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Gene Kerrigan Opinion When sharing the air with Travellers is a breath too far

As the week began, I was under the mistaken impression we had identified the least impressive individual in Irish political life: Fine Gael Councillor Maurice Dockrell.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Parachutes at the ready for royal popularity plunge

There’s something the Taoiseach should know about the new King across the water, Charles. This information just might save the Taoiseach’s life over the next year or two — whether that Taoiseach be Mr Martin, Mr Varadkar or Ms McDonald. But, first, Operation London Bridge.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Bigotry against Traveller minority can only be ended by efforts of settled community – politicians don’t have the courage

The online creeps were at it again last week — they never miss an opportunity to express their hatred for Travellers. And the Tallaght tragedy provided that.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion A 47pc pay rise for the man who puts up energy prices

Looks like we’re heading into a tough winter — and I’m not referring to the weather. The cold, the rain and the snow we can deal with, but runaway price rises, inflation and the greed of those who already have more than enough are going to do the damage.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Robert Troy is a mere minnow among the sharks

The media labelled Robert Troy’s activities a “property scandal”. In truth, the TD is small fry. I can’t see how Mr Troy benefited from what he did or didn’t do. However, recent events revealed two things about Mr Troy.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion The cynical rewriting of Blueshirt history

So, Fine Gael organised a barbecue in memory of Michael Collins, to mark the hundredth anniversary of his killing. And a lunch. And 19 showings of the Neil Jordan movie about Michael Collins. And — for a fiver — they’ll sell you a commemorative pin of Michael Collins to wear on your lapel.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion A Bertie Ahern comfort blanket cannot cover sins of the past

For a while now, the Bring Back Bertie Brigade (BBBB) has been on manoeuvres. Bring back Bertie Ahern, the argument goes, give him a meaningful official role in helping sort out the mess in the North. Well, sure, OK — we could do that, see how it works out.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion It’s silly season — Sabina letter was the perfect scoop

Are we all done, now? Anyone else care to vent about the President’s missus and the invasion of Ukraine? I suspect some of our Ukrainian guests are a little puzzled about what happened last week when Irish politicians got terribly angry about the strategic consequences of a letter written by the President’s wife.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Banking clowns are getting cultured

These days, you can get paid for standing in the street with a pen and a clipboard and asking people: “Do you trust bankers?”

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Blaming Putin for ‘Paddy Tax’ is just another racket

Any time we’re in the midst of a significant political shift — as we are now — we see only the aspects the politicians and the media get excited about. Later on, we see the bigger picture.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion No political vision, no telescopes required

Last week, for reasons I can’t fathom, Sinn Féin put down a motion of no-confidence in the Government. Everyone knew the three coalition parties had the numbers to vote total confidence in themselves. Why Sinn Féin gave them an easy win, I don’t know.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion They haven’t gone away, y’know

One of the drawbacks of writing about Irish politics is that you have to pay attention to political stories of little substance. Some of them can get quite hyped up, but then you look closer and they’re not all they’re cracked up to be.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Sophie Toscan du Plantier: A quarter century since her murder and we’re still fumbling around in the dark

Here we go again. Another twist in the du Plantier case. But let’s not rehash the awful murder; let’s go to the conflict at the heart of the case — between the Garda Síochána and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Biting lumps out of hapless Tories and media celebs

It was great fun, watching Her Majesty’s over-confident, under-talented politicians take a hiding. And there was the bonus of watching Her Majesty’s loyal media celebrities making fools of themselves. The Mick Lynch story last week provided social media — here and across the water — with a new hero.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Invisible lines and silent presidents

There was a time when politicians went to extraordinary lengths to protect the image of the president. While working for Magill magazine in 1983, I wrote a lengthy, irreverent piece about President Paddy Hillery of Fianna Fáil. Thirty years later, the state papers from 1983 were opened and the Irish Times revealed how the Fianna Fáil leader of the time — a Mr Haughey — discussed my irreverent article with the leader of Fine Gael, a Mr FitzGerald.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Yes, our politicians are pretty bad, but just look at the neighbours next door

The neighbours have been very noisy lately. Truth is, the neighbours are going through a bad patch. Their reigning figurehead, Elizabeth Windsor, had a big party because she’s been queen for 70 years and her subjects have been bowing and scraping even more vigorously than usual. Recreational grovelling.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion High flyers, low pay, long queues

Remember the pandemic bonus announced in early January for workers on the Covid frontlines? Tens of thousands of people were due to get it, tax-free. Last week, RTÉ’s News at One reported that — five months later — only one in eight of those due between €600 and €1,000 each have so far seen any cash.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Need workers? Then dole out more cash

How come there are 150,000 people claiming unemployment assistance at the same time there are around 40,000 vacant jobs in pubs and restaurants?

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion When politicians need to show they (really, really) care

There are times when I think newspaper columns that deal with Irish politics should be written by theatre critics. What passes for political activity is often no more than contrived drama.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Is the Taoiseach fit for purpose?

There was a time, about 20 years ago, when Micheál Martin seemed to some of us like that rarest of things in Irish politics — a mainstream idealist with a few useful ideas. He gave the impression he was in politics for a reason beyond merely holding on to the seat.

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‘New hospital for a tenner’ may come at too high a price

The Taoiseach is under a lot of pressure — the kind of pressure that leads to costly mistakes. It perhaps explains why he has been saying things that are not quite true. Micheál Martin is in a tight political corner. From all sides he’s being told he has to get the contract signed for the new National Maternity Hospital.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Mr Watt has a lightbulb moment

Here are three things I know about Robert Watt, super civil servant, who heads up the Department of Health. First, his wages are in the neighbourhood of €298,000 a year — and that’s a very nice neighbourhood indeed.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Just what our politics needs: Stalin-like applause police in the Dáil

In the words of Miriam Lord in the Irish Times: “There was much scanning of the Dáil chamber after Zelensky’s speech to identify the TDs who did not clap.” Well, imagine that! The arrival of the remarkable Mr Zelensky in our parliament — albeit a virtual presence — aroused celebrity excitement of the kind not seen since the last time Matt Damon went for a stroll in Dalkey, Co Dublin.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion The politicians are flying solo now, may God help us

Let’s sum up the seriousness of our circumstances. First, we are enduring the worst wave of Covid infection — in terms of numbers — since the beginning of the pandemic.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Warm hearts and cold shoulders in the great refugee quandary

Ireland and refugees… it’s complicated. We can’t seem to make our minds up: should we hug them or should we drown them?

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Uncle Sam’s gift of the guff flatters to deceive Micheál

No, you’re wrong.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion This time, we did the right thing

The people act in solidarity. Children donate their pocket money and adults offer the use of a spare room. Refugee fundraising goes on in all the usual places, with the Late Late Show leading the way. When the Ukrainians needed help, we did the right thing.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Vladimir Putin’s terror no excuse to lose our prized neutrality

After two years coughing into our elbows, the worst of the Covid plague seemed to be over. Two years of non-stop tension. Finally — despite some worrying Covid data coming in from abroad — even the most cautious amongst us became hopeful.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion The ‘Reit’ way to get things done

Margaret Sweeney is the CEO of a company called Ires Reit, and last Wednesday she had a pleasant duty to perform.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion RTÉ ‘hit job’ on Sinn Féin failed to land a punch

RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live last week devoted a whole show to examining “The Rise of Sinn Féin”. Some party supporters were annoyed and had a go at the broadcaster. Given RTÉ’s view of the party, they claimed, such a show was bound to be unfair. All the usual accusations.