'Irish Examiner' journalists shortlisted for six Justice Media Awards
The Irish Examiner has been shortlisted for six Justice Media Awards.
In total, four journalists have been shortlisted for awards across four categories.
Three Irish Examiner reporters are shortlisted for their work in the print/online journalism (daily) category.
Cianan Brennan's reporting on the grey zone of GAA vettingtarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> has been shortlisted, as has Alison O'Reilly's work on surrogacy and IVF.
Sean Murray's reporting on the Stardust inquests has also been shortlisted in the category.
Stardust campaigners outside Leinster House, Dublin, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024after then taoiseach Simon Harris issued a State apology to the families of the victims of the Stardust fire . File Picture: Cillian Sherlock/PA
Ms O'Reilly also appears on the shortlist in the court reporting category for her coverage of the death of Aoife Johnston.
The human rights/social justice reporting category sees Ann Murphy receive a shortlisting for her piece on why incarceration is not suitable for the mentally ill.
Ms O'Reilly receives a third spot on the overall shortlist in the international justice reporting category. It is for her work reporting on Facebook groups offering to arrange private adoptions and forged birth certificates.
Irish Examiner editor Tom Fitzpatrick said: "These awards are synonymous with exceptional quality, original journalism that often tells the stories of people in Irish society who are overlooked or marginalised.
"The work recognised today by the Law Society of Ireland is outstanding, and the Irish Examiner is proud to have our journalists' work shortlisted."
The Justice Media Awards are held annually by the Law Society of Ireland.
The awards recognise outstanding print, broadcast, and online journalism that contributes to the public's understanding of justice and the legal system.
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Irish peacekeepers fired on by Israeli troops in Lebanon as Taoiseach Micheál Martin decries ‘engineered campaign' against Ireland
Tánaiste Simon Harris described the incident as 'deeply worrying'. The Irish Defence Forces confirmed none of its members were injured. The military said small arms rounds were fired in the vicinity of Irish peacekeepers as they patrolled near the Blue Line, a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel. It is understood the incident happened at around midday yesterday, close to the village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon. The Irish personnel were recently deployed to Lebanon as part of the 126th Infantry Battalion who serve with the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (Unifil). Mr Harris said the incident illustrates the dangers Defence Forces personnel face as they strive to maintain peace in the region. 'While I am very pleased to report that all personnel are safe and well, the fact they came under fire while on patrol is deeply worrying,' he said.'Today's incident illustrates the dangers our peacekeepers face every single day while on a patrol in a region that has been increasingly unstable and volatile.' The incident happened on International UN Peacekeepers' Day as the Tánaiste announced the renewal of Ireland's Unifil mandate for 12 more months. 'Ireland is proud to have been part of the Unifil mission since 1978 – 30,000 personnel have served there to date,' he said. 'We are deeply committed to this vital mission, one that supports peace, delivers stability and protects the communities in southern Lebanon.' The 126th Infantry Battalion deployed to Lebanon this month as part of the Unifil mission. It is made up of 298 Irish soldiers and 10 from Malta, with over a third of personnel on their first overseas mission. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin doubled down on President Michael D Higgins's assertion that there is a concerted Israeli campaign to damage Ireland because of this country's leadership on Gaza. There was also an attempt to smear the President for speaking out, he said. There has been propaganda against Ireland, in claims that we support Hamas – which is utter nonsense 'I think there's no question but that Israel has engineered a campaign against Ireland because of the stance we have taken at the United Nations, at the European Union and at the International Court of Justice, where we've legally intervened in the South African case [against Israel],' Mr Martin said. 'It's not that individual companies are raising it with us, but we are hearing back from our embassies and elsewhere that people are raising it.' Earlier in the same venue, Mr Higgins said there was a 'slander' and 'propaganda' campaign against Ireland internationally by Israel, which involved labelling critics of the Benjamin Netanyahu government as 'antisemitic'. Mr Higgins said he and others who have spoken out against the Israeli army's actions had been subjected to a 'propaganda campaign in Ireland'. The Taoiseach said he had discussed the matter with the President and agreed with him. 'There has been propaganda against Ireland, in claims that we support Hamas – which is utter nonsense,' he said. 'People have been contacted ahead of Irish embassy events and are then turning up at various receptions asking 'What's happening in Ireland?' and so forth.' There was also a cyber campaign against Ireland, the Taoiseach suggested. 'We've condemned Hamas consistently, from day one, for the slaughter of October 7, and consistently called for the release of all hostages, yet you'll see online a lot of attempts to smear Ireland,' he said. 'I think the President has been subject to some of that as well. I find that regrettable, because he's been a very consistent supporter of Holocaust Day and remembrance. Some of his best friends in life were people who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.' Mr Higgins is 'a very fair-minded person, but because he took a stance on Gaza there was an unwelcome focus on him as well, which was partisan and not fair or balanced'. The Irish people are sickened by the barbarity and scale of what is happening to the Palestinian people, the Taoiseach said. There was 'absolute, total, barbaric destruction of Gaza'. 'When you see nine children of a doctor killed in one house, people are horrified at that and feel helpless. I can understand why,' he added. Mr Martin said Ireland now had 'to focus our attention on Europe to work on getting the [EU-Israel] trade agreement suspended until this war stops, at a minimum'.
