While Ireland’s pro-marriage equality campaign is leading in the polls, the gap has narrowed ahead of Friday’s vote. And history shows that Irish referendums can be far closer than the polls predict.
Support for equal marriage rights in Ireland and Australia is remarkably similar: 71% in Ireland and 72% in Australia. The key difference is that Australian politicians are choosing not to listen.
While the UK braces itself for a political earthquake in Scotland in May that could well determine whether Labour or the Conservatives form the next government, a curious paradox surrounds the man at the…
The accomplishments of Winston Churchill have been widely publicised and reported over the 50 years since his death. Viewed as one of the 20th century’s great politicians and tacticians, he was also a…
Housing tends to be seen as a human right, but here’s something to make you pause this winter: very few countries give homeless people any entitlement to emergency shelter. Scotland goes further and gives…
The film Pride, which won the Queer Palm Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is based on the true story of what seems to be a rare occurrence in human history: two oppressed groups (in this case…
As a young humanities scholar at the beginning of my PhD, my experience with the Irish postgraduate research funding system has left me disillusioned. So much so that I have joined the list of emigrants…
Ireland has this week moved to change its tax law, closing the “double Irish” tax avoidance technique widely used by multinational enterprises including Google and Microsoft. In very broad terms, the current…
Ireland is to phase out its controversial “double Irish” tax scheme. It follows international criticism and the European Union’s investigation into the legalities of Apple and Ireland’s tax arrangement…
The high-profile case of a young woman forced to give birth in Ireland has highlighted the realities of Ireland’s recently introduced Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 – a law designed to regulate…
Of all the currency arrangements cited in the debate over the future of Scotland’s currency, the ones conspicuously missing are those closest to home. While supporters and opponents of Scottish independence…
Punk music’s role in overcoming sectarian divides during one of the bloodiest chapters in northern Irish history isn’t a topic we hear much about. But that’s the subject of the film Good Vibrations, currently…
Bloomsday has come around again, the day (June 16) in 1904 on which all the events of James Joyce’s great novel Ulysses unfold. 1904 was an auspicious year for Joyce. It may surprise some people to know…
Yet another horrific story of historic abuse has emerged in Ireland. In what has become a disturbing pattern, it was mostly the international media who reported that the remains of 796 children and babies…
The latest projections from the National Cancer Registry show that the number of new cancer cases being diagnosed each year in Ireland is expected to double by 2040. To understand such a dramatic rise…
The Republic of Ireland will be voting in the European Parliament elections on Friday May 23 – on the same day as the country holds its local elections. Ireland’s representation in the European Parliament…
The Republic of Ireland’s calamitous recent years of financial crisis and government dysfunction look to be coming to an end, with an economic recovery gathering pace and a new administration that seems…