Articles in the Comment Category

Perhaps the most important issue among the many discussed at Monday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council was the crisis in public confidence which is impacting adversely on many aspects of the food sector in the county at the present time. The fallout from the ongoing horsemeat scandal, and the problems highlighted in recent times around country of origin labelling of chicken produce, have combined to create a mindset of suspicion and fear in consumers which is being reflected in their purchasing choices. When any taint attaches to food ...

An auspicious moment for the legal realm in our locality occurred this week when the Central Criminal Court sat in Co Monaghan for the first time in the history of the State. The High Court has regularly sat on circuit in our courthouses for the determination of civil proceedings, but never before in its criminal law manifestation, and the visit of Mr Justice Paul Carney to conduct a serious criminal trial at Monaghan Courthouse was accorded its due weight of significance and ceremony by the legal profession in this ...

“For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Minister for Health Dr James Reilly TD may or may not be a God-fearing man, but had he happened to pop his head around the door of the meeting chamber of Monaghan Co Council on Monday morning, he might have had occasion to recall the above quotation from the Gospel of Matthew and ponder upon its righteous weight. He would have heard being played to the members, via the laptop of Sinn Féin representative ...

The appalling murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe has had a profound impact upon the nation. The deaths by violence of members of the Gardaí carrying out their duties have been mercifully rare in this country and the uncommon nature of this crime, as well as the particular brutality with which it was carried out, are partial explanations of why it has dominated public discourse, and is likely to do so for some time to come. There is also in the public reaction a communication of the deep ...

Incidents such as the discovery of trances of equine DNA in burger products from meat plants in the Monaghan and Cavan region carry very serious economic implications in their wake. As a consequence they must be responsibly handled by the media and carefully considered by the public. The fact that there are no adverse public health implications from the contamination detected in the testing procedures so far carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Dept of Agriculture should receive paramount emphasis in any public ...

The power of the social media to inflict great harm as well as confer great benefit on its users is becoming increasingly evident. It is now a distressing commonplace to encounter examples where text messaging, e-mails or networking sites have been utilised as weapons for the infliction of malicious injury upon unfortunate and vulnerable individuals, with sometimes tragic results. The high profile that such cases occupy in news coverage and public debate have heightened awareness of the dangers inherent in the ubiquitous forms of instant electronic communication that now ...

The serious difficulties confronting the poultry production sector in this region can be regarded as nothing less than a crisis. Deficiencies in the rules governing disclosure of country of origin, which allow the importation and repackaging of produce under the deceptive guise of it being of Irish provenance, and the factors combining to shave precious income off the prices that producers are receiving, form a threat to the very future of an industry that has come to play a vital role in the Co Monaghan economy. Such are the ...

In these fulcrum days when the lever of time revolves one year into another, there is customarily much looking back, and looking forward. In many respects, 2012 will have departed with a hearty “good riddance” ringing in its wake as loudly as any auld lang syne chimes. It was another bleak economic year, and many businesses in our circulation area did not survive it – many more enter into 2013 clinging on to survival and deeply uncertain as to what the future holds. Difficulties besetting employers bequeath ...

One of the most universal experiences of the modern Christmas is the homecoming. At some stage over the next few days, media crews will be dispatched to airports to capture the warm embrace of reunited families as loved ones disembark from often arduous journeys to spend the holiday season close to the hearth of home. Even if we don’t directly participate in this particular ritual, most of us will engage in our own form of homecoming when the working routine comes to an end and we retreat for ...

The return of violent protest to the streets of Belfast and other cities and towns in the North in the past week, with masked figures hurling missiles and engaging in confrontation with security personnel, is a shocking sight for all Irish people. The scenes bring a particular chill of dread to those who can remember similar violence as a commonplace in the life of the province – the ghosts of a once recurrent nightmare returned to haunt us. Yet the provocateurs and participants in the disorder are very ...