John Downing

Taoiseach Micheál Martin before his live video call with survivors of the mother and baby homes on Tuesday. Photo: Julien Behal Photography/PA

Premium

John Downing Opinion The nation is close to ‘apology fatigue’ and now mother and baby homes survivors need restitution

For Irish politicians “sorry used to be the hardest word” – but now sorry seriously risks becoming a political commonplace and the nation is near apology fatigue.

Courage: Frank Cluskey’s welfare benefits for lone mothers changed society

Premium

Cluskey’s memory shines through from this very grim Mother and Baby report

The name of Frank Cluskey has emerged as one of the scarce positive aspects of the 3,000 pages of the Mother and Baby Homes report.

St Mary's Magdalene Laundry in Stanhope Street, Dublin. Photo: News Dog Media

‘Inconvenient women and children’ were best kept ‘out of sight’ in mother and baby homes

So we are reminded yet again: Of course, there was sex in Ireland before the advent of television. But there is strong evidence that, for many decades, we didn’t talk much at all about this essential facet of human existence.

Shrine: People pay their respects at the unmarked grave where the remains of almost 800 infants were buried in Tuam, Co Galway. Photo: Laura Hutton

Premium

John Downing Opinion Report will be worthless if victims of mother and baby homes don’t get redress

‘Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense that it was a 19th century society up to about 1970 – and then it almost bypassed the 20th century.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin briefing the media yesterday following a Cabinet meeting at Government Buildings.

Premium

John Downing Opinion Clear communication is crucial during vaccine roll-out

Ned O’Sullivan, the quiet Kerry senator, has probably forgotten more about politics than many of us will ever learn. And the other day he took to social media to note that Israel, so long an international pariah for some political activists, is suddenly being cited as an example because of the speed with which people are being vaccinated against Covid-19.

Covid is Mr Martin’s ‘odd friend’. Photo: Julien Behal

Premium

John Downing Opinion History teaches us that there is rarely ‘a good time’ for a leadership coup

There is an old joke about a magician cum ventriloquist who worked the ocean liners. His magic was a bit ropey, so his main trope was a bolshie parrot perched on his shoulder giving very scathing commentaries on his attempts at sleight of hand.

Hard: EU Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne says the UK's EU absence is a source of regret.

We won't change our tax regime in return for support on Brexit – Byrne

Ireland will always acknowledge EU support in getting “a good Brexit result” – but never agree that changes to its company tax regime must be conceded in return.

Farmers can now get 100pc tax back for farm safety measures

Farmers are being offered 100pc tax relief for equipment to improve farm safety and save lives, Junior Agriculture Minister, Martin Heydon, has revealed.

Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen believes Micheál Martin should not lead the party into the next general election. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Cowen’s stinging criticism of Fianna Fáil leader divides party, as support grows for power heave

More Fianna Fáil TDs have expressed doubts about Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s leadership of the party – after former minister Barry Cowen said he should not lead them into the next election.

Former European Commissioner Phil Hogan. Photo: AP/Virginia Mayo

Premium

Green Party fears about EU-Canada trade deal are ‘wrong’, Phil Hogan insists

The Green Party is “wrong about the EU-Canada trade deal”, former EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan has insisted.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was ‘not possible’ to rule out steps such as closing building sites or setting curfews. Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

Tighter lockdown within weeks unless cases fall

Tighter restrictions, including a reduction of the 5km exercise limit to just 2km, may be introduced in a desperate bid to tackle spiral ling Covid-19 infections.

Cowen’s stinging criticism of Fianna Fáil leader divides party, as support grows for power heave

More Fianna Fáil TDs have expressed doubts about Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s leadership of the party – after former minister Barry Cowen said he should not lead them into the next election.

Birds fly around one of the cranes at the Harland and Wolff shipyard at sunrise in Belfast on New Year's Day. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters

Premium

North’s 2021 census changes may not mean end of the Border

The Northern Ireland Census, due in March 2021, is expected to show a nationalist majority for first time in the North’s 100-year existence which is also being commemorated this year.

Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Willie O’Dea. Photo: Tom Burke

Law changes are needed to protect workers’ pay-offs when firms close, says O’Dea

The law must be changed to give workers who are made redundant more rights and to protect their legal entitlements to a proper pay-off, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Willie O’Dea has said.

Joe Biden’s victory was good news for Ireland – but he is a union man and any new trade deals will be hard fought. Photo: Mark Makela/Getty

Premium

John Downing Opinion My eight political predictions for 2021 – but please don’t quote me on them...

