Cabinet allowed Seanad reform Bill to advance because it had little choiceColumn: Once a political system becomes dysfunctional it is difficult to alterSun May 19 2013 - 06:00
High time for political system to allow free votes on issues of conscienceColumn: It is not surprising that so many voices on both sides of the abortion debate have called for TDs and Senators to be given a free voteSat May 11 2013 - 02:00
A free vote on abortion Bill would be healthy precedent for democracyColumn: If it opposes this legislation Fianna Fáil risks alienating the mainstream middle groundSat May 04 2013 - 06:00
Key to Fianna Fáil’s recovery is organisational reformColumn: Recent poll ratings bode well for Micheál Martin and his partySat Apr 27 2013 - 06:00
Constitutional Convention must be allowed discuss future of SeanadThere is no reason why judges should be the only ones consulted on the Upper HouseSat Apr 20 2013 - 06:00
Time may have arrived for referendum on same-sex marriageOpinion: Public support for change has happened faster than predictedSun Apr 14 2013 - 10:00
Resignation of Childers creates additional worry for LabourParty establishment may be glad to see her go but timing of MEP’s decision adds impactSat Apr 06 2013 - 06:00
Meath East result will test Coalition partners’ relationship‘Small party takes blame’ effect is more obvious than everSat Mar 30 2013 - 06:00
Biden rallies Irish Americans to Hispanic immigrants’ causeUS vice-president’s folksy speech to Irish audience had a political purposeSat Mar 23 2013 - 06:00
Papal election shows television is still plugged into eventsSocial media complemented rather than displaced the broadcast coverageSat Mar 16 2013 - 06:00
FG in pole position in Meath East as local factors likely to decide outcomeThe pace with which Fine Gael moved the writ for the Meath East byelection this week and the extraordinarily short period it …Sat Mar 09 2013 - 00:00
Potential for new political movement led by comedian is no laughing matterStep forward, Mrs Brown, your time has come. Your country needs you. Beppe Grillo in Italy has shown the waySat Mar 02 2013 - 00:00
Significant political lessons to be taken from response to McAleese reportThe historical implications of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech and apology this week to those who spent time in Magdalene laundries…Sat Feb 23 2013 - 00:00
Ireland can learn from poor handling of Savile complaintsIn mid-January a special report by Alison Levitt QC, principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions in England…Sat Feb 16 2013 - 00:00
Deal on promissory notes is massive boost for down-at-the-polls CoalitionThere is no doubt that the promissory notes deal is a massive political positive for the Government.Sat Feb 09 2013 - 00:00
Apology shows SF leader's convoluted sense of reality‘A garda has been shot,’ is the breaking news headline dreaded by all with someone in the forceSat Feb 02 2013 - 00:00
Have I told you lately it's okay to like princesses?Among the lead characters in the hugely successful American sitcom Modern Family are Cameron and Mitchell, a gay couple with …Sat Jan 26 2013 - 00:00
Kenny plays a high-stakes game on bank debt dealLast Sunday it was Enda Kenny’s turn on the series of party leader interviews for RTÉ radio’s This Week programmeSat Jan 19 2013 - 00:00
Suicide 'test' should now be key focus of abortion debateThe hearings on abortion legislation conducted this week by the Oireachtas health committee, far from being window dressing as…Sat Jan 12 2013 - 00:00
New movement of ideas needed on post-crisis IrelandIn the end of year edition of the Spectator magazine, US writer Michael Lind suggests that five years after the events that triggered…Sat Jan 05 2013 - 00:00
Irrational fears about new media have become surrealIn time it may become a popular table quiz questionSat Dec 29 2012 - 00:00
Whips should be set aside to allow free vote on abortionOne of the few substantial innovations in parliamentary reform introduced so far in the current Dáil was the establishment of…Sat Dec 22 2012 - 00:00
Labour's volatility has reached level of serious threat to Coalition's futureThe Labour Party has had many splits in its history. In the 1950s it divided into two partiesSat Dec 15 2012 - 00:00
We may top the austerity class but the pain is very realOn Wednesday night the social media news agency Storyful tweeted a video link to clients headlined “Protesters clash with police…Sat Dec 08 2012 - 00:00
