Colette Browne

Past becomes the future: A child sleeps on the Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin. Now is the time for our politicians to pay heed to children

Colette Browne Opinion Childhood poverty casts an irreversible shadow - the Government has been warned

COVID-19 may not pose a deadly threat to children's health, but the lives of the most vulnerable children may yet be permanently blighted by the virus.

Stepping up: Helen McEntee is only the fourth woman to have been appointed Minister for Justice. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Colette Browne Opinion Just four women in Cabinet shows parties still paying lip service to gender equality

The honeymoon period for the new Government lasted barely two hours on Saturday, before Dara Calleary was inexplicably shafted by Micheál Martin and all hell broke loose.

Reality: Green Party leader Eamon Ryan with Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney and Paschal Donohoe at Government Buildings. ‘Politicians are arguing about who should grasp the steering wheel before the country goes over a cliff’. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Colette Browne Opinion Voters won't forgive the politicians if they don't stop their 'messing and slobbering'

You are not alone if you have felt an overwhelming urge to pinch yourself while listening to political interviews lately. Are they dreaming? Are we?

At the gates of power: Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan outside Leinster House. Photo: Tom Burke

Colette Brown Opinion Greens have won talks battle - we'll find out if they have the stomach to win the war

Having spent six weeks negotiating a programme for government, one would have expected a modicum of enthusiasm from chief negotiator Catherine Martin for the agreed deal. Instead, the statement released by the Green Party deputy leader to mark the auspicious occasion had a funereal quality.

Childcare: Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone published her plan but it was missing a funding package. Photo: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

Colette Browne Opinion There's more at stake in formation talks than bruised egos - time to put up or shut up

There is a tendency among political anoraks to reduce government formation to a puerile horse race in which politicians are the ultimate winners and losers.

The Late, Late Show: Leo Varadkar said a ‘hard deadline’ for government formation at the end of the month now exists. That deadline has always been there

Colette Browne Opinion Time for talks is over - nation and health service are approaching critical condition

Talks between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have now entered their fourth week, but the parties are still no closer to reaching a deal. In fact, the talks have only progressed this far because none of the contentious issues that could derail discussions have even been broached.

Lesser evil: Home-working has been disruptive but not disastrous – but essential workers have been abandoned. Stock image

Colette Browne Opinion Until issue of childcare is addressed lives and livelihoods will be on hold indefinitely

In the 11 weeks since schools and crèches closed, the Government has broken every promise it made in relation to the provision of childcare for essential workers. Why should anyone believe its revised claims now?

Twitter fallout: Fianna Fail’s Barry Cowen (left) made comments online, and Michael McGrath. Photo: Collins Photo Agency

Colette Browne Opinion Juvenile melodramatics reaffirm belief that some politicians still just don't get it

Some good news at last. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have kissed and made up after both parties threw an almighty strop over the weekend, which threatened to plunge coalition talks into disarray.

Alarming: Every week the suspension in cancer screening programmes continues, the backlog of cases rises by more than 11,000 patients

Colette Browne Opinion Use empty private hospitals to get vital cancer screening back on track

The State acted quickly to prevent many thousands of deaths from coronavirus, but the threat of increased mortality from cancer and other serious illnesses now looms large.

The quiet man: Micheál Martin has been silent on finding policies that will give Fianna Fáil powerful bargaining tools in forming a government. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Colette Browne Opinion Grassroots will revolt if Martin can't spell out exactly what FF gets from coalition deal

Many have claimed the Green Party risks extinction it if enters a grand coalition, but Fianna Fáil faces a much bigger existential threat.

Pointing the finger: Leo Varadkar, with chief medical officer Tony Holohan, issued a stark warning to those breaking the rules. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Colette Browne Opinion Blame for extending lockdown lies more with State's response than a selfish public

Three weeks ago, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was horrified to hear that people in the UK were reporting their neighbours to the authorities for going on two runs a day or straying too far from their homes.

‘Planet Bertie’: Green Party leader Trevor Sargent with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (left) in 2006. Photo: Collins

Colette Browne Opinion Smaller parties have a great opportunity - just don't over-promise or under-deliver

In 2007, then Green Party leader Trevor Sargent coined the phrase "Planet Bertie" to describe Fianna Fáil as a party that was "so strange and so alien to our sensibilities" that the two could never join forces in government.

Queue: Garda at a checkpoint on the N3 at Clonee ahead of the Easter weekend. Photo: Frank McGrath

Colette Browne Opinion We're all suffering with our own lockdown demons - so let's not be too quick to judge

As the lockdown drags on, the level of sanctimony in some quarters about people allegedly breaching social distancing guidelines is reaching epic proportions. Last week, those with holiday homes were public enemy number one. These selfish swine were apparently travelling from their palatial pads in Dublin to bijou cottages in some of Ireland's most scenic areas - carrying disease and pestilence with them in their vulgar Range Rovers.

Time for leadership: New Labour Party leader Alan Kelly has the chance to restore his party’s reputation – a chance he seems set to spurn. Photo: Tom Burke

Colette Browne Opinion As medics go into the trenches to fight for our country, many TDs head for the hills

The Ireland of today is completely unrecognisable from the country we all inhabited just a few short weeks ago.

