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
Justine McCarthy
Justine McCarthy columns
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
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