Colette Browne

Independentie

Saturday, 6 June 2020 | 5.5°C Dublin

News [1]
Opinion [2]
Business [3]
Sport [4]
Life [5]
Style [7]
Entertainment [8]
Travel [9]

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Independentie

News [1]
Opinion [2]
Business [3]
Sport [4]
Life [5]
Style [7]
Entertainment [8]
Travel [9]

Menu Sections

Colette Browne

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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.