Archbishop Robert Rivas OP, RIP

 Archbishop Robert Rivas OP died today in Trinidad.

An obituary to follow. 

May he rest in peace. 

Pope Leo criticises leaders who disregard law

From weekend edition of The Irish Times 

NAOMI O’LEARY

in Paris

Pope Leo has denounced leaders who he said twist the truth and disregard the rule of law. He was speaking at the start of a three-day trip to France, the first official papal visit to the country in 18 years.

Huge crowds lined the streets of Paris to catch a glimpse of the pontiff in his Popemobile as he travelled between engagements, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend an outdoor mass in the centre of the capital today.

The pope addressed delegates at the headquarters of Unesco, the United Nations agency dedicated to the promotion of education, sciences and culture as an instrument of world peace.

He warned that international institutions were undergoing a “crisis of effectiveness”, with dialogue “seen as an obstacle to action rather than a resource for peace”.

“Instead of respecting the law, those in power invoke it when it serves their interests and disregard it when it restrains them, treating even justice itself as though it were a commodity to be bought and sold,” Leo said.

International treaties are not enough but require “upright will”, the pontiff told the gathering, “a culture of peace and a shared commitment to peace”.

“We must recognise that the most terrible of ‘human works’ is war,” he said. “For then science itself is placed at the service of an inhumane will to destroy and to kill.”

In an earlier meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron, Leo had urged France to “remain a tireless champion of peace and multilateralism” and had praised its humanitarian and education work in the Middle East, particularly financing for schools and universities. “We cannot remain indifferent faced with such suffering,” he said of conflict in the region.

‘Paradise of machines’

Leo reiterated his often-expressed concerns about the risks of artificial intelligence, saying that he felt it had been “essential” to dedicate his first major encyclical to the issue due to the risk of losing humanity in a “paradise of machines”.

“Our efforts in this domain must ensure that new technologies remain at the service of the human person rather than becoming yet another instrument of domination and injustice,” he said in his speech at Unesco.

“Scientific progress, when separated from wisdom, can become a weapon of destruction. Culture, when subjected to ideology, can degenerate into lies and propaganda . . . education, when it abandons truth, can become an instrument for manipulating minds.”

The pope is expected to meet people of refugee and migrant backgrounds today in a closed-door visit to Maison Bakhita, a church-run assistance centre that offers French classes and other training in northern Paris. Leo has sought to encourage humane attitudes towards migrants in the face of hardening policies and rhetoric about migration around the world, including in France as it faces a presidential election next year.

The French press reported that the Vatican declined proposals from the Élysée Palace for a state dinner with Macron and a personal tour of the renovated Notre Dame with the president, something interpreted as a desire to avoid the visit becoming politicised.

The Bishops’ Conference of France has stressed that the visit is an “apostolic journey” focused on faith.

The pontiff is scheduled to spend tomorrow in Lourdes, where he is expected to pray at the Grotto of the Apparitions at Massabielle and meet survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Trump shows the Chinese people the depth of his vulgarity

Remember how Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp. It's an expression the world never hears these days. But the man sure has turned the world upside down.

While Trump greeted  Chinese leader Xi Jinping Chinese media was present to cover the event but US media had been barred/banned from the White House by swamp man.

If it weren't so serious it would be hilarious.

And then there is the glaring vulgarity of Trump while Xi Jinping is polite gracious and mannerly.

Trump  has filled swamps across the world and dug deep new ones. 

Garda car outside Russian embassy with wrong address

 A Garda car is permanently stationed outside the embassy of the Russian Federation on Orwell Road.

During daytime hours there are two gardaí in the car and one during the night. Seems a little odd, is the embassy more vulnerable during night hours? It's unlikely the embassy is short of its own security.

It would be interesting to know how much the Garda cover is costing the State.

The embassy gives its address as: 184 - 186 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 14, Ireland, which is inaccurate and indeed, contradictory. It is correct to say it is in Dublin 14, but it is in Dublin 14 it cannot be in Rathgar. Ironically, when it was the embassy of the Soviet Union, it also claimed it was in Rathgar. Even in Communist Russia there was an abundance of snobbery.

And all the while, on the far side of the road, people are objecting to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are times during the day when there are no objectors but when they are present it could easily happen that one of the flagstaffs could hit a passing cyclist.

Bishop Robert Barron speaks glowingly of Charlie Kirk

Below is a link to a sermon Bishop Robert Barron gave where he speaks about the late Charlie Kirk.