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Jennifer Horgan: Bono was right to criticise Hamas along with Israel - peacemakers are rarely popular
To think people used to see this absolute fraud as some sort of beacon of hope for humanity. Bono's not even the greatest front man in Dublin, never mind the history of the world... Bono is an opportunist who sold his soul long ago... Free Palestine! The criticism has been rolling in against Bono online, in response to his recent speech when receiving one of songwriting's highest honours – Fellowship of the Ivors Academy. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr are the first-ever Irish songwriters that the academy has inducted into fellowship during its 81-year history. You'd think we'd be happy to celebrate with them, but this criticism of Bono's speech has overshadowed any possibility of national pride. It's nothing new given that plenty of Irish people find him irritating – superior or something…We've never been all that good at pinpointing our disdain. So, what was it that he said that was so wrong this time? Well, he began his speech by asking Hamas to release their hostages. "Hamas, release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred text." The words after Hamas focus on criticism of Israel. No mind. None of that counts. He shouldn't have mentioned Hamas – so the criticism goes. These critics have a point, of course. The actions of Hamas now, if not in October 2023, shrink into insignificance when compared with the current actions of Israel. We all carry a deep pain, knowing there are thousands of innocent babies, children and adults starving to death in Gaza as we go about our daily lives. There are trucks stuffed with supplies that are not being let in to help these poor people. These are the darkest of days. We know it is happening and yet we can do so little. And so, people are understandably filled with rage that Bono mentioned Hamas, the word seeming to equalise both sides, as if both are similarly culpable, comparable in their cruelty. I understand the feeling. At a gut level, I agree with it. Bono's words felt wrong; they landed discordantly. But our outrage brings us no closer to peace. It helps nobody. If anything, it pushes peace further away. Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Israel last are trucks stuffed with supplies that are not being let in to help the poor people in Gaza. File photo: AP/Maya Alleruzzo The Israeli state has lost all humanity. Their genocidal assault proves their inability to see Palestinian people as human beings. Israel has ignored Ireland's protests for months. It is continuing to ignore the wave of criticism rising against them now – from hitherto silent nations. Condemnation of Israel will always be heard as antisemitism by Netanyahu and his government. So, what is to be done? I would argue that as things stand, only consequences matter. Anything we can do to stop this genocide is worth trying. Bono's criticism of Netanyahu means more, carries more weight, following at least an acknowledgement of Hamas. He understands the Israeli mindset - that since October 7th – anything goes. If he were to have omitted the mention of Hamas, no Israeli or Israeli sympathiser would have listened to the rest of his speech. He understood fully what he was doing. He knew that the most committed campaigners for Palestine would hate him for it. He knew he would be attacked, ripped to shreds online, and yet he did it. He mentioned Hamas. He mentioned Hamas because his concern is primarily for the 'children in the rubble'. It is a truly rebellious act, as he put it, – calling for peace. Peace is rarely a popular word. To so many people it sounds like cowardice. We are natural side-takers. Our side-taking fuels our passion for support. It also increases the likelihood and longevity of war. Peacekeepers don't have the privilege of taking sides – even when the 'right' side is blatantly obvious. In his speech at the Ivors Academy Bono said: 'Hamas, release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred text.' File photo A genuine call for peace must drain itself of all side-taking to have any real impact. Even when one side is clearly the victim and one side clearly the perpetrator. None of those matters, only peace does. I have no doubt where Bono's heart resides. He is fully horrified, as we all are, about what is happening to human beings in Gaza. Speaking to Brendan O'Connor last weekend he made it clear however, that he is not interested in "competitive empathy", something I have written about for this paper. How right he is. We have become obsessed by the "look" of our actions, regardless of their consequences. Bono is interested in consequences. During the RTÉ interview, he recalled being egged for standing beside a Republican president and being heavily criticised for accepting a medal of freedom from Joe Biden. He countered the criticism by reminding listeners that his work with Biden saved lives. It's quite the understatement. Through ONE, Bono has lobbied heads of state and legislatures worldwide, ensuring the implementation of global health and development programs, including the PEPFAR AIDS program, which has saved approximately 25 million lives. Commentators criticising Bono for mentioning Hamas need to remind themselves that typing something online in itself is not an act of heroism. Sometimes we need to quiet our own emotions, even our own just allegiances, no matter how powerful, to get the consequences we want. This is exactly what Bono is doing. Bono's criticism of Netanyahu means more, carries more weight, following at least an acknowledgement of Hamas. He understands the Israeli mindset - that since October 7th – anything goes. File photo: AP/Jens Kalaene/dpa Is the man