Polls reflect quiet nature of campaignTHE DIFFICULTY with putting a lengthy and complex treaty document up before the electorate for a straight Yes or No answer is…Sat Sept 26 2009 - 01:00
Greens' grassroots must not decide on legislationWhy are elected Dáil members abrogating responsibility for Nama to party members?Sat Sept 19 2009 - 01:00
Hell might be about to freeze over for Fianna FáilThe latest polls show that Fianna Fáil can no longer depend on their core voteSat Sept 05 2009 - 01:00
Selling Nama to sceptical public requires political willNama, like the Lisbon referendum, requires Government to make the case to the peopleSat Aug 29 2009 - 01:00
Silly season on hold as serious issues prevailYESTERDAY, THE Dáil adjourned for the summer and we are therefore on the precipice of what in normal times would be political…Sat Jul 11 2009 - 01:00
Very different cast in line for Lisbon rerunWITH THE promise of protocols in the bag, campaigning proper for the second Lisbon referendum campaign can now beginSat Jun 20 2009 - 01:00
List of substitute MEPs not subjected to much scrutinyIn about 10 per cent of cases someone else will replace the person you voted forSat Jun 06 2009 - 01:00
Shocking to think that nobody spoke out about abuseThe younger generation reading the Ryan commission report are entitled to ask their elders why they did nothing to help children…Sat May 23 2009 - 01:00
Definition of a good election result differs for partiesFianna Fáil will look to hold what it has at best, while Fine Gael can set its sights on becoming the largest party in local …Sat May 02 2009 - 01:00
Government should follow Obama and explain policiesThere is much in the US approach that would recommend itself to our political leaders, writes NOEL WHELAN.Sat Apr 18 2009 - 01:00
Addressing banking crisis was crucial to Budget's credibilityIt is always easier to attack than to defend complex, long-term initiatives such as NamaSat Apr 11 2009 - 01:00
Stage is set for very important decisions to be made in IrelandNext week’s budget means more than the political fortunes of the present GovernmentSat Apr 04 2009 - 01:00
Government must speak directly to the peopleThe public wants to be told frankly the true scale of the crises we are facingSat Feb 07 2009 - 00:00
Public service numbers must be reducedAmong the many stark realities to be tackled in the budget is that staff levels in the State sector are up 30 per cent since …Sat Sept 27 2008 - 01:00
Why should Sarkozy not speak his mind?Ireland's indignation at the French president's comments about our Lisbon No betrays a lack of respect for democracy, writes …Sat Jul 19 2008 - 01:00
Brennan was a strategist par excellenceSéamus Brennan's gift for intelligence-led campaigning kept him at the top, writes Noel Whelan.Sat Jul 12 2008 - 01:00
Analysis of No voters a crucial part of solutionTHERE WERE significant defects in the information provided by Yes campaigners in the recent Lisbon Treaty referendum, but many…Sat Jun 21 2008 - 01:00
Hillery was key to maintaining State's stabilityDURING HIS time as professor of politics at University College Dublin, Brian Farrell often made the point in his lectures that…Sat Apr 19 2008 - 01:00
Blossoming Greens can thank AhernBertie transformed the Green Party's fortunes by inviting them into GovernmentSat Apr 12 2008 - 01:00
Cowen by far the best person to lead FFThe taoiseach designate has all the skills for the job, but now the public must get to know himSat Apr 05 2008 - 01:00
Waterford and the idea of a university cityWaterford's application should not be stalled simply because others seek similar treatmentSat Mar 22 2008 - 00:00
Rural post offices can still serve us wellThe post office, a key traditional institution in Irish villages, can keep its commercial and social relevanceSat Mar 08 2008 - 00:00
Ahern's failings not close to corruptionBy the early 1980s it was apparent to the more ambitious politicians in Fianna Fáil and other parties that the nature of political…Sat Feb 23 2008 - 00:00
Hillary Clinton would be better choice for DemocratsThis week a London-based friend emailed me a link to the "Yes We Can" video which is proving to be a powerful tool in the Barack…Sat Feb 16 2008 - 00:00
US primary model would do wonders hereIt would be an Irish political junkie's dream come trueSat Feb 09 2008 - 00:00
Progressive Democrats deserve a dignified send-offA living funeral is a gathering of people to remember and honour someone who is about to dieSat Jan 26 2008 - 00:00
