Opinion Columnists

Brendan O’Connor

Wild man's mini mock epic in 20 minutes 

Brendan O'ConnorThe people who have just got out tell me that it's not too bad today. It's warmer than it was during the week. The sun was on it yesterday they say, so it's warmed up. I always tell people after I get out that it's not so bad. This is because after you've been in it it doesn't seem so bad. And also, what else are you going to say? They need all the encouragement they can get. It is much more daunting before you get in than afterwards, when you have conquered it. So you can afford to be magnanimous afterwards, with that sense of achievement in you.

I won't be in today... Fido has a touch of the flu 

I was very taken by the story of the Italian academic who claimed two days sick leave from her university because her dog was sick. Needless to say the employer took a poor view of this and the issue ended up in court. The judge found that the pet was part of the...

From storms to Stormont, it's all spin to Leo 

Gene Kerrigan There are good things and bad things about the Belfast Agreement, but anyone treating it as a political poker chip is gambling with other people's blood. And that seems to be what went on last week.

Weather talk finally pays off 

Brendan O'Connor There's a whisper going around. People have been nervously muttering it to each other. No one is saying it too loudly, for fear of being laughed out of town. But it's getting louder.

In spite of spats, Leo is following Micheal's tough line on Sinn Fein 

Eoghan Harris Hurricane Ophelia hurt but Hurricane Regina Doherty was full of hot air. She told Morning Ireland that Fianna Fail had never raised pensions and could not be trusted on them.

With democracy in chaos, Leo's aim is no cock-ups 

Brendan O'Connor In the current TV adaptation of Stephen King's Mr Mercedes, a father calls to the door of retired detective Bill Hodges, played by Brendan Gleeson. The man's son Jerome has been helping Gleeson with...

There is no justification for massive bank profits - steps must be taken 

Dan O'Brien Irish banks, collectively and on average, are much more profitable than banks across the rest of the euro area. That has been the case for four years. These facts are not as widely known as they...

'Examiner' woes that could sink 'The Irish Times' 

Liam Collins There is a widespread view that The Irish Times is sailing perilously close to the edge with its 'exclusive' talks to purchase Landmark Media Investments, the disaster-prone publishers of the Irish Examiner newspaper.

Let us go to Denmark with feelings of deepest despondency 

Declan Lynch When we were drawn against Denmark in the World Cup play-offs, for a few moments a sense of euphoria came over us. It was probably not quite the sort of win that requires the spraying of...

'They said he was evil... but I loved him so much' - sister of murderer who killed... 

Donal Lynch Can you still love someone who has committed a terrible crime? That is the stark question posed by Ann Marie O'Donnell in a new film, Property of the State, which dramatises the life and crimes of...

Mary Kenny: The Romanovs' Irish nanny 

Mary Kenny The Russian Revolution of October 1917 is seen as a stirring event, not unlike the Easter Rising of 1916: when an archaic and reactionary regime is replaced by a vital new leadership. Lenin and Trotsky are charismatic figures, even if the most powerful of the troika, Stalin, is now better known as a ruthless dictator.

Spare us the Hollywood hypocrisy 

Ian O'Doherty As the Harvey Weinstein story grows more horrible and weird by the day, we're witnessing the collapse of the Hollywood hierarchy.

We stress about Scientology but give other faiths a free pass 

Ian O'Doherty To the non-religious mind, all forms of faith are vaguely absurd.

Equality can be achieved with a healthy work-life balance - for all of us 

Stella O'Malley The initial reaction to looking at the latest CSO figures is one of puzzlement. Women are better educated and more qualified than the men, and yet 445,500 women stay at home to look after the...

Road rage - grrr... it's so infuriating 

John Masterson I have become a very dull driver. Friends tell me that the car has an accelerator.

Andrea expecting second child after miscarriage hell 

Barry Egan Andrea Hayes has a good tale to tell. She is expecting a happy event with her husband, David Torpey. "Naturally, as well as feeling extremely overjoyed, I am - and was - still feeling a little...

