Jenny Conlon says it’s difficult to understand why an event of achievement like the Boston Marathon would be targeted in such a way. Training for a marathon is one of the most challenging things you can do and it makes you realise that life is for living, she writes.
If we want to reclaim the current political landscape we need to re-establish the ground rules for office holders and ensure their words turn into actions, writes Martin Critten.
Aoife O’Connor has gone to college, got good results, borrowed money to get more qualifications by doing a postgrad, but she still finds herself with no job. Here she asks why she can’t catch a break?
Margaret Thatcher normalised female success, challenging the prevailing orthodoxy that women were unsuited to the pursuit of power, but mechanisms, such as electoral gender quotas would have been anathema to her, writes Margaret O’Keefe.
Having just moved to the US, Jan Schneider had planned to go watch the Boston Marathon. Luckily, other things came up and he never made it. Here’s his account of living in the aftermath of the Boston bombings.
For Ireland to continue to compete successfully, demand has to be stimulated, internet usage has to be promoted and digital literacy has to be accelerated, says Philip Flynn, who has worked in the ICT sector since its infancy.
From a textbook dysfunctional home life, educational disadvantage and adolescent homelessness, Rachel Moran was primed for life as a prostitute. Here she tells her story about the losses prostitution can bring and how those you love can be tarred with shame by association.
While other countries are showing signs of difficulty, it’s Spain’s deterioration which could bring the euro crisis to its most dangerous point, writes Tom McDonnell, who asks where Europe goes from here?
The mobility grant gave me and my husband the chance to lead independent lives, with dignity, writes Miriam Murphy, who says this government are chipping away at the help for people with disabilities.
Those who are cynical or opposed to the efforts of The Gathering should ask themselves why, says Larry Donnelly who questions what ignites such hostility to seemingly harmless endeavours like that of certificates of Irishness.
The recently completed HSE report into the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar’s death has pointed to Ireland’s unworkable legal situation as a significant factor in her medical treatment, writes Clara Fischer.
INDEPENDENT TD MICK Wallace is to file a complaint about the Minister for Justice’s use of information on RTÉ’s Prime Time last week.
Alan Shatter said on live television that the Wexford deputy benefited from garda discretion when he was cautioned for using a mobile phone – but not given penalty points. Wallace insists he is not aware of such an incident.
Shatter has stood by his remarks and he has also been backed by the Taoiseach who said that “people can’t have it both ways”. “You cannot be saying no discretion and at the same time availing of discretion.”
Labour Deputy Kevin Humphreys told Newstalk Breakfast this morning that he thought making the remarks was “poor judgement” on the minister’s part. He called on Shatter to explain how he received the information. Others have claimed the information could have been made public in a different manner, and not on live television without giving Wallace prior warning.
In today’s poll, we ask: Should Alan Shatter have made his comments about Mick Wallace on Prime Time?