Leveson model a stronger system for press regulationWe Irish love when others flatter us by imitationSat Dec 01 2012 - 00:00
'Frontline' report shows RTÉ has still not grasped need for accountabilityOn Pat Kenny’s RTÉ radio programme the day after the presidential election last November, I advanced an explanation for the dramatic…Sat Nov 24 2012 - 00:00
Decisive change in the abortion debateThere is much we do not know about the medical care Savita Halappanavar receivedSat Nov 17 2012 - 00:00
A tale of two Supreme Court rulings against government referendum publicity campaignsOn November 17th, 1995, the Supreme Court found the then Fine Gael-Labour government was acting unconstitutionally in spending…Sat Nov 10 2012 - 00:00
Political spadework key to likely Yes in children's voteThe foundation for the safe passage of this amendment has been laid over the last decadeSat Nov 03 2012 - 00:00
ECB bailout pressure details belong in public domainThe extent to which we were forced into the 2010 bailout is relevant to current negotiationsSat Oct 27 2012 - 01:00
Re-emergence of FF is not inevitableFianna Fáil seems to have got its act together but it is early days yet for the partySat Oct 20 2012 - 01:00
Shortall sidelined by unwritten rules of governmentAs a Minister of State, Róisín Shortall had little if any patronage in the Department of HealthSat Sept 29 2012 - 01:00
US election race closer than our distorted view suggestsThe pro-Democrat disposition of the Irish skews our view of the presidential campaignSat Sept 15 2012 - 01:00
Property tax may leave politicians out in the coldThe complexity of introducing a property tax has increased in post-Celtic Tiger IrelandSat Sept 01 2012 - 01:00
New economic council is really just a subcommitteeGatherings of senior management can lead to a sense of exclusion among other managersSat Aug 18 2012 - 01:00
Men belong in debate on working mothers having it allIT IS with considerable trepidation that I tread ever so carefully into the debate that continues to rage on this page and elsewhere…Sat Aug 11 2012 - 01:00
Old media's new reality: more pressure, less cloutWhether newspapers or TV exert more influence on Ireland is unlikely to matter much in the age of new mediaSat Aug 04 2012 - 01:00
Ministers of State can have the trappings but no powerNOEL WHELAN: The blindsiding of Róisín Shortall by James Reilly has shown up her powerlessnessSat Jul 21 2012 - 01:00
Focus on Reilly should now be on his work, not debtsThe response to James Reilly’s Dáil statement on his complex affairs was predictably clichedSat Jul 14 2012 - 01:00
Progress on gay marriage must be handled with carePursuing the Taoiseach on gay marriage may generate colourful headlines but it could be counterproductiveSat Jul 07 2012 - 01:00
Events conspire to deliver agreeable Coalition newsIT MAY sound trite to say, but it is worth repeating that this Government will be defined by how it deals with our fiscal and…Sat Jun 30 2012 - 01:00
Dramatic redraw will make jittery TDs more nervousMany Dáil deputies have not yet planted deep roots in their existing constituenciesSat Jun 23 2012 - 01:00
Labour restiveness is an expression of vulnerabilityLabour’s young TDs have most to lose from the recent collapse in support for the partySat Jun 16 2012 - 01:00
Ireland off EU radar screen as Spanish bailout loomsON THE evening of October 19th, 2002, RTÉ broke into the Saturday night movie to broadcast the result from six constituencies…Sat Jun 09 2012 - 01:00
Turnout on Thursday will have big impact on resultThe turnaround on Nice had more to do with turnout than any change of mind by single votersSat May 26 2012 - 01:00
Politics distorted during referendum campaignsThe rules on media space mean Independents and smaller parties get disproportionate attentionSat May 19 2012 - 01:00
First steps to rebuilding trust being taken by RTÉSENIOR CRIMINAL investigators say the greatest danger to any inquiry is detectives falling into the trap of making assumptions…Sat May 12 2012 - 01:00
Flying SF could soar even higher with a new leaderWith no end in sight to economic hardship, the established parties are really feeling the heatSat Apr 21 2012 - 01:00
Labour can look back on proud recordThe party’s endurance in our political system is no mean accomplishmentSat Apr 14 2012 - 01:00
Family and sectional interest behind many donationsTHIS WEEK the 2011 donation statements made by TDs and Senators were published, giving some insight into how politics and election…Sat Apr 07 2012 - 01:00