perfect? No, I'm certain he is not. He's walking around like the rest of us – full of his own demons no doubt, on his own journey, failing and learning all the time. He has an awful lot of money, and he likes to keep it. But he is committed to peace. If Bono is out in the cold, Kneecap are warming themselves by the rosy fire of our adoration. The Irish people have fallen in love with their absolute devotion to Palestine. Like most people, I agree with their commitment to an absolutely devastated, ravaged people. But their rhetoric won't get us anywhere. It will simply make them increasingly popular. Yes, they are on the right side of history, but side-taking is antithetical to peace. I've been discussing the nature of peace in school this week. On Tuesday I found myself in a quiet classroom discussing Eavan Boland's Poem Child of our Time with a Leaving Cert student. Written in the 70s, it's one I've been reflecting on since. The poem was written in response to a photograph of a firefighter carrying the body of a dead child from the debris of the Dublin bombing in May 1974. It addresses the deceased, acknowledging that adults' 'idol talk' has cost him or her their life. 'Our times have robbed your cradle' she says to the imagined body. She prays that we, the adults, can find a 'new language' to prevent future deaths. We have not found that language. However morally right we are in condemning the Israeli state, our unwillingness to hear any mention of Hamas by Bono is ineffective. It forgets what we are trying to achieve – peace. An end to killing. Kneecap are doing the right thing but that is different from doing the most effective thing. We need people like Kneecap to speak out. But for effectiveness, we need Bono and all peacemakers like him. My hope is that Bono is in a room somewhere reminding himself of the criticism peacekeepers receive in their time. Certain unionists and nationalists despised Hume. I have no doubt that as someone who lived through the discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland, he found it harder to reach across one side of the divide than the other. But reach across he did – not because he thought both sides were necessarily equal but because he knew his opinion, and indeed right and wrong, no longer mattered. Any words that might stop Israel now are worth uttering. Alongside that one all-important one. Peace. Read More Tánaiste urges other countries to recognise Palestine as a state
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Letters to the Editor: Temple Hill survivors have to go to court to get into redress scheme
Why have we got to the point where middle-aged and elderly survivors of mother and baby homes are forced to contact lawyers to take a test case to the High Court on July 21 and 22, to seek to include homes that are currently outside the remit of the State mother and baby homes redress scheme? The Government made a case for excluding Temple Hill from the scheme basically because unmarried mothers didn't reside there with their children, ie it was a hospital for children and not a 'mother and baby home'. Whether or not it was, in fact, more inhumane to leave newly born children there immediately after birth without their mothers, and then again leave them out of the scheme because their mothers didn't reside there with them — they were forced to leave their newly-born children at the door of Temple Hill — seems to defy logic. Journalists and historians investigating the historicity of this narrative have verified that it was indeed a holding centre for children who were intended for adoption. As an adoptee from Temple Hill, I wrote to various ministers pointing out that it was untruthful to frame Temple Hill as a hospital because my parents adopted six children from that building which at the time was called St Patrick's Infant and Dietetic Hospital. None of us were sick babies or patients of an 'infant hospital'. My mother, who is 93, and could swear an affidavit if necessary, remembers picking us up from there through the process of adoption mediated by St Patrick's Guild. No one gave me a satisfactory answer. I recently took part in a film speaking about the issue of exclusion with the acclaimed Irish emigrant artist Bernard Canavan, outside Temple Hill for an upcoming documentary, Theocracy, by Irish filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle. Bernard spent several years in Temple Hill and suffered poor health and other adverse effects before he was informally adopted from there in the 1950s. Even though President Michael D Higgins presented him with the Irish Presidential Award for distinguished service for his paintings on 'the forgotten Irish', and he is in his 80s — due to Government inaction, he will now have to line up with the other 556 survivors outside the High Court to seek justice. Forgotten indeed. Rachel Fehily, School of English, Drama, and Film, University College Dublin Ban unregulated sprat fishing The story ('Irish waters a marine desert due to Government inaction on overfishing' — Irish Examiner, May 27) underlines the plight of marine life in our bays in West Cork, which is vanishing in front of our eyes due to the legal and unregulated fishing of sprat every year during its spawning season by offshore trawlers. This should be another wake-up call in a long line of appeals to government to act. We, who live on bays like Bantry and Kenmare, see the devastation firsthand and the declining marine life, which affects local inshore fishermen; marine tour operators who lose their livelihood, like Colin Barnes; and local businesses. We do not begrudge fishermen their livelihood, but we need a total moratorium on sprat fishing as the initial 18m-and-over ban proposed and overturned on vessels in the six nautical mile zone