The paper bag and the four green fieldsIf Tom Gilmartin's memory of his phone conversations with Padraig Flynn last autumn is correct, the Commissioner was suggesting…Fri Jan 29 1999 - 00:00
Poor Flynn has missed Ireland's new moodThree years ago, Padraig Flynn sent out Valentine's Day cards with condoms inside themFri Jan 22 1999 - 00:00
Clinton passed test on racism many failedOne of the problems with the US is that too few people have a sense of the grotesqueFri Jan 15 1999 - 00:00
Opposition to divorce condemns Hierarchy to silenceTo many conservative Catholics, exemplified by the former High Court judge, Mr Rory O'Hanlon, their church's silence on Ms Celia…Fri Jan 08 1999 - 00:00
Rising to the challenge of the electric oppositionWe are looking into a dark cave. Through a large opening at the back we see a shimmering lake and a bright, full moonTue Jan 05 1999 - 00:00
Civil War shattered a belief in our uniquenessIn contrast to the other historic anniversaries which have fallen in 1998 - the 1798 Rising, the end of the first World War, …Fri Dec 18 1998 - 00:00
Why making it tougher for the unemployed won't workLast week's budget gave very small increases to people on social welfare, especially to the unemployedFri Dec 11 1998 - 00:00
Rejoining debate not a monarchy fantasy tripIn her last significant speech as President, Mary Robinson suggested that the question "should Ireland rejoin the Commonwealth…Fri Dec 04 1998 - 00:00
Entrippment of Clinton is tangled web of intrigueEven as the US House of Representatives begins its impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton, it is becoming obvious that they have…Fri Nov 20 1998 - 00:00
If towns are country you can call me RadovanNo one has ever accused the farm lobby and its supporters of being given to understatementFri Nov 13 1998 - 00:00
For today's voter the personal is no longer politicalWhen Americans went to the polls on Tuesday, most of them probably did not see their votes as a judgment on Bill Clinton, Monica…Fri Nov 06 1998 - 00:00
Whingeing farmers who forget their collusion in corruptionGalling as Wednesday's demonstrations may have been to most Dubliners, farmers have a perfect right to protest in their capital…Fri Oct 30 1998 - 00:00
`Option for rich' can give others a hard timeCatholic liberation theology memorably summed itself up as "the option for the poor"Fri Oct 23 1998 - 01:00
Turning the Famine into corporate celebrationOn Custom House Quay in Dublin, between the International Financial Services Centre and the Liffey, there now stands a group …Fri Oct 16 1998 - 01:00
Pope seems happy to pander to tribalismAt the start of this week, before the convenient cancellation of tomorrow's soccer international between Ireland and Yugoslavia…Fri Oct 09 1998 - 01:00
Taoiseach must settle account on tax amnestyFive years ago, I was strolling across the courtyard of Dublin Castle when I met a senior official of the Revenue Commissioners…Fri Oct 02 1998 - 01:00
Presidency myth used to tarnish ClintonYears ago in Texas, Kenneth Starr's father, a fundamentalist preacher, noticed some of his cows had strayedFri Sept 25 1998 - 01:00
Unsavoury characters who sit in judgment on ClintonThe most important thing to remember about the sombre deliberations on the possible impeachment of Bill Clinton is the Mae West…Fri Sept 18 1998 - 01:00
Monicagate will leave US worse, not betterBehind every good scandal there is an unspoken promise: this necessary pain will make things better. Scandals make you sickFri Sept 11 1998 - 01:00
Restrictions proving unhealthy for Irish medicineLast week, in the journal Science, Tony Blair wrote that investment in scientific research is a critical part of his strategy…Fri Sept 04 1998 - 01:00
Time to fix the malaise in medical researchEarlier this summer, I went to visit the University of Pennsylvania Medical Centre in PhiladelphiaFri Aug 28 1998 - 01:00
Please note: there is no Provisional licence to killEarlier this year I was talking to the director Jim Sheridan about his most recent film, The BoxerFri Aug 21 1998 - 01:00
We glory in gold medals and ignore Michelle's brass neckLast week, at her press conference to protest against her four-year ban from international swimming competition, Michelle De …Fri Aug 14 1998 - 01:00
Refugees are reminding us too eerily of ourselvesThere was a time, less than three years ago, when the most fashionable thing to be in Dublin was RomanianFri Aug 07 1998 - 01:00
