Editorial

Last night saw the end of a 139 day battle by 32 ordinary people for what common decency said was rightfully theirs. These 32 defiant workers have spent Christmas, Easter and hundreds of hours in the cold bare factory that had been their workday home for a combined total of 847 years.
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A survey by KBC bank, issued this week, has found that, for the first time since 2007, job losses and job gains are balancing out.  The KBC Bank Ireland / Chartered Accountants Ireland Business Sentiment Survey for Spring 2012 found that Irish business activities are showing their first clear improvement since late 2007; that early 2012 was less difficult for most companies; that job gains are now matching job losses for the first time in the same period; and that almost two-thirds of firms expect to increase employment in the next three years.
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The Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has announced an audit of schools to find out how many sports halls, labs and other facilities exist in various areas. In short, to find out what schools own. The news comes shortly after the disastrous introduction of the new household charge, a precursor to a full-blown property tax which is being introduced on a voluntary basis largely so the government can find out who is eligible to pay it.
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News yesterday from the Mental Health Commission that 132 children were admitted to adult mental health units in 2011 was no surprise to anyone even remotely familiar with our antiquated mental health system, and our rickety children’s rights framework.
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The latest CSO figures make for grim reading. While a rising tide lifts all boats, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the opposite is also true, and that those in the smallest boats take the brunt of it.
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I never met Niamh Cadogan. We sought to interview her as our Cork Profile recently, but her illness had become too debilitating for her to do the interview. Despite this, Niamh’s death this week from leukaemia at the age of just 17 hit me, because she was proof that life is not about length but about breadth, and depth.
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This week’s front page story is one of unparalleled bravery in the face of an enormous taboo. Corkwoman Lorraine Mulvey, whose father Ray abused and raped her over a period of years, waived her right to anonymity in order to help other abuse victims.
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I got really angry the other day at Beyoncé. Driving home, listening to a few tunes, I found myself humming along to ‘Who runs the world.’ Then I listened to the lyrics. ‘Who run the world!
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The announcement by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and a (terrified-sounding) Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore on Tuesday that we are to have another referendum on Europe hit me - and most of you, I bet - like a tonne of bricks.
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We have a strange attitude to privacy in this country. We are wonderfully creative gossips and great at ‘showing cause’ in formulaic ways like attending funerals of people we barely know, but the behind-closed-doors culture is still very much with us.
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It might be the butt of ‘turn it off and turn it on again’ jokes and even have inspired its own sitcom, but being part of the IT crowd is nothing to be sniffed at. For one thing, you’re more likely to be employed.
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With all the talk of the ‘knowledge economy’ that will rescue us from this bleak economic situation, perhaps it’s time to celebrate knowledge for its own sake. Darwin Day is this Sunday, 12 February and Cork Humanists are marking one of the founders of modern science’s birthday with a talk at the Quay Co-Op on Cove Street.
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An election promise kept. Dowtcha, boy.Well, actually, girls. Dowtcha girls.Credit where it's due; the Government is about to uphold an election promise to introduce gender quotas in politics. Today, Minister Phil Hogan will introduce the Gender Quotas Bill in the Seanad, which will oblige parties to run 30 per cent female candidates in the next general election or face funding cuts.
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People are being attacked at random on the streets, and the Government is worrying about the media being negative. Is this really happening?On Monday night a Spanish man, Jordi Roca, and his friends were attacked by a group of young people allegedly wielding items including a golf club, at random, on the street.
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