It is confusing and worrying. Is the bishop aware of the years Mr Kirk spent spewing out the nastiest of words about all those with whom he disagreed. Did the bishop ever tune in to Patriot Radio and hear actually what Charlie Kirk said.

Bishop Robert Barron should  listen back to the words of hate Charlie Kirk spoke. Charlie Kirk spent years humiliating and laughing at people.

The bishop talks about how Kirk was willing to listen and how important it is for all of us to listen.

Over a year ago I wrote to Bishop Barron, he never replied. The bishop is well known for his words; what about his willingness to listen, especially to those who have different views than he?

 https://www.facebook.com/reel/28187117710915366

Government talks out of both sides of mouth at same time

This week's column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

While waiting at the Luas stop in Dublin’s Broombridge in early spring I got talking to a tram driver. If you are a regular reader you will well know by now I’m interested in all things to do with public transport but especially railways, and you can add the Luas to that.

I’d say the man was in his 50s.We were chatting about all sorts of railway matters, braking systems, signalling, etc. During our conversation he told me he had been a member of the Defence Forces up to recently. 

Being more familiar with Irish Rail than Luas operations I asked him would he prefer to be driving mainline trains. He explained that if he went working for Irish Rail he would lose his army pension.

My head was in overdrive and I was wondering what was going on. He explained that because the Defence Forces and Irish Rail are both State entities, your pension is abated if, in retirement, you move to another State or semi-State company; that means your pension is stopped while you are in State employment. 

That surely has to be an antiquated rule. It makes no sense. This man can work away driving a tram and retain his Defence Forces pension, but if he drives a train operated by Irish Rail he loses his pension. 

Up to last month Luas was operated by Transdev, since the beginning of this month it is operated by Anglo French company, Keolis Amey.

Only last week I discovered I’m in the same boat. I’ve returned to teaching in retirement. Not only is my pension abated, but my teaching salary has dropped to the lowest point on the teaching scale. 

It really is farcical, while all the time the government is shouting from the rooftops about a shortage of teachers. Could you find a better example of someone talking out of both sides of their mouth at the same time. It’s beyond belief. 

It might make some sense if someone was teaching all their lives, they would have a hefty pension, as teaching pensions are generous, but what about someone who has dipped in and out of teaching; their pensions can be minuscule?

Have the teaching unions ever discussed this matter? 

Talking about unions; when I first started teaching the ASTI would not allow me join their union. They argued because I was a priest they considered me part of management. 

No one could ever be further from management than I. I still believe that the ASTI was wrong in prohibiting me from joining back then. They have never offered me an apology.

I’m forever in wonder how certain causes can easily gain traction and other matters are pushed aside and let die.

Right across all organisations there are people who suffer at the hands of management and far too often there is no one out there to protect them. It would be silly and churlish of us to think that the day of the underdog has vanished from society.

If you were at Mass at the weekend the Gospel would tell you whose side Jesus is on. It’s well worth a read (Matthew 20: 1- 16) It tells the story of the generous landlord, who leaves no one short.

 

Not all investors are happy with Michael O'Leary's few bob

As always Michael O'Leary is where he wants to be, in the news.

No doubt he might have been somewhat nervous when he heard the news that four in 10 investors voted against a contract that awarded him a package that could yield him €150mm and keep him the airline until 2032.

Older people may remember many years ago the same Michael O'Leary was talking about retiring the following year. And that was fadó fadó

Germany's SPD and Left parties can still stop far-right AfD

The elections in the two German states of Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Berlin yesterday once again means large gains for the far-right AfD. 

Because of the refusal of the main parties not to coalesce  with the AfD means they will not be in power when the new governments are formed in the two states.

In Berlin Die Linke, the Left Party, which is the successor of the SED, the governing party of the former German Democratic Republic, made major gains in Berlin and most likely will be the leading party in the city's next government.

In Mecklenburg Vorpommern the SPD is in position to remain the main party in the state's next government.

The SPD is Germany's oldest political party. Had the people listened to them during and after the Weimar Republic Hitler might never have come to power.

It's worth noting in yesterday's election it is the Left party and the SPD who have helped stop the march of the AfD.

Rural Ireland wants to deport foreign criminals

Eighty-five per cent of people in rural Ireland believe that foreign nationals convicted of crimes should be deported.

There are approximately just over 1,000 non-Irish nationals in prisons across Ireland.

Hats off to Michael O'Leary for his apology and saying sorry

On  September 12 this blog criticised Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary for the comment he made about Lufthansa, British Airways and Aer Lingus  being 'high-fare rapists'.

