Eoghan Harris

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Eoghan Harris Opinion RTÉ is feeding Covid panic by failing to give good news

Last week, RTÉ showed a selfish lack of responsibility in scaremongering the public about Covid-19, while giving grief to a Government that deserved praise for its courage in keeping the country at work.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Politicians must stand up to the Trump-style populism of Sinn Féin

Last week most of the good stuff was on Newstalk, starting with my post-mortem on the US presidential debate and finishing with Charlie Flanagan's 'country solicitor' dissection of the film Unquiet Graves.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion 'Unquiet Graves' told unbalanced SF narrative of Northern Ireland

Suicide can take two forms, personal and political. Let me briefly begin with the personal - briefly, because I'll be forced back to it in the future.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Micheál Martin doing a difficult job in the face of media carping

Last Friday, with just one clearly delivered broadcast, the Taoiseach disproved a famous dictum of Dr Johnson's - that once the media has started using you badly it will go on doing so, although Johnson used the word 'world' instead of the word 'media'.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Taoiseach Martin will not Trumpify Irish politics with angry bluster

Last week, despite intense pressure from Sinn Féin and media, Taoiseach Micheál Martin refused to degrade Irish politics by doing a Donald Trump and venting his anger at Boris Johnson.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Eugene McCabe, brave writer, brave watcher on the Border

Eugene McCabe was the greatest writer of my generation and when I heard of his recent death I recalled something my late friend, Patricia Redlich, told me at the height of the Provisional IRA campaign.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Phil should not have messed with his powerful female boss

Phil Hogan's resignation has been surrounded by so much spin by his supporters that it needs a chillier clarification.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Leo Varadkar has a vision - and it's shared by Sinn Féin

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is fighting on four fronts - and the death wish dogging Fianna Fáil ministers is the least of them.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Tánaiste versus Taoiseach has never ended well for either

The Taoiseach is settling down to the thankless task of coping with Covid without the sunshine that marked Leo Varadkar's last term - but the latter is still struggling with the role of Tánaiste, of which more anon.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Hume's noble work for peace has cost us a high political price

Hours after the death of John Hume, Gerry Adams, in his opening statement to RTÉ, laid down the line later to be followed by the southern media.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Leo Varadkar must learn to live with less media

This column is about three N-words that will decide the future of Irish democracy: necessity, nationalism and narcissism.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Bill Bennett, the tribal victim who later lofted the viaduct

This is the moving and redemptive story of William T Bennett of Killeady Mill, Ballinhassig, Co Cork, an ex-serviceman and a Protestant during the dark days of 1919-23.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion A greedy rump of green fat cats is set to finish off Fianna Fail

Robert Caro, in his great biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, says power sometimes corrupts but always reveals.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Hawks v Doves: 50 years on, Arms Crisis still stirs controversy

Michael Heney's bestselling book, The Arms Crisis of 1970, has received rave reviews, but this will not be one of them.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion A wake-up call for the wokes soft on Sinn Fein

Last Friday, Stephen Collins knocked on the gate of a morally confused media in an Irish Times op-ed piece headed: "Storey funeral a reminder that IRA army council runs Sinn Fein."

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Micheal Martin will govern with the gentle grit of Jack Lynch

Which mentors inspire Taoiseach Micheal Martin? Look to the two men he cited in Irish - Sean Lemass and Jack Lynch.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Greens should tell SF to butt out and enjoy their big victory

Sinn Fein's ideological influence on a faction of the Green Party still threatens a historic Green programme for government that has the goodwill of a majority.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion We're better off with a minority government than one with the Greens

Last week saw three examples of bad politics - posturing to look good rather than doing good.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Ivan Yates can claim some credit for Leo easing the lockdown

Ivan Yates and The Tonight Show can claim some of the credit for Leo Varadkar's decision to speed up our return to the world of work before the country goes bankrupt.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Fine Gael no longer looks out for the private sector donkey

Last week, the Fine Gael Government, defying its own traditions, took two decisions that threw small and medium enterprises to the wolves.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion The lockdown should be lifted for the sake of working women

Ask the audience whether it wants the lockdown to continue, and the answer comes down to class and cash.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion A real badass would stop the subsidy and send us back to work

Leo Varadkar may be a badass but he's also sitting on it instead of telling people it's time to give up the cocoon of the Covid-19 subsidy and go back to work.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the lives of older people worldwide. Photo: REUTERS

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Post-mortem is needed on the lethal neglect of nursing homes

Last Wednesday, lying on my hospital bed, coming out of the claustrophobia of an MRI scan, I got a supportive phone call from President Michael D Higgins.

I got the grim news that my dormant prostate cancer had woken, red in tooth and claw, and was roaming around other areas, writes Eoghan Harris

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Eoghan Harris Opinion My cancer is back but it wouldn't be right to protect my life at any cost to young people

Last week, I got the grim news that my dormant prostate cancer had woken, red in tooth and claw, and was roaming around other areas - which meant a return to hospital.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Stereotyping can be funny but only if there's no malign agenda

Every hero becomes a bore at last, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson. But so does every victim.

Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald. Photo: Frank McGrath

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Mary Lou for Taoiseach? Our experts pick who should be in charge in their fantasy cabinets

Four Sunday Independent political writers pick their fantasy formations.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Public will give the framework a fair wind - if it sets sail soon

For a people who are obsessed with every petty oppression of the past, it's strange what small attention has been paid to the historic coming together of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Leo's dream of a second election could end in a FG nightmare

As we celebrate the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover, our politicians have a lot to learn from the great British and Jewish politician Benjamin Disraeli.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Labour needed in government to help fix a broken economy - fairly

Professor Gary Murphy was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, so what he says is usually solid gold.

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Eoghan Harris Opinion Going boldly where no Irish government has gone before

Last week, Leo Varadkar finally stopped foot-dragging and got down to forming a democratic government.