A popular choice for those who can afford a holiday home, no new local authority homes have been built in Ardmore since 2000, and as one local put it, there is nowhere to rent, and houses are unaffordable

Mark Lawlor’s violent death is likely to elicit recommendations on how better to do things in the future but there have been many before, and the future looks no better

After 50 years of dealing with a societal issue through the lens of the criminal justice system, change is not going to be easy — but the Citizens' Assembly has made a good start

A Garda team is reviewing a cold case murder, an associated revenge murder, and potential garda brutality and perjury. But will they investigate one of their own with a legendary reputation, even if they are deceased? Mick Clifford writes

One reader challenges Mary McAleese's comments about the Catholic Church, while others consider issues including the conflict in the Middle East

Last Saturday an outrage against humanity was committed when Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into Israel and went on a killing spree.   Civilians were shot dead randomly. Women were sexually assaulted.

Every now and again, something pops up to indicate how unserious many in politics are about governing. This week it was back to basics with the most rudimentary aspect of governance: Taxation.

One reader says our fundamental problem is not a shortage of housing, while others consider topics including the National Gender Service, and pay and conditions in the Defence Forces 

One of the most astute, albeit depressing, comments to emerge from the debacle that was the Brexit referendum was delivered by Michael Gove.

Increasingly, in the current cultural milieu, there is a tendency to decide that some people must be silenced if their record or their views are deemed unacceptable, writes Mick Clifford

For whom the tweet tolls? The hunt is on for the issuer of the latest tweet to cause outrage, horror and disturb a whole reservoir of anger.

The Government should be focusing on recruitment and retention problems in An Garda Síochána rather than indulging in PR exercises dressed up as a show of strength, writes Mick Clifford

Irish Examiner readers consider topics including Sinn Féin and commemorations, aircraft noise, and RTÉ and Ryan Tubridy

Next Sunday, Terence MacSwiney’s grave is set to be robbed in the name of rewriting history. The graverobbing will be metaphoric but is worthy of comment.

The auction has begun, a kite sent swirling on the political breeze. This week we were informed that the budget in October may well include a hike of €10 in child benefit.

This is no country for young men or women.

Leo was at it again this week.

The Oireachtas provided the forum, but it was the viewing public and his RTÉ colleagues that Ryan Tubridy was really addressing

The wheel of justice turns slowly, and sometimes a destination cannot be reached. This week, the Department of Justice published the report into the scoping inquiry into matters concerning the death of Shane O’Farrell.

This week, the Minister for Children advertised for people to serve on the Advisory Board of Authorised Intervention, Tuam.

This week, as I and half the world were fixated on the extensive and expensive search in the north Atlantic, another search was taking place in the waters south of Greece

How did somebody so long in a public role, so well remunerated, so apparently attuned to the public mood, exercise such poor judgement in this affair?

For a while there last week, we had a slice of modern Ireland, wrapped up and delivered across our media. It all began with a paper in the Leaving Cert that was, by all accounts, very difficult.

A family that ran up debts after falling foul of the milk quota system is having land sold from under them by a vulture fund that bought their debt

Stephen Murphy, who was the subject of a prosecution that should never have happened and whose pursuit of justice has been vindicated, could still face a further ordeal

Early on in the documentary 406 days, there is footage of a deserted Henry Street in Dublin during the pandemic lockdown. Nothing moved.

The following is a political statement issued this week by the Rural Independent Group of TDs in the Dáil. The headline went: Government Secret Plot to Massacre Our Precious Cows.

Take me back to those days of endless sunshine and leisure. In 2002, when we allegedly never had it so good, and five years later when the sun still shone but dark clouds crept above the horizon, two general elections took place.

Reserves of empathy will continue to be required from a public that has thus far shown itself to be welcoming of those fleeing their homes

Community care offers great services for some of the most vulnerable people in our society, but how far does the care go? And is the community the right one?

Web Summit boss takes to Twitter to vent about 'corruption' in Irish politics 

Over the last week or so, Fine Gael has been telling us we’ve never had it so good, and in one respect they may well be right.

Where were you on February 14, 1981? Were you even alive? How much living have you done since then, from childhood or teenage years into adulthood, or from that station beyond into old age? How many of your loved ones who were around then are now ...

Usually, when a defendant beats the rap as he did, the general reaction is 'he got off' — in Hutch’s case, most who observed the trial came to the conclusion that anything but a ‘not guilty' verdict would have been unjust

A loan that the family took out with AIB sixteen years has come back to haunt them after it was sold to a vulture fund, writes Mick Clifford

WHAT was it all about? This week Gerry Adams reflected on the many benefits of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

Easter recess will be a break from all the faux outrage and attempted public shaming

During a break of proceedings at a tribunal, I got talking to a senior garda. We spoke about one of the issues that were being examined by the inquiry.

The problems highlighted in the report on the Defence Forces, as they pertain to women, have far more to do with the culture of the organisation than the level of female participation, as evidenced in other sectors

Is it healthy, or even desirable, that the vast majority of mainstream politicians, media, or the public are scared stiff to broach this subject for fear of how they will be misrepresented and cast as merchants of hate?

IN ANOTHER lifetime, on the far side of the world, I once applied for a job in a handbag factory. Myself and a friend from Cork named Phil were down on our luck in Sydney.

For all the current emphasis on wellbeing, the State's primitive approach to regulation shows what a low priority it really is

Though retiring from Social Justice Ireland, Fr Sean Healy won’t be putting his feet up. He tells Mick Clifford that though the ‘social contract has been broken’ in Ireland, it is fixable

Many survivors of institutional abuse remain deeply critical of the State, in particular the Caranua agency, and fear obligations are stalling, writes Mick Clifford