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Imagine, for a moment, that you are a naive traveller from a normal western European country. You know nothing about Ireland except that it is a rich country with a booming economy. You arrive at the airport. You ask politely where the station is, as you can’t see the signs for the train to the city. Amid bitter laughter, you are told that there might be one along in 2034. You are pointed towards the long queue for an expensive taxi.
If you stayed a while and really got to know the place you would find that it might be impossible to get a basic education for your son with special needs, or that there is no accessible public psychiatric service for your daughter with mental health problems. You might then ask: is this a developed country at all? In his column this weekend, Fintan O’Toole looks at the state of the nation and argues that we’ve plonked a hyper-globalised economy on top of a starkly undeveloped society. We’ve ended up with a place that is both on the leading edge and lagging far behind.
A sport-filled weekend has seen Irish rugby claim a historic series win in New Zealand, with Andy Farrell’s men securing a 10-point win against the All Blacks in their final test in Wellington. Gerry Thornley spoke to team captain Johnny Sexton shortly afterwards, who said: “It doesn’t get much better than this. By saying that, it’s the biggest respect we can give New Zealand. The celebrations probably weren’t the most humble but that shows how much it means to us.”
David McWilliams turned his attention to events beyond the Irish Sea this week and says that what happened in Lebanon – and now is playing out in Sri Lanka – could afflict many other countries, maybe before the year is out. “We’re in extremely dangerous territory,” he writes. “The combination of the pandemic, inflation stemming from many angles from shipping costs to petrol pumps, and food shortages stemming from the Ukraine war means that conditions are ripe for economic, financial and humanitarian crises across the globe. The UN maintains that ‘1.6 billion people in 94 countries face at least one dimension of the crisis in food, energy and financial systems, and about 1.2 billion of them live in “perfect-storm” countries, severely vulnerable to a cost-of-living crisis plus other longer-term strains’”.
This week, the Uber Files were making headlines around the world and in Ireland, they shone a light on the US cab-hailing company’s lobbying of the Irish government and raised questions over submissions by the business and its main Irish lobbyist to the official register of lobbying. The files, a cache of more than 124,000 files leaked to the Guardian and provided to the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a network of reporters involving more than 100 media groups including The Irish Times, made for some very interesting reading. Simon Carswell and Arthur Beasley made their way through the tranche of files and found that the State’s official register points to intensive lobbying by Uber between 2014 and 2017, but does not show the full extent of government contacts disclosed in private files. You can read all of our coverage of the Uber Files, including how the Irish lobbyist Mark MacGann emerged as the whistleblower behind the leaked files, here.
As the Dáil begins its summer recess, the Coalition did not exactly go out with a bang as an Irish Times/Ipsos poll showed support for Fine Gael is at its lowest level since 1994 while support for Sinn Féin hit a record high. “From the Coalition’s perspective, it is the most worrying poll in a long time – perhaps since the Government was formed just over two years ago. It sees support slump for the two big parties of the Government with the third remaining rooted at a level that would see its Dáil seats massacred in a general election,” Pat Leahy writes in his analysis.
In the week that saw bonfires lit in Northern Ireland as part of the July 12th celebrations, Emma de Souza writes that “sectarianism remains deeply ingrained in the North because our politics fuels it”. “Like the cloud of ash and smoke July inevitably brings, the problem with sectarianism in Northern Ireland hangs over the region far longer than two summer days each year; it is deeply rooted and institutionalised across education, housing, policing and employment – mainstreamed by political parties, and platformed by the media. To tackle sectarianism, we need more than just leadership – we need legislation.”
Ahead of today’s All-Ireland hurling final between Limerick and Kilkenny, Joe Canning writes how you can’t pretend the All-Ireland final is just any other game. “There are so many sideshows, so many things going on away from the game itself. You have to try to keep them at arm’s length, obviously. But you can’t pretend they’re not happening. . . There was one year I ended up with 70 tickets to organise. I always left all that stuff to my brother Frank and he was the one who wedged himself in between me and the outside world in the run-up to a final. But no matter how hard you try, you can’t delegate everything. An All-Ireland final is an All-Ireland final. You can’t escape all the hype around it.” He predicts Kilkenny will love coming in as underdogs and will keep it close, but Limerick will have more firepower down the stretch.
Holidaying in Ireland is more expensive than ever: a vacation home for a family of five can easily cost €2,000 a week to rent, while a double room in Dublin can range from about €200 a night at a three-star hotel to €600 a night at a five-star hotel. Eating out and, if you’re travelling from abroad, renting a car can easily add another couple of hundred euro a day. All in all, a week away could cost a family of two adults and three children an astronomical €4,000. So how to make a holiday in Ireland more affordable? Sylvia Thompson looks at eight ways to cut down on the costs.
Sticking with all things finance, in this week’s Your Money section, Joanne Hunt talked to the Instagram mammies giving practical lessons in family budgeting. From how to organise a budget wedding to feeding hulking teenage sons, Joanne talked to three of the most popular Irish household finance Instagrammers about their inflation-busting tips. They may not all have a degree in economics, but they can tell you how to stretch a fiver. Battle-scarred in the financial crash, they have learned lessons the hard way. Some have become so popular that they are earning money through sponsorships and coaching others.
Finally, one reader has written to relationships and sex expert Roe McDermott about the close friend she is in love with. “I have a close male friend who is in a committed relationship,” she writes. “I have feelings for him but I do not want to tell him . . . I want him to be happy and I do not want to add stress to his life. How can I maintain this friendship while thinking these things?”
As always there is much more on irishtimes.com, including extensive coverage of the weekend’s sport, rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews, and tips for restaurants to suit all tastes in our food section. You can always check out more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.
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