Opinion Editorial

Editorial

Editorial: 'Wrecking ball has hit home as support crumbles for May' 

Theresa May would not have found herself on the menu had she heeded the advice of Mrs Beeton to "first catch the rabbit" before presuming to present the bill of fare.

Editorial: 'Bitter Reality of Brexit hard to swallow for many' 

It is hard to look on the omnishambles Brexit became and not recall the words of Baron Denning: "The House of Commons starts its proceedings with a prayer. The chaplain looks at the assembled...

Editorial: 'All sides need to be on board to lift Brexit curse' 

Not too many international agreements are forged out of respectful negotiation and compromise.

Editorial: 'We need positive action to smash the glass ceiling' 

There is an impulse to stand up to the generational narcissism that decrees we must always change the social script to suit all current politically correct mores - all the time.

Editorial: 'Signs that hope and history can sometimes rhyme' 

Sometimes we do get things right in this country - even if it takes us many decades. Take President Michael D Higgins's speech yesterday to mark the centenary of that "war to end all wars", which...

Editorial: 'Brexit negotiations require cool heads' 

As the Brexit endgame approaches, things are becoming fraught, and this seems to be especially so for those on the fringes of negotiations - the DUP and the hardline Tory Brexiteers.

Editorial: 'In times of division, we must remember mistakes of past' 

The Abbé de Saint-Pierre was credited with coming up with the first international peace plan - an association of all the states of Europe to maintain perpetual peace among themselves. He...

Editorial: 'Split-decision results show America not ready to heal' 

Something primordial predisposes us to view everything through the prism of winning and losing: the victor and the vanquished. Nature doesn't do split decisions but, at first glance, superficial...

Editorial: 'Giving ground on backstop is a flawed, backward step' 

Fate has its own timing but since the vexed term Brexit was coined the over-riding fear was we would find ourselves at a table at the 11th hour being told in crisp tones: "What's mine is mine...

Editorial: 'Paddy likes to know what the story is, Mr Varadkar' 

It's less than a decade since the public was deliberately misled by its government about talks with a multi-national organisation which would have profound consequences.

Editorial: 'Suffering is more acute when leaders fail to listen' 

The problem with people in leadership roles being tone deaf is not just the way they display they are out of touch.

Editorial: 'A challenge for high-tech Ireland' 

The statement last week by Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who invented the world wide web in 1989, that technology companies have grown so dominant that they may need to be...

Playing political games over Broadband a reckless tactic 

Life - the way it really is - is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse, argued Joseph Brodsky. When it comes to the roll out of national broadband, rural business owners would...

Embracing innovation is key to solve the housing crisis 

In trying to break patterns of failure, it has been noted there are several ways of moving forward, but only one of standing still; sadly this is the position our Government has taken on housing:...

Maurice McCabe set standard that garda must follow 

If the reputation of An Garda Síochána has been diminished by its treatment of Sergeant Maurice McCabe, his own stature has grown.

Higgins must now follow through on transparency 

It ended exactly as most of us believed it would at the start with a big win for Michael D Higgins, who will be Uachtarán na hÉireann for another seven years. Six out of 10 people who voted chose Mr...

Well done to a worthy winner 

President Michael D Higgins is to be warmly congratulated, not only on his re-election, but for the dignified manner in which he conducted his campaign in what was for many an uncomfortable presidential election marked by a high level of divisiveness that was unbecoming the Office of...

More bank reform before pay cap lift 

The resignation of the Allied Irish Bank chief executive, following the recent departure of the bank's chief financial officer, has given rise to a suggestion that the imposed cap on bankers' pay should be lifted. The suggestion is premature. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe recently...

No pay hikes for bankers 'til they refund bailout cash 

There are many myths about banks, one of which is that they are there to create money for the public good. They clearly are not; their purpose is to make a profit.

It's important we exercise the right to cast our vote 

There has always been a tension between insiders and outsiders in the political firmament. Sometimes it can be heated and divisive. At its basest, it can be reduced to an argument where "my...

Brexit slips slowly towards chaos that no one wanted 

There is a theory that there are no uninteresting things, just uninterested people. Sometimes it seems Brexit was dreamed up to prove it. Past, present and even future all seem subsumed into it.

Excavation of Tuam site is a small but crucial gesture 

As the joyous World Meeting of Families was taking place in Dublin, a commemoration for the 796 infants buried in Tuam was also being held.

Housing crisis has been allowed to go backwards 

Budgets do not mirror values, they merely tot up expenditures - and even these are skewed towards what will yield the best return in political, as opposed to social, capital.

Editorial: Responsibilities of freedom of speech 

The people go to the polls this Friday to vote in a presidential election and blasphemy referendum. When it was decided to hold these votes on the same day, it was not expected that what could...

Volatile corporation tax unsustainable 

The announcement of an extra full €1bn in corporation tax receipts ahead of earlier forecasts is welcome news at a level this close to a Budget required to meet pressing public spending demands, but is also deeply concerning at another, in that it seems to confirm that Ireland has become...

Europe has much to do 10 years on 

The 10th anniversary of the onset of the economic crisis has given rise to much retrospective analysis as to what went wrong, but a more pertinent question is whether the real lessons of that calamitous event have been learned to ensure a similar event will not reoccur in the future. It...

'God hates me' - child's distress over 'heartbreaking, ridiculous church idea' 

The mother of an eight-year-old girl whose First Holy Communion was scrapped for "any Mass day" next year said her daughter is so upset that she...