Martin has got Bertie on the ropes 

Ruth Dudley Edwards Micheal Martin certainly trampled on some politicians' presidential dreams this Ard Fheis weekend. The chief casualty, Bertie Ahern, is not expected to survive. Gerry Adams has been badly bruised and President Higgins received a blow to the head that may be terminal.

The Budget does its customary duty to the betting corporations 

Declan Lynch How do they do it? Sometimes the betting corporations themselves must be wondering how they do it, in this case how they defied the expectations of many interested parties who were sure that the...

Time to batten down the hatches? 

Brendan O'Connor This must be what they call the calm before the storm. It was surreal at Dublin Bay yesterday as swimmers frolicked in the sea on a balmy day. It felt like summer. Except it's the middle of October, and there was something unsettling about it. Only the slight breeze across the water gave a hint of the uneasy undercurrent. This...

Colm McCarthy: Shadow of Brexit clouds view of Budget priorities 

Colm McCarthy The fifth straight year of economic expansion, and with labour market conditions already tightening, there was no case for an expansionary budget and every reason to target a modest surplus...

Dan O'Brien: Europe's now immovable map risks heightening emotions of nationalism 

Dan O'Brien I moved from Rome to Madrid in the 1990s. I didn't expect a huge change - Italy and Spain are both big southern European countries with Latin cultures and languages. Along with many other...

Public watching Leo and Micheal song-and-dance act for clues 

Eoghan Harris This week I want to touch briefly on what makes for a good party leader, a good current affairs show, and, above all, good judgment.

Brendan O'Connor: In an age of authenticity, why choose spin, Leo? 

Brendan O'Connor Ironically, the spin unit that is supposed to buff up the Taoiseach is already damaging him. He and his people are actually finding they have to spin the story of the spin unit now. The Taoiseach was...

Well, ain't that a nice can of worms? 

Ian O'Doherty When the news broke that infamous movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was a serial predator, my only surprise was that people were surprised.

Ian O'Doherty: 'Forget hygge, here's the new happiness craze' 

Ian O'Doherty Forget hygge, we're now on a lykke bandwagon.

Show ambition, Paschal, and give the world a plan for Ireland 

David McWilliams It has been particularly interesting listening to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe talk about his plans for tax rates. He wants to reduce income tax on the 'squeezed middle'. This is undoubtedly a...

Mary Kenny: Pimp or liberationist? 

Mary Kenny When Hugh Hefner - founder of the famed Playboy empire - died last month, some feminists finally felt legally free to describe how they saw him. Suzanne Moore of The Guardian called him "a pimp" - as she had done during his lifetime, though under threat from his lawyers.

Tax burden means that welfare wins over work in scatter-gun Budget plan 

John Downing Well, so much for those Leo Varadkar slogans about helping "people who get up early" and supporting the "people who pay for everything".

Mandy Johnston: This was the opening shot of the election we all know isn't far off 

Mandy Johnston Did Budget 2018 yesterday ignite a republic of opportunity? Well, no. But as prophesied, the Government told us this Budget was not designed to suddenly plonk us in a utopian Ireland, but would...

Shane Coleman: We've travelled down this dangerous road before - and it didn't have a... 

Shane Coleman What's so different about yesterday's Budget and the ones introduced by Charlie McCreevy during the boom years?

Budget to reveal extent of 'hidden space' priorities 

Dan O'Brien Over the next week there will be a lot of talk about how budgetary rules - both EU and national - prevent the Government from doing this and doing that. Let's start this pre-Budget column by setting...

Cosgrave cast a constant cold eye on the IRA enemy 

Eoghan Harris Liam Cosgrave's political credo, like his father's, was salus populi suprema lex: the safety of the people is the supreme law. In practice this meant protecting the State from the IRA, and he...

You've heard of the 'Deep State' - now meet the 'Shallow State' 

Gene Kerrigan You've heard of the "Deep State"? It's an allegedly sinister hidden state-within-the-state, up to all sorts of carry-on. Intelligence agencies, groups of higher civil servants - that kind of thing.

