Justice for Cambodia? The Kaing Guek Eav verdict

I have a new post on GlobalComment about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. I lived in Cambodia for three years and know most of the people involved. My other blog Foreign Affairs is about my life there.

The verdict is in. Kaing Guek Eav, aka Comrade Duch (68) of the Khmer Rouge was convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions by the trial chamber of The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on 26 July 2010.

It has been a long time coming. The communist Khmer Rouge regime murdered, tortured and starved millions of their own people. The majority of current government ministers were part of the regime. The tribunal at the ECCC has been subject to political interference, incompetence, legal ploys, confessions and retractions. What makes the process more difficult is the hybrid nature of the ECCC, which made any convictions doubtful.

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A different sort of female genital mutilation

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About thirty years ago, there was an informal secret society in the city of Cork. Perhaps a loose net of those with a shared interest might be more accurate. This group passed the names of certain professionals around – who could be trusted, previous experiences, and religious beliefs. The information was gathered from many sources. It was shared among women of childbearing age because none wanted a fervently Catholic gynecologist.

A fervently Catholic gynecologist might put his beliefs into practice on the delivery table. He might choose to save the life of the child over the mother, or regardless of consequences make sure the woman would conceive again, or choose to mutilate a woman’s body rather than allow the idea that the woman might choose contraception in the future.

In the grand tradition of submission to the catholic church, Irish doctors used the surgical technique of symphysiotomy, long after the rest of the developed world had discredited its practice. Symphysiotomy was developed in 1597 and was routinely used to widen the pelvis during childbirth. By dividing the cartilage of the symphysis pubis, the pelvis can be widened by up to two centimetres.

Known complications include haemorrhage, injury to the urethra or bladder, vesicovaginal or urethrovaginal fistula, stress incontinence, sepsis, and pelvic osteoarthropathy. In some cases women experienced difficulty in walking and an unstable pelvis.

The technique was largely abandoned in the late nineteenth century after improvements in the hygiene and clinical practice of Caesarean section. It is still practiced in developing countries when Caesarean section is too risky and it can save the life of the mother and/or that of the child.


However, in Ireland, women were subjected to symphysiotomy without consent for religious reasons, even though Caesarean sections were relatively safe. It was thought that women subjected to repeated Caesareans might be tempted to use contraception and that could not be allowed to happen.

[Dr] Alex Spain was the champion of symphysiotomy at the National Maternity Hospital. In 1944, he revived the technique because Caesarean sections might lead to “contraception, the mutilating operation of sterilisation, and marital difficulty.” At that time Caesarean sections were perfectly safe and symphysiotomy had fallen into disrepute. Spain admitted his decision went against the weight of the entire English-speaking obstetrical world’.

From 1944 to 1983, 1,500 women underwent this unnecessary and traumatic surgical procedure leaving many in pain for the rest of their lives because of the religious beliefs of a few men. Many survivors have spoken of feeling the saw cut through the public bone and seeing horrific injuries on their newborns. These are just two stories:

“I’ve been in pain ever since. I’ve still attending hospitals with back pain and kidney problems. I’d go to bed one night and would be ok but the next day I would not be able to get out of the bed, I wouldn’t be able to put my feet to the ground, all because of the operation, and I didn’t know at the time. I had x-rays taken of my legs to see what was wrong but they couldn’t find anything wrong.”

and

“They gave me hardly any information, whatsoever, until I got to the theatre. The only thing I remember is the nurses saying I had lovely red hair. They showed me the saw. It was an ordinary hand saw, they showed me where they were going to open the pelvic bone. They didn’t explain — they said: “You are going to have your baby now.” It was such agony, a terrible severe pain.”

Women were subject to this outdated practice because Catholic doctors believed that women would not choose to undergo multiple Caesarean sections. Such women might turn to contraception, the idea of which was unacceptable to those doctors at the time. These doctors saw themselves as upholding the laws of the Catholic church and those who are still alive show no remorse. They deny the damage they inflicted.

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The Ryan report - a year later

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Thursday was the first anniversary of the publication of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse. Commonly called the Ryan Report, its publication cumulated in the realisation of the extent of the violence, rape and sexual assault that children suffered in the care of the Catholic Church. I have written more here. Eight organisations (Barnardos, CARI, Children’s Rights Alliance, Irish Association of Young People in Care, ISPCC, One in Four, Rape Crisis Network of Ireland and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre) met to discuss progress on the implementation of the Ryan Report.