Newspapers and journalism matter 

A recent nationwide survey showed that one-fifth of people in Ireland never read a newspaper in a typical week - mostly the young - but that four-fifths do so at least once a week, with almost a third of those turning to a newspaper each day of the week. By that standard, you would think...

Politics a decade after the crash 

The effects of the financial crisis in 2008, the 10th anniversary of which is now, are still being felt throughout the world, Ireland included.

Trump visit and the right to protest 

The visit to Ireland by US President Donald Trump in November, as part of a European tour that would also see him travel to Paris for a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice after World War I, has given rise to calls for a mass protest from the public from several politicians,...

It's important for debates to be held 

Just a few weeks ago you could have procured generous odds that there would be no election and that Michael D Higgins would be returned to Aras an Uachtarain unopposed. It would be a coronation rather than a contest.

Actions will be test of new covenant 

In his speech to mark the visit of Pope Francis, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he believed that the time had now come to build a new relationship between church and State in Ireland, what he called "a new covenant for the 21st Century". It was his hope that the visit of the Pope would...

The Pope's visit and modern family life 

The visit of Pope Francis to attend the World Meeting of Families in Ireland next weekend has already become mired in the Catholic Church clerical child sex abuse scandal. That is to be...

Housing becoming a national scandal 

Seeing those young boys trying to sleep on hard chairs in a garda station was upsetting for many people and had the effect of making us think again about the homeless crisis. We have a housing problem and a homeless problem, caused by an inadequate housing supply to cater for a great...

Act now to atone for this great hurt 

The Taoiseach and the Minister for Health each favour a situation where the women adversely affected by the CervicalCheck scandal are afforded an opportunity "to establish negligence in a non-adversarial way, that doesn't involve a witness box in court and having to talk about your own...

Growing menace of anti-social crime 

Anti-social behaviour may be a complex problem which is best tackled at multiple different levels, but that should not be an excuse to continue to tolerate an issue which is on the rise again and causing untold misery to many people throughout the country. The causes of anti-social...

Let in the light on President's office 

As it now seems certain that there will be a presidential election later this year, it is a good time to state that the office of the President of Ireland should be absolutely transparent and, as it is the recipient of significant public funds, should no longer be exempt from the Freedom of...

Frictionless border solution on track 

It has been a good week for those who want to see a soft Brexit with a frictionless border between this republic and Northern Ireland and good relations between the UK and the EU maintained. The authority of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has been strengthened, notwithstanding...

Ireland should be UK's friend, not foe 

We will know more detail when the British government finally publishes its White Paper on Brexit later this week, but what has emerged from last Friday's meeting of Theresa May's cabinet is encouraging.

Europe must act on migration crisis 

European leaders have hailed decisions reached in marathon talks last week as a breakthrough in solving the "migration crisis" which has engulfed the continent. While some progress has been made, many issues remain outstanding, particularly the controversial question of refugee quotas.

Ireland must push for Brexit deal 

The visit of European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to Ireland last week, and the assurances he repeated in relation to the European Union's solidarity with this country in what are difficult Brexit negotiations, while obviously welcome have added to the appearance that...

Quotes of the week 

"Ian Paisley walked down to my mother's and father's graves. He knew they were in the republican plot, and he stood over them and said a prayer - I thought that was some twist to the guy."

Looking for a light at end of the tunnel 

Authoritative analysis by the Central Statistics Office that the number of new homes built in the State has been overstated for several years by almost 60pc is dismaying but not surprising to...

EU remains firm but fair on Brexit 

The European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has systematically dismantled the United Kingdom's latest paper on its withdrawal from the EU and has stated, 10 months from Brexit, that more "realism" is required from the UK. On the British side, chaos rather than realism remains...

Economy good but caution required 

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development delivered a timely if not dire warning last week that property prices here "may increase more strongly" which would boost further construction activity in the near term but "may induce another property bubble" associated with a strong surge in credit growth. At this relatively recent remove from the economic collapse, reference to a ''property bubble'' is enough to chill even the most optimistic going forward. So the analysis should be borne in mind by the...

Referendum vote is major step forward 

It was the right thing to do. For too long, the good of the women of Ireland has been low on the agenda, and the result has been tragedies from Ann Lovett to Savita Halappanavar.

Will of the people must be respected 

After a fraught campaign, the country will vote this week on whether or not to delete the present Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution - the Eighth Amendment - which acknowledges the right to life of the unborn with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, to be replaced with a new...

The day Emma stopped our world 

There are moments when the testimony of an individual can be so utterly compelling that it has the power to stop a nation in its tracks and illuminate an outrage that is so devoid of common decency, so completely lacking in basic humanity, that the public as one demands immediate...

Two Irelands, one referendum divide 

Today's Sunday Independent/Kantar Millward Brown opinion poll highlights a divide of opinion in the country in relation to the issue of abortion, certainly, but it also seems to underline the emergence of what we might call two Irelands: an urban, liberal and a rural, conservative Ireland.

Vicky Phelan case a damning failure 

The shocking and tragic case of Vicky Phelan, the 43-year-old mother from Limerick who is bravely facing the most profound cervical cancer diagnosis following what has been correctly described as a "shameful series of events", raises the most serious questions firstly in relation to the CervicalCheck...

We owe women more than to merely marvel at institutional failures 

Responding to the news that hundreds of women may be ensnared in a living nightmare over smear test failures, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he did not want to condemn any individual. He would...