Why the deposit return scheme may end up increasing your bin chargesIndustry may put up prices as consumers stop putting bottles and cans into green bins.Wed Jul 03 2024 - 10:45
Here’s why Michael O’Leary is not thrilled about the prospect of industrial action by Aer Lingus pilots Ryanair boss not revelling in the idea of a strike at rival airline; and there’s no real mystery about his motivationThu Jun 20 2024 - 11:30
Banning ‘go-away’ payments for withdrawing planning objections will benefit only the rich What’s so wrong with people who are affected by a development seeking compensation?Tue Jun 11 2024 - 14:39
Eamon Ryan’s extra measures to combat climate change are magical thinkingEnvironmental protesters seeking to block an emissions-cutting €1.5bn wind farm in order to preserve a weather station typify the shortsightedness that will hamper State in meeting its targetsThu Jun 06 2024 - 11:27
Don’t believe the Government spin, we will never get our bank bailout money backThe State did not invest in AIB, it was forced to bail out the system with borrowed money. Any decision to sell its remaining shares must be informed by investment logic not just ideologyTue May 14 2024 - 10:00
Irish students have been protesting over Gaza for months. Why are we only noticing them now?Student leaders have tried all the moves in the activist playbook, but it’s hard to rage against the system when a majority of the country, including the Government, agrees with youMon May 06 2024 - 06:00
How long more is the Government going to cling to the fiction that 30,000 new homes is enough?Current targets are based on published population projections from the 2016 census. Unfortunately, those projections are a serious underestimateThu Apr 25 2024 - 12:00
Helen McEntee frets about knife crime, although the evidence fails to show a big risePlaying the law-and-order card may be a savvy political gambit, but hard facts stand up the argumentFri Apr 19 2024 - 06:00
Don’t bet on Supreme Court ruling on personal injuries awards bringing your premiums downIt may be years before impact of last week’s Supreme Court decision on a test challenge to guidelines slashing personal injury awards is feltMon Apr 15 2024 - 11:00
Government has quietly shelved its plan to end direct provisionThe new Comprehensive Accommodations Strategy For International Protection Applicants looks like direct provision by another nameThu Apr 04 2024 - 14:16
Will Bill to ban investment in illegal Israeli settlements have any impact?It’s debatable what effect it would have on Israel, but it would have significant consequences for IrelandWed Mar 27 2024 - 14:08
Empathy lessons for schoolchildren: a waste of time or a valuable pursuit?Cillian Murphy has spoken about the value of empathy in acting, and it is intrinsic to the study of English. But the evidence for giving classes on it is less than convincingWed Mar 13 2024 - 11:00
From bank holidays to pensions, life should be better than ever for workers. So why is it not?With a general election looming this Government might be tempted to list off its achievements, but it would be unsurprising if they fail to reasonate with votersThu Mar 07 2024 - 10:30
Why the Public Accounts Committee is so keen to get its hands on RTÉAuditors are watchdogs not bloodhounds, and the only guarantee would be a day out in the public eye for PAC membersTue Feb 27 2024 - 19:06
Metrolink is going to cost a fortune, but perhaps we have got the infrastructure costs we deserveNobody is pretending it won’t be expensive. Colossally.Thu Feb 22 2024 - 11:30
Kneecap sue the UK Secretary of State. This is going to be entertainingRap trio’s biggest achievement is how petty and small they have made the British Government lookWed Feb 14 2024 - 11:45
DUP’s claims of ‘significant further advances’ don’t stack upThe genius of the Windsor Framework was that it allowed Donaldson to climb down from his own petardFri Feb 09 2024 - 05:30
Can the success of the plastic bag levy be replicated with bottles and cans?The levy on plastic bags relied on a stick. The Re-turn scheme offers a fairly paltry carrotThu Feb 01 2024 - 14:30
Elon Musk has ratcheted up his feud with the Irish Government. It should just ignore himPassing the hate-speech legislation would be a better riposteThu Jan 25 2024 - 11:00
Perverse incentives reward those who drive around for years without a full licenceLackadaisical approach to unaccompanied learner drivers adopted by the Government seems to indicate a general acceptance of the practiceMon Jan 15 2024 - 06:15
There’s no moral argument for the State to subsidise private schools. Just a pragmatic oneRather than 'save' the €112m the State pays in teachers’ salaries and other supports for private schools, it could end up paying considerably moreThu Dec 21 2023 - 06:00
Exodus of small landlords from the market has been greatly exaggeratedResidential Tenancy Board data reveal that most of them are not going anywhere fastFri Dec 15 2023 - 07:00
Sellafield leaks: How alarmed should we be about reports of discharge at nuclear waste plant?There is more than a touch of the ‘known unknowns’ made infamous by Donald Rumsfeld about this. And that’s worryingThu Dec 07 2023 - 16:38
