Let’s be real about the Páirc Uí Chaoimh renaming controversy: money has always been part of the GAAWe tend to be very selective in our attitudes towards commercialism and our national gamesFri Jan 19 2024 - 05:45
Is it any wonder so many Irish people don’t want to end up in a nursing home?The reliance on for-profit care raises crucial questions about power, cost, the stance of the State and the status of older peopleFri Jan 12 2024 - 06:15
Does Jeffrey Donaldson have the political imagination to end the Stormont stalemate?It is striking how similar themes of managing internal unionist tensions and relations with London and Dublin endure a century after the Boundary CommissionFri Jan 05 2024 - 06:00
There was more to Lady Augusta Gregory than her relationship with YeatsTheir deep friendship was intriguing, warm and sometimes spiky – but she deserves more than to be entirely defined by itFri Dec 29 2023 - 07:00
In Dublin, there was always, amid dark days, music being made and sungThe city has its troubles, but it also has a cultural robustness that took the edge off some of the difficultiesFri Dec 22 2023 - 06:00
State’s economic compass has always been swayed by force of politicsWe have been repeatedly told that the Fiscal Advisory Council exists to ‘institutionalise’ the memory of the crash but that aim clashes with the politics of managing the economyFri Dec 15 2023 - 06:15
Shane MacGowan captured what it was to struggle on the margins of a place that didn’t want youPogues frontman gave lyrical meaning to the tension of an Ireland that demands a complex present while yearning for a simple pastFri Dec 08 2023 - 06:00
The far right is not strong in Ireland. It’s up to social media platforms to keep it that wayMaking a political football of policing will not tackle the causes of the Dublin riotsFri Dec 01 2023 - 06:00
Ireland saw ‘bad books’ and ‘immodest fashion’ everywhere, but was blind to homegrown hellsOne of the great ironies of the censorship crusade was that so much “evil” under Irish noses was ignoredFri Nov 24 2023 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Ridley Scott’s ‘shut the f*** up’ to historians is gallingDirector insisted history does not matter, but the best film-makers strike a delicate balance between narrative and historical factFri Nov 17 2023 - 06:15
Irish leaders’ condemnation of Israeli attacks are too piecemeal and punch-pulling to be meaningfulIf Ireland’s self-image as a restraining influence in international affairs is to mean anything, more than timid ‘personal views’ are requiredFri Nov 10 2023 - 06:00
Fear of storms ‘lies deep in Irish psyche’ - and with good reasonRecent storms are a reminder why we need a supercharged response to climate breakdownFri Nov 03 2023 - 06:00
Paddy Cosgrave’s downfall highlights dangers of constructing arguments on social mediaSweeping generalisations, short-termism, vanity and revisionist historical parallels are destroying our ability to debate rationallyThu Oct 26 2023 - 15:15
RTÉ is in enough trouble without politicians feasting on its carcassPAC members seem to think it is their role to act as moral arbiters, dictate Kevin Bakhurst’s future position in RTÉ, or make threats to withhold funding. It’s notFri Oct 20 2023 - 06:00
John Hume: The Persuader by Stephen Walker – the price of peaceStephen Walker’s eminently readable overview is strongest when detailing the strain Hume lived under for yearsSat Oct 14 2023 - 05:00
Only safe prediction is that civilians will suffer most in Israel-Hamas warJournalists and historians writing on the Middle East have decried the refusal to learn from historyFri Oct 13 2023 - 06:15
Leo Varadkar gets ready to channel his inner Éamon de ValeraHow much political mileage is in the Government’s insistence that ‘the centre must hold’?Fri Oct 06 2023 - 06:00
The beauty of rugby is that it has always recognised Ireland’s complex identitiesThe contemporary Irish rugby team can define its identity in its own way, regardless of the songs being sungFri Sept 29 2023 - 06:00
North or South, no line can be drawn under the TroublesSouth of the Border, solidarity with victims of the Troubles coexisted with hostility, fear, shame and disengagementFri Sept 22 2023 - 06:00
Dublin Marathon misattributing a quote to Yeats makes a mockery of him and his Nobel PrizePresenting runners with a tribute to Yeats featuring a line he almost certainly never said is an embarrassing travesty for a city that prides itself on its literary heritageThu Sept 14 2023 - 11:33
Problems in Irish education go far beyond Leaving Cert grade inflationWe aspire to a ‘world class’ education system but where is the vision?Fri Sept 08 2023 - 06:15
Diarmaid Ferriter: Traditional Irish pub culture is raising a parting glassIrish bars have long been tethering on the edges of community lifeFri Sept 01 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Youghal Ironman reminds us of our fraught relationship with the seaCoastal communities understand that reading the sea requires great precision and difficult callsFri Aug 25 2023 - 06:15
Diarmaid Ferriter: There is an obvious solution to resented ‘voluntary’ school contributions Voluntary contributions amount to about €30 million a year. Abolishing them would not be exorbitantFri Aug 18 2023 - 06:10
Ancestral Voices in Irish Politics: Judging Dillon and Parnell: a timely volume on compelling charactersBoth were accomplished parliamentarians but ‘hardwired in different ways’Tue Aug 15 2023 - 04:35
Diarmaid Ferriter: Ireland’s decade of commemoration was influenced by today’s prejudicesRecession, Brexit, Waking the Feminists, Black Lives Matter and Covid all played their partFri Aug 11 2023 - 06:15
