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Brendan Keenan: It's not just another vote on an EU treaty, this time it's personal

ASTRANGE thing happened last week. Two people -- one an eminent intellectual, the other, well... not -- asked me how I was going to vote.

Brendan Keenan: Irish ethos of torpor and detachment

IT is hard not to get angry over those stories about government officials returning to work, having retired with tax-free lump sums (which do not come out of their pension 'pots') plus the pensions themselves.

Brendan Keenan: Solving our unemployment riddle a work in progress

I used to get regular correspondence -- as did many others -- from a man who believed we were all missing the point about unemployment: to wit that technology meant there was just less demand for labour.

Brendan Keenan: Aping evolution of Iceland's debt relief

AN unusually wise economist once said that, if you want to create the much-admired Danish economic model, you need to have Danes.

Brendan Keenan: Debt relief may not be possible -- but what is?

THEY are not going to be too pleased in the Central Bank or the Department of Finance about yesterday's IMF analysis on debt writedowns for distressed mortgages.

Brendan Keenan: Union toast comes buttered on both sides

LIKE great black oxen, the years trampled the poet Yeats. Two years into the bailout and four years into the crisis, we know that feeling.

Brendan Kennan: If we all want jobs, we need more bubbles

Builders ensure their workers have no job security, as they know it can all end in the morning. And end it did...

Brendan Keenan: Operation of government has to be revised along with estimates

SEAN Lemass is our Winston Churchill -- in the sense of having so many witty, pithy political sayings attributed to him.

Brendan Keenan: Only radical political change can make euro sustainable

RENDER unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's must be one of the best-known phrases in the language. It is perhaps less well known, in these irreligious times, that the original complaint was about tax.

Brendan Keenan: Battle lines are drawn for referendum

THIS time, it's different. They say those are the most dangerous words in financial markets but this time, surely, it is different. It certainly feels like it.

Brendan Keenan: Treaty is first baby step to recovery

'THE Irish Question was very difficult. Every time the English found the answer, the Irish changed the question."

Brendan Keenan: Common sense not a good guide to the Great Recession

NO, it wasn't Lehman Bros. The foibles of Dick Fuld and his merry band have been cited by the politicians involved as the cause of much of our troubles, from the collapse of Anglo to the bailout itself.

Brendan Keenan: Growth trumps austerity in Europe

IT might be thought that the people who gave us "Frankfurt's way or Labour's way", and "Not another cent for Anglo", would have noticed the French presidential election. Apparently not.

Brendan Keenan: Feathers in a flap over the plucking of a fatted goose

WAIT long enough and you can recycle the weariest of cliches.

Brendan Keenan: Cruellest cut may be the one you don't make soon enough

THOSE clever communication consultants who, for a handsome fee, will train one how to do TV and radio interviews, say that one should pick only one point to get across to the audience.

Brendan Keenan: Making a big deal about 'no deal' on promissory notes

SO that's official, then: there was no deal. The €3bn payment (or is that non-payment?) of the IOUs to the former Anglo Irish Bank was just a domestic little arrangement; not part of any EU/ECB deal.

Brendan Keenan: Cheery growth forecasts could torpedo austerity

IT WAS a bit of a puzzle, following the recent British budget. The chancellor, George Osborne, kept getting contradicted by something called the OBR and the media were quoting the contradictions more than they were the chancellor.

Brendan Keenan: Central Bank's review is timely reminder it's too soon to party

GALL and wormwood. That is the taste left by last week's 'Macro-Financial Review' from the Central Bank.

Brendan Keenan: Benefits of Anglo deal not tangible to public

NOTHING is ever simple with this Government. After the confusion and arguments over the household charge, it was never likely that something as complex and fraught as the saving of Anglo Irish Bank would go smoothly.

Brendan Keenan: Selling state assets is not just about raising revenue

ONE of the striking things about the Government's approach to the bailout arrangements is how little it has tried to take ownership of the process.

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Dublin Sightseeing Reaches New Heights

Ireland’s most iconic venue, Croke Park Stadium, announced the opening of the much anticipated Etihad Skyline tour on the roof of the historic ground. Sponsored by Etihad Airways and opening to the public on Friday 1st June, the tour offers access to a unique Croke Park rooftop walkway and spectacular panoramic views of Dublin city.

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McAreavey suspect accuses police

Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, confessed to police about his involvement in strangling Michaela McAreavey, but now insists he was forced to sign the statement.Treebhoowoon and co-accused Sandip Moneea, 42, deny murdering the 27-year-old teacher on her honeymoon at the Legends Hotel.

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