Eamon Ryan’s natural gas storage plan not as daft as it looksBoth demand Irish solutions to Irish problemsFri Nov 17 2023 - 05:45
Peter McVerry Trust has been bailing the Government out for a decade. It’s time the favour was repaidSniffiness about stepping up and rescuing an organisation that provides thousands of beds for homeless people every night seems a little misplacedMon Nov 13 2023 - 05:45
On a roadtrip though Bosnia and Herzegovina, the enduring legacy of war is evident everywhereThe appalling human cost of trying to forcefully unpick a multi-ethnic and fragmented country is in living memoryMon Oct 30 2023 - 06:32
John McManus: Here’s some advice for Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly as they prepare to go before PACTDs and Senators don’t necessarily take up posts on committees purely because they care passionately about the subject at hand. They also do it for the chance to be on the TV newsThu Jul 06 2023 - 14:40
Helen McEntee has been dragged into the wider culture wars over hate speech BillLurking in the background of McDowell’s question about the extended definition of gender is a possible constitutional challengeFri Jun 30 2023 - 06:10
John McManus: It shouldn’t be a big deal to accept British honours in a modern IrelandPresident’s comments appeal to a certain atavistic Irish nationalism that is out of kilter with modern realityThu Jun 22 2023 - 12:24
We don’t need fewer data centres. We need more electricityBefore you grab a pitchfork and march on the local data centre, consider that it’s now part of what we areFri Jun 16 2023 - 06:30
Why is the Attorney General Rossa Fanning in the news again?The high profile of the office of its chief law officer is a valuable asset from the Government’s perspectiveFri Jun 09 2023 - 11:10
John McManus: Is €25 million a year a high price to establish that Charles Haughey was on the take? How much money is too much money to spend on shining a light in places that those with money and power would rather one was not shone?Thu Jun 01 2023 - 10:35
Ireland really did not want Meta’s €1.2bn. There are good reasons whyData Protection Commission appears to interpret its mandate in a way that is sympathetic to the companies it regulatesSun May 28 2023 - 05:30
The Irish Times view on hospitals building housing for staff: proceed with cautionIt would be a mistake for hospitals to view the provision of housing for staff as an opportunity to create a financial asset or an income stream.Tue May 09 2023 - 20:15
Our air defence treaty-not-a-treaty with the UK is great valueJohn McManus: Like some of the other peculiarities of Anglo-Irish relations, the logic – for both sides – of the air defence treaty-not-a-treaty trumps the spiteful instincts of even the pettiest of political mindsTue May 09 2023 - 12:35
At every past pupils’ event, after a few drinks, the stories of abusive priests were toldBlackrock College will be tempted to distance itself from what happened, arguing it is a historical Spiritan problem, not a comtemporary difficultyMon Nov 14 2022 - 01:00
How to write an opinion piece for The Irish TimesThe most important rule is to have a clear point to make and get to it quicklyTue Jan 18 2022 - 00:49
John McManus: God forbid Stephen Donnelly should have a good ideaVaccine proposal was killed off by a combination of Government’s terror and Opposition’s opportunismTue Apr 20 2021 - 00:53
Harry Styles in a dress. A South County Dublin parent writes...“You have had your fun and now I am left to pick up the pieces”Thu Nov 19 2020 - 14:51
John McManus: Is this the best little country in the world for lockdowns?Ireland lacks institutional wherewithal to do anything but lie low til Covid passesMon Oct 26 2020 - 01:39
John McManus: Is reopening hairdressers a risk worth taking?Other European countries have taken a different approach to IrelandWed May 06 2020 - 14:33
We are dropping the ball on Covid-19 testingEU roadmap sees capacity for large scale testing as a prerequisite for exiting lockdownThu Apr 16 2020 - 06:04
Government flying blind on lifting restrictionsNew case figures do not give an accurate picture of the spread of coronavirusFri Apr 10 2020 - 10:13
Consultants want private business exempt from national effort to save lives‘Many’ and ‘some’ are words people use when they don’t have accurate figures and oftentimes translate as ‘not a lot’Mon Apr 06 2020 - 12:28
John McManus: A black swan moment for Sinn Féin?Events characterised by failure of the supposedly clairvoyant to predict the future accuratelyThu Feb 20 2020 - 14:54
The trouble with saying ‘I’m not right wing or racist but . . .’Ireland is as predisposed to racism as any society although we are probably more prone to self-deceptionMon Nov 11 2019 - 01:21
Johnson deserves a hearing in Ireland but will not get oneAt this late stage there seems little appetite for alternatives to the backstopSat Aug 24 2019 - 01:20
John McManus: The real reason why the state subsidises private schoolsThe fiscal arguments for this state of affairs are flimsy, but change is still unlikelyWed Jul 31 2019 - 10:34
Should the rich get to choose how they contribute to society?Inviting wealthy to fund housing may add philanthropic legitimacy to tax avoidersSun Jul 14 2019 - 13:30
