Irish Politics, Current Affairs and Magazine Archive - Politico.ie

The horrible summers of 2007 and 2008 are insufficient as yet to say that climate change is upon us. But global warming is incontrovertibe, say meteorologists, and  climate change will happen. By Malachy Browne

Ireland has had a miserable summer for the second consecutive year, with some of the wettest summer weather in recent decades. In June 2008, above normal rainfall was recorded almost everywhere in the country, and the south and south east of the country recorded twice the normal June ra

Sailing against light winds in Qingdao: Phil Lawton and Ger Owens have a chance of an Olympic medal in the 470 sailing class. By Emma Browne

"Exposing myself to many sensations" The Kevin Myers Experience. Middle England, a place that's proud of being dull, shares this smug sense of itself with one of its best-known exports. The voice of Kevin Myers familiar to other mediums rang hollow on the airwaves. By Marie Louise O'Donnell

The July launch of Dublin Community TV (DCTV), at long last a small glimmering dot of “ordinary people telling their own stories” in the Milky Way of commercially dominated television, should be a cause less for celebratory hoopla than for outrage at its isolation.

The upgrade to the M50, once completed is going to cost €1billion, three times the estimate given by the National Road Authority (NRA) in 2003. This gives the M50 a total bill of €2 billion and it will have taken 20 years to be completed since the first section opened.

In 2003 the NRA estimated that the upgrade to the M50, which includes widening of 32 km of the motorway from four to six lanes and upgrading 10 interchange lanes would cost €318 million. They then included two more intercha

Every so often, usually on the initiative of a frenzied Minister for Justice or histrionics from opposition justice spokespersons, legislation is enacted to provide for some harebrained initiative to deal with the latest crime “wave”. Such has been the electronic monitoring of known or suspected criminals. Enabling provisions allowing for this were introduced in the Criminal Justice Acts of 2006 and 2007. But nothing has happened and for reasons that might have been obvious at the time.

New legislation has been enacted allowing for three more District Court judges to oversee the Children's Courts. These judges will help speed up the handling of cases involving children and reduce the number of repeat remands made, where a child is remanded in bail or custody until the next appearance.

A report conducted in 2005 into the Children's Court, “The Children's Court: A Children's Rights Audit” found that a vast majority (82 per cent of cases) were remanded or adjourned. The repor

One district court judge claimed (and was paid) €82,240 last year. Of this, €25,958 was for travel expenses, and €56,282 for subsistence expenses. Unlike other judges, this judge claimed nothing for judicial attire. The identity of the judge has not been disclosed by the courts service. A total of €2.3 million in expenses was claimed by judges in 2007.

According To Dermot Ahern, the new Minister for Justice, he is reliably informed (presumably by Garda “intelligence”) that there are two categories of organised crime groups operating in Ireland.

One is organised crime gangs, involved in the same businesses of organised crime gangs everywhere in the world: drugs and robberies.

(Glasóg liath)
Motacilla cinerea

Easily identified by its grey and yellow plumage and exceptionally long tail, the Grey Wagtail is a common and widespread bird across Ireland, remaining with us all year.  Rarely found far away from water, it favours fast-flowing streams and rivers with adjacent trees; in winter, it generally moves to lower elevations, when it will also frequent ponds and lakeshores, farms and, occasionally, gardens.

Draighean
Prunus spinosa

(Melli-fons, Honey Fountain) 

Ireland's first Cistercian Abbey, Mellifont Abbey was founded by St Malachy, Bishop of Armagh, in 1142. He brought the order to Ireland having  visited the Cistercian monastery run by St Bernard at Clairvaux. The order prospered,  becoming the head house of 20 monasteries and governing thousands of acres in Meath and Louth until its dissolution in 1539.

An appeal from the environmental health profession for more inspectors to enforce tobacco legislation has been ignored by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The profession, which was charged with policing the smoking ban without a single additional post is now struggling with a raft of new public health legislation.
Annmarie Part, chairperson of the Environmental Health Officers Association, (EHOA) appealed to the Health Minister Mary Harney for more resources to the profession, in a written s

The Press Council of Ireland was launched in January of this year, an event that was celebrated as a "defining moment in Irish journalism" by the Irish Times. Seven months in, however, there is very little evidence of the council's code of practice providing the predicted "impetus to improve journalistic standards into the future". By Chekov Feeney

[Pictured: Press Ombudsman John Horgan] 

Soldier and historian, Terence O'Reilly, examines  with detachment and compassion why some Irishmen colluded with and even fought for the Nazis writes Fred Johnston

There's nothing new about Irishmen fighting each other. In historical terms it's almost tedious to relate how and when they took up arms on behalf of others, often against their own countrymen. At Culloden Irishman faced Irishman from Jacobite and Government ranks. In the American Civil War there were Irishmen in both Union and
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