Diarmaid Ferriter columns
Ireland was never pure, but our 21st century ‘new order’ - with women human trafficked into the sex trade and much focus on toxic masculinity - is alarming
Pope Francis’s pontificate has been about evasion as well as empathy, and he has made it clear holy orders are reserved for men
The Irish approach to foreign policy should not be to exaggerate our purity or indulge dictators, but neither should we parrot criticisms of our neutrality from miliary aligned states
Donald Trump’s presidency has also generated a new focus on questions of identity and doubt in Europe
Continuity of ‘implacable social systems’ witnesses the refloating of an old focus on the back garden
Families have different views on the Omagh inquiry, but what they all hold sacred is the need for their loved ones’ stories to be heard
Enduring power of ‘permanent government’ - the Civil Service - may explain why only ex-ministers speak frankly after leaving government
Technical challenges and cost of extensive underground cabling would be enormous but ESB needs to produce a plan to cope with scale of climate change
Parties involved in present government formation talks owe debt of gratitude to former FG leader, says Prof Diarmaid Ferriter
The outgoing US president will also be remembered for disastrous foreign policy choices, including his refusal to curb the excesses of Israel
The consequences of business as usual are ever more frightening, particularly in relation to climate change
Attitudes to her have been reductive, shaped by the mores of the time and her failed marriage
MacBride asked ‘if those vested with authority and power practice injustice, resort to torture and killing, is it not inevitable that those who are victims will react with similar methods?’
How to achieve the perfect Christmas tree, the perfect table setting, the perfect family time: don’t bother trying. Reject perfection is all its greedy, grabbing guises
Given today’s political landscape, the current Opposition might well profit from looking closely at what happened in 1948
Weeks of magic money, fantasy manifestos and hand-shaking marathons have come to this
Small Things Like These raises a wider question about the communication of our history as one giant, black cloud occasionally interrupted by a lone, bright star
The absence of an appetite to calm tensions after the storm is the most worrying thing about the American election campaign
The message that “contradiction is better than violence” is more relevant and urgent than ever
Neither party can afford to build a campaign entirely around their leader. And both need to overcome a weakness for mixed messages
Whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, Ireland will not be much of a priority
The memory of economic crises is not strong enough to withstand the primacy of elections
It would be ahistorical to suggest that this arrangement has been without tensions. But the money kept flowing
Rainy day funds should surely now take on a literal meaning given the climate’s tumultuous shifts and the reality that our greatest coastal tragedies may lie ahead of us
We were bamboozled with jargon in the hope that the resultant fog would distract from what was obvious. The comfort, it seemed, was that ‘there is no single and agreed definition of a tax haven’
Book shows that even as Ireland has changed, its biggest problems remain ‘deep-rooted and historical’
No one would campaign under the slogan ‘To Hell With the Future’ but it is starting to look like the coming election will merit such a rallying cry
Diarmaid Ferriter was speaking at the launch of his new book, The Revelation of Ireland: 1995-2020, in Dublin
A ban for under-16s may polarise opinion, but we can’t keep highlighting the teenage mental-health crisis while ignoring the root cause
Nell McCafferty lived outside society’s norms and she never stopped challenging them
The co-founder of Conradh na Gaeilge said ‘you might as well be putting wooden legs on hens as trying to restore Irish through the school system’
It is striking that his own betrayals were paralleled by trenchant denunciations of the supposed sins of others along with a determination to make edgy comments about celibacy
The slogans ‘Ireland is Full’ and ‘Stop the new plantation of Ireland’ are comically historically illiterate
Keir Starmer may find that that bog might not be as perilous as it once was, but it still creates wariness in Britain
Former US president's actions and rhetoric have divided historians over whether he is a fascist
Those who have crafted this narrative will be louder than most when they’re next looking for Noah’s Ark to rescue them and decrying insufficient support
Our immersion in the parochial pool is entertaining but the wider picture gets lost
Perhaps not overly mindful of the horrors that would await them, many Irish people went in search of liberation, adventure or experiences unavailable at home
The political gains for climate deniers will be remarkably self-defeating
This week’s developments are about many things including the Government and new Taoiseach seeking to promote themselves as moral consciences internationally
Journalist Mary Raftery exposed a shocking culture of abuse 25 years ago this month with her three-part documentary series States of Fear
Previous official histories of the Troubles have involved privileged access to files unavailable to others and the unhelpful policy looks set to continue
Current stand-off between the British and Irish governments over immigration is another illustration of the complexities of the ties between the two countries being denied
Novelist John McGahern admired those in rural Ireland who were “above all, rooted in their own lives”. And yet, those roots are being disturbed, through extreme weather, globalisation and population pressures
From 1948 to 1964, roughly 137,000 dwellings were built with State aid, 63,000 of which were by local authorities
For more than 50 years, opinion polls in the South have suggested two-thirds wish to see a united Ireland, but that is qualified when money comes up
Binyamin Netanyahu’s only strategy, facilitated by Joe Biden and others, is to unleash the army and pummel Gaza in the hopes that it will shore up domestic support
Ireland is going through a period of transition. How Simon Harris navigates the role of Taoiseach will be a test of what the future holds
Throughout his career, Varadkar used the media to fly kites or issue provocative statements, but if there was a negative reaction he qualified them almost to the point of meaninglessness
Is the view that the 'ordinary people of Ireland would always get their politics right in the long run' still valid?
Some of the issues raised by politicians one hundred years ago about public service broadcasting still haven’t been satisfactorily answered
Some issues do not engage the electorate and that would not be a wholly unfair conclusion given the fog around the upcoming amendments
It might be tempting to construct a historical narrative that would present the resurrection of Casement Park as a symbol of transformation and reconciliation, but that would be naive
Global temperatures have breached what is regarded as the red line of calamity - 1.5 degrees - yet we’re still focused on all the wrong things
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices
