Off Message

The difference between our reaction to the refreshingly honest Carlow Rose and to a Pope who mumbles platitudes in response to child abuse reveals all we need to know about our nation’s problematic relationship with the truth

Carlow Rose Shauna Ray Lacey with her mother, Angela Ray PIC: Domnick Walsh

Here’s the thing about Ireland in 2018: we like honesty, but not too much of it. Truth jostles with pragmatism in our minds. The more inconvenient the truth is, the more likely we are to place our own self-interest ahead of it. When in doubt, stay quiet. That’s what we tell ourselves. That’s what we’re encouraged by society to believe.

That was the only conclusion you could draw from a week in which ...