Capitol by an overwhelmingly white mob rang loudly with echoes of the past

  • 43 comments
A key issue with our obsession with the Leaving Cert is its main focus seems to be acting as a filter for entry into higher education. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Plan for ‘traditional’ Leaving Cert pushes obsession with the exam to new levels
  • Carl O'Brien
  • January 18, 2021

Cultural obsession with sadistic rite of passage reinforces belief in its exceptionalism

  • 98 comments
If initial lockdowns offered personal, cultural and economic revelations, then a third one could offer political ones. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Una Mullally: Will Lockdown 3.0 bring about a political awakening?
  • Una Mullally
  • January 18, 2021

A desire for radical change may grow out of this latest period of reflection

  • 142 comments
A lantern at the site of the Tuam mother and baby home.  Photograph: Andy Newman Mother and baby homes report is the story of us as a nation
  • Helen Shaw
  • January 18, 2021

Helen Shaw: This was not about a few rogue bad apples. This was systemic in Irish society

  • 111 comments
 Childhood came with a barrage of warnings. You couldn’t pull a funny face without being warned that the wind would change, and your face would stay like that forever.  Photograph: Alan Betson A cautionary tale – Alison Healy on childhood’s rich barrage of warnings
  • Alison Healy
  • January 17, 2021

An Irishwoman’s Diary

  • 1 comment
If numbers of Covid-19 cases rose from a wider reopening for St Patrick’s Day and Easter, it would be a disaster. Photograph: iStock This Covid-19 lockdown must be the last - even if that means it lasts longer
  • Cliff Taylor
  • January 16, 2021

Cliff Taylor: Battle we face before vaccine cavalry arrives is looking more difficult

  • 164 comments
The Tuam mother and baby home in Galway. Photograph: Tuam Home Graveyard Committee/PA Wire Mother and baby home adoptions may have been legal but that does not make them right
  • Máiréad Enright
  • January 16, 2021

Commission could have put itself in the place of women affected to properly understand decisions

  • 53 comments
The private equity company plans to float Doc Martens at a valuation of $4 billion. This means that a finance company  will, in the space of a decade, make more than 12 times its original investment. David McWilliams: What a Doc Martens boot can teach us about the wealth gap
  • David McWilliams
  • January 16, 2021

The company that made boots for punks and skins is floating on London’s stock exchange

  • 82 comments
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next ›

Editorials

The Irish Times view on closing schools: a cruel blow to the most vulnerable

Last year’s school closures were hugely damaging to the most vulnerable children in our community. Now, they are losing out all over again

The Irish Times view on Alexei Navalny: a vital voice

The opposition figure’s persecution will encourage those who believe the foundations of the Putin regime are not as robust as it might claim

Subscriber Only

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster: Stormont is united in bemusement and frustration at the Republic’s stonewalling. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire The Republic has never taken cross-Border co-operation on Covid-19 seriously
The church had the monopoly on damnation and salvation. The  mother and baby homes  were the outward sign of this inward terror. Photograph: iStock 5:01 Fintan O’Toole: Spiritual terrorism created world of mother and baby homes
A lantern at the site of the Tuam mother and baby home.  Photograph: Andy Newman Mother and baby homes report is the story of us as a nation

Our Columnists

Newton Emerson Newton Emerson -

The Republic has never taken cross-Border co-operation on Covid-19 seriously

Kathy Sheridan Kathy Sheridan -

Kathy Sheridan: There is no fairytale ending to the Trump version of American Psycho

Una Mullally Una Mullally -

Una Mullally: Will Lockdown 3.0 bring about a political awakening?

David McWilliams David McWilliams -

David McWilliams: What a Doc Martens boot can teach us about the wealth gap

Letters

Schools and the pandemic
Waiting for vaccination
The greening of the White House
The Junior Cycle exams
When life imitates art
White-water rafting in the city
Rolling out everything
Talking to strangers
Vaccines and priorities
The Leaving Certificate

Most Read

1 Can five minutes’ exercise a day make you fit?

2 Covid-19: Government set to extend Level 5 restrictions to late February

3 North ‘slowly becoming part of united Ireland’, says former British chancellor

4 Kamala Harris is about to make history. So is her ‘big, blended’ family

5 Eleven people arrested by gardaí at Four Courts protest

Real news has value SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe
About Us
Policy & Terms
Cookie Settings
Subscribe
  • Why Subscribe?
  • Subscription Bundles
  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Home Delivery
Irish Times Products & Services
  • ePaper
  • eBooks
  • Crosswords
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Email Alerts & Newsletters
  • Article Archive
  • Executive Jobs
  • Page Sales
  • Photo Sales
About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • The Irish Times Trust CLG
  • Careers
Download on the App Store Download on Google Play
  • Our Partners
  • Rewarding Times
  • MyHome.ie
  • Irish Racing
  • Top 1000
  • MyAntiques.ie
  • The Gloss
  • Irish Times Training
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Information
  • Cookie Settings
  • Community Standards
  • Copyright
  • FAQs
© 2018 THE IRISH TIMES

Sign In

Forgot Password?
Don't have an account?
Subscribe

  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs
  • Subscriber Only Articles
  • The ePaper
  • Subscriber Rewards
  • Subscriber Tour
  • Breaking news app
  • My Account
  • eBooks
  • Email Newsletters
  • Crossword Club
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Sign Out
SUBSCRIBE

Thu 21/1/2021
  • News
    • Coronavirus
    • Ireland
    • World
    • Politics
    • Crime & Law
    • Health
    • Education
    • Subscriber Only
    • ePaper
    • Brexit
  • Sport
    • Gaelic Games
    • Soccer
    • Rugby
    • Golf
    • Racing
    • Other Sports
    • Women in Sport
    • Comment
  • Business
    • Open for Business
    • The Economy
    • Your Money
    • Companies
    • Technology
    • Work
    • Commercial Property
    • Comment
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Columnists
    • An Irishman's Diary
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Martyn Turner
  • Life & Style
    • Food & Drink
    • Homes & Property
    • Health & Family
    • People
    • Travel
    • Motors
    • Fashion
    • Abroad
  • Culture
    • Books
    • Film
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Art & Design
    • TV, Radio, Web
    • Tuarascáil
    • Heritage
  • More
    • You are what you read
    • eBooks
    • Offers
    • Jobs
    • Family Notices
    • Competitions
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • Confronting Coronavirus
    • Inside Politics
    • The Women's Podcast
    • Inside Business
    • Added Time
    • World View
    • Back to Yours
    • The Irish Times Book Club
  • Executive Jobs
  • Crosswords
  • Newsletters
  • Notices
Forgot Password?

Invalid email or password.

Not an Irish Times subscriber? Subscribe
  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs Frequently asked questions about your digital subscription
  • Subscriber Only Articles Specially selected and available only to our subscribers
  • Subscriber Rewards Exclusive offers, discounts and invitations
  • Subscriber Tour Explore the features of your subscription
  • Crossword Club Digital Simplex and Crosaire crosswords
  • Newspaper Archive 150 years of Irish Times journalism
  • My Account Manage your account
  • eBooks Carefully curated selections of Irish Times writing
  • Email Newsletters Sign up to get the stories you want delivered to your inbox
  • The ePaper An exact digital replica of the printed paper
  • Breaking news app Our Apple and Android apps to read on the go
  • Sign Out