There was no public inquiry into the second biggest loss of life here during the second World WarThe Departments of Defence and Justice decided “no useful purpose” would be served by an inquiry in the Ballymanus mine disaster which killed 19 peopleFri Jul 07 2023 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Culture of ‘open secrets and secret secrets’ has always surrounded RTÉ payBroadcaster has a long history of paying large sums to its star presenters while running up hefty institutional deficitsFri Jun 30 2023 - 06:40
Diarmaid Ferriter: Occasional tension is the price of an assertive presidencyMichael D Higgins is pushing the boundaries of his office, but do we really want a muzzled presidency?Fri Jun 23 2023 - 06:45
Diarmaid Ferriter: Women of Honour group wants a tribunal, but what lies ahead could be interminablePolitically, it will be difficult to resist the wishes of the women campaigning for a tribunal into their treatment by the defence forcesFri Jun 16 2023 - 05:30
Is Ireland Neutral? The Many Myths of Irish Neutrality: A timely readConor Gallagher’s lively book seeks to amplify questions around our defence policySat Jun 10 2023 - 05:00
Memories of the financial crisis risk being obliterated by the force of politicsAs the sky once again fills with kites, we seem to have forgotten the lessons of the crashFri Jun 09 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Population milestones have always been emotive. The challenge is different nowAmid population expansion and ageing, the focus should lie on intelligent vision and policies tailored not to the electoral cycle, but to long-term societal welfareFri Jun 02 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: We still do not know how many lives were lost in Civil WarNo systematic, national tabulation of death toll has been undertaken in past centuryFri May 26 2023 - 05:00
100 years ago today: ‘The arms with which we fought the enemies of the country are to be dumped’The end of the Irish Civil War and 10 years of revolutionWed May 24 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: The terrible, aching loneliness and loss of the migrantHost communities have always faced the challenges of acceptance and integration, particularly at times of strained resources, but it is still imperative to empathise with the vulnerability of those in limboFri May 19 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Irish neutrality isn’t as plain as we have been led to believeIt requires semantic somersaults to claim that the British air defence deal can’t be discussed as a “matter of national security”Fri May 12 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Notion that Trevelyan family should throw us a few quid is a farceThere is considerable debate among historians over whether Charles Trevelyan was culpable for the Famine at allFri May 05 2023 - 05:27
Diarmaid Ferriter: Fledgling Free State faced challenges on many fronts after Civil WarFollowing a bitter and exhausting conflict, the new government’s priority in 1923 was state buildingTue May 02 2023 - 05:03
Diarmaid Ferriter: The ‘opposite of the Greens’ party will serve no oneFarmers have mobilised for years around the theme of rural neglect. Any new rural political party has to offer something more than simply 'opposite to the Greens'Fri Apr 28 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: It’s time to talk about the suffering of victims of the TroublesIt would be naive to assume a truth commission would only hear the ‘truth’, but trying to find out what happened to loved ones remains critical to the bereaved.Fri Apr 21 2023 - 05:00
Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland may not result in desired ‘bounce’ for US presidentFor many of the 32 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry, that identity is becoming more marginalFri Apr 14 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: North still not the shared society Belfast Agreement promisedInstitutionalising two tribes and structuring power sharing accordingly is seen by many as flaw of accordFri Apr 07 2023 - 05:00
Contraception and Modern Ireland: ‘You would think they are explosives the way they are treated’A book full of testimony about endurance as women dealt with multiple pregnancies during an era when artificial contraception was illegalSat Apr 01 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Patricia Hoey was the first of many Women of HonourCumann na mBan member fought in the Rising and joined the National Army but met only humiliation and derision in her failed effort to secure a military pensionFri Mar 31 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Evictions and villainous landlords are part of what we are Landlord as villain became embedded in the folk tradition; the growing desperation of 21st century tenants and would-be owners is likely to sink this GovernmentFri Mar 24 2023 - 05:00
Biden might be proud to be Irish but don’t expect him to get sucked into Stormont stand-offThe Irish-American framework is now built around broader international problemsFri Mar 17 2023 - 05:00
It is not too late to correct record about Ballyseedy and Countess BridgeAdvisory group recommends solemn, inclusive, stand-alone commemoration for Civil WarFri Mar 10 2023 - 05:00
Will the economic argument for accepting the Windsor Framework prevail?The North’s business and economic interests are largely supportive, but some elements in unionism have a political incentive to hold outFri Mar 03 2023 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Kerry recovered from the carnage of the Civil War but never forgot The county was the scene of some of the most brutal moments in the final, vicious phase of the conflictFri Feb 24 2023 - 05:00
