Studies: a trenchant swan-song

Outgoing Studies editor Fergus O’Donoghue’s swansong editorial, in the wake of the Cloyne Report, is a quotable dose of political incorrectness: “An arrogant bishop proved his pastoral ineptitude by his fixation with the opinions of a Vatican department, led by a cardinal noted for an obsession with clerical privilege.” Other targets are Fine Gael: “abandoned its Christian Democratic roots, preferring the humourless embrace of political correctness.” In the struggle for power, “the Labour Party’s radicalism has been muted to inaudibility.” “Fianna Fail seemed to regard the EU as jobbery on a massive scale.” And our humble selves: “no longer ‘good Europeans’, but a beggar nation once again.” But hopeful: “The important anniversaries planned between 2011 and 2016 could be occasions of yet more recrimination, but, with good leadership in every aspect of Irish life, they will be times to begin healing, forgiveness and self-acceptance.”