To this day not a single additional penny has been paid by the eighteen religious congregations that committed crimes against children. I say additional because the Irish Government struck a shameful deal with the religious orders in 2002. The then Minister for Education Michael Woods and Attorney General Michael McDowell struck a secret deal. It was never put before parliament and there was no vote. In short, religious orders were awarded indemnity against all legal claims provided they supplied €128m in cash and property. The idea was that if there was a shortfall, the taxpayer would provide. Woods expected around 2000 claimants and a total cost of around €300m.

Fast forward to 2010, and 14 000 claimants have come forward. The bill is expected to be around €1.3bn. And the religious orders have not contributed a single additional penny. The congregations claim that the Irish Government had not yet provided the details of what further contributions are required.

In addition, the Catholic Church, which runs 92% of the primary schools in Ireland have ordered the schools to pay €4.75 per pupil to the church each year to begin at the end of May. There is no reason given for the charge and the church requires immediate payment. Given that many primary schools in politically-disadvantaged areas are in dire conditions, this demand for money is particularly egregious. Students were requested to bring tolls of toilet paper from home because of budget cutbacks in one Cork school. Several schools have repeated rat infestations. 50 000 students are being educated in prefabs – some for over twenty years. Granted, that these failings are also due to the indifference of successive Education Ministers.

However, this is the same government that promised €2 million for the funding of counselling services for the survivors of institutional rape and torture. Organisations like the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and One in Four have received no extra funding to date and have had their budgets cut by 5.8% despite a government commitment not to do so. Organisations that provide counselling services have been and remain overwhelmed. There is now a nine-month waiting list for one to one counselling at One in Four.

Numerous reports have come out about the cover-up of the sexual abuse of children, yet bishops named in the Murphy report remain patrons of primary schools. The primate of all Ireland, Seán Brady engaged in a conspiracy to cover up serial child rape and refuses to resign. He still holds that position. The leader of the Catholic Church in the Vatican covered up child rape. Benedict XVI was revealed to have ordered bishops not to report child sexual abuse to the correct authorities – the civil authorities – yet he is still lauded by millions.

There has been no information about the children who died in care and were allegedly buried in mass graves. The only information in the public domain is that in 1993 an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, who had been buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed and, except for one body, cremated and reburied in a mass grave. There has been no other information. Children were murdered, starved and worked to death but we do not even know their names.

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Fellatio and fruit bats: sexual harassment vs. academic freedom

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When is sexual harassment not sexual harassment? When it pertains to the rights of an academic to discuss the sex life of fruit bats with a colleague. Add a cry for understanding, a wail of academic censorship and a quick online petition and the academic community is up in metaphorical arms.

This is the tale of Dylan Evans and his online fight to prove himself innocent of sexual harassment and to place himself as the victim of a politically correct university regime determined to undermine his academic freedom. In a presumably desperate act, he transmitted his story to the HuffingtonPost who obligingly printed his point of view, started a petition about his academic persecution and began to stir up what was to become #fruitbatgate.

His fight was undermined, however, by his publication of the relevant correspondence allowing all denizens of the internet to judge for themselves, and more recently by his lack of respect for the confidentiality of the disciplinary proceedings. In fact, it has all blown up in his face.

The online affair began as a simple claim that Evans’ academic freedom was being limited because he was unable to discuss the sex life of fruit bats with a colleague without being accused of sexual harassment. Plenty of academics all over the world enthusiastically signed the petition, probably without reading the details. As Evans’ said

If we cannot discuss scientific articles about topics directly related to our own research, published in leading peer-reviewed international journals with colleagues in the same department, this bodes very ill for informed inquiry and debate.

What Evans fails to add is that he is an evolutionary psychologist and the woman he harassed is an expert nutritionist. Fellatio in fruit bats would not seem to be a topic directly related to the research of either party.

Evans seems to have a couple of major gripes. Firstly, he did not mean to offend her. Secondly, she did not tell him she was offended. Thirdly, he wants to be allowed to discuss fellatio with anyone is chooses.

