Fianna Fáil needs to explain why it can’t talk to Sinn Féin if it will talk to Michael Lowry
If 14 years’ tribunal work by a High Court judge can be so readily air-brushed by successive governments, what’s the point of bothering?
Justine McCarthy
Justine McCarthy columns
Sherin’s mother prays she won’t be left lying in the street to be eaten by scavenging dogs
In all the Mercs-and-perks talk about who will get which Cabinet portfolios, there has been scant appetite to face down the warmongers in Jerusalem and Washington
Fianna Fáil rising: Even Lazarus couldn’t have pulled off the Micheál Martin miracle
It’s just 14 years since Fianna Fáil and Martin were being written off completely, and four since his leadership was being publicly challenged
Conor McGregor was facilitated by a culture of entitlement and cheered on by adoring fans
In the space of a single week, two sports stars were before the Irish courts having behaved despicably
Opposition to abortion is seen as a position of the right, but it’s not that simple
By embracing abortion in the 1970s, feminism accepted that pregnancy is damaging to women’s lives, rather than something fundamental to human experience
What’s the point of an election if it inevitably means the same parties get back in?
The shameful and eternal truth about the Irish left is that as long as it stands apart, it falls apart
Thanks a bunch, America. Love, women everywhere
US election shows voters still demand that a woman candidate must be without fault
Blind acceptance of untruths could propel Trump back into the White House
The prevailing credo is that the voter is always right, even when the voter is egregiously misguided
Government shouldn’t be so quick to yell Gotcha! at Sinn Féin. Its record on children is shameful
When election candidates coming knocking at your door, will you speak for the children so badly let down by the State?
Had Mary Lou stuck with Fianna Fáil, she could be closer to becoming first woman taoiseach
The blizzard of scandals since the Dáil returned from summer holidays is Mary Lou McDonald’s GUBU moment
Why has the Hague not issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu?
Why is the International Criminal Court taking nearly five months to respond to the request for Netanyahu’s arrest warrant when it took just three weeks to grant one for Putin?
Simon Harris is not bothered by Phil Hogan’s record of PR blunders
Despite a history of public relations gaffes, Hogan’s muscular political skills seem to endear him to the party chief, with Simon Harris the fourth to entrust him with a key role
A €560 bonus for each new baby? The Green Party must be having a laugh
Even the most interfering nanny state cannot guarantee that a baby boost is actually spent on the child
It’s time the Irish stopped obsessing about being universally loved. Those days are gone
Ireland's age of innocence as a global love object is over
Apple tax: Ireland owes its lost people €13bn worth of houses
The €13bn lying in an escrow fund could help give those hit by the homelessness crisis a way back into society
If you laughed at the one about the Leinster House bike shelter, you’ll love the one about the loo rolls
Sometimes, when a problem is complex and protracted, a simple example of hubristic extravagance can become the emblem of all that is wrong
Ireland’s lousy summer: ‘The people are great,’ says the German tourist. ‘But I couldn’t live here.’ I know what she means
The Gulf Stream that once bathed our shores in mildness has turned into a giant sunblock that could be bottled and sold
Musk’s lack of interest in truth shows why Government must act on media ownership
Owning a media lodestar can be the ultimate ego trip as Elon Musk demonstrated with his travesty of an ‘interview’ with Donald Trump
Moronic marriage of loyalists and ‘Irish patriots’ revives Troubles-era nightmares
Alliance of green and orange sectarian supremacists in Belfast shows fascism is on the march and is leveraging the new global weapon of mass destruction: gullibility
Because of Lavinia Kerwick, Ireland learned about the trauma of sexual crime
The Kilkenny woman changed how the legal system deals with sexual offences
Once the priest was a respected public figure in a crisis. Now, self-appointed supremacists fill the role
Where once the priest was a respected public figure in a crisis, self-appointed supremacists now fill the role
Justine McCarthy: With Ireland on a knife edge, it’s a bad time for a brain drain from the Dáil
Potential new TDs would need their mental acuity assessed if they were not given pause by hearing about masked protesters outside the Taoiseach’s home
Michael D Higgins is proof that age is not Joe Biden’s biggest problem
Wisdom, that great compensation for the vanished stamina of youth, seems to have bypassed the US president
She has been abused, has had intimate photos shared online, has turned to drugs. She is 17
Regular reports of disturbing cases show the State has again been failing our most vulnerable children
Cathal Crotty picked on the wrong woman and that is to be his enduring punishment
There should be monuments in all our cities to the women who have helped to civilise this country
Clare Daly’s dog-whistle to haters of the media wasn’t just hypocritical, it was reckless
Elected representatives are honour-bound to explain their words and actions to their constituents who rely on professional media outlets. The alternative source is the swamp of social media and fake news websites
Neale Richmond should know better: calling grown women ‘girls’ is inherently belittling
Imagine anyone calling Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and Indira Gandhi ‘the girls’
A pollster broke down in tears on Indian TV - pollsters everywhere know how he feels
Opinion polling is not dark force. But as it becomes more complex, its impacts needs to be examined
Hubris of Fine Gael’s Marian Agrios reflects Ireland’s admiration of controversial politicians
We voters need to consider our ambivalence about political standards
Did Israel expect a country which has endured occupation and violence to stand idly by?
