Breda OâBrien: Removing 'religious spirit' from schools an act of desperationIt is more than likely a symbolic response by Minister OâSullivan to Fine Gaelâs refusal to buy her School Admissions BillSat Dec 12 2015 - 01:31
Breda OâBrien: British bombing of Syria does not meet test for a âjust warâCan you really say that air strikes on fighters dispersed among a civilian population fulfil the criteria of proportionate force and protection of civilians?Sat Dec 05 2015 - 01:19
Breda OâBrien: Making divorce easier will bring little benefit for childrenThe law is a teacher. It embodies what society considers to be worth both validating and punishing.Sat Nov 28 2015 - 01:16
Breda OâBrien: What happened to Pat Carey was a long time in the makingReligious have long been subjected to similar treatment by media and the ChurchSat Nov 21 2015 - 04:58
Breda OâBrien: Ireland should not aspire to providing legalised killingSo long as the safety valve of abortion is there, we never have to take seriously the issue of providing real alternatives.Sat Nov 14 2015 - 03:29
Breda OâBrien: The good ship Enda sails merrily onâThe degree to which this Taoiseach has been given free passes is quite extraordinaryâSun Nov 08 2015 - 12:23
Breda OâBrien: No epic struggle at synod, just slow steady progressLayman voting at synod shows it is possible laywomen could be nextSat Oct 31 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Education is key to ending Traveller inequalityReinstating the Visiting Teacher Scheme and resources teachers for Travellers would be a practical, realisable way to mark watershed momentSat Oct 24 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Free pre-school places about workers, not what is best for childrenPre-school intervention works best when employed to make up for a lack of adequate parentingSat Oct 17 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: The norms may have changed but the pressure to conform remainsâVindictive protectivenessâ is on the riseSat Oct 10 2015 - 14:02
Breda OâBrien: Americans singled out by pope have one thing in commonAll shared an intense consciousness of the centrality of God in their livesSat Oct 03 2015 - 01:06
Breda OâBrien: State subsidised child care is no NirvanaWhat is good for disadvantaged children is not good for all children, research suggestsSun Sept 27 2015 - 08:34
Breda OâBrien: Women tell me their stories about abortion all the timeâYou can argue about personhood before birth, but you cannot argue about humanityâSat Sept 19 2015 - 05:00
Breda OâBrien: Syrian boy deserves better than moment of voyeurismâI feel that photographs taken after a tragic death demean a personâs dignityâSat Sept 05 2015 - 02:00
Breda OâBrien: Could Ireland become the fairest little country for migrants?Images from âChildren of Menâ are eerily similar to current television news broadcasts, down to the cages and the barbed wireSat Aug 29 2015 - 00:30
Breda OâBrien: Trump and Corbyn tap into electorateâs viewsâHow viable is our democracy when despite the proliferation of new parties and old, many Irish people still have no party for which they can vote?âSat Aug 22 2015 - 02:00
Breda OâBrien: Let a hundred flowers blossom in home educationThere are formidable obstacles to pursuing the Leaving Certificate at homeSat Aug 15 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Why Pope Francis should take a holidayThe Pope should strike a blow against the âoverworkâ cultureSat Jul 25 2015 - 04:15
Organ harvest trade underlines inhuman violence of abortionTaking foetal organs for profit requires obliteration of individualsâ humanitySat Jul 18 2015 - 01:03
Breda OâBrien: Lone parent cuts wonât break poverty cycleIn Sweden it is considered almost regressive to want to look after your child yourselfSat Jul 11 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Popeâs views on environment echo tradition of social teachingFrancis builds on âhuman ecologyâ to ask how to develop an âintegral ecologyâSat Jul 04 2015 - 01:06
Breda OâBrien: Tragic that Amnesty now prioritises undermining the right to lifeâAn equal right to life is a much more basic and foundational concept than Constitutional recognition of a loving relationshipâSat Jun 27 2015 - 04:30
Breda OâBrien: The Berkeley deaths draw us close together in our sorrowâSometimes we worry that community is weakening in Ireland. That may be true in some respects, but it is at times of bereavement that we see the importance of community tiesâSat Jun 20 2015 - 04:29
Breda OâBrien: Sex, alcohol and consent â what the research tells usâConsent, personal autonomy, and choice are the new holy trinity of modern moresâSat Jun 13 2015 - 13:01
Breda OâBrien: Fintan OâTooleâs appeal on child poverty is worthy of supportâUntil Irish people can re-discover the sense that the poorer kids are also our kids, a crusade to end child poverty will never receive the support that it deservesâSat May 30 2015 - 04:00