Not meaning to offend someone is neither here nor there. An offender does not get to justify hir offense. An offender gets to apologise and to not repeat the words. Instead, Evans has created the biggest “I didn’t mean to” cry by casting his plea all over the internet. If he truly did not mean to offend, then he needs to learn what can cause offence and the university-imposed monitoring and counselling can only aid with his understanding.

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Patrick's Day: what the hell?

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“You say Saint Patty’s
And I say Saint Paddy’s
Let’s call the whole thing off.”

Chances are that somewhere near you is celebrating the 17 March. From Dili to Tucúman, from Nairobi to Wasila, people celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. But do they really?

Who was this guy? No one knows whether he was from Britain or France. We do know that he was a slave in the mountains for seven years, eating what the pigs ate. A more humble life might be difficult to find. Aided by a mysterious voice he escaped the land of the Gael, but he returned years later to Christianise Pagan Ireland.

Little is known about his mission. All accounts of his doings were chronicled after his death. The only primary accounts are two letters written by Patrick, in which he declares that he “baptised thousands of people”, ordained priests to continue his work and targeted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition, and the sons of kings. *

If this was not enough to cement his mission, Patrick reputedly banished the snakes, used the natural flora to explain the Holy Trinity and even baptised one of Ireland’s greatest warriors, Oisín mac Fionn, after his return from Tír na nÓg.

It does make one wonder about the steadfastness of the Irish to yield their gods so quickly, while not under the threat of arms. Although since all remaining documents are accounts kept by the early Irish Christian Church, there is room for a little scepticism. Naturally 17 March is a holy day of obligation in Irish Catholicism – a day for solemn reflection and mass going.


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* Thomas Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge, 2000)

Catholic Church allowed abuse – now wants cash

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After the Ryan and Murphy reports, were published, shock and anger reverberated throughout Ireland and the world. Questions of how the people of Ireland have failed children so grievously were raised in the media, while the Catholic hierarchy engaged in defence and obfuscation. And then the furore died down, and people went back to worrying about the recession.

Few read the Ryan and Murphy reports and understandably so. No one wants to believe that members of the Church behaved so violently, or that the Church itself was not interested in stopping the violence. The fact that children were the victims made the horror complete.

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Valentine's Day - love or blood?

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“If you really love her, send her roses,” the advertisements proclaim. “Diamonds are forever.” “Say it with flowers.” Woman waits to receive, whereas man hunts an appropriate gift to present. The entire posits woman as object and man as subject. Worldly retailers may supply cards for those who do not identify within the heterosexist paradigm and those in unconventional relationships, but the current Valentine’s Day mostly celebrates the rigidly traditional relationship.


Valentine’s Day is an odd day to celebrate in general, though. The saints that have been named Valentine have no connection to romantic love. The majority were martyred during the early Christian period. The origins of Valentine’s Day as a celebration of romantic love are obscure. In my opinion, there are two paradigms with regard to Valentine’s Day.

The first is that of romantic love which first appeared in Parlement of Foules by Chaucer, which celebrated the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. Given that Chaucer served the king as a customs official and diplomat, it is possible that the links between Valentine’s Day and romantic love may have been a nod to his patron. Anne of Bohemia is known to have travelled extensively with King Richard, which might be an indicator of a strong bond between the couple, as it was unusual behaviour at the time.

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Ireland and abortion: something’s got to give

My latest from GlobalComment:

Catholic morals were deeply embedded in Irish society by the theocracy from which Ireland is only now beginning to shake itself loose. Since the middle of the nineteeth century, the Catholic Church took on those responsibilities of the state that were surrendered by England, primarily those concerning education and health.

The Church’s position was solidified after Irish independence, and while the 1937, Constitution granted freedom of religion, it also recognised the “special position of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church.” Catholicism and nationalism were tightly linked in the struggle for Irish freedom.

The dominion of the Catholic Church led to the culture of silence around the torture, rape and slavery of children and women by religious congregations and clerics. It was only in the 1970s, with the rise of feminism and freer economic policies, that the iron fist of the Catholic Church loosened around the collective neck of the Irish people.

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The big chill

Forget to crosspost this - last week's snow piece on GlobalComment

Ireland is covered in a blanket of snow. If you listen carefully, you can hear pipes bursting all over the country. Electricity supply is spotty. Heating oil delivery is delayed. In fact, the country is closed for business.

