Enda Kenny's speech last Wednesday has been rightly praised for its dramatic challenges to the Pope and the Vatican over the hypocrisy of the Holy See in respect of child abuse in Ireland. Long overdue, it is no less commendable for that. The speech has also been dealt with, almost exclusively, in the context of Ireland's relationship with the Papacy on this issue.

The speech, however, represented, in addition, a breathtaking rearrangement of domestic politics. It is wrong to see it as belated. This administration, led by Mr Kenny, has been swift to define a new child abuse policy and a new set of aims. Read More...

THE initial public response to the Cloyne Report was appropriately directed at the victims, the abusers and those in power and authority within the Catholic Church who protected abusers and left those who suffered abuse to go on suffering.

It is a dismal story displaying a largely unrepentant church, its authority undermined, Bishop Magee whose behaviour has been quite outrageous, a Papal Nuncio in confusion, the Pope and the Vatican neglectful, without explanation. Read More...

Leo Varadkar won an important political victory this week and opened up the battlefield that lies ahead. The issues to be confronted are numerous and involve all members of the Government.

They raise serious decision-making problems for the opposition parties, dividing them and, in the case of Fianna Fail, confronting them with culpability in the creation of the bonus and semi-state management cultures that are now so much against the public mood. Read More...