alone will not do. This is because of the improved fishing capabilities of smaller vessels over 10m in length now also landing nearly half the catch on an annual basis based on latest draft data release by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority. (SFPA). We hope the Government takes heed and acts decisively by banning this practice. Charl Bester, Bantry Bay, Cork What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here The Wild Atlantic Desert Thank you for covering this very important issue (Seas off Cork a 'marine desert' due to overfishing of sprat, says owner of whale-watching business — Irish Examiner, May 27). Each autumn for the last few years I have watched those deadly trawlers out of my windows. Just a few men creating an ecological desert, and it's heartbreaking. I used to work as a tour guide for the beautiful gardens in this stunning part of the planet, and I often used the boat to Garinish Island with my guests. Sometimes I joined them on whale watching tours (including tours with Colin). The excitement of people to see real sea creatures was always contagious. But the numbers are decreasing year by year, which is terribly sad, as indirectly even we humans depend on sprat (being a naturopath I just think of the importance of omega-3 supplements for mental health issues). In many countries, like Belgium, sprat is an important source of protein for humans. So why are just a few men allowed to deplete bay after bay of this important part of the food chain? Stealing them during reproduction time from September to January, when they come into the more sheltered bays to spawn. They use horribly tight nets (maximum 16mm, when pulled hardly any opening) shaped like socks, which most small marine creatures can't escape; this takes place week after week. The by-catch is obviously horrendous, many many more living beings are being killed and then just dumped. We concerned citizens from Save our Sprat are marching today, Friday, from Bantry Square trying to raise more attention as there are only about 100 days left until those modern ruthless pirates come to steal the feed of many animals again. We need an urgent moratorium. We need the Government to take action. Otherwise the livelihood of many more people around our bays is endangered, including tourism, as the Wild Atlantic Way becomes the Wild Atlantic Desert. Elaine Zimmermann, Glengarriff, Co Cork Rigid sport fixtures As a parent, coach, and supporter of youth sport, I wish to express my deep disappointment at the refusal to reschedule the boys' football final involving Newbridge Educate Together National School (NETNS) which was fixed for May 26. Despite full agreement between both finalist schools, and NETNS offering to arrange all logistics, the organising committee rejected every request to move the match — even when a practical alternative during the hurling finals was proposed. The only explanation given was that the final has been held on this date since 2015. If the recent skorts v shorts debate and the Camogie Association's slow response to change have taught us anything, it's that tradition for its own sake can hinder progress in our sport. NETNS is not a traditionally sporty school, so the extraordinary commitment these boys, their coaches, and staff have shown this season — winning every game to reach the final — deserves respect and support. To see all that hard work go to waste due to inflexibility is deeply unfair. This decision forces children to choose between two pillars of Irish culture — sport and language — due to a clash with a Gaeltacht trip. It sends a disheartening message to young players who should be encouraged to continue participating. For many, this was their first real engagement with the GAA. Instead of inspiration, they've been met with rigidity. While it may be too late for our boys now, no future team should face the same disappointment. Sport should embody fairness, inclusion, and common sense. I urge the GAA, Cumann na mBunscol, and our public representatives to ensure those values are truly upheld. Let the children play. Sharon Canavan, Rathangan, Co Kildare What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here In Reagan's defence It seems columnist Terry Prone has never heard of the old adage 'never speak ill of the dead', or at least in relation to Ronald Reagan, has chosen to ignore same — 'We remember Reagan fondly but he was every bit as bad as Trump' (Irish Examiner, May 26). The late US president obviously can't defend himself, but maybe he deserves someone to put a word in for him. I was too busy trying to pass my B Comm during his presidency, so wasn't really conscious of his impact, one way or the other, but some US relations did speak well of him. The context was that America was coming out of a particularly bleak period in the 1960s and '70s, having got involved in various conflicts, nearly all of which ended in disaster. The well-meaning though ineffective Jimmy Carter seemed to be the last nail in the coffin of American prestige. At this stage, Ronald Reagan appeared on the scene. His major achievement from a US perspective was to make Americans feel good and positive again about their country. He also played a significant role in the demise of the Soviet 'evil empire'. With great benefits to most of the old communist bloc. Sadly, Russia itself has gone down a very strange path, which no one could have predicted. Undoubtedly there were negatives to his tenure. But Ronald Reagan deserves more credit than Terry Prone gives him. The irony, of course, is that Donald Trump, is by far the least belligerent, militarily, of any president in 75 years. He seems to have learned the lesson that excessive US militarism in other countries rarely ends well. Eric Conway, Navan, Co Meath