Guilt... it's really not my trip... unless it works 

John Masterson Thankfully guilt does not play a big part in my life. There could be a number of reasons for this. I might never do anything that I wish I had not done.

Internal emails reveal events leading up to Sinn Fein councillor's decision to quit party 

Philip Ryan Sorcha O'Neill first got involved in politics when she was selected to sit on the Constitutional Convention. She enjoyed her time at the meetings and felt a sense of pride when the Convention's...

Brendan O'Connor: Why we should give Millennials a tax break 

Brendan O'Connor Footage and photos from Liam Cosgrave's days in power provided a sharp contrast to today's Ireland. Lots of grey men in grey suits, no country, we might smugly imagine, for young men (though...

In these chaotic times, maybe Catalonia should sit this one out 

Declan Lynch Though I am no Michael Palin when it comes to international travel and adventure, I have been to Barcelona several times, and I have even rambled through other parts of Catalonia.

Mary Kenny: Postcards from the past 

Mary Kenny It's pleasing to see shops in Ireland still display and sell pretty picture postcards. I hope that visitors are buying and sending them, but the postcard is not a thriving business, worldwide. The American postal service has been charting a progressive decline in postcard sending since 2010. Last month, in Britain, the oldest postcard...

Fates forced Cosgrave to fill shoes of his father in march of a nation 

Gerard O'Regan The familiar rasping vowel sounds inevitably became weaker as one decade tumbled into the next - but even in his 90s his voice retained its essential waspish texture.

When do we lose the right to choose? 

Ian O'Doherty Arguably the greatest stain on America's conscience, the death penalty is an obscenity that has no place in a civilised society. Apart from the obvious horror of executing an innocent person, the state-sanctioned murder of even a genuinely guilty individual reduces the people - in whose name the act is committed - to the same moral...

Think Blazing Saddles would be made today? Think again... 

Ian O'Doherty Think you know your comedy?

Sinn Féin wants a united Ireland, yet the party is backing a disunited Spain 

John Downing Irish people just might recognise some familiar aspects in the storyline. A group of people in the north east of a country decide they want to do their own thing, and separate from the rest of...

European politics still trending dangerously towards extremes 

Dan O'Brien The tectonic plates of European politics have shifted more since 2010 than in the previous two decades. With Democratic Europe's three biggest and most influential countries having held general...

Born to a life where fame is what matters 

Sarah Caden In 2015, a few months shy of her 50th birthday, supermodel Cindy Crawford talked about what it was like to watch her then 14-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber growing up.

Can Local Property Tax be sidelined for much longer? 

Ronan Lyons There can be no free lunch when it comes to Local Property Tax (LPT).

Leo and Paschal go large 

Brendan O'Connor Daft Punk is playing at Leo's House. Well, not exactly, But Leo went to a gig last Friday, and, Oh, My, God, where to start?

An open and largely shut case of deception 

Gene Kerrigan Credit where credit is due. It's uplifting when politicians do what they say they'll do. It's worthy of note when the Taoiseach, for instance, recognises the dreadful plight of children in pain and does something about it.

Immigration has brought great benefits for business 

Dan O'Brien The "global war for talent" and similar descriptions are the stuff of management literature cliché. But there is no doubt that having a big talent pool to fish in is important for employers.

Defenders of democracy must now unite against extremes of Sinn Fein 

Ruth Dudley Edwards So what was the Taoiseach playing at when he said in the Dail last week that Mary Lou McDonald reminded him of Marine Le Pen in her addiction to a script? Actually, though I'm no fan of her politics,...

The Taoiseach needs to take control of this image problem 

Brendan O'Connor It was bound to happen. Leo is in trouble with the women again. Specifically, last week, he was in trouble with Mary Lou, who in this case represents all women. She was the victim, because she...

Martin's work must not be forgotten in Leo battle with SF 

Eoghan Harris Cui bono? Who benefits most from the Taoiseach's spats with Mary Lou McDonald?