Diarmaid Ferriter columns
The personal experience he vividly outlined on RTÉ television in 2009 was part of the reason Francis’s visit to Ireland nine years later was so different from the previous Irish papal visit
There are too many wrecked teachers out there; too many hate their jobs; too many depart prematurely
In a country where many utility companies treat their customers with contempt and consumers pay 42 per cent more for goods and services, life admin can be eviscerating
Church leaders are at last embracing much-needed change
The language has become coarser but it is striking how fuelled by testosterone the Dáil has always been
Ireland was never pure, but our 21st century ‘new order’ - with women human trafficked into the sex trade and much focus on toxic masculinity - is alarming
Pope Francis’s pontificate has been about evasion as well as empathy, and he has made it clear holy orders are reserved for men
The Irish approach to foreign policy should not be to exaggerate our purity or indulge dictators, but neither should we parrot criticisms of our neutrality from miliary aligned states
Donald Trump’s presidency has also generated a new focus on questions of identity and doubt in Europe
Continuity of ‘implacable social systems’ witnesses the refloating of an old focus on the back garden
Families have different views on the Omagh inquiry, but what they all hold sacred is the need for their loved ones’ stories to be heard
Enduring power of ‘permanent government’ - the Civil Service - may explain why only ex-ministers speak frankly after leaving government
Technical challenges and cost of extensive underground cabling would be enormous but ESB needs to produce a plan to cope with scale of climate change
Parties involved in present government formation talks owe debt of gratitude to former FG leader, says Prof Diarmaid Ferriter
The outgoing US president will also be remembered for disastrous foreign policy choices, including his refusal to curb the excesses of Israel
The consequences of business as usual are ever more frightening, particularly in relation to climate change
Attitudes to her have been reductive, shaped by the mores of the time and her failed marriage
MacBride asked ‘if those vested with authority and power practice injustice, resort to torture and killing, is it not inevitable that those who are victims will react with similar methods?’
How to achieve the perfect Christmas tree, the perfect table setting, the perfect family time: don’t bother trying. Reject perfection is all its greedy, grabbing guises
Given today’s political landscape, the current Opposition might well profit from looking closely at what happened in 1948
Weeks of magic money, fantasy manifestos and hand-shaking marathons have come to this
Small Things Like These raises a wider question about the communication of our history as one giant, black cloud occasionally interrupted by a lone, bright star
The absence of an appetite to calm tensions after the storm is the most worrying thing about the American election campaign
The message that “contradiction is better than violence” is more relevant and urgent than ever
Neither party can afford to build a campaign entirely around their leader. And both need to overcome a weakness for mixed messages
Whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, Ireland will not be much of a priority
The memory of economic crises is not strong enough to withstand the primacy of elections
It would be ahistorical to suggest that this arrangement has been without tensions. But the money kept flowing
Rainy day funds should surely now take on a literal meaning given the climate’s tumultuous shifts and the reality that our greatest coastal tragedies may lie ahead of us
We were bamboozled with jargon in the hope that the resultant fog would distract from what was obvious. The comfort, it seemed, was that ‘there is no single and agreed definition of a tax haven’
Book shows that even as Ireland has changed, its biggest problems remain ‘deep-rooted and historical’
No one would campaign under the slogan ‘To Hell With the Future’ but it is starting to look like the coming election will merit such a rallying cry
Diarmaid Ferriter was speaking at the launch of his new book, The Revelation of Ireland: 1995-2020, in Dublin
A ban for under-16s may polarise opinion, but we can’t keep highlighting the teenage mental-health crisis while ignoring the root cause
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Get the latest news, analysis and match reports from the M6N and W6N championships
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices
