Diarmaid Ferriter: When going back can be as difficult as stayingIn a sense, it is like a return to the 1950s when Irish emigrants in the US could rarely attend family funeralsSat May 16 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Seventy-five years on, another emergency to exitRationing, restrictions persisted after second World War but hope, politics were mutatingFri May 08 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Tensions between medics and politicians unavoidableThose devising responses to national crises need to be wary of distractionFri May 01 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Let’s not go back to economics as usualThis may be the best chance to achieve a fairer balance since the postwar periodFri Apr 24 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Is it honest to say there will not be austerity after the Covid-19 crisis?How will the debts being generated be paid, and on whom will the burden fall?Fri Apr 17 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Tim Robinson long understood what crisis has taught usWriter’s connection to islands around us an example of artistic wisdom society has undervaluedFri Apr 10 2020 - 01:00
We stood in the car park of the nursing home while my father-in-law breathed his lastPandemic robs us of the power to gather and grieveFri Apr 03 2020 - 01:00
Coronavirus has created an opening for a fairer health serviceLegacy of crisis should be a system based on health need, not ability to payFri Mar 27 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: We have been here before and we have prevailedCoronavirus is a challenge but our nation's brief history is full of setbacksSat Mar 21 2020 - 01:00
Coronavirus: How did Ireland handle epidemics throughout history?Diarmaid Ferriter: Then, as now, disinfection and purification were watchwords for preventing spreadSat Mar 14 2020 - 01:00
Diarmuid Ferriter: No redress for a botched schemeToo many who needed to be helped were instead subjected to new traumaSat Mar 07 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Topping the poll was the easy bit for Sinn FéinBuilding consensus around its core project of reunification will be more difficultSat Feb 29 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: A survival guide for coalition government in IrelandSuccessful coalitions need a common purpose, and smaller parties must prioritiseSat Feb 22 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Fianna Fáil’s trajectory holds lessons for Sinn FéinSF will go on repositioning itself as the prospect of power focuses minds in the partySat Feb 15 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Hospices show how State leans too heavily on volunteersToo many of our basic services are supplied and funded by voluntary organisationsSat Feb 08 2020 - 01:07
Untold histories of peace negotiations in the NorthNew books include in-depth interviews with protagonists in 1998Mon Feb 03 2020 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael may have to consider coalitionFG cannot afford the arrogance accrued in recent years, while FF cannot afford a return of its historic swaggerSat Feb 01 2020 - 01:00
Varadkar is not convincing when he says his conservatism is compassionateFine Gael's period in power has put the lie to bed that integrity distinguishes themSat Jan 25 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Commemorations need political leadershipThorny issues of past require sensitivity but realism – in both North and SouthSat Jan 18 2020 - 01:00
From Turmoil to Truce: A mature reflection on the War of IndependenceNational Library exhibition makes space for civilian experience of intense conflictSat Jan 11 2020 - 05:00
Black and Tans: ‘Half-drunk, whole-mad’ and one-fifth IrishDiarmaid Ferriter: The terrorising Black and Tans had no monopoly on brutality in 1920Sat Jan 04 2020 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Marian Finucane a studio voice of profound searchingBroadcaster’s empathy and humanity explored society for mixed Irish audienceSat Jan 04 2020 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Allow me a little crib about Christmas cribsTraditional nativity scene-setting gives way to distasteful commercialisationSat Dec 21 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Much light still to be shed on origins of StateDetails of what lay behind the threatened Army mutiny of 1924 are only emerging nowSat Dec 14 2019 - 06:00
Dorothy Macardle: A biography which gives her the literary treatment she has long deservedBook review: Leeann Lane does justice to the activist who has been unfairly underestimatedSat Dec 14 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Shaming is needed to stop dog fouling in publicCanine excrement covers our streets as unsocial dog-owners escape any penaltySat Dec 07 2019 - 06:00
Ireland: A Voice Among the Nations: a lavish photographic history of Irish foreign policyThis book marking a century of foreign policy provides a well-written overviewSun Dec 01 2019 - 06:00
Let child abuse survivors decide if they want to share their testimonySimilar problems about sealing sensitive records have been dealt with beforeSat Nov 30 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Why Irish local government is so uselessEvery government since independence has looked to centralise powerSat Nov 23 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Irish have no right to politicise remittancesAll migrant history encompasses guilt, shame, progress, dislocation and tragedySat Nov 16 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Nostalgia for East Germany is not surprisingConvulsions always generate a hankering for what has been displacedSat Nov 09 2019 - 06:00
Get ready for another Tweedledum versus Tweedledee electionThe two big parties may swap places but there will be no radical new approachSat Nov 02 2019 - 06:00
Hard border avoided but not hard distrust and resentmentFraught Brexit process puts onus on all in North to keep striving for dialogueSat Oct 26 2019 - 06:00
Emma DeSouza case is about much more than a technicalityIt must be seen in the context of the tortured identity politics of Northern IrelandSat Oct 19 2019 - 06:00
Revolutionary Ireland: defiance, youth and pessimismThe remarkable level of human detail in pension applications enhances our understanding of republican volunteers both during and after the revolutionary yearsTue Oct 15 2019 - 06:00
Hot school meals should be a routine fact of Irish lifePatchiness of Government scheme shows up the extent of food extremes that coexist hereSat Oct 12 2019 - 06:00
We need to find common ground in the muddled, complicated presentBrexit crisis gives added force and relevance to the words of Omagh-born writer Benedict KielySat Oct 05 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Now is not the time to forget historyMore than ever we must study the roads that lead to a dangerous level of political dysfunctionSat Sept 28 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: The Irish beef industry is enveloped by greedSmall farmers and factory workers are exploited, and the State does little to help themSat Sept 21 2019 - 06:00
DUP’s sacred cows the biggest obstacle to Brexit dealSolution lies in shared distrust of London and pragmatically prioritising NorthSat Sept 14 2019 - 06:00
Some lessons for Rees-Mogg and Johnson from Charles Stewart ParnellThe British prime minister might already have overplayed his hand, just as Parnell didSat Sept 07 2019 - 06:00
We now have the true measure of Boris JohnsonThe hypocrisy inherent in the British PM's words and deeds is astoundingSat Aug 31 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Talk of integrity of union way beyond sell-by dateJohnson speaks of Belfast Agreement’s ‘delicate balance’ but is ignorant of itSat Aug 24 2019 - 06:00
South must confront its ambiguity about the NorthPsychological divide remains between people in the Republic and Northern IrelandSat Aug 17 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Ireland is haunted by the phrase ‘by any means necessary’It contributed to partition, ongoing strife and a sense of unfinished businessSat Aug 03 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Traditional roles of Anglo-Irish relations are being reversedThe relationship between Dublin and London needs to be managed carefully to dilute the current ‘momentum of disorder’Sat Jul 27 2019 - 06:00
The culture of Irish banking is not going to change one jotGamekeeper-turned-poacher Brian Hayes now has the gall to cheerlead for the banking eliteSat Jul 20 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Boris Johnson’s appetite for chaos could strain EU solidarity on BorderDublin needs to engage in realistic planning for the Border in case of a no-deal BrexitSat Jun 29 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Garda morality and policing of ‘scarlet women’Hounding of Majella Moynihan had roots in force’s hypocritical ‘manliness’ ethosSat Jun 22 2019 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: A Boris Johnson victory may not be a doomsday scenario for IrelandTory leadership contender is so unprincipled and dishonest he may retreat on the BorderSat Jun 15 2019 - 02:00
