Haughey was not all bad, you knowThis column is being written in an Internet cafe in the old city of Jerusalem beside the Jaffa GateWed Jul 19 2000 - 01:00
Ahern blind to all of the evidenceFor some time now, Bertie Ahern has had very good reason to believe that there had been very substantial misappropriation of …Wed Jul 05 2000 - 01:00
Neglecting society's vulnerableOver 100 Irish people, including more than 60 children, have been living in a rat-infested car dump beside the M50 motorway at…Wed Jun 21 2000 - 01:00
Money-trail suggestions for tribunalsThere are certain matters that the Flood and Moriarty tribunals should consider before winding up their inquiries, and if their…Wed Jun 14 2000 - 01:00
Wealthy can buy influence by funding politicsBertie Ahern apparently believes there is a constitutional right to buy the political systemWed Jun 07 2000 - 01:00
McCreevy atones for a serious wrong done to judgeCharlie McCreevy should be congratulated for atoning for a grievous wrong done a year ago to Hugh O'FlahertyWed May 24 2000 - 01:00
Private cash for politics unacceptableThere was no groundswell of public support for a massive pay rise for TDs but that did not deter itWed May 17 2000 - 01:00
State should not intervene over abortionTen years ago, in a column in the Sunday Tribune, I wrote in opposition to the liberalisation of the laws on abortionWed May 10 2000 - 01:00
Do us all a favour Sean, tell us what you knowWhat does it matter whether Denis O'Brien of Cork gave Bertie Ahern £50,000 in the car-park of the Burlington Hotel on the night…Wed May 03 2000 - 01:00
Time for full disclosure of financesBertie Ahern's decision to investigate possible corruption on the part of Fianna Fail councillors in parallel with the Flood …Wed Apr 26 2000 - 01:00
Out of sight, out of mindWithin a few days of becoming Minister for Justice in 1992 Maire Geoghegan-Quinn visited Mountjoy prisonSat Mar 25 2000 - 00:00
Church's act of contrition does not go nearly far enoughOn the evening of Saturday, November 16th, 1532, a Spanish priest, Father Vincente de Valverde, walked into the open square at…Wed Mar 15 2000 - 00:00
`Travellers problem' due to Christian bigotryIt was daring of Cathleen McDonogh, chaplain to the Travelling community, to write in this newspaper last Friday that prejudice…Wed Mar 08 2000 - 00:00
Refusal to issue Garda report is not acceptable"You know quite well that the Commissioner could not provide you with an internal Garda report," stated Supt John Farrelly of…Wed Mar 01 2000 - 00:00
Good Friday agreement bedevilled by bad faithLast July, the British and Irish governments drafted a new international treaty to suspend the institutions established under…Wed Feb 23 2000 - 00:00
Inquiry into conduct of gardai should be releasedA little over a year ago the Special Criminal Court made very serious observations about the conduct of gardai involved in the…Wed Feb 16 2000 - 00:00
They can judge us, but how can we judge them?It was not surprising that the Sunday Independent would have a go at Adrian HardimanWed Feb 09 2000 - 00:00
Revenue's inactivity kept tax frauds aliveAround Christmas, 1997, or in early 1998 I telephoned Denis Foley and asked him if he had an Ansbacher accountWed Feb 02 2000 - 00:00
Cowen not the best choice for Foreign AffairsRonan Keane is the best judge in the State. He may well be the best lawyer in the StateWed Jan 26 2000 - 00:00
IFA defies court ruling without rebuke from politiciansThere is no regard for the rule of law among the farming community, said Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan on MondayWed Jan 19 2000 - 00:00
Cabal taking decisions on judges not acceptableIn The next few weeks a cabal within the Government will decide on appointments to the most powerful institution in the land, …Wed Jan 12 2000 - 00:00
Andrea Corr and the Dostoevsky question: the factsSpeculation on whether in this new millennium intelligent life will be found outside this world, and whether this world will …Wed Jan 05 2000 - 00:00
Africans just don't rate on the UN scaleGenocide and the threat of nuclear annihilation were the dark themes of the departing centuryWed Dec 29 1999 - 00:00
Threatening taxpayers but ignoring the big scamIn 1991 the Revenue Commissioners arranged for huge posters to be placed on billboards throughout the StateWed Dec 22 1999 - 00:00
