RSS 2.0 Feed - Cork Independenten-enCopyright by Cork Independenteditor@corkindependnet.comNewsFree speech Category: Editorial
Some people just can’t help themselves. A video of teenage boys racing horses along a busy Mallow road posted on YouTube over the weekend spread like wildfire on Monday when it was found by TheJournal.ie. The boys were Travellers, indisputably, and the race was an organised one – as in, people knew about it in advance – because at the end of the video there was a crowd scene. Organised in one sense only, because in every other way it was absolute chaos, with people and animals put in very serious danger.]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 07:00:00 GMTVictory at last Category: 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. During the course of their arduous campaign, one of them, Henry O’Reilly, was diagnosed with and began treatment for cancer. Others missed out on countless family occasions, hot dinners, and all the comforts of home while they spent their days and nights in a chilly common room, in a hollowed out factory, betrayed by the employer to whom they had devoted so many years.]]>Thu, 03 May 2012 07:00:00 GMTNot all bad news Category: Editorial
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.]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMTFail to plan... Category: Editorial
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. A 2011 census enumerator of my acquaintance tells of being sent to houses that no longer exist, and of having to fit into the paperwork homes that technically don’t exist in any record.]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMTTaking care of the future Category: Editorial
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. But the good news is that it’s changing. The report made special mention of the new child and teenage in-patient units in Galway and Cork. There are now 70 beds available for children and teenagers in mental distress nationally, up from 28 in 2008.]]>Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMTA rising tide Category: Editorial
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. Some of the terminology used in the census is rather technical, but with some explanations courtesy of Professor Brian Lucey, I learned that the deprivation rate for people who are not considered “at risk of poverty” went, from 2009 to 2010, from nine to 20 per cent. That’s one fifth of people – who are not considered poor – who are deprived.]]>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMTLife is precious - and short Category: Editorial
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. Her death is a tragedy for her family and friends, and for the person she would have become. But her short life was a triumph of positivity and the spirit of volunteerism and love.]]>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Protecting children

Category: Editorial
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. Sadly, we are all familiar with well-known abuse victims, whose stories have appalled us and stirred sympathy for them and hatred for their abusers. Many of the well-known faces are those hurt by clerical and institutional abuse. We are familiar, too, with stories of abused, mistreated and neglected children.]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMTWho runs the world? Category: Editorial
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! Girls! Girls! Who run this motha! Girls! Girls!’ And so on. It’s an empowering female anthem, according to the marketing people. I’ve got nothing against Beyoncé – in fact I think Beyoncé is a fantastic example of womanhood, and of personhood generally.]]>Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMTSeeking guidance Category: Editorial
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. Nobody has the energy for this, I thought. I'm sure I'm not the only one who briefly considered emigrating, with months of scare-mongering and witless waffle ahead. After three years of recession and strife that have included the bank bailout, local elections, Lisbon II, a 'political revolution' that more resembled a revolving door than a change of scene, a Presidential election replete with scandal and repeated promises to hold a Children's Referendum - which ]]>Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMTDon't ask, don't tell? Category: Editorial
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. You wouldn’t want anybody ‘knowing your business’, but official Ireland’s attitude to your private life can often be somewhere to the right of the Spanish Inquisition. Homosexuality has been decriminalised. Divorce is legal.]]>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMTThe IT crowd Category: Editorial
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. The knowledge economy of which we’re so often told, is lacking in a range of essential skills for further growth. Multinational (and indigenous) IT companies are happy to set up shop in Ireland but are forced to look abroad for the talent they require in order to grow.]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMTCelebrating knowledge Category: Editorial
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. I have a particular interest in Darwin, because an ancestor of mine was a regular correspondent of his. Being opinionated tends to run in families, but hopefully that’s all I have in common with my great-grandfather Charles O’Shaughnessy, whose publications included the rather self-acclamatory pamphlet ‘Da]]>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Dowtcha, girls

Category: Editorial
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. According to a UN report, The World's Women 2010, by that year only seven of 150 elected Heads of State in the world were women, and only 11 of 192 Heads of Government.]]>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMTBiting the hand Category: Editorial
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. It wasn't a sex crime; it wasn't a 'gangland' crime; it wasn't drug-related; he wasn't alone.None of the usual factors in street crime seem to apply. On the face of it, this attack was completely random.]]>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMTHonour Category: Editorial
In a week when honour - and lack thereof - was newsworthy, it's worth checking if our politicians measure up to the honour code we aspire to live by.
A captain abandoning thousands of people on a sinking ship is dishonourable. The captain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that sank off the Italian coast, has been lambasted from all quarters for both the costly mistake that caused the ship to sink, and for deserting it, and its passengers.
All sides have been quick to condemn Captain Francesco Schettino for his actions.]]>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

John McCarthy

Category: Editorial
“The world won’t be as much fun now that he’s left it.” A user of the website Broadsheet made this comment when the site marked John’s death yesterday, and I can’t say it better. John was a campaigner, a pugilist, a debater, a temporary politician, a poet and a rogue, but it was his fun that made him shine. He had none of the hang-ups that the rest of us have, and it made him extraordinary. The last time we met was in the new Marymount Hospice at Curraheen, where he had gone for respite.]]>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMTKeeping us occupied Category: Editorial
Cork has been occupied greatly in recent weeks by the subject of occupation. The four month old Occupy Cork movement is entering a new phase, while the Vita Cortex protesters do the same. Public support for both was high at the beginning, but it’s fair to say that the Vita Cortex workers have struck a chord with more ordinary Corkonians than the Occupy Cork brigade. And it’s easy to see why. Like all gut-reaction news stories, the Vita Cortex one is, at face value, a simple one.]]>Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMTThe €114,200 question Category: Editorial
It's that time of year again when we're between the national Budget and Christmas and the Cork City Council budget meeting rolls around. As long as I've been in this job, the local Budget has involved cutbacks to services, maintenance and front line Council staff. It has involved people who won't get a new boiler or their windows fixed next year, or people like Chloe O'Reilly who desperately needs facilities to allow her the most basic functions of life, like being able to stand up straight at home or do her homework at a table she can sit at.]]>Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMTDear Minister Lynch Category: Editorial
It's nearly Christmas. For you and me that means time spent with our families, in a place we love, surrounded by people we know and trust.  It means fun and relaxation and being able to choose what time we get out of bed and what time we return there - a luxury, I'm sure you'll agree, with a demanding schedule like yours. It's nice to have some time off and the freedom to enjoy it. I can't wait. Unfortunately, it's not the same for everyone. Some people - some of the most vulnerable people I can possibly think of, in fact - are going to suffer this Christmas, and some of them are suffering already.]]>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT