Opinion

Thursday 24 January 2019

EU Commissioner Margaritis Schinas delivered a blunt warning over Brexit

Dan O'Brien: 'If there's no deal over Brexit, our choice is stark - build a hard Border or pay an enormous price'

Some choices in life can be finessed and fudged. Others cannot. When faced with an either/or choice, you can't have the best of both worlds. You must choose one or the other. So it is with countries' choices about markets.

Plastic bottles and other rubbish washed up in Co Cork. Photo: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images

Comment

Sinead Moriarty: 'We must fight harder to stem the tide of plastic pollution'

Did you know that you can unwrap unnecessary plastic from your groceries at the supermarket checkout and hand it to the cashier? They are fully obliged to take it back.

Theresa May continued her remake of ‘Weekend At Bernie’s’ by sticking the “No £65 fee for EU nationals” shawl on the corpse to convince the mob it’s alive. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville

Comment

Matthew Norman: 'Brexit: a sadomasochistic game with no explosive end - anyone want to play?'

In the early hours of this morning, I accidentally killed an Oscar-nominated actress with a piece of rope during a frantic bout of meth-fuelled S&M sex.

Some numbers Leo might want to mull over in advance of next week include the fact the UK remains the dominant destination for beef, with 50pc of exports going to the UK, and 75pc of beef imported into the UK in November was from Ireland. Photo: Getty Images

Comment

Margaret Donnelly: 'Varadkar facing a grilling by farmers over meat, Brexit and rural unrest'

Next Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will address the Irish Farmers' Association's (IFA) AGM. It's pretty standard for the Taoiseach of the day to address the largest farming organisation, but given the last few...

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Comment

John Downing: 'Our continued Brexit problem is that three into two will not go'

The Brexit problem we all face can be boiled down to three possible outcomes sought by the key actors in this international drama. The challenge is to get beyond the realpolitik that only two of these three outcomes appears possible right now.

Hard Border questions: Michael Creed repeated the Government line when questioned yesterday. Picture: Damien Eagers

Comment

Laura Larkin: 'Creed on ropes as hard Border message sounds ominously like a rerun of bailout denials'

All we needed was to see if Michael Creed was shaking his head with fervour and it could have been 2010 when head-in-sand denials from government ministers were the order of the day.

The cost of the planned National Children’s Hospital has reached a staggering €1.7bn

Comment

Eilish O'Regan: 'Questions grow about how jinxed project's costs sky-rocketed to €1.7bn'

It's difficult not to conclude the new national children's hospital is not jinxed.

Comment

Eli Lake: 'Ireland must ask if boycott plan is worth the potential cost'

Since its founding, the movement to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) Israel has largely been symbolic. Since the BDS movement began in 2005, Israel's GDP has doubled.

Comment

Liz Kearney: 'Reach my best weight again? Fat chance...'

How much did you weigh when you were 20? Can you even remember? It could prove crucial, because new research suggests that women who stick within a stone-and-a-half of their weight at that age have a greatly increased chance of reaching 90.

Work underway at the site of the new Children’s Hospital. Photo: Mark Condren

Editorial

Editorial: 'Hospital cost fiasco shows unhealthy budget mindset'

Concealed in a musty recess of Government Buildings there must be a hobgoblin with a rank sense of humour relishing off-colour jokes at the public's expense.

Presidential address: Michael D Higgins speaks at the commemoration of the centenary of the first meeting of Dáil Éireann. Photo: PA

Letters

Letters to the Editor: 'Fine Gael should be embarrassed by record a century after the first Dáil'

It must have been embarrassing for the Fine Gael TDs who attended the Mansion House commemoration of the first Dáil.

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The Daily Digest

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Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox)

Dan O'Brien: 'If there's no deal over Brexit, our choice is stark - build a hard Border or pay an enormous price'

Sinead Moriarty: 'We must fight harder to stem the tide of plastic pollution'

Matthew Norman: 'Brexit: a sadomasochistic game with no explosive end - anyone want to play?'

Margaret Donnelly: 'Varadkar facing a grilling by farmers over meat, Brexit and rural unrest'

John Downing: 'Our continued Brexit problem is that three into two will not go'

Laura Larkin: 'Creed on ropes as hard Border message sounds ominously like a rerun of bailout denials'

Eilish O'Regan: 'Questions grow about how jinxed project's costs sky-rocketed to €1.7bn'

Eli Lake: 'Ireland must ask if boycott plan is worth the potential cost'

Liz Kearney: 'Reach my best weight again? Fat chance...'