Prisoner and patient abuse that shames the doctorsThe chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (Irish division), Dr G. JWed Dec 15 1999 - 00:00
Another tax advantage for the wealthyWith that blathering self-congratulation that is a hall-mark of Charlie McCreevy, he told the Dail last Wednesday:Wed Dec 08 1999 - 00:00
Unanswered questions on mental institutionsAlmost 26,000 Irish citizens were admitted to mental institutions last yearWed Dec 01 1999 - 00:00
Unionists should keep their eyes on the prizeUnionists are right to be sceptical about assurances that there will be a start to IRA decommissioning before the end of January…Wed Nov 24 1999 - 00:00
Has official malevolence created a health crisis?There is an atavism at the core of our society which impels a barbarity in the treatment of vulnerable people, among them refugees…Wed Nov 17 1999 - 00:00
Scandal in our mental hospitals is revealedThe State has been involved in the wilful and, possibly, criminal neglect of vulnerable people in its care, says an official …Wed Nov 10 1999 - 00:00
FF at greasy till on the day it buried Jack LynchOn the afternoon of Saturday week last the third president of Fianna Fail, Jack Lynch, was laid to rest in CorkWed Nov 03 1999 - 00:00
Lynch partly responsible for the 1970 arms crisisDes O'Malley's claim at Jack Lynch's graveside on Saturday that 30 years ago "we could have caved in to sinister elements and…Wed Oct 27 1999 - 01:00
Europe fails to face up to its duties in the CongoThe third World War is what they have called it in Africa, a war involving eight countries and arising from seven conflictsWed Oct 20 1999 - 01:00
Kinshasa's monuments to luxury in a sea of squalorThere is nothing at Kinshasa International Airport beyond the bare walls and massive iron gatesWed Oct 13 1999 - 01:00
Huge fraud on State not considered as a crimeIn 1983 the Oireachtas created a criminal offence, which has since been known as a revenue offenceWed Sept 15 1999 - 01:00
Geoghegan Quinn not qualified for EU positionFive weeks ago Bertie Ahern announced the nomination of Maire Geoghegan Quinn to the European Court of Auditors for a six-year…Wed Sept 01 1999 - 01:00
In politics all gifts have strings attachedIt must be very bothersome for Mary Harney to be disturbed at her Cote d'Azur villa by the domestic whingeing about her holiday…Wed Aug 25 1999 - 01:00
Why can't foreigners grasp Irish abortion?A few months ago I met a group of New Zealanders who were in Ireland studying Irish politicsWed Aug 18 1999 - 01:00
Protecting the rights of the most vulnerableEach year thousands of Irish citizens are detained against their will, without trialWed Aug 11 1999 - 01:00
A judgment that chills media's zeal to inform the publicVery few people will have mourned the affirmation by the Supreme Court of the £300,000 award to Proinsias De Rossa against the…Wed Aug 04 1999 - 01:00
A popular, profitable sport in the home of the fiddleBy all accounts there was great craic agus ceol at the Willie Clancy Scoil Samhraidh in Miltown Malbay earlier this monthWed Jul 28 1999 - 01:00
It's too long a way from Farmleigh to PortraneBertie Ahern and his ministerial colleagues are due to assemble in Farmleigh House next Tuesday for their last Cabinet meeting…Wed Jul 21 1999 - 01:00
McDowell can pursue unfinished business of beef fraudOn May 8th, 1995, Michael McDowell, then a TD, wrote to the attorney general, Dermot Gleeson, drawing his attention to the findings…Wed Jul 14 1999 - 01:00
Counselling for victims of abuse an `emergency'Down the hill from the tribunals at Dublin Castle yesterday, at the Franciscan Friary on Merchant's Quay, a few priests, psychologists…Wed Jul 07 1999 - 01:00
If it fails, the fault lies with leaders who fudgedIf tonight or in a few months' time the Belfast Agreement is torn in shreds and the best hope for centuries for permanent peace…Wed Jun 30 1999 - 01:00
Farmleigh a pointer to State's lack of caringThat the purchase of the Guinness mansion, Farmleigh, in the Phoenix Park for anything close to £25 million should even have …Wed Jun 23 1999 - 01:00
When is the slaughter of innocents not an outrage?`The world is going to be outraged", said William Cohen, the US Secretary for Defence, on Monday nightWed Jun 16 1999 - 01:00
Candidates for Europe not in the top leagueThe European Union seems headed towards a defence union which might engage in "humanitarian" interventions such as that undertaken…Wed Jun 09 1999 - 01:00