It rightly landed him in hot water.

Yesterday Mr O'Leary apologised for his use of the word. Below is the link to his apology. He actually uses the two words; he apologises and says sorry.

Well done Michael O'Leary and appreciated too. He is an example for all of us to follow.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/i-am-truly-sorry-michael-oleary-apologises-for-describing-airline-competitors-as-high-fare-rapists/a/161670187.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share

The ubiquitous mobile phone can be enemy number one

Seen in Dublin's Rathmines yesterday; a Garda car being driven by an officer, while using his mobile phone. 

Some metres behind the Garda car, a middle-aged man driving a BMW while using his mobile phone, which was placed on his lap.

One of the reasons for vehicles moving away slowly from traffic lights is because drivers are occupied with their mobile phones. 

Gardaí should at least be giving good example to the public and even the drivers of Big Money Wasters are obliged to keep the law.

 

All authority is at the service of the People of God

Pope Leo's encyclical, Human Magnificence includes many gems. Below is number 89 of the encyclical and deserves special attention, and important for all of us to read, but especially people in leadership roles.

Living out justice in the Church means purifying ecclesial relationships and structures from distortions that give rise to inequality, lack of transparency and abuse of power. In this regard, listening to the victims of spiritual, economic, institutional, sexual and power-based abuse, as well as abuses of conscience, is an integral part of a journey toward justice, which includes acknowledging the harm done, just reparation and taking steps to prevent it from happening again. Every power is at the service of communion and mission. All authority is at the service of the People of God. This ministry of service is expressed not only through our faith celebrated and lived in the Sacraments, and in the adoption of a synodal style, but also in the concrete sharing of goods. Following the example of the early Church, ecclesial resources need to be shared so that no one among us may be in need (cf. Acts 4:34), and so that their administration may support the mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the poorest. Regular assessments of the exercise of ministerial responsibilities should be encouraged, not as judgments on individuals, but as tools for learning and correction oriented toward mission. [116] Only to the extent that we are open to the action of the Holy Spirit will these principles of Social Doctrine become incarnate in ecclesial life. In this way, the Church will be able to bear credible witness to society that seeking the common good together, with shared responsibility and fraternity, is not a utopia, but a real possibility. [117]

Kerry is better off with all its non fee-paying schools

This week's column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

The schools are back, most are now into the third week of learning and teaching; the summer holidays are done and dusted, mornings getting darker as are the evenings. 

The mid-term break is only a few weeks away. No doubt Michael O’Leary has his eye on that week when all fares for that week have jumped many notches.

I remember when I moved from teaching to journalism a colleague at The Kerryman  was surprised I had changed jobs; he pointed out the three great reasons for being a teacher are June, July and August.

But now I’m back teaching and with two full weeks of teaching behind me it’s all positive so far and great to be back in the classroom

I’m teaching in an Educate Together school and in my short time there I’ve been greatly impressed with what I have seen. There’s a friendly and professional atmosphere about the place. Before I went there I was told it was Educate Together policy that students call teachers by their first names. 

When I heard that I thought it was odd but now that I am living it, it seems perfectly normal. I’m delighted to be called by the name my parents gave me. I always found being called Sir in school a weird practice.

Because I’m back in the classroom I’ve been thinking about education in Ireland. The school, where I am working, is a non fee-paying school. And I like that, it’s where I feel comfortable.

It so happens last week we celebrated the 60th anniversary of September 10, 1966 when the then Minister for Education, Donogh O’Malley announced the introduction of free second-level education. It came into operation the following year, September 1967. 

It is generally recognised as a pivotal moment in Irish history, and rightly so.

It has changed the face of the country.

But nothing is ever simple, is anything ever binary? Doubt it.

There are no private, fee-paying second level schools in County Kerry. Coláiste Íde in Dingle is a boarding school, which obviously has to have some sort of payment arrangements.

The majority of the fee-paying schools are in the Dublin area and in Leinster.

The Catholic Church played a positive and important role in education in Ireland. The Christian Brothers Schools catered for children right across the socio economic spectrum.

I keep asking myself what benefit does fee-paying, so-called private education have. Does it not add to the divide there is already between the haves and the have-nots? Does the old-boy/girl network not create a them versus us society?

Does it make sense that church denominations run fee-paying schools? But the catch there is that if the churches closed their doors no doubt major money corporations would fill the breach and we would end up with an even more elite system.

