Courage and the Northern Troubles
It is reported that some people who displayed “courage” in denouncing the IRA during the recent Troubles were miffed because they weren’t invited to any of the events surrounding the current British royal visit.
Politics »
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Up in the Polls and Up in the Air
The latest Sunday Business Post poll as well as the last poll in The Irish Times show a modest revival in Fianna Fail’s standing with the public. Clearly they will be hoping to hang in for as long as possible and stave off the general election until they are in a position to win or at least emerge with only minimal damage. (more…)
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Country and Western Alliance 2009?
A certain wag who worked on this newspaper some years back used to have great fun at the expense of aspirants for jobs and promotions that appeared “on the board”. His favourite witticism was to tell one or other of the hopefuls: “Your name is being linked to the job – people are saying ‘Joe Bloggs hasn’t a chance of getting that one’.” Oh the cruelty of it! But it was very funny and the victim usually laughed as well.
Tá Máire réidh! (more…)
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A Last Word on Lisbon
There was a stark contrast between Dublin Castle last Saturday and the same place in June 2008, when the No side won the first Lisbon referendum. This time the place was like a morgue. Last time, photographers literally almost came to blows trying to take pictures of Gerry Adams and his colleagues in Sinn Féin.
Give us an aul’ smile, Brian (Photo by Alan Betson)
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No Laughing Matter
Worst political movie ever made? That was my initial and perhaps somewhat harsh judgment as I left the cinema after watching In the Loop which was so widely-praised I just had to go and see it. The main character is meant to be based on Alastair Campbell, legendary spin-doctor for Tony Blair.
Alastair Campbell: film version of his diaries would have been better (Photograph by
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The Mark of Cain
The ESRI’s first forecast pointing to any contraction in the Irish economy was made only at the end of June last year.
This morning’s reports on the institute’s spring quarterly economic commentary (see story here) makes for ghastly reading. A 9.2 per cent shrinkage this year. A 14 per cent contraction over the next three years. Unemployment to reach almost 17 per cent next year. That’s what it was like at the worst period in the 1980s. It’s even gloomier than that, says the ESRI. The landscape it paints is that of an arid dustbowl somewhere in California in the 1930s. (more…)
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Fine Gael Rallies its Troops
The Fine Gael ardfheis started off quietly enough last night. The high-point of the evening when leader Enda Kenny and Deputy Lucinda Creighton publicly embraced to show that their recent spat at the parliamentary party was now water under the bridge.
Lucinda and Enda kiss and make up (Photograph by Frank Miller)
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The Time is Out of Joint
One imagines the Cabinet watched the TV footage of today’s trade union protest in Dublin with a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Bad enough to have the economy gone pearshaped and the banking system ensnarled by unpaid debts and wide-boy behaviour but now the proletariat is in revolt. (more…)
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Tony Gregory and radical change
One has a feeling of great personal sadness at the death of Tony Gregory. He was in the proud tradition of spiky, outspoken loners in Irish politics such as Noel Browne and Jack McQuillan who embodied the true meaning of that contemporary phrase, “The Power of One”. (more…)
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Could Lisbon be Cowen’s downfall?
The more I read of the debate on Lisbon and its aftermath, the more it seems we are at a crossroads in Irish political life. The irresistible force has finally met the immovable object. (more…)
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