Unlike other countries in the Northern Hemisphere, Ireland has little experience in the application of emergency plans. In November half the country was under water. In 2010 snow and ice have conquered the land. Indeed weather forecasters speak often of ‘treacherous’ conditions. I wonder whether shopping in Newry or the weather conditions is the worst betrayal.

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Bad apples or a bad barrel? Sexual abuse and the Irish Catholic Church

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Resignations of bishops is the issue of the day in the Irish Catholic Church. The initial shock of the Murphy Report has worn off, probably because many who opine on its contents have not taken the trouble to read it. I think there is a danger in demanding resignations, not that any demands have been forthcoming, because the Report contains merely a sample of cases. Resignation, as opposed to dismissal, is an ideological move, and the whole issue smacks of the “few bad apples” mentality.

The “bad apples” argument is the preferred argument when it comes to discussing widespread abuse. It allows institutions to choose a few scapegoats. The institution, in this scenario, does not have to consider the role it played in facilitating evil or contemplate greater responsibility for the unfolding of abuse.

In The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House, 2007), Philip Zimbardo, the coordinator of the Stanford Prison Experiment, investigates the idea that a hierarchical institution itself creates the environment that allows abuse to flourish. The conclusions he reaches are applicable to the attitudes of the Vatican and the Irish Catholic Church upon the revelation of widespread serious sexual assault and rape in the Murphy Report and the torture, violence, sexual assault and rape in the Ryan Report.

Zimbardo suggests that there are seven social processes that may trigger evil:

Taking the first step, dehumanisation of others; de-individuation of the self; diffusion of personal responsibility; blind obedience of authority; uncritical conformity to group norms; and passive tolerance to evil through inaction or indifference.

Each of these social processes can be easily applied to the Irish Catholic Church:

The priestly uniform allowing de-individuation; the unquestioning obedience to Rome and the bishops; the lack of responsibility to the victims of the church; the lack of oversight in every area; the passive tolerance of abuse; and the dehumanisation of the children in the industrial schools through excessive use of force and in the parishes through insurance policies, unjust authority and the culture of silence.

The church in Ireland not only passively tolerated the abuse, but also actively moved the criminals from parish to parish while covering up the details of the crimes in question. This is active evil. The decision to hide a paedophile priest in the boot of a car and drive him to another town was a resolute act to shield a criminal. In addition, it shows that the allegiance was to the institution regardless of the legalities of the situation. The current Pope, meanwhile, instructed bishops not to reveal the crimes to civil authorities. Only those who are severely in denial could allow a “bad apples” argument to stand in the face of such actions.

The conspiracy of silence was aided by the power structures in place. The Catholic Church were the de facto morality police, condemning sins from the pulpit; condemning, for example, sexuality and contraception. The priest’s word or deed was never questioned. The extent to which priests enjoyed immunity was revealed in the Murphy Report. The police dropped investigations of sexual abuse accusations against priests even when corroborating evidence was available. Zimbardo says that power without oversight is a prescription for abuse, and that statement has been played out in the parishes and industrial schools throughout Ireland.

Business as usual will not cut the mustard. To date, nothing has changed within the power structures of the church. However, civil society has changed. With the decline of the church’s influence, survivors of sexual abuse, rape and torture are in a position to seek legal redress. Such action was nigh on impossible until recently, considering that the Irish government has been complicit in covering up abuse, limiting liability for the clergy and acting cravenly in the face of clear violations.

The bottom line is that the institution that is the Catholic Church has not taken responsibility for the environment that it created and maintained. Even now, after two reports that contain graphic descriptions of evil, the church fathers speak through public relations representatives and lawyers. Mealy-mouthed apologies abound, but there is no sense of understanding for the suffering of survivors or the extent to which this evil was allowed to flourish.

Every priest who knew and did not report was complicit. Every bishop that did not pass on information to the police, the Vatican or the priests in the abuser’s next diocese was complicit. Every police officer who dropped an investigation or sent complainants away or returned runaway children to industrial schools was complicit. The state that colluded through apathy and inaction, sending children to industrial schools, and allowing the church such unchecked power was complicit.

Many Irish people want to know what is next in terms of the punishment of the guilty. To my mind, there are a couple of Bible verses that would suggest themselves.

