Free Republic

Israel's harshest critic in the EU assumes the organization's presidency in a time of diplomatic turbulence. Ireland, perhaps Israel’s harshest critic inside the European Union, assumed the position of the EU presidency on Monday at a time when Israel is already bracing for a rocky period with the body over the stalled diplomatic process and construction beyond the Green Line. While the importance of the EU presidency has waned significantly in recent years as Brussels has increased its power and the EU’s foreign policy chief – and not the EU presidency – now chairs meetings of its foreign ministers and...

What happens when a former US Marine becomes a Franciscan friar and then goes on to found a monastery in the toughest district of Ireland’s toughest city? In 2007, Father Sylvester and a small group of American friars from the Bronx, N.Y., did just that when they arrived in Limerick, Ireland. They left behind their former lives as a teacher, a soldier, a punk-rock singer, and a rapper to transform lives through prayer. The urban district they live in, Moyross – a sea of burned-down and boarded-up houses – is always in the news for the wrong reasons: drugs, shootings,...

DUBLIN -- The Irish government plans to bring into force a new law in October that critics say is a return to medieval justice. The legislation, aimed at providing judges with clear direction on the 1937 Constitution's blasphemy prohibition, imposes a fine of up to 25,000 euros -- about $39,000 -- for anyone who "publishes or utters matter that is [intentionally meant to be] grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion."

Friday, June 11, 2004 By Marion O’MaraViking ‘town’ is Ireland’s equivalent of Pompeii IT’S likely to be some weeks yet before Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen announces recommendations for dealing with and possibly preserving what historians are now describing as Ireland’s first town. The discovery of the Viking settlement, at Woodstown, five miles from the city, which is believed to date back to the mid-9th century, was made as preparatory work got underway on the city’s €300m by-pass. The site, located close to the River Suir, is 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and so far up to...