Liberalism has won in a mature, functioning democracy
The pro-life movement has strengths that liberal Ireland would do well to respect, but its high communal standards are harsh on individuals
Liberalism has won. Yesterday’s victory is the latest in a series of victories (on contraception, homosexuality, divorce, children’s rights, gender recognition, marriage) that, together, amount to a slow-burning revolution. (The battle on the secularisation of education is, admittedly, ongoing, but liberalism is in the ascendant.)
Some swagger would be understandable: this victory was hard won. But along the way damage was done. Traumatised by the setbacks of the 1980s and by the indignities ...