Breda OâBrien: An inconvenient truth about the same-sex marriage referendumâ734,300 No voters are just as generous and inclusive as those who voted YesâMon May 25 2015 - 09:59
Breda OâBrien: High-heels in Cannes and the gender agendaâHigh heels were once the exclusive province of menâSat May 23 2015 - 03:00
Breda OâBrien: Think about intolerance of thought police before you voteâThis Governmentâs only commitment to marriage is to re-defining it to make it gender-neutralâSat May 16 2015 - 02:30
Breda OâBrien: Asking questions about funding for referendum campaignâGroupthink has been exalted to an Irish sacramentâSat May 09 2015 - 08:03
Breda OâBrien: Garda bodyâs call for a Yes vote undermines democracyâIt is just one of the deeply disturbing aspects of the debate, or should that be non-debate, in advance of the referendumâSat May 02 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Little sympathy for migrants who make it to Irelandâs shoresâIn a landmark decision on Wednesday, the High Court ruled that gardaĂÂ failed to identify a victim of human trafficking, resulting in a trafficked woman being imprisoned in Mountjoy for two and a half yearsâSat Apr 25 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Does Mary McAleese understand why people are voting No?âIf the referendum is passed, there will be children born in this country who will never experience a motherâs loveâSat Apr 18 2015 - 12:34
Breda OâBrien: Question of pizza for a gay wedding sparks death threatsSame-sex marriage referendum is not just about saying âI doâSat Apr 11 2015 - 01:00
Breda OâBrien: Domestic violence â men are victims tooWe need a second report on sexual abuse and violence in Ireland â and we must act on itSat Apr 04 2015 - 02:30
Breda OâBrien: Fianna FĂĄil is alienating core voters without attracting new onesâThere is no party that now represents those who are socially conservative but not economically right wingâSat Mar 28 2015 - 02:00
Breda OâBrien: Dolce & Gabbana face boycott over âsynthetic babiesâ commentsElton John and Martina Navratilova criticise âparentingâ views of designersSat Mar 21 2015 - 04:30
Breda OâBrien: Many of those granted asylum canât afford to leave hostelsâKathy feels as if the State has cut her adrift after almost forcibly institutionalising her. She doesnât want to be dependent . . . She is longing to work in order to provide for her familyâSat Mar 14 2015 - 01:30
Breda OâBrien: Junior Cert debate conceals a bigger problem about educationShould education be about creating a compliant workforce or good citizens?Sat Mar 07 2015 - 03:00
Breda OâBrien: Democratic disaster as Government pushes through family BillâThe Government has declared that it makes no difference whether your biological parents raise you, or whether two men or two women who may or may not be related to you do soâSat Feb 28 2015 - 08:51
Failure to ban egg and sperm donation in children and family Bill is a mistakeApparently it is fine for children to be denied their genetic heritage and kinship networks through âmodern means of family formationâSun Feb 22 2015 - 12:02
Breda OâBrien: Itâs time we provide couples with perinatal hospicesParents need expert support when they hear their baby faces a life-limiting conditionSun Feb 15 2015 - 12:02
A human dynamo with the power to persuade people to use their God-given talentsâLike all the Dominican sisters who taught, Sr Barnabas Kett believed education was the key to a good life, one where you could be usefulâSun Feb 08 2015 - 12:01
Internet is an echo chamber for illiberal political correctnessTwitterverse is a bubble, removed from most peopleâs experienceSun Feb 01 2015 - 07:50
Breda OâBrien: Love is not enough when it comes to childrenâs rightsâThe inconvenient truth is that we are altering Article 41 of the Constitution which has a simple heading â the FamilyâSat Jan 24 2015 - 09:00
Their lives may be short but they have huge meaning and worthWe donât deal well with the death of babies with life-limiting illnessesSat Jan 17 2015 - 12:00
âCharlie Hebdoâ: A united front against murder and violence neededâWhat is best in religion must now be mustered to defeat peacefully those who represent the worst of religious extremismâSat Jan 10 2015 - 00:01
Breda OâBrien: âShellackybookyâ â English as my mother spoke itI still have no idea what âa bun baked standingâ meantSun Dec 28 2014 - 00:01
Inside Bungalow 3: the revelations raise uncomfortable questions about ourselvesWhat makes some people treat others badly â or well?Sun Dec 21 2014 - 12:02
How the most vulnerable borrowers face the highest rates of interestâSomehow, we think that it is acceptable and inevitable that those who are most likely need to borrow relatively small sums just to meet everyday contingencies like illness or bereavement, should also pay the highest rates of interestâSat Dec 13 2014 - 13:01
Why it wonât help to just throw money at the problem of homelessnessâA shy, gentle, wild creature in mortal terror of the people who were clumsily trying to help. He left, and we never saw him againâSun Dec 07 2014 - 12:02