All politics is local
All politics is local, the late Tip O’Neill reputedly said. That’s especially true in a country as small as Ireland.
Local concerns often influence the...
Grand Coalition
The 32nd Dáil meets for the first time this Thursday and – a fortnight after the election - it seems impossible to discern the...
Saint Patrick might have brought the light of learning to Ireland...
Today we celebrate the feast-day of our national patron, Saint Patrick.
As we do every year, let’s go through the motions of pretending to think...
The Audacity of MOPE: Self-pity and naked opportunism at the heart...
The contrived controversy about Gerry Adams failing to get into the White House Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations highlights the self-pity and naked opportunism at...
In our Centenary, 3,000 years of Irish history mulched for potting...
Last year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny claimed that ISIS wants to destroy Newgrange and the Rock of Cashel. Given Ireland’s lack of regard for its...
Our story is still in the making and Ireland needs to...
If you saw RTÉ's "Centenary" last week, you might have heard a snippet of Gay Byrne's voice saying "The fact that an Irish schoolgirl...
Nobody wins unless everybody wins – Why Springsteen’s championing LGBT rights...
“Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write —...
O Lord, give us a fresh election but not just yet
54 days since the election, it seems clear that, for some, the real focus is on the next election, writes Donal O’Keeffe
You’d want...
Rape Culture in Ireland 2016
The phrase “rape culture” is new enough in public discourse here. What might rape culture look like in Ireland? asks Donal O’Keeffe.
The Oxford English...
Paul Murphy costs us the same as every other TD and...
TDs pretending to be on the average industrial wage or less cost us exactly the same as all the others and they only compound...