When you think of the situation across Kerry, one has every right to ask the pertinent question why pay thousands of euro to have your child educated at a fee-paying school.

Really, has it all to do with that silly snobbery that is so alive and well in Ireland right now?

Good luck to all who are back in the classroom.

‘Instruction does much, but encouragement everything. - JW von Goethe

The infamous day that Lehman Brothers crashed

On this date, September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in US history.

It was the spark that caused the worst financial worldwide crisis since the Wall Street crash.

It is hoped over the next days interesting news of significance will appear on this blog.

Teaching is all about encouragement

Into the third week of school this quote is worth a thought:

‘Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.  

 -  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)

 

We need courageous leaders like Kennedy and de Gaulle

Not to be missed; Lara Marlowe's opinion piece in the Weekend Edition of The Irish Times

The times we live in require extraordinary courage of every citizen, but especially of political leaders. It sometimes feels like heroism is a thing of the past. Researching a speech for the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, Co Wexford, two weeks ago, I read John F Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1956 book, Profiles in Courage.

In her introduction to the book, Kennedy’s daughter Caroline told how the small, motorised Patrol Torpedo boat commanded by Lt Kennedy in the Pacific during the second World War exploded after it was rammed one night by a Japanese destroyer. Two sailors were killed. A third was so badly wounded that he could not swim.

Clenching the strap of the man’s life jacket in his teeth, Kennedy – who was himself wounded – swam three miles in darkness to the nearest island where he and surviving crew members hid from the Japanese. On subsequent nights, the future US president swam through shark-infested waters until he secured rescue by Australian forces.

A new biopic about Gen Charles de Gaulle was the surprise hit in French cinemas this summer. How many contemporary politicians would be capable of the moral clarity and determination demonstrated by de Gaulle during the second World War?

The film depicts how de Gaulle was twice abandoned by Winston Churchill, his sole supporter, because Franklin D Roosevelt insisted he be replaced by a more pliant ally. “I embody everything the Americans hate,” de Gaulle says in the film. “I am weak, and yet I stand up to them.”

Like today’s Ukrainian armed forces, the French Resistance experienced the despair of fighting a brutal and tyrannical invading army with inadequate weapons. Like de Gaulle, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been forced to plead for weapons from capricious allies.

The political courage of Kennedy and de Gaulle was commensurate with their physical daring. While police attacked civil rights protesters in the US south with dogs and fire hoses in 1963, president Kennedy deployed the National Guard to ensure that two black students could attend the University of Alabama.

Refusing Palestinian students

Contrast that with the behaviour of the Irish Government, which has refused student visas to 97 Palestinian students, according to Trinity’s University Times. Fifty-two are from the Gaza Strip, as Irish academic Emma Stokes wrote here recently. It took immense courage for those students to continue studying, to obtain admission and scholarships to Irish universities as Israel destroyed the Gaza Strip around them.

While barring qualified Palestinian students from entry, the Government will on Saturday welcome a convicted felon who has been found civilly liable for fraud and sexual abuse.

Irish Government policy regarding the Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina factory in the Shannon estuary has been characterised by wilful ignorance and evasion. Swedish tax authorities concluded that “Putin’s favourite oligarch” Oleg Deripaska, a staunch supporter of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, retains control of the Aughinish parent company Rusal.

Russian drones manufacture

The Irish Government has repeatedly cited “commercial sensitivities” in refusing to divulge information about Aughinish. It is protecting a Russian company which provides raw materials to companies which supply Russian weapons manufacturers, rather than protecting the Ukrainians it pledged to support “for as long as it takes”.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee summoned Russia’s ambassador, Yury Filatov over the foiled Russian drone attack on Leipzig airport last month. Has it not occurred to the Irish Government that the drones used in Leipzig, or those which flew over Dublin Bay last December, could have been built with aluminium that originated in Co Limerick? The prediction attributed to Lenin that the West would sell the Soviets the rope by which to hang them has never rung truer.

Ukrainians are being killed every day by Russian drones and missiles which are made from aluminium. Aughinish Alumina now exports an average of 70,412 tonnes of alumina, from which aluminium is extracted, to Russia every month, up from 64,665 tonnes last year. The company has threatened job losses and diminished gas and electricity supplies in Ireland if EU sanctions are imposed. Ireland is succumbing to blackmail and excusing it with the claim that it does not know what happens to the metal once it reaches Russia.

Courage implies uncertainty, risk and often solitude. Canada’s brave prime minister Mark Carney has risked his country’s entire economy – not just 475 jobs in an alumina plant – to reject Donald Trump’s attack on Canada’s economic sovereignty.