Monicagate is tragedy recycled as US farceIf he were not so untouchable and, worse still, unfashionable a figure, at least one of Karl Marx's dictums ought to be on the…Fri Jul 31 1998 - 01:00
A child's lie splits black and white AmericaMore than 10 years ago, a young black girl in a quiet town in the Hudson Valley, upstate New York, made up an excuseFri Jul 24 1998 - 01:00
Coping with a tragedy with grace and dignityRecently the small town of Jasper, Texas, was faced with a situation that might have been much worse than DrumcreeFri Jul 17 1998 - 01:00
They want to kick Trimble, not the PopeFor reasons other than the obvious ones, it would be a good idea for everyone involved in the dispute at Drumcree to visit a …Fri Jul 10 1998 - 01:00
$1m Famine memorial a monument to kitschLast Sunday in Boston, Minister of State Seamus Brennan unveiled a memorial to the Irish Famine - and about time, tooFri Jul 03 1998 - 01:00
Old ideas won't work on new Arts CouncilIn a competition for the most boring opening sentence for an opinion column, the following might stand a good chance of victory…Fri Jun 26 1998 - 01:00
Empire of publishing built on barbarismOn Tuesday, Bloomsday, I took part in what has become, as an alternative to Paddywhackery, a global celebration of Irish culture…Fri Jun 19 1998 - 01:00
Winning the war on drugs by calling it offIn the last 15 years, the United States government has spent over $300 billion attempting to eliminate drug abuseFri Jun 12 1998 - 01:00
Corruption has helped shape boom economy of the 1990sWatching Irish politics over the last 15 years has been like practising deep space astronomyFri Jun 05 1998 - 01:00
A vote that shattered our age-old ideologiesThe last pillars of political certainty came crashing down a week ago in the referendums on the Belfast AgreementFri May 29 1998 - 01:00
Sinatra: everyone's piece of the American DreamFrank Sinatra was buried in a bronze-lined vault in the California desert on WednesdayFri May 22 1998 - 01:00
Cruise O'Brien proud to be a PaisleyiteOne of the saddest sentences I have read in a long time is this: "I am glad to be an ally of Paisley's in the defence of the …Fri May 08 1998 - 01:00
Accepting individual responsibility for racismLast Sunday, Bill Clinton attended the opening in Washington of a musical based on E.L. Doctorow's novel RagtimeFri May 01 1998 - 01:00
How we can best repay our debt to MitchellDuring his easy stroll to re-election in 1996, Bill Clinton had one very bad momentFri Apr 24 1998 - 01:00
Time also to remember how close we came to the abyssOn Easter Sunday, the 61st Street Deli in the Irish enclave of Woodside in the New York suburb of Queens was selling Easter eggs…Fri Apr 17 1998 - 01:00
Bombing Iraq to make up a war storyDuring the second World War an American bomber was struck by enemy fire over the English Channel. The gunner was hitFri Feb 13 1998 - 00:00
An object lesson in the proper use of Irish memoryIt is easy to blame long memories for Irish woesFri Feb 06 1998 - 00:00
A guilty President victim of conspiracyLast March, the President of the United States and his First Lady went to Broadway, to see the hit musical ChicagoFri Jan 30 1998 - 00:00
Our lack of shame may breed a new racismShame, though often bad for individuals, is almost always good for nations. Guilty memories encourage second thoughtsFri Jan 23 1998 - 00:00
Misdirected honour for the knight of the gutterIn recent years, senior churchmen in Ireland have been the objects of some very good investigative reporting and the victims …Fri Jan 16 1998 - 00:00
The myth that welfare cuts help the poor get back to workIn 1994, the New York Times magazine ran a big colour picture of a Chicago woman called Mary Ann Moore on its coverFri Jan 09 1998 - 00:00
No fairy tale ending to a writer's life in New YorkOver Christmas in New York, I read a short story called Christmas EveFri Jan 02 1998 - 00:00
Season for logic and perfect insanityIn How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a children's book that has been an American institution for 40 years, the villain is a Santa…Fri Dec 19 1997 - 00:00
Triumph of market values at the MetCan you guess who X is in the following quotation from a caption for an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York…Fri Dec 12 1997 - 00:00
Stuart has confronted outcome of his actionsSome years ago, when I was talking to the writer Francis Stuart, he mentioned, as I thought, that he had met Pol Pot in Paris…Fri Dec 05 1997 - 00:00