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

- Luke 17:2

Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

- Psalm 10:15

Broken promises: Ireland’s 2010 Budget exploits the vulnerable

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“The worst is over,” said Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan on 9 December on the presentation of the 2010 Budget. It is actually truly astounding that the Irish Government believes that the worst of the recession is over. The number of people signing on the Live Register of the Unemployed is still increasing. The number of people living in poverty is rising. The number of people unable to pay their bills is rising. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul has reported a fourfold increase in people applying for food assistance. The worst is certainly not over.

The rhetoric of “everyone sharing the pain” has popped up in every conversation about the financial state of the nation in the lead up to Budget 2010. Another very soundbite was “protecting the vulnerable in society,” and it was emphasized to the hilt. Everyone was in favour of protecting the vulnerable. There was a consensus. In forty minutes, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan demonstrated that the Irish government does not care about people living in poverty, or the need for hospital beds or the sharing of pain, and most especially not protecting the vulnerable. Lenihan and the Irish Government are protecting the least vulnerable.

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The Vatican washes its hands

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Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.

Working for an organisation can inspire loyalty. You defend the policies, because you believe in them. You minimise whatever failings you fins out about and cover up a few mistakes. You invest your time and effort into being the best worker you can. Then you find out that the organisation is not perfect. Maybe it dumps toxic waste into the ocean or uses slave labour. At what point do you blow the whistle? At what point do you resign in protest?

The analogy is not perfect, but neither is the reaction of the Catholic Church to accusations of child sexual abuse. As a reference point, Vatican II (Second Vatican Counsel) marks the modern Catholic Church – a handy milestone for an ancient organisation. Did the latter day cover ups start with Pope John Paul II or was his refusal to permit the defrocking of paedophile priests only the latest deception? In 1989, the pontiff was determined to give priests every chance to repent. In Ireland, this policy led inexorably to repeat child sexual abuse. In many cases, the cycle was repeated for decades.

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What really happened in Cork

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About twenty eight hours after Ireland was kicked out of the World Cup, the city of Cork, the Republic of Ireland’s second largest city, was flooded by the semi-state company, Electricity Supply Board (ESB). Two weeks of heavy rain that amounted to four to six times the norm, combined with 40 to 60 millimetres of rain fall in the preceding 36 hours, and the release of water from the Inniscarra dam caused the river Lee to burst its banks and flood the city centre. €100 million is the conservative price that will need to be paid to clean up the mess.

RTE (the state broadcaster) informed the public on the evening of Thursday 19th November that water would be released from the Inniscarra dam and that the area around Inniscarra might flood. The towns in West Cork of Macroom, Bandon, Skibbereen and Ballyvourney were already impassable. I diverted through Mallow and managed to make it home, skirting several flooded roads with only a three hour delay. The entire journey I was glued to the national radio stations to get more information. There was little of any substance.

In the early hours of Friday morning 20 November, people living in the inner city awoke to the sound of rushing water entering their homes. The flood was the largest in living memory, possibly a hundred-year event. Students at University College Cork were seen swimming through the freezing flood water to reach residence halls that are still without electricity or running water. Civil Defence began evacuating older people by boat from 2AM.

The rest of Cork awoke to a flooded city. Businesses were destroyed; medical clinics were under water; a five star hotel was half underwater; and students wake-boarded on the streets. Business owners and employees rolled up their trousers and cleaned up as best as they could. A woman mucking out a hair dressing salon said, “this I can fix… eventually,” referencing the economic difficulties and feelings of helplessness.

Likewise, staff at the Mercy, a public hospital with three hundred beds, were not warned of the possibility of flooding. The emergency room had to be evacuated. Doctors, nurses, support staff, lab techs and many others took extraordinary measure to be at work on time, using any transport available. Civil Defence played chauffeur to most but others canoed, kayaked, used dinghies, cycled and walked through waist-high raging flood water.

The people of Cork pride themselves on a certain self-sufficiency. This attitude developed partly as the identity of Cork as a rebel county and partly because the people cannot rely on the government in Dublin to come to their aid in times of need. While Cork was inundated, national radio and television news provided little information. While volunteers were helping to clean out the hospital emergency room, the government was appealing to FIFA and the French government to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier. It was only after the floods that the media started paying attention to what was happening in the second largest city in the republic.

