Michael McDowell: Covid controls should err on side of keeping society openPolitical debate must shift from point-scoring and wisdom after the eventWed Jan 12 2022 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Anti-alcohol law contains some utterly ridiculous legal provisionsNew Irish law is an affront to common sense and might even breach single market rulesWed Jan 05 2022 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: We must build beautiful urban structuresCity planners must nurture streetscapes and make aesthetically guided decisionsWed Dec 29 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Quidditch falls to earth with a show of intoleranceIt’s hard to take the game seriously now that it’s renaming itself over JK Rowling’s viewsWed Dec 22 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Adams lets the mask slipFormer Sinn Féin leader’s Christmas sketch video deeply offensive to IRA victimsWed Dec 15 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: With challenges of conflict, climate and Covid, these are dangerous timesClouds on our political horizons have not appeared as dark for many decades nowWed Dec 08 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: State’s energy policy generated by pie-in-the-sky politicsUnachievable targets on renewable energy erode democratic trust and cohesionWed Dec 01 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: We can’t afford to drift into another lockdownThe collective hesitation over a booster vaccine programme is hard to fathomWed Nov 24 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Parliamentary oversight needed if Covid powers to be extendedCabinet-room discussion and reaction on Liveline not what a democracy needs or deservesWed Nov 17 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: New Dublin transport strategy a sick jokeStrategy centred on increasing bus and bicycle usage in the city over the next 10 yearsWed Nov 10 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Sinn Féin move on non-jury courts not all it seemsThe party will never countenance trial of any Provisional member by any non-jury courtWed Nov 03 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Bedsit ban offers a warning on future income supportsUnintended consequences can cancel out positive effects of well-meaning initiativesWed Oct 27 2021 - 01:00
Sinn Féin needs reality check on historic prosecutions from TroublesParty demanded line be drawn on Troubles-era crimes in Republic during peace processWed Oct 20 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Is it time for return of the Progressive Democrats?Recent Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll shows FF and FG trailing far behind Sinn FéinWed Oct 13 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: NDP is a smokescreen for political incoherenceDevelopment on island needs good, safe, fast communication with both road and railWed Oct 06 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Low corporation tax rate is about pragmatism not inferiorityAdopting an a priori ideological approach to corporate tax policy without considering the risks and benefits is irresponsibleWed Sept 29 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: A rail feasibility study is always good for a positive headlineWe really do need a truthful feasibility study on the many planned, shelved, semi-shelved and promised rail projectsWed Sept 22 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Green policies are increasingly divorced from realityClimate change does not require us to become a nation of eco-hobbitsWed Sept 15 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Trump, like the Taliban, may be on way back inDespite infrastructure Bill, blood-stained exit from Kabul may poison voters’ view of BidenWed Sept 08 2021 - 01:00
There is a better way to levy local property taxCurrent local property tax arrangements raise many issues to do with tax equityWed Sept 01 2021 - 07:42
Afghanistan was not and could never be the forward bastion of liberalismWe face a future of friction between the civilisation equivalents of tectonic platesWed Aug 25 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Fall of Afghan government may have merely brought forward inevitableWould a bloody civil war in Afghanistan have served any purpose?Wed Aug 18 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Merrion Gates more important than MerriongateFuture of Dublin Port and low-lying areas of the bay need to be faced up toWed Aug 11 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: TV licence system is a grotesque failureRTÉ’s crisis is financial but State broadcaster must refresh itself for post-Covid revampWed Aug 04 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Archbishop in no position to talk about groupthinkThose who argue for infallibility now find themselves marginalised in public debateWed Jul 28 2021 - 00:47
Michael McDowell: When do we accept awful things cannot be undone?Realpolitik may require a line be drawn over atrocities in pursuit of greater goodWed Jul 21 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: It’s probably just as well England lost Euro 2020Wembley was being woven into Downing Street’s narrative about ‘global Britain’Wed Jul 14 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Ireland in no position now to guarantee supply of electricity from renewablesIreland is pursuing irreconcilable goals - increasing demand for electricity by 40%, hoping it can be done with renewable capacityWed Jul 07 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Does State need to lead fight against climate change?Difference between ambitious and less so targets for planet almost insignificantWed Jun 30 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: No serious unionist politician would discuss a united IrelandIn a referendum a majority would vote by a margin of 60:40 or perhaps even 2:1 to stay in the UKWed Jun 23 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: True extent of new powers sought by gardaí a cause for concernBill needs additional protections and constraints – it cannot just be rubber-stampedWed Jun 16 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Pedestrianising streets is easy part of changeReimagining our urban buildings and the inner city is our real planning challengeWed Jun 09 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Tulsa racial pogrom resonates 100 years laterUS Republicans still busy suppressing African American votersWed Jun 02 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Respect for truth is being hacked to piecesDiversion of Ryanair flight by Belarus a reminder of contempt for democratic valuesWed May 26 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Time to reopen our democracyDuring pandemic there’s been little or no supervision of governmental functionWed May 19 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Atrocities require us to look forward, not backEstablishing criminal guilt for events of 40 or 50 years ago raises complex questionsWed May 12 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: North needs conciliation, not a referendumDemographic change will not be enough to clinch a united IrelandWed May 05 2021 - 01:00
Eye-watering rents extracted from younger generation in city centres are not sustainableMichael McDowell: Concentration of property wealth in hands of a few will bring political changeWed Apr 28 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Puppet masters won’t allow any Sinn Féin apology for MountbattenSinn Féin politicians not free to apologise for or condemn IRA actionsWed Apr 21 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: We have to stop pressing for a border pollLegitimacy of the unionist position is a cornerstone of the Belfast AgreementWed Apr 14 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Violence in North highlights failure at political levelDUP and Sinn Féin should ask whether violent scenes help or hinder progressWed Apr 07 2021 - 01:00
The dam of public patience has already cracked and brokenCommunity transmission is going to remain high until mass vaccination makes an impressionWed Mar 31 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Can someone please tell me what the Covid plan is?We have to see the way out of this – and we have to see the stages along that wayWed Mar 24 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Is vaccine suspension misguided insurance against blame?Decision blunder made by opaque bodies passing for State’s public health expertiseWed Mar 17 2021 - 01:00
Citizens should decide height of Dublin skyline, not Johnny RonanLocal democracy has a very limited role in determining what our cities look likeWed Mar 10 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Fianna Fáil risks being a mudguard-in-waiting for Sinn FéinBottom line for FG is whether they can have any prospect of leading the next governmentWed Mar 03 2021 - 01:00
Northern census should bring some clarity to Border poll debateThe idea or fear of sectarian dominance may give way to an acceptance of diversityWed Feb 24 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: EU chilly on State’s ‘soft cop’ NI protocol lineConcern for an open Border matters far less now to an embattled European UnionWed Feb 17 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: ESB’s new HQ is a monument to planning failureArchitectural tyranny sees facade-ism or reinstatements of earlier styles as suspectWed Feb 10 2021 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: What impetuous zeal explains EU’s article 16 debacle?Decision-making being hijacked by utterly incompetent individuals is key issueWed Feb 03 2021 - 01:00
