Stephen Collins: Health service a political football yet againState healthcare decisions must be on basis of facts not political advantage or emotionThu May 17 2018 - 01:00
Economy in danger as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil fight over budgetPoliticians struggle to resist temptation of repeating past mistakes despite crashThu May 10 2018 - 10:50
Stephen Collins: Dublin may have to compromise on BorderGovernment’s EU-backed approach to date correct but not without risk of chaosThu May 03 2018 - 01:00
Varadkar should go to the country after the abortion referendumStephen Collins: Waiting for his opponents to pull the election trigger looks too riskyThu Apr 26 2018 - 01:00
How should Ireland respond to Emmanuel Macron’s plans to reform Europe?Important that French president be backed as a bastion of decency and moderationThu Apr 19 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: Varadkar and Coveney wasting time on talk of Irish unityDavis wrong on Sinn Féin influence but Fine Gael must focus on pragmatic Brexit resultsThu Apr 12 2018 - 01:00
Blair and Ahern urge governments to end NI impasseBelfast Agreement 20 years on: Bill Clinton warns ‘paralysis’ cannot go on indefinitely without endangering agreementTue Apr 10 2018 - 01:01
Ahern says Stormont agreement could be possible by end of MayFormer taoiseach says governments must work hard to bring North’s parties togetherTue Apr 10 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: politicians should look at a plastic bottle refund schemeObjections from drinks companies and supermarkets should not prevent reformThu Apr 05 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: It has not been a great week for politics or the mediaPoliticians and journalists have managed to undermine people’s confidence in their integrityThu Mar 29 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: Soft Brexit looking more likelyTrying to use Border to block progress on wider issues would have risked own goalThu Mar 22 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: It is no surprise unionists suspect a conspiracyTaoiseach and Ministers have not taken enough account of how approach is perceived in NorthThu Mar 15 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: Michael D Higgins should have attended John Redmond eventRefusal casts doubt on ability to represent different strands of IrishnessThu Mar 08 2018 - 09:48
Barnier has made Border the central plank in his negotiating strategyThere is now a better chance than a few months ago that advocates of a soft Brexit will prevailThu Mar 01 2018 - 01:00
Political posturing order of day as FG and FF position themselves for autumn electionReal surprise is how closely aligned Government has become with SFThu Feb 22 2018 - 01:00
Ireland would do well not to take democracy for grantedStephen Collins: State’s early years avoided tyranny but Sinn Féin stance may pose threatThu Feb 15 2018 - 01:00
Ireland’s future cannot be held to ransom by rural interestsStephen Collins: National development plan must not be derailed by political cowardiceThu Feb 08 2018 - 01:00
Hogan says a border in Ireland is inevitable if UK leaves customs unionEU agriculture commissioner says really tough Brexit negotiations have yet to comeThu Feb 01 2018 - 17:58
Stephen Collins: Britain’s fate is in the hands of Tory diehardsLike the Ditchers of 100 years ago, right-wing Conservatives are prepared to put the UK’s interests at riskThu Feb 01 2018 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: Sinn Féin appears to have lost directionIf party can do deal with DUP it can realistically aspire to be in government in RepublicThu Jan 25 2018 - 01:00
Leo Varadkar’s subtle strategy persuades waverers on Eighth AmendmentTaoiseach had clear idea from beginning where he wanted to go on abortionThu Jan 18 2018 - 01:00
Sutherland never quite got recognition at home he deservedMost profound impact was role he played in creation today’s global economyThu Jan 11 2018 - 01:00
Kennedy’s inquiries about cabinet committee in North caused alarm‘It is important we press to have questions disallowed wherever possible,’ official advisedSat Dec 30 2017 - 00:15
Haughey told Thatcher that Ireland was financially ‘up against the wall’State Papers 1987: Then taoiseach jokingly asked for loan of ‘£2bn or so’ from British PMFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:35
Haughey engaged in telephone diplomacy to ease fears on European referendumFiles reveal taoiseach spoke to French president the day after Supreme Court decisionFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:20
