Opinion & Analysis | The Irish Times

Boris Johnson represents ‘a complete absence of principle and an endless capacity for mendacity’. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Fintan O’Toole: Britain’s fate may rest on Boris Johnson’s ability to polish poo

Fintan O'Toole
July 23, 2019

Who better than the likely next British PM to sell a withdrawal agreement tweak as a win?

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin: The Church of Ireland was left entirely to its own devices by the British state and by the Church of England in 1869. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Church of Ireland has put its survival over public engagement

Archbishop Richard Clarke
July 23, 2019

Since disestablishment 150 years ago, the organisation has been both insular and innovative

The performance of the Disclosures Tribunal has cast doubt on our reliance on commissions of investigation as the preferred option of public inquiry.

Ireland must reconsider its use of commissions of investigation

Christopher Oonan
July 23, 2019

Private hearings lead to less scrutiny and have not addressed the issue of spiralling costs

Alpacas are the world’s most absurdly cute animals

An Irishwoman’s Diary on Donegal’s Wild Alpaca Way

Elgy Gillespie
July 22, 2019

Boris Johnson, former U.K. foreign secretary, arrives at offices in the Westminster district of London, U.K., on Monday, July 22, 2019. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are battling to replace Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party and British prime minister. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Boris Johnson must swallow his pride and make a deal with Dublin

Simon Jenkins
July 22, 2019

The likely next prime minister must promise to safeguard an open Irish border, which means a de facto customs union, for the time being.

Dublin Flea Market at Newmarket Square back in 2015. It was an exercise in community, creativity, entrepreneurship, friendship and fun. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

Una Mullally: Demolition takes Dublin close to point of no return

Una Mullally
July 22, 2019

Capital’s character is being killed by council of enforcement not facilitation

A still image from a recent video by Gemma O’Doherty on YouTube.

YouTube row raises serious questions on censorship by tech giants

David Thunder
July 22, 2019

Do we want Google, Twitter and Facebook to be sole gatekeepers of public speech?

The cranes on the Dublin skyline are back, and the M50, well, it’s a car park again. Photograph: Aidan Crawley

The recession is now in the rearview mirror

Blaine Callard
July 22, 2019

Go Ireland! You have officially come out the other side of the great recession of 2009

A detail from the painting The Battle of Aughrim by John Mulvany

The bloodiest battlefield in Irish history: An Irishman’s Diary on the Battle of Aughrim

Ray Burke
July 22, 2019

Muhammad Ali knocking out George Foreman during the so-called Rumble in the Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire on October 30th, 1974. China is now throwing its investment hat in the African ring. Photograph: The Ring Magazine/Getty Images

David McWilliams: Chinese are boxing clever by muscling in on Africa

David McWilliams
July 20, 2019

By 2100, a quarter of all humans will be African, so China’s gamble could pay off

The Assisted Human Reproduction Bill includes provisions covering sperm, egg and embryo donation, surrogacy, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), embryo and stem cell research and posthumous assisted reproduction.

Breda O’Brien: Child’s voice ignored in surrogacy debate

Breda O'Brien
July 20, 2019

Committee prioritises doctors and academics over donor-conceived people

“A hard-Brexit UK is finding itself dependent on an America First agenda in a much more zero-sum world dividing into competing blocs.” Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Global and local balance of power will shift after a hard Brexit

Paul Gillespie
July 20, 2019

Shift from softer to harder power is not good news for smaller states

Britain’s prime minister Theresa May with England’s captain Eoin Morgan holding the World Cup trophy after beating New Zealand the final. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n / AFP/Getty Images

Fintan O’Toole: Eoin Morgan showed England its better self

Fintan O'Toole
July 20, 2019

The Irish captain of England's triumphant cricket team knocked xenophobia for six

Leadership candidate for Britain’s Conservative Party Boris Johnson: to head towards a no-deal, he will tout non-existent alternatives, say they mean the backstop guarantee is not needed and try to blame the EU – and Ireland – for a lurch towards a no-deal. Photograph: Simon Dawson

Brexit compromise acceptable to all sides likely to prove elusive

Cliff Taylor
July 20, 2019

Cliff Taylor: The route to a deal between Boris Johnson and the EU looks impossibly narrow

Which Boris Johnson will we get in August – the bullish Brexiteer or the pragmatic centrist? Photograph: Reuters/Simon Dawson

Pat Leahy: Varadkar must prepare to deal with either Boris

Pat Leahy
July 20, 2019

It would be in Johnson’s interest to try to tweak the backstop, exit the EU and call an election

We were hilariously warned this week by the retired MEP and new chief executive of Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, Brian Hayes, that ‘for the last number of years, bank bashing is the new form of groupthink in this country’. Photograph: Alan Betson

The culture of Irish banking is not going to change one jot

Diarmaid Ferriter
July 20, 2019

Gamekeeper-turned-poacher Brian Hayes now has the gall to cheerlead for the banking elite

Members of the LGBT community celebrate at the Maverick bar, Belfast, after MPs voted to legalise same-sex marriage if a new Stormont Executive is not formed by October. Photograph: Peter Morrison/PA Wire

Susan McKay: At last, we are breaking free of DUP’s dystopia

Susan McKay
July 20, 2019

Disgraceful absence of Stormont Executive paves way for breakthrough on human rights

Jimmy Hogan during his first spell at Aston Villa, circa 1936. Photograph: Courtesy of the Aston Villa Archives

Hogan’s Heroes – Frank McNally on an Irish link to one of the 20th century’s greatest soccer teams, the “Mighty Magyars”

Frank McNally
July 19, 2019

The case of Lisa Smith has to be looked at with compassion and empathy

How we deal with Lisa Smith will tell us something about ourselves

Michael O'Loughlin
July 19, 2019

The idea of Ireland as a kind of ark and refuge is a deep-rooted one in the Irish psyche

Farmers protest outside the Dáil in early July when the Mercosur agreement was announced – under it, the EU agreed to accept 99,000 tonnes of South American beef each year. Photograph: Alan Betson

Spineless Dáil exposed by its rejection of trade deal

Stephen Collins
July 19, 2019

Uninformed decision on free trade bodes badly for serious looming challenges

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Editorials

The Irish Times view on tribunals of inquiry: a broken model that needs fixing

The right of the community to know the truth must be given a higher priority

The Irish Times view on tensions in the Persian Gulf: the risk of miscalculation

The confrontation over oil tankers is, in truth, a sideshow in the wider conflict between Tehran and Washington

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Our Columnists

Una Mullally

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Una Mullally: Demolition takes Dublin close to point of no return

David McWilliams

David McWilliams -

David McWilliams: Chinese are boxing clever by muscling in on Africa

Pat Leahy - Political Editor

Pat Leahy: Varadkar must prepare to deal with either Boris

Cliff Taylor

Cliff Taylor -

Brexit compromise acceptable to all sides likely to prove elusive

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4 Fintan O’Toole: Britain’s fate may rest on Boris Johnson’s ability to polish poo

5 Kevin McStay: No solution in sight to countering Dublin's dominance

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