From Friday morning, public servants, who were due to take part in a one day strike on 24 November, declared that they would not be taking part in work stoppage because of the civic emergency in Cork. Public servants in other inundated counties made similar declarations, following where Cork leads.

Gradually, information began to trickle into the national media and by 13:00 on Friday afternoon, the national media was reporting on the crisis. By 13:30 politicians were praising the efforts of the ESB in an attempt to cover up the fact that no specific warnings were made with regard to the city. The ESB released 535 cubic metres of water per second into a swollen river, claimed they sent a press release and informed the city council, and then declared that informing the public was not their department.

The City Council were effective enough at mobilising Civil Defense once the scale of the flood became clear. However, the result of either miscommunication between the ESB and the City Council or negligence or incompetence, is that 20 000 households are without water. Bottled water was sold out at Lidl and Aldi (the less expensive supermarket chains) by 11:30 on Friday 20 November. 123 000 people are still queuing for drinking water from tankers and boil notices have been issued to the rest of the population. There is temporary accommodation for those who have been displaced but the Taoiseach (prime minister) has declared that it is too early to discuss the issue of compensation.

The people of Cork have shown great resilience and community spirit in the past days. Hopefully, an official investigation will reveal the reasons why Cork was flooded and whose hand was at the wheel.

The bitter fallout of France vs. Ireland

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Ireland’s final hopes to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup were dashed when Thierry Henry scored a goal in extra time. It is widely acknowledged that the Irish team played well and perhaps deserved to go to the World Cup, but the referee called the goal for the French side. This has proved to be incredibly controversial, because Henry’s hand touched the ball just before his goal. Henry admitted as much after the match.

Damien Duff wept in the changing rooms while the Irish people wept in houses and bars across the land. Interviews were conducted on radio and television with every pundit and family member the media could lay their hands on. The country rang with the sound of outraged voices about robbery, rematch and revenge. Many Irish people have taken the handball as a personal slight and for the first time, some Irish people are sympathising with the British over their exit from the 1986 FIFA World Cup because of Maradona’s Hand of God.

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Avast me hearties

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There’s nothing new about record companies throwing their weight around. Since, Napster they have sought to control access to illegal music, encouraged by artists such as Metallica, who themselves originally owed their fame to bootleg tapes.

In Ireland, the record companies represented by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) have recently taken the fight to the ISPs in an illegal attempt to block Irish internet users from accessing certain sites. The courts cannot legally censor internet content so IRMA targeted the providers. It is just a little ironic that the Irish broadband rollout is one of the more ineffective schemes in Europe...

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Joe Coleman: Ireland’s convenient new visionary

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The self declared visionary Joe Coleman has been making waves in Irish religious circles for the past few weeks. He claims that that the Virgin Mary speaks to him on a regular basis, specifically since he died on an operating table in 1986. Until recently, Mr Coleman was a spiritual healer who claimed to cure cancer by laying his hands on people with the disease. Now he devotes himself entirely to “our Blessed Mother.” A humble man from Ballyfermot in Dublin is now our channel for love and a channel for God.

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Seriously, the EU is not the evil empire

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Between the misunderstandings, misrepresentations and accusations, the campaigns are heating up. It is just over two weeks until the Irish people vote on the Treaty of Lisbon for the second time. Having previously covered the reasons for the second vote, it seems to me that all the issues that were at the heart of the negative result last time around have been dealt with and with those out of the way, brand new issues are cropping up.

In typical Irish fashion, both sides are trying to outdo each other in accusations of misrepresentations and outright lies, despite the positive campaign which the Yes side promised. To be sure, the Yes side posters are less deliberately provocative but they are not adverse to stirring up old prejudices when it suits them.

The majority of the Yes side posters feature either shiny happy europhiles or admonishments about how much we need the EU. While the shiny happies provide eye candy for those stuck in traffic, the admonishments remind one of Catholic school and public shaming. Enough already! The big stick approach should not be attempted here. Resentment is not the emotion to inspire in voters before a referendum.

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Don't leave it to the pros

Ireland held its European and local elections on Friday. It is now Tuesday and the results are not completely finalised but the winners have been determined.

The coverage of the election by the traditional media was lacking, to say the least

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