State spending has soared by one third since 2016, with little discernible benefit to Ireland’s citizensEconomically Ireland has no right-of-centre politics, and public spending has jumped by a third since the 2016 electionTue Feb 28 2023 - 05:00
The immigration genie is out of the bottle and cannot be simply wished back inThe domestication of Sinn Féin and a belief by government that it could contain the issue kept it at the fringes. Until nowTue Feb 14 2023 - 05:00
Dáil’s expansion will alter electoral arithmetic hugelyIf Ireland is increasingly a political melting pot, huge structural change in TD numbers turns up the heatTue Jan 31 2023 - 05:00
Paschal Donohoe’s usefulness to Varadkar and Martin will save himMinister is getting a chance Fine Gael denied Alan Shatter, Frances Fitzgerald and Phil HoganTue Jan 24 2023 - 05:00
Bulging post-holiday bins a metaphor for our disposable societyWe maximise our capacity to party, minimise our personal exposure to the consequences and has enough of the balm of action to allow us have a very good time and feel good about ourselvesTue Jan 10 2023 - 05:00
Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin owe Alan Shatter an apologyGerard Howlin: The ex-minister was badly treated by a political system that still won’t say sorryTue Dec 27 2022 - 00:00
Neutrality a hardnosed responsibility, not a romantic notionOnly two ships are available to patrol our 132,000sq-mile economic zone, which is 16% of EU watersTue Dec 13 2022 - 00:00
Days of masterly inactivity on climate action coming to an endClimate Action Plan will apply legal pressure on civil servants and State agencies to ensure carbon reduction is intrinsic to plans and budgetsTue Nov 29 2022 - 05:00
Future of Irish politics is in Micheál Martin’s handsMicheál Martin can stop Sinn Féin’s seemingly inevitable ascension to power or he can facilitate itTue Nov 15 2022 - 05:00
Sinn Féin’s unspoken challenge is reformation of administrative State Eoin Ó Broin’s criticism of Department of Finance chief economist strayed from project of socialising Sinn Féin for powerTue Nov 01 2022 - 05:00
Government is not prepared to take political pain of tackling inflationSee-saw of contradictory policies set to prolong and exaggerate effects of inflationTue Oct 18 2022 - 05:00
Ireland is a country where people can no longer be bought with their own moneyOutside the halls of power, Ireland's social contract is broken - even €11bn is not enough wallpaper to cover over the cracksTue Oct 04 2022 - 05:00
Varadkar can be solo star performer but he makes poor team leaderIf Fine Gael leader really thinks it is a national imperative to keep Pascal Donohoe as minister for finance, he should forgo his own turn as taoiseachTue Sept 20 2022 - 05:00
Two weeks out from budget day there is no plan, only chaosWith a budget surplus of more than €6 billion, any kind of restraint is too much to hope forTue Sept 13 2022 - 05:00
Government has run out of road on spending to keep up with demandHaving survived Russian roulette on corporation tax, a State living hand-to-mouth has acquired an invincibility complex. It is the economics of joyridingTue Aug 30 2022 - 00:00
The Government is playing a dangerous game in inflating public expectationsCoalition is trying to appease voters with money it does not have instead of challenging the narrative on public spendingFri Jul 08 2022 - 00:01
Chasing inflation with a huge pay rise for the public sector is understandable but insaneListening to prescriptions for the old magic formula of tax cuts and spending increase is genuinely funny, but it ends in tearsSat Jun 18 2022 - 04:00
Politics of climate change halfway between comedy and consequenceVaradkar’s kick in the shins to Ryan over turf perfectly platformed Sinn Féin in its wider opposition to delivery mechanisms for climate targetsTue May 31 2022 - 04:00
