What a busy news day it’s been. The PDs are no more, so Mary Harney finds herself… well, exactly where she was before her party disbanded, at the heart of power in the cabinet as minster for health.
The annual hand wringing over the meaning of Armistic Day continues, a bit louder this year thanks to the 90th anniversary, as Irish academics and commentators contemplate the meaning of the War, poppy, imperialism, nationalism, and how to commemorate without celebrating.
The victims of past wars were in the news in more ways than one. From Wicklow comes the news that human remains have been found by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, set up to find the bodies of people who were ‘disappeared’ during the Troubles.
Meanwhile another murder in Limerick leads to calls for the introduction of internment, emergency powers, and the prosecution of criminals under the Offences Against the State Act for being members of illegal organisation.
One outraged politician went on Newstalk to explain how the juryless trials he had in mind would work.
‘This is no diplock court,’ he explained. ‘This is three judges.’
Well, quite. It worked so well last time, didn’t it?