‘For Ireland’s sake I hope you are returned’: FitzGerald’s note to ThatcherGarret FitzGerald and Charles Haughey both wrote warm letters to the British PMFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:10
‘Grand larceny’ of Fine Gael fiscal policy by Fianna FáilDukes puts the Fine Gael position on a more formal footing with the ‘Tallaght strategy’Fri Dec 29 2017 - 00:10
‘Keep trying. You are most able’: Haughey’s soothing words to ThatcherTranscript of 1987 meeting provides insight into how taoiseach dealt with prime ministerFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:01
British proposed East German-style border for Ireland, files revealState papers from 1987 reveal proposal to erect a physical border along the 500km frontierFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:01
Nothing necessary about the Provisional IRA campaignNew books on John Hume a valuable counterweight to false republican narrativeThu Dec 28 2017 - 05:00
2017 politics: Varadkar’s solid start after roller coaster yearNews review: Irish politics avoids election, but new taoiseach and tánaiste bed inWed Dec 27 2017 - 05:50
Border deal a triumph for Government in Brexit talksNews review of the year: conundrum of frictionless Border remains unresolvedWed Dec 27 2017 - 04:54
Stephen Collins: Caution needed as Varadkar surfs wave of approvalTaoiseach risks overplaying political hand following tough stance on Brexit talksThu Dec 21 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Irish question returns to haunt Tories after 100 yearsSlowdown in growth and rise in inflation bring air of realism to British view of BrexitThu Dec 14 2017 - 05:00
Irish Government is partly to blame for Brexit shamblesAnalysis: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney showed diplomatic inexperienceThu Dec 07 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Don’t bank on a general election by springVaradkar-Martin relationship if anything better now than before Fitzgerald debacleThu Nov 30 2017 - 05:00
Condolences from British PM feature in Kevin O’Higgins exhibitionAssassination of minister for justice in July 1927 changed course of Irish politicsThu Nov 23 2017 - 09:54
Government needs to be more honest about prospect of hard BorderThe question is whether Border will be in middle of Irish Sea or across the island landmassThu Nov 23 2017 - 05:00
Dublin played part in undermining Sunningdale Agreement - envoyGovernment had plan to transfer 20,000 civil servants to work under Council of IrelandWed Nov 22 2017 - 01:00
Stephen Collins: Republic continues to embrace a European identityLeo Varadkar’s wearing of the poppy shows the pluralist nature of modern IrishnessThu Nov 16 2017 - 05:00
Ministers’ trip to N Korea would be mockery of foreign policyA propaganda coup for murderous Pyongyang regime is no laughing matterThu Nov 09 2017 - 05:00
Conor Cruise O’Brien forced Ireland to reconsider nationalismThe intellectual challenged the idea the pursuit of unity was the State’s main goalThu Nov 02 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Varadkar emerges as EU diplomacy naturalConfident Taoiseach engaged with EU debate on Brexit contrasts with shambolic BritishThu Oct 26 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Gloves come off between Fine Gael and Fianna FáilVaradkar and Martin clearly dislike each other and their duel is likely to decide next electionThu Oct 19 2017 - 05:00
London will dictate the success of Paschal Donohoe’s first budgetStephen Collins: Was even modest expansion appropriate given the Brexit backdrop?Thu Oct 12 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Donohoe should not fear caution in framing budgetMainstream politicians should embrace EU rules as a bulwark against disasterThu Oct 05 2017 - 05:00
Cosgrave ‘devoted his life to public service’, Varadkar saysTributes to former taoiseach note courage in defending State’s democratic institutionsWed Oct 04 2017 - 22:27
Liam Cosgrave: modest, droll, pious and politically cunningFG leader was an uncompromising and often controversial political figureWed Oct 04 2017 - 20:55
Stephen Collins: Do we really want seven referendums?The votes have the potential to further undermine representative democracyThu Sept 28 2017 - 05:00
Stephen Collins: Martin’s courageous stance on Sinn Féin is correctGetting a Dáil foothold would be Sinn Féin’s first step to acquire total power in the StateThu Sept 21 2017 - 05:00