Decision time: Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan and party leader Eamon Ryan. Photo: Caroline Quinn/PA

Colette Browne Opinion Greens must stop hiding behind crisis and get to work fighting for a more just society

It is now nearly two months since voters went to the polls in an election in which Covid-19 did not feature, even once. Since then, the world has changed and changed utterly. We don't know when, or if, it will return to normal.

Colette Browne Opinion Covid-19 nightmare must prompt a moral recalibration of our priorities

For the first time in any of our lives, the international community faces an enemy that cannot be bombed, droned or renditioned into oblivion.

Measures: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already announced a partial EU travel ban. Photo: Reuters/Johanna Geron/File Photo

Colette Browne Opinion The EU needs to step in and rescue its members from economic devastation

The past few days have undoubtedly been among the most stressful, scary and challenging in our nation's history.

Colette Browne Opinion It shouldn't need the threat of a pandemic to bring parties together for the greater good

The threat of coronavirus is mitigated by social distancing measures - but, ironically, the virus is bringing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael closer together.

Overlooked: Kate O’Connell failed to receive a nomination for the Seanad despite receiving calls from the top brass in Fine Gael. Photo: Douglas O’Connor

Colette Browne Opinion Varadkar has loads of feminist slogans for women, but keeps the jobs for the boys

International Women's Day is coming up on Sunday and no doubt caretaker Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be celebrating the auspicious occasion somewhere.

Arrogance: Leo Varadkar (pictured) and Micheál Martin have not addressed the issues thrown up by the election

Colette Browne Opinion Varadkar and Martin are playing hard to get - but the fed-up voters aren't buying it

Yesterday, Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar held exploratory talks on the possibility of government formation. It is not believed they shared any pancakes.

Spot the difference: Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar refuse to accept their parties are carbon copies of each other. Photo: Frank McGrath

Colette Browne Opinion Time for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to bury the Civil War hatchet and form a coalition

There are some mysteries that will never be solved. What is the third secret of Fatima? Who killed Shergar? What is the difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael?

Winners: Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who took the top two places in Cork South-Central. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Colette Browne Opinion Fianna Fáil can slink off to lick its wounds - or help deliver what the country wants

If Fianna Fáil wants to rebrand itself, from the party that wrecked the housing industry to the party that helps revive it, it should enter government with Sinn Féin.

Emperor has no clothes: Leo Varadkar showed the country his party’s disconnect with voter’s concerns in his radio comments on affordable housing. Photo: John Allen Photography

Colette Browne Opinion Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil need to wake up to the fact the cosy duopoly is over

For nearly 100 years, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have held a tight grip on political power. When one goes into government, the other goes out and bides its time on the opposition benches until its number comes up again.

Promises: Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin, finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty, president Mary Lou McDonald and Shane O’Brien, candidate for Dún Laoghaire, at the launch of Sinn Féin’s General Election manifesto at the Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in Dublin. Photo: Collins

Colette Browne Opinion McDonald may find devil is in the details if she gets TV spot with Varadkar and Martin

The perceived wisdom is that the inclusion of Mary Lou McDonald in RTÉ's forthcoming leaders' debate would be a win for Sinn Féin. In reality, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil could be the biggest beneficiaries.

In the spotlight: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou MacDonald at the Mansion House, Dublin yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Colette Browne Opinion Colette Browne: 'Parties hiding policies from voters should be treated with suspicion and scepticism'

After two successive polls showed them haemorrhaging support, the blame game has already started for some within Fine Gael.

Centre stage: Leo Varadkar posters are put up in Dublin yesterday as the election gets under way. Picture; Gerry Mooney

Colette Browne: 'FG can't rewrite history - its best hope is to ditch the spin and be honest over failures'

The biggest obstacle for Fine Gael in the forthcoming election will be to battle people's perception of the party as having become out of touch after nearly a decade in power.

Colette Browne Opinion Colette Browne: 'Abandoned A&E promise and fact we can 'pull out record highs' so often bring shame on this Government'

In its 2016 election manifesto, Fine Gael promised 93pc of patients would be dealt with in A&Es within six hours. Four years later, just 30pc of patients are being admitted to a ward from A&Es within this target time.

Ireland had pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20pc by 2020. Instead, the level of emissions will actually rise. (Stock photo: Getty Images)

Colette Browne: 'Lessons must be learned from the century's terrible teens to give the world a clearer 2020 vision of the future'

The dawn of a new decade is an opportune moment to pause and consider - what lessons have we learned from the past 10 years that could transform politics in the 2020s?

Micheal Martin. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Colette Browne: 'If Martin cannot cajole Varadkar into agreeing an election date, he should make an autonomous decision for once'

Panto season is in full swing in the Dáil as a "oh no you didn't, oh yes you did" spat about the date of an election rages between Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar.

St Vincent de Paul Society released a report which revealed that in Ireland, which has the fastest growing economy in Europe, 140,000 children are living in homes that are cold and damp. (Stock Image)

Colette Browne: 'The rich get richer and the poor and middle-class stagnate because the system is designed that way'

Ireland has the fastest growing economy in the EU and the third highest quality of life in the world. So why are so many of us barely keeping our heads above water?