Thousands of college students are participating in a series of regional protests during this month. The Union of Students in Ireland and local Students’ Unions have organised the protests in opposition to further college fee increases and cuts to the Student Maintenance Grant. Pat was joined by John Logue, President of the Union of Students in Ireland and by journalist and commentator Eamon Delaney
It’s that time of year when Charity collectors vie with Christmas shoppers ....for standing space on our city side walks. Whatever about the amounts our shoppers are spending...our overseas aid budget continues to stay close to Celtic Tiger levels. We sent €636m overseas last year in development assistance, but can we afford this generosity in this time of austerity. The findings that Irish funds was miss- appropriated by officials of the Ugandan Government has also posed the question.....should we be funding Governments where good governance is not guaranteed? Well to have a discussion on aid, Pat was joined in studio ...
Last week the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told us that the closure of 95 mostly rural Garda stations will free up members of the force to engage in frontline policing. He said the closures will result in 61,000 additional patrol hours being available to engage directly in community policing, crime prevention and crime detection. The closures have angered many in rural Ireland who have protested at the loss of another amenity as treasured as the local post office or bank. An unnamed Garda writing in a Sunday newspaper stated “there is a rising feeling of outright anger at the ...
Áine Lawlor, standing in for Marian, discusses all the main stories from the papers with our panel. Minister Lucinda Creighton – Minister for European Affairs / Sen. John Crown – Independent Senator and Oncology Consultant in St. Vincent’s / Mary O’Rourke – former Fianna Fail Minister / Lorcan Roche Kelly – Chief Europe strategist with Trend Macrolytics / Eamon Delaney – Columnist with the Independent and former diplomat.
Áine Lawlor, standing in for Marian, discusses all the main stories from the papers with our panel. Minister Lucinda Creighton – Minister for European Affairs / Sen. John Crown – Independent Senator and Oncology Consultant in St. Vincent’s / Mary O’Rourke – former Fianna Fail Minister / Lorcan Roche Kelly – Chief Europe strategist with Trend Macrolytics / Eamon Delaney – Columnist with the Independent and former diplomat.
This week was dominated by the crèche controversy. RTE 's Investigations Unit Breach of Trust programme, shocked viewers with scenes of children being shouted at and mistreated in three crèches. Meanwhile, the Dail motion of no confidence in Minister Shatter over the penalty points and Garda discretion controversy was defeated by 88 votes to 45 . The INMO have backed the Haddington Road agreement while the CPSU doggedly recommend a NO vote. And Micheal Martin gives Fianna Fail members a free vote on abortion. While over 1.5 million have complied with the property tax returns. Joining Pat in studio were ...