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Gene Kerrigan Opinion No room for game-playing in context of Covid

The Government got a slagging for dropping its three-day school opening plan for Leaving Cert students.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Dangerous missteps on the Walk of Doom

Taoiseach Micheál Martin did the Walk of Doom again last week. That's the little drama they stage these days when he wants to impress us with the calm authority he brings to the task of fighting Covid.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Nphet is fallible, but it's the best tool we have

Suddenly, everything has changed. We'd become used to assuming that if the majority of us remained careful we might thwart the virus.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion No bailing Martin out of FF's denial of reality

Some people were a little confused by the behaviour last week of the Taoiseach Micheál Martin. And no one seemed more confused than Mr Martin himself.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Taken to the cleaners by the People Who Matter

It's raining money. All some people have to do is stand still and watch the waves of money approach.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion No magic involved, just money and science

There are people writing tabloid headlines telling us the "magic jab" is coming to save us from Covid-19 and restore normality.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion The truth, the Woulfe truth, and nothing but

The truth is in the transcript of what was said in the Dáil on Thursday - and what was not said.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Kidding ourselves thinking adults in charge

Given the dangers of the next few weeks, what we need is coherent political leadership. We don't have that.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Imagine that: we're doing something right

In the coming days and weeks, small groups of people - judges and politicians - have two big decisions to make. Some of this will affect the rest of us.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion We're the good guys, the rules don't apply

The Government last week decided to let all State officials know they needn't be too fussy about observing the rules of confidentiality.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Even if he loses the election, Trump wins

Win or lose on Tuesday, Donald J Trump has been an extraordinarily successful president. Far more successful than, for instance, Barack Obama.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Revelling in the new FF-FG v Nphet rivalry

There are times when I envy the headbangers - those groups that promote crank politics in which everything is either deep state or fake news. Or both.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Panicking politicians, pound-shop messiahs

There was a moment back in June when it dawned on me this might not go so well. To be fair, the politicians hit the ground running. When the first case of coronavirus hit us at the end of February, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) had been in business for a full month.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Whiskey not the cure for soured relations

Right now, we desperately need competent political leadership, but that's something our politicians have always dodged.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Patriotism, the last refuge of the scoundrel

Let's look on the bright side. Let's look at those for whom the coronavirus crisis has been something of a blessing.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion 'Greed is good' won't cut it in a pandemic

Yes, I was annoyed, and resentful too, when I saw the video of those kids crushed into a house party in Sligo. And, yes, they were reckless and selfish.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Truly clueless hold the deepest convictions

Journalists are supposed to reveal if they have a personal stake in matters about which they're writing. So, here goes.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Politicians on a collision course with public

During a pandemic, a risky act of self-indulgence is an act of indifference against your neighbours.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion We're playing with a handicap: FF and FG

The political chaos of the past week involved two kinds of self-indulgence.

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Gene Kerrigan: Meat plants are the real scandal that stinks

It was a simple Freedom of Information request on a matter than didn't send the pulse racing. But it says a lot about the reality of how we're governed.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Meat plants are the real scandal that stinks

It was a simple Freedom of Information request on a matter than didn't send the pulse racing. But it says a lot about the reality of how we're governed.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Some white, middle-class men are more equal than others

And so, with a defiant tweet, the White Lives Matter movement was born. "If you are white, male or even worse middle-class, Sinn Féin doesn't want you," tweeted the current leader of Fine Gael.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion We had the Patrick's Day 'like no other' and the summer 'like no other' - dare we hope the Christmas is old-style?

Looking forward to Christmas? Any plans yet? Next Saturday it'll be a year since Brown Thomas opened its 2019 Christmas Shop.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion 'Desperate' to get a break, after 37 days

The fun thing about this three-cornered Government is the way the phases of excitement and scandal merge into one another.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Well, €96k here, €16k there, it all adds up as politicians seem determined to reduce even further our respect for parliament

In recent days, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have been forced to move fast, in the open. We've seen with unusual clarity the underbelly of their type of politics.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion First on the agenda, gut low-paid workers

So, we've taken a hiding from a disaster we didn't see coming, but it's okay. The political parties assure us that we're "all in this together".

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Hey, wait now... his car's bigger than my car

It took months for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens to cobble together a Government. It took days for them to turn it into a laughing stock.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion SF caught between the future and the past

Sinn Fein took a hiding last week, and deservedly so. There was, unsurprisingly, a "gotcha" element in the media coverage that followed Bobby Storey's funeral.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Cheer up, we're getting 20 mini-ministers

Last week, by chance, I found myself back in 1985. I had received a query related to a story that appeared in Vincent Browne's Magill magazine all those years ago, written by the late Derek Dunne.

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Gene Kerrigan Opinion Are the Greens a movement - or a prop?

Green Party members have been studying the proposed Fianna Fail/Fine Gael programme for government. Such diligence is necessary, laudable and a waste of time.