Protestants are less inclined to commit a sin because they do not have the same faculty of achieving pardon as Catholics do in The Irish Times March 31, 2009

‘WE SHALL studiously avoid offending the religious susceptibilities of any portion of the community,” stated the inaugural editorial of The Irish Times in 1859. My apologies in advance then to Lawrence Edward Knox, the 22-year-old Protestant Englishman, who founded this newspaper.

A positive correlation exists between Catholicism and corruption. Political science literature and academic research suggests that the more Protestant the population, the less corrupt the country. Divergent views on sin and loyalty account for this corpulent assertion.

So, with a deep sacred breath, here we go.

Democracy is increasingly becoming the first casualty of this recession, writes ELAINE BYRNE in The Irish Times March 24 2009

IN THOSE nerve-racking 90 seconds between the drop goal by Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones and Ronan O’Gara’s 77th minute match-winning response, the RTÉ commentator Ryle Nugent asked one simple compelling question.

“When all those around you are losing their heads, what have Ireland got to offer?” he asked.

Ireland’s first Grand Slam victory in 61 years with a nation-inspiring performance, as it turned out (Whooohooo!)

Ireland needs to implement policies that promote participation in public life, writes ELAINE BYRNE . in The Irish Times March 17, 2009

‘IN THE darkness of despair, we saw a vision, We lit the light of hope, and it was not extinguished . . . we melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it . . . the vision became a reality, winter became summer, bondage became freedom and this we left to you as your inheritance. O generation of freedom remember us, the generation of the vision.”

Liam Mac Uistin’s poetic words are inscribed beside the Children of Lir statue at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin’s Parnell Square. The St Patrick’s Day parade will begin there today, this memorial of reflection, which symbolises the rebirth and resurrection of the Irish nation. Incidentally, Brian Cowen will present an illustrated edition of The Children of Lir fairytales to Barack Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, during his visit to the White House today.

This writer believes in providence rather than coincidence. When both men stand side by side, with the obligatory shamrocks, we will have the opportunity to reflect that Cowen is just 18 months older than Obama and that a generation of young Irish now identify more with an American president of Offaly ancestry than a Taoiseach of Offaly birth.

Two-thirds of Ireland’s population, some 2.8 million Irish citizens, are younger than Cowen. What vision will my generation inherit? The deep regret and betrayal of Fionnula, Aodh, Fiachra and Conn, the Children of Lir, trapped as swans and banished from their homeland for 900 years? Is this the future that awaits us, one where we pay, through unemployment and emigration, for the mistakes of our institutions, those role models of irresponsibility that lecture my generation on responsibility?

OPINION: Enlightened self interest, moral imagination and social responsibility can help economic recovery, writes ELAINE BYRNE in The Irish Times, March 10, 2009

‘PANDORA TRIED to clap the lid on the box again, but it was too late. The happy childhood of mankind had gone forever, and with it the Golden Age when life was easy . . . Only one good thing came to man in the box and remains to comfort him in his distress, and that is the spirit of Hope.”

According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth and sent by the gods to punish man. She is deftly doing her duty. Pandora’s name denotes the “one who gives all gifts” and her gift is the curiosity to open the box, although it certainly does not seem like that right now.

OPINION: Willie O’Dea decided last week not to salvage Ireland’s tall ship following her sinking. There has to be a metaphor in all that somewhere for Ireland in the Irish Times March 3, 2009

I WAS 16 when I fell in love for the first time. She was beauty like a tightened bow, worthy of a Yeats sonnet. Without warning, lingering sunsets and seascape stars now submerged each magnificent night and day. My rural Wicklow upbringing was challenged by stunning newborn horizons.

I was completely and unequivocally at sea.