Amid all the woes of homelessness, exorbitant rents, asylum seekers consigned to tents and climate damage, this was a moment to relish being Irish
There is one other measure we could take to reduce deaths from road crashes
Ireland chooses to be an outlier in Europe by not operating a consultant-led helicopter emergency service that would bring life-saving expertise to the scene of an accident
US, UK and Germany have sown the shame of their nations in Gaza’s blood-drenched soil
Even when propaganda is shown to be untrue, Israel’s backers make no apology for having blindingly believed it
We need to talk about why we’re all so angry
When trust dies, anger is its natural successor. Only by regaining the people’s trust can Ireland recover
Justine McCarthy: Distorted view of media not helped by exodus of journalists into government pay
When those who are supposed to be the watchdogs for the public interest become the guard-dogs at the gates of government, a country’s conversation may be guided by the dog that barks the loudest
Four years ago, we were clapping health workers in the street. Now we’re reducing their benefits
Government has terminated a special sick pay scheme for the tiny proportion of staff who have developed long Covid and can no longer work
Politicians demonising NGOs is fodder for extremists
According to the handbook of regressive extremism, social justice organisations are the devil incarnate, their hooves and horns disguised by angels’ wings
Sudden stampede to the right by our politicians can only benefit democracy
If Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald is serious about being taoiseach after the next election, she will need the support of what purports to be the left
We know what’s going on in Gaza, and won’t be able to say we didn’t
We have been witnessing genocide by Israel for months in Gaza, while western powers have cheered it on
Government handed No campaigners a shovel to more deeply entrench women inside the home
Government handed No campaigners a shovel to more deeply entrench woman inside the home
March 8th referendums: The WhatsApp debate, by Breda O’Brien and Justine McCarthy
Two Irish Times columnists argue the merits and demerits of the proposed changes to the Constitution
Catherine Martin’s colleagues should praise her honesty, not criticise her for going on TV
Minister for Media summed up the hypocrisy when she asked: ‘What was the alternative? To conceal the facts?’
Yulia Navalnaya and Nikki Haley embody a single truth: sometimes the act of opposing is enough
The world’s wars were started by men and are being continued by men. Maybe only women can stop them
What did Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly talk about on the way to John Bruton’s funeral?
Travelling together to John Bruton’s funeral was easy compared with the tightrope they must walk soon
Head-to-Head: The Yes and No arguments ahead of the family and care referendums
Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan
Trust the romantic French to come up with a pragmatic solution on ‘durable relationships’
France has devised a type of conscious coupling that has proven to be highly popular
If Leo Varadkar goes to the White House, it can’t be for a quiet word about Gaza
Taoiseach must convey Ireland’s message about Gaza publicly, unambiguously and for international consumption
Ian Bailey could never resist having his name in a newspaper, ideally the headline
Now the only suspect is gone with whatever secrets he had. And he had some, as he hinted in one of the poems he left me
Mansplainers are in full ‘listen ladies!’ voice, telling us we’re reading it all wrong as referendum nears
The mansplainers are in full ‘listen-ladies!’ voice, telling us we’re reading the thing all wrong
By caving in to protests about asylum seekers, the Government has torched its own principles
Recent migrants found locked in a ship at Rosslare were Kurds and Vietnamese, people on the sharp end of global warming. This trend will only increase
Keeping Enoch Burke locked in a cell, wallowing in his martyrdom, serves no one
Burke could potentially find himself spending longer in Mountjoy than some of the killers in his midst. That could not pass for justice
Just reaching out about those odious Americanisms and infuriating academic affectations . . .
Enough already! Now that’s a new year’s resolution that would really make the world a better place
Irish writers, thespians and thinkers are having a renaissance
It’s okay to gloat about our artistic accomplishments, fruits of a period of social turmoil
Nothing can justify this massacre of the innocents in Gaza. No politics. No history. No revenge
Nearly 7,000 children and minors have died in Gaza, which the UN secretary general has styled ‘a graveyard for children’. And for all his bumper-sticker sloganeering about good values, Joe Biden has presided over it
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