Renters forking out €2,000 per month are paying the price for water charges debacle
As the housing shortage cuts into economic competitiveness and social solidarity, the consequences of bad decisions are more apparent
Gerard Howlin
Gerard Howlin columns
James Browne has little power to fix the housing crisis. The status quo is in charge
Housing gets enormous amounts of money and endless new initiatives. But it has never had an alignment of power and responsibility
Micheál Martin would be a more credible leader of Fine Gael than Simon Harris
It’s a sign of Fine Gael’s watered-down identity that it’s easy to imagine Harris in Labour or the Social Democrats
The general election campaign was a raucous wake for an era that was already over
We stand on the brink of a tariffs war weighed down by the cost of our inefficiency and self-indulgence
Ireland is not anti-Semitic but it’s not a good time to be Jewish in this country
There is no space left here for either a broader perspective or nuance. There is an increasingly automatic overlapping of Jewish people with Israel
Micheál Martin has real power at last. The big question is what he’ll do with it
Martin reshaped politics after the economic crash by building the widest possible base committed to some version of the status quo
A good foreign policy is one that no one notices. Unfortunately that’s not Simon Harris’s style
Harris’s success or failure in his new role will mean success or failure for all of us
Programme for government is notable not just for a lack of ideology, but a lack of passion
Gathering almost every TD with a stake in the status quo in one government will prove to be a mistake
Ireland’s risk-averse civil service cannot speed up delivery of the things we need most
We are going to have to decarbonise and dampen down current spending to avoid overheating the economy
Ireland is being harmed by divorce between managing the economy and managing public spending
Where there is neither control of spending nor effective delivery, it is the worst of all worlds
Verona Murphy getting the Ceann Comhairle job was a sign of Michael Lowry’s political savvy
With no third party to disproportionately set the agenda or take the blame, the prospect of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parting as good friends at the end of the next Government will be more challenging
Independents TDs hold the balance of power. A lot hinges on Verona Murphy’s next move
With Labour divided and the Social Democrats sceptical, the focus is on a handful of Independents
With 2024 set to be the hottest year ever, why have plans for climate spending been put on hold?
Party leaders would not agree to allow Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan to bring plans to Cabinet for the deployment of a €3.15bn climate fund
Sinn Féin is on the back foot but that does not mean the Government parties are over the line
Election 2024 will still see the issues that concerned voters most in 2020
Simon Harris is making Micheál Martin look like the status quo. This is a problem for Fianna Fáil
Can the Harris surge survive the winter? Fianna Fáil may prefer to bet that it can’t
Gerard Howlin: We have learned nothing from the Celtic Tiger crash
Apart from the back of an envelope suggestion for a new Department of Infrastructure, there is little by way of new ideas on how we can do things better, as distinct from just spending more money
Ireland is doing the equivalent of using its credit card to pay for groceries
State’s immediate challenge is not money but capacity. We lack the people and infrastructure needed to match current demand
Taoiseach plans all-powerful Department of Infrastructure. What could go wrong?
The worst of all worlds would be a Department of Infrastructure which takes years to assemble but is several pistons short of being a full engine
Big problems cannot be magicked away by the Taoiseach’s emphatic statements
Simon Harris has moved ahead of his problems without necessarily confronting them. Now he’s in a race against time
The Sinn Féin surge is over and its fightback has hardly begun
Undecided voters, and those who make up their minds late on, will influence the outcome of the general election
Inheritance tax is a modest payback for a massive benefit
Cutting inheritance tax benefits the offspring of the generation now leaving property behind - and their parents already enjoyed mortgage interest relief in the past
Who is Jack Chambers? Nobody knows but we’re about to find out
The new Minister must use the pre-election budget to perform an interconnected series of balances
The question is not whether we decarbonise - it’s whether we do it quickly or get left behind
We need to stop talking about climate obligations and look at the opportunities
We are distracted by personalities, but what’s really at stake in this year of elections is policy
The great issues of our times are ageing, climate, and generative AI
Ask Ukraine about the value of Irish ‘solidarity’: it is €38.80 per week
Disjointed responses to different humanitarian crises are dictated by their distance, our convenience and political opportunism
Limerick’s mayoral election will either be an embarrassing novelty or a brave new world
The vote - to be held four weeks from today - is an important experiment in extending local government. A lot rests on voters’ choice
We now know which hospitals are overspending and which are delivering. Let’s fund them accordingly
In the past, there was a formula which ensured that the worse things were, the more money you got. That’s no longer the case
Next election will herald an age of Independents
Series of flip-flops by Sinn Féin on hate speech, the Nature Restoration Law, and the recent referendums raises questions. If they can’t speak clearly for themselves, how can they speak for us?
The idea this Government has another year is constitutionally correct but politically preposterous
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs know they are franchisees of brands in decline
‘Political advisers are like poisoners: either famous or good at their job’
A short history of political advisers in Ireland, from the early 1990s to today
The world is burning, but Sinn Féin is focusing on the local elections
The party decided not to be the party of change on climate change, which may be a smart political calculation, but comes at a cost
The children’s hospital project has been both meticulously planned and overly rushed
The problem isn’t the overrun - it is that the cost was grossly underestimated and all the information the market needed to squeeze the Government was made public
It’s official: The national mood is lightening. The black clouds are turning grey
There are no signs that the lightening of the mood is helping the Government parties. But it’s not necessarily good for Sinn Féin either
The concerns and prejudice boiling over in small towns mark the end of an era for Ireland
Politics is now increasingly a zero-sum contest seeking only tactical advantage
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How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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