Ray Burke
62 results

Traders or pirates – a 17th-century maritime incident in Galway that sparked an international dispute
- Opinion
- January 11, 2021, 19:01
Exactly 400 years before Brexit, a French ship sailed into Galway Bay in mid-winter 1620-21 and caused an international dispute that vexed the diploma(...)

Seeing is believing – An Irishman’s Diary on Samuel Johnson and Ireland
- Opinion
- August 24, 2020, 19:01
‘Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.” Dr Samuel Johnson’s quip about the Giant’s Causeway in Co Antrim still invites a chuckle , even if th(...)

Gaffes, rows and reversals: Government’s shaky start keeps going
- Irish News
- July 28, 2020, 18:35
If you Google “shaky start” and “Irish politics”, the inevitable dates crop up: 1997; 2011; 2017; and 2020. What unites them is this: new governments (...)

Week is a long time in politics for Micheál Martin
- Politics
- July 17, 2020, 17:14
Political life goes through cycles, with times of heightened drama followed by periods that are taciturn and mundane. Over four months, the negotiati(...)

Seán O’Rourke: 32,000 interviews later... ‘I’ve had my fill’
- TV, Radio, Web
- May 10, 2020, 06:00
When he opens his front door in Killiney, Co Dublin, Sean O’Rourke bows to me instead of shaking my hand. “That’s what Charlie Haughey used to like hi(...)

Joe Duffy: The Gay Byrne I knew was fearless, and eternally curious
- Culture
- November 4, 2019, 16:38
Every person he met, every colleague he worked with and every issue he raised benefited from Gay Byrne’s presence, input and wisdom. His absence now l(...)

Fintan O’Toole: Our perjury laws have failed for cultural – not legal – reasons
- Opinion
- June 22, 2019, 06:00
On building sites, there used to be a tradition of sending the callow young apprentice on his first day to ask for the rubber hammer and the glass nai(...)

The Sunday papers: From investigative brilliance to scurrilous gossip
- TV, Radio, Web
- November 5, 2018, 05:00
Revisiting another facet of the colourful history of print journalism in Ireland would hardly justify even a faint cry of “Hold the front page”. At le(...)

A brief history of Ireland in 33 great delusions
- People
- August 4, 2018
Margaret Thatcher told Peter Mandelson “you can’t trust the Irish; they’re all liars”. That was a bit harsh, maybe. But we’re certainly not above the (...)

Charleton evidence raises questions about damaging claims made
- Irish News
- June 30, 2018, 06:00
A number of serious allegations against former Garda commisssioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and others have been strongly challenged by the evidence heard ov(...)