The audience at the Kennedy Summer School applauded criticism of Government policy on visas for Gazan students and Aughinish Alumina. I hadn’t realised how strongly Irish people feel about these issues. There is a sense, at home and abroad, that this Government has lost its moral compass. The Italian MEP Pina Picierno, who is vice-president of the European Parliament, wrote to the EU Commission saying it was “unacceptable . . . that a Russian-owned company operates undisturbed within a member state, supplying the Kremlin’s military industry”.

Organisers of a planned conference on Palestine at Maynooth University next month decided to postpone after academics withdrew in protest at Government policy. Earlier sessions took place at the University of California, Princeton, Cape Town and the Western Cape. “A policy of visa denial in the midst of genocide is both immoral and cruel and will be an enduring cause of shame to the Government and the individuals that impose it,” said a letter of protest signed by international academics.

Michael O'Leary's words and deeds can be most offensive

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary’s description of rival airlines, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and BA as “high-fare rapists” has rightly landed him in hot water.

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has accused him of trivialising sexual violence, something which hurts victims.

“These are lazy and uninformed comments. It feels like Mr O’Leary is chasing soundbites with no regard for how they may affect people,” she said.

Earlier in the week Michael O'Leary claimed the passenger, who was injured as a result of a window collapsing on a Ryainair flight, no part of the man's body was sucked out through the window. The matter is in the courts. Below is the story carried in the Guardian newspaper.

The time may come for Mr O'Leary when he realises not all publicity is good publicity. Maybe the sooner the better.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/10/ryanair-dispute-sucked-out-of-window-michael-o-leary?CMP=share_btn_url

Ryanair disputes passenger was sucked out of window

This from yesterday's Guardian.

Is everything in the world now simply about money?

This piece also shows how so often the courts are the preserve of the  powerful and rich; something big organisations, companies and others know full well.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/10/ryanair-dispute-sucked-out-of-window-michael-o-leary?CMP=share_btn_url

Mary Lou McDonald refuses to answer 'nonsense question'

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald was interviewed by Gavin Jennings on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme yesterday.

During the course of the interview McDonald said: 'Gavin that's a nonsense question'.

As a practising school teacher I tend to say to my students there is no such thing as a stupid or 'nonsense question'. 

Websites can lead us to entangled webs of frustration

This week's column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

Are you up to speed with how much you are paying for all your different facilities? Are you computer literate or do you have to ask someone how to guide you through the maze of all the different websites?

How do you manage with passwords? No doubt if you are extremely efficient and with loads of cop on you will have your passwords hidden away somewhere or else you will use the same password for everything. The point about that is we are forever being told not to write down our passwords and never to use the same password across the board. So what actually should we do?

I have had a week of hell trying to navigate my way through a number of websites.

Every teacher in the State has to be registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland in order to be employed in a school. I have no idea how many times I have requested a new password. On my most recent visit to the website I became confused and called the office number to learn that it does not open until midday every working day. That sounds and smells extremely strange to me. 

I eventually managed to get through some days later when I had free time after 12pm. The customer services representative, with whom I spoke, was most helpful.

The following day I ventured to log on to MyGovId. It was the nightmare that broke this camel’s back; part of it was my own fault, once again I had forgotten my password. I now have my new password written down in a diary. Oops, I’m told not to do that.

But I eventually got on to the magic website after many attempts and security numbers popping in and out of my phone.

I tried navigating on to the appropriate section, I failed. Luckily I had a phone number. Have you noticed it is well nigh impossible to find phone numbers on websites.

Many days later and hours wasted being frustrated and annoyed I discovered that how the State now pays Household Benefits has been changed. Until last September the State paid the allowance for your electricity or gas consumption directly to the relevant facility. 

As and from September 2025 all new benefit holders, or people who change their provider, receive the money into their personal account. Is that a good idea, would it not be wiser to stay with the old system? The Department told me the new way is easier and cheaper for the State. 

But what really surprised me about the change was that it all seemed to be done very quietly and I can’t remember seeing any adverts or announcements about it.

Some days later I tried phoning a school textbook company; I spent two days trying to get through, no answer the first day, second day I’m told to leave a message. It’s many days later now, and still no contact from them.

I’ve heard of a case whereby when a student asked to go for a toilet break it had to be registered on the computer.

Honestly, have computers really made it any easier for the ordinary jockser like me?

What’s going to happen when AI takes over? I’m no Luddite but I am scared.