Soapbox

Category: Opinion

  • What an Irish President actually does for a living.

    The 2018 campaign to elect Ireland’s president is well and truly underway, with the electorate set to cast their votes later this October. Despite being one of the most recognisable and important figures in Irish political and cultural life, there remains a fair amount of confusion as to what the purpose of the presidency actually…

  • I am a Christian, but I am not a Catholic

      I am a Christian, but I am not a Catholic To those of you who left the Church years ago, or those of you who were never part of it, this will seem like a whole lot of agonising over nothing. But the events of the last few years, and the visit of Pope…

  • What We Can Learn From Ireland’s Lost Constitution

    Darragh Roche    RTÉ’s long overdue documentary on the history of women in Ireland, ‘No Country For Women,’ highlighted a reality that everyone already knew but often refused to acknowledge: that Irish laws, and our constitution, treated women like second class citizens. The sexist provisions of the 1937 Bunreacht are so well-known, they hardly need…

  • Bible Ireland

    Darragh Roche    Thank God the Bible is leaving Irish politics U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently cited the Bible in defence of the inhumane policy of separating immigrant children from their parents. Quoting from St. Paul, the pre-eminent early Christian theologian, Sessions reminded sceptics that earthly laws should be obeyed. Since imprisoning children in…

  • Making the switch to new political parties

    Pádraig Lohan     Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are the political equivalent of a major phone company. We’re frustrated with the service they’re providing. We rant and moan that they clearly don’t care about us. Yet somehow, when we reach the end of the contract, we continue to give them our money (okay, votes).…

  • You are Not An Impostor

    Women of Ireland – well done. We did it. We got out there, got engaged, had conversations, and we (with the help of our male and non binary counterparts) won ourselves some of that sweet, sweet bodily autonomy. I know we had help. Yes, I know we couldn’t have done it without so and so.…

  • Racism survives the downfall of misogyny

    Somaya Mahmoud – 29-05-2018   So, in the aftermath of what has been one of the largest and most controversial referendums in Irish history, I was hopeful and perhaps naïve in expecting that the prolife people who have confronted me time and time again regarding my heritage, and the subsequent racial slurs which were associated…

  • Interview with Shane Daly

      With the Andy Lee world title defence on the horizon, but not bloody close enough. David O’Connor caught up with Shane Daly, (seen on the left of the photo) head trainer at St Saviour’s boxing club to pick his brain about all things boxing.   Right, let’s break you into it nice and gently,…

  • Well, it’s nonsense isn’t it?

    I suppose it was a slight folly becoming a sports contributor on a new website at the beginning of the summertime. The soap opera that is top flight European football and the bruising beauty of European rugby are in hiatus. I am not in the humour to discuss GAA as Limerick’s summer is over at…

  • Populist politics – An age old legacy

    An article by Cliff Taylor in the The Irish times advocating a neutral budget for 2015 has caused … well, absolutely no reaction whatsoever, partly because he wrote the same article this time last year. It does however raise a few interesting points that bear consideration. He argued for what would be a classic case…