Tribunals could learn from 9/11 CommissionThe 9/11 Commission was established in late 2002, but it had an inauspicious startSat Jan 19 2008 - 00:00
Considerable work awaits the fledgling Press CouncilThis week was heralded by many in the media as marking the beginning of a new era in their industry because of the establishment…Sat Jan 12 2008 - 00:00
Success of smoking initiative shows what is possibleIt may only have been when he returned to his ministerial desk after the Christmas and New Year break five years ago that the…Sat Jan 05 2008 - 00:00
Images that capture the essence of 2007Although difficult, it is interesting to try and project oneself into the mind of a historian who in 10, 20 or 30 years' time…Sat Dec 22 2007 - 00:00
Backbenchers see pay fiasco as unforgivableThe reconfigured Ahern-led Government has made a number of significant political mistakes in the first six months of its term…Sat Dec 15 2007 - 00:00
Wealthy sectors will gain most from stamp duty changesAlmost all of the debate ensuing from the changes to stamp duty announced by Brian Cowen in this week's Budget has focused not…Sat Dec 08 2007 - 00:00
Crown row raises questions of newspapers' editorial policyThe debate on health issues got even crazier this weekSat Nov 17 2007 - 00:00
Lasting health service reform requires political consensusThe news that a number of women who had undergone tests for breast cancer at Portlaoise hospital had been misdiagnosed was understandably…Sat Nov 10 2007 - 00:00
Rebranding Labour will be tough test for a safe leaderThe Labour Party is about to elect a new leader who is almost a clone of the leader who has just retiredSat Sept 01 2007 - 01:00
Time for elections to have quotas of female candidatesLast Sunday night, Redemptorist priest Fr Alex Reid and Methodist minister Rev Harold Good were the keynote speakers at the opening…Sat Jul 21 2007 - 01:00
Ahern must take the blame for FF tripping itself upEven if Bertie Ahern felt he had to call the election over a weekend rather than on a Dáil sitting day it could - and should - …Sat May 05 2007 - 01:00
Ahern must take the blame for FF tripping itself upEven if Bertie Ahern felt he had to call the election over a weekend rather than on a Dáil sitting day it could - and should - …Sat May 05 2007 - 01:00
Of 350 candidates selected by the parties only 52 are womenThe full line-up of candidates for next May's election will not be finalised until some 10 days before pollingSat Mar 17 2007 - 00:00
Kenny speech on immigration just too narrow in focusSome people were too quick this week to criticise Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny for daring to raise the issue of immigration in…Sat Jan 27 2007 - 00:00
Rabbitte has key policy questions to answerIn the weeks after the 2002 election many in the media complained that the election had come and gone without an adequate consideration…Sat Jan 20 2007 - 00:00
Deasy and McGuinness can't sink or save FGIt is only in the media echo chamber that is the early January political silly season that the utterances of an opposition backbencher…Sat Jan 13 2007 - 00:00
Pace of Garda reform must dictate numbersParties on both sides of the forthcoming electoral contest are engaged in a pre-election auction on crime.Sat Jan 06 2007 - 00:00
Even those who stood by Haughey cannot deny the factsI spent the summer of 1997 touring the country visiting Fianna Fáil councillors in a very unsuccessful attempt to get elected…Sat Dec 23 2006 - 00:00
Candidate selection now a complex businessSomething akin to Lanigan's Ball has been going on in some constituencies in recent weeks as sitting TDs or new candidates have…Sat Dec 02 2006 - 00:00
Public spending not a cure for all society's illsThe British conservative MP Anne Widdecombe was quoted as having said this week that: "We now expect more from government than…Sat Nov 25 2006 - 00:00
Budget has huge implications for Cowen and his partyGovernment Ministers and advisers were racking their brains and thumbing their thesauruses this week looking for a synonym for…Sat Nov 18 2006 - 00:00
Children's rights should be handled gentlyWhile the cynical may dismiss it as a Friday night news story on his ardfheis weekend, the Taoiseach's announcement that the …Sat Nov 11 2006 - 00:00
Spineless politics feed our ever-thriving middle classesAll of our political parties are afraid of the middle classesSat Nov 04 2006 - 00:00
Seanad reformists must make voices heardSince the then taoiseach Eamon de Valera re-established Seanad Éireann in its current form in the 1938 Constitution there have…Sat Oct 28 2006 - 01:00