Editorial: 'Hospital cost fiasco shows unhealthy budget mindset'

Letters to the Editor: 'Fine Gael should be embarrassed by record a century after the first Dáil'

Dan O'Brien: 'If there's no deal over Brexit, our choice is stark - build a hard Border or pay an... Comment

Colette Browne: 'British politicians and media don't give a damn about what happens in one... Comment

John Downing: 'So, what's the plan now? Ask Tory Brexiteers - and the DUP' Comment

Matthew Norman: 'Brexit: a sadomasochistic game with no explosive end -... Comment

Margaret Donnelly: 'Varadkar facing a grilling by farmers over meat, Brexit and rural... Comment

Marrakech: Medieval magic now just three-and-a-half hours from Dublin World/USA

WATCH: Killarney music students have epic trad session during Ryanair... Entertainment Video

Private firm to be paid €450,000 to find out why national children's hospital has overrun Health

Warning Brexit will make Irish passport holders in the North 'second class citizens' Brexit

Hundreds of gardaí to patrol Border if no deal Brexit

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Eilis O'Hanlon: 'The Vegan debate'

Kevin Doyle: 'We've found our place in the world but what about at home?'

Dr Conor Mulvagh: 'How loss of Ireland signalled the end of the British Empire'

So, is your smartphone really secretly listening to you?

Soloheadbeg Ambush: 'History is never simple - we cherish all our citizens'

Diarmuid Gavin: The best evergreens to brighten the winter months

Editor's Choice

Sinead Moriarty: 'We must fight harder to stem the tide of plastic pollution'

Comment

Sinead Moriarty: 'We must fight harder to stem the tide of plastic pollution'

Dan O'Brien: 'If there's no deal over Brexit, our choice is stark - build a hard Border or pay an enormous price'

Ed Rogers: 'These two events show US democracy is on life-support'

Sinead Ryan: 'Like it or not, the robots will soon take over'

David Kelly: 'Zebo race slur shines light on our society's wider shame'

John Downing: 'So, what's the plan now? Ask Tory Brexiteers - and the DUP'

Colette Browne: 'British politicians and media don't give a damn about what happens in one part of their precious union'

Joe O'Toole: 'Why names of two RIC men shot at Soloheadbeg should be on memorial'

Frank Coughlan: 'Let us praise the Dáil - for one week only'

Alex Kane: 'With nothing set in stone, Brexit sands will continue to shift beneath May's feet'

Columnists

John Downing: Where there's a political will, there's a legal way - all eyes are on London as we approach 'B-Day'

'I wondered if I would see my wife and kids again' - Tom Dunne prepares for his radio comeback

Declan Lynch: 'Bad faith, bad information, from bad places'

Gene Kerrigan: 'Deep breath, everyone, this is going to hurt'

[TICON-A VIDEO] Niamh Horan: 'Just as a 'toxic' man can prove heroic, many women can hide a shadow side'

It is just ink. So I can just blot it out... sometimes

Dr Ciara Kelly: 'Feel the long-term benefits of walking back to happiness'

Sarah Caden: 'All about me: 10-year challenge is a triumph of vanity over sense'

Colm McCarthy: 'It's time for UK to use its get-out-of-jail-free card'

Ian O'Doherty: 'Joyless vegan fundamentalists just love to wag their fingers'

Letters

Letters to the Editor: 'Fine Gael should be embarrassed by record a century after the first Dáil'

Letters to the Editor: Never mind the Brexiteers – we get it just as wrong by stereotyping the EU

Letters to the Editor: Hogan's arrogance reveals EU wish to kill a people's democratic choice

Letters to the Editor: 'Boris is no sort of friend to Ireland'

Letters to the Editor: 'Irony of Brexit is how ‘taking back control’ has brought UK such chaos'

Letters to the Editor: 'Nuns looked after ‘hard cases’ at a time when our governments did not'

Letters to the Editor: 'Varadkar and his ministers should show respect for our culture here'

Letters to the Editor: 'There will have to be checks, and it hurts'

Letters to the Editor: 'Minister is lining the pockets of management consultants and advisers in over-bloated HSE'

Letters to the Editor: 'Tory Brexiteers fantasising about a return to days of ‘splendid isolation’'

Editorial

Editorial: 'Hospital cost fiasco shows unhealthy budget mindset'

Editorial: 'UK parliament must solve May's dilemma or risk peace'

Moment of truth on Brexit arrives

Editorial: 'UK's Parliament must assert control before it's too late'

Editorial: 'Another defining week for Theresa May beckons'

Editorial: 'Consultation key on asylum issues'

Editorial: 'US President is supposed to fix problems, not invent them'

Editorial: 'More pandemonium awaits amid unknowns of Brexit'

Editorial: 'Gove and hague bring some sense to brexit absurdity'

Editorial: If we value patriotism and courage, we must show it