Predictions – especially those that relate to the political future – are a total mug’s game. Yet they can be fun, though less so when some tedious pedant unearths them 12 months later to point out some, er, shortcomings.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin called on the public to 'stay at home and eliminate contacts'. Photo: Julien Behal

Final Covid battle ‘will be toughest’ as Taoiseach warns rising case numbers 'will deteriorate further over the coming days'

The new year will begin with at least a month of restrictive lockdown in a bid to crush the comeback of the coronavirus and buy vital time to vaccinate vulnerable groups.

Deal: UK chief trade negotiator David Frost looks on as Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement in London yesterday. Photo: PA

Premium

John Downing Opinion Now comes the big parting of EU ways for Ireland and UK after 47 years

From the beginning, amid the ashes, misery and poverty of the post World War II world, Ireland’s European fate was largely driven by London.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Willie O'Dea

Welfare review is needed due to price hikes, says O’Dea

Brexit will inevitably increase the price of food and other basic household items, hitting people dependent on welfare the hardest, Fianna Fáil’s new finance spokesman Willie O’Dea has said.

Future: How Taoiseach Micheál Martin responds to issues in 2021 will decide Fianna Fáil’s fate. Photo: PA

Premium

John Downing Opinion Chronicle of a death foretold may move closer to reality for Fianna Fáil in 2021

This time 12 months ago we thought we ‘knew’ all sorts of things, which turned out to be total rot. And I’m not just talking about the unseen Covid-19, which nobody at all in this country knew a blessed thing about, but which was about to knock the stuffing out of our politics and much else.

Controversy: Phil Hogan resigned from his position as EU Trade Commissioner on August 26 following the fallout from Golfgate. Photo: David Conachy

Premium

The Big Interview: ‘It would have been nice if I had got some kind of due process’ – Phil Hogan breaks silence on Golfgate

Phil Hogan is speaking four months after his enforced resignation as Ireland’s EU Commissioner . It was a resignation unprecedented in the country’s 47 years of EU membership.

Premium

The Big Interview: ‘It would have been nice if I had got some kind of due process’ – Phil Hogan breaks silence on Golfgate

Phil Hogan is speaking four months after his enforced resignation as Ireland’s EU Commissioner . It was a resignation unprecedented in the country’s 47 years of EU membership.

Enda Kenny ‘stressed the needs of the Border region’. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Phil Hogan says UK was left ‘embarrassed’ by its failure to identify what it wanted from Brexit talks

The UK government was left embarrassed by its failure to identify what it truly wanted from Brexit trade negotiations, according to former EU Commissioner, Phil Hogan.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged a positive future relationship with the European Union. Photo: Reuters/Toby Melville

Premium

Whatever the cost and red tape, any Brexit deal is better than none

You are already forgiven if you had long ago tuned out of the repetitive Brexit noise amid a sense of “déjà vu all over again” and a more immediate preoccupation with that other bundle of joy, Covid-19.

Downing Street in London after a source said a post-Brexit trade deal could be agreed with Brussels. Photo: PA

Premium

John Downing Opinion With more of a whimper than a bang, Brexit’s headed for the exit

And lo it came to pass on Christmas Eve, that after four years of threats of mutual economic Armageddon, high-wire diplomacy, low-grade name-calling, and an inevitable potentially deal-breaking row over fish, Brexit was about to just limp out the gate.

Fish continues to be the last big sticking point for Michel Barnier and his team of EU negotiators. Photo: AP

Premium

Brexit Briefing: Michel Barnier might just get a deal under his Christmas tree tonight – but there are no guarantees

It’s all mostly agreed – bar the fish. Christmas is as good to Brexit negotiators as it is to anyone else.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier moved on the fishery crux when he offered to give up 25pc of the EU boats’ €650m catch in lucrative UK waters. Photo: Olivier Hoslet/AP

Premium

Brexit Briefing: Just 10 days left and, yes, that was the sound of another deadline being smashed

British Brexit negotiators were treated to mulled wine and mince pies at the splendid UK embassy to the EU close to the Brussels talks centre on Sunday evening.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster during a leaders’ summit at Stormont last January. Photo: Liam McBurney/Pool via REUTERS

Premium

John Downing Opinion As Northern Ireland turns 100 this week, we need to reflect and we need to talk

Next Wednesday Northern Ireland turns 100 as it was on December 23, 1920 that the Government of Ireland Act was passed in the London parliament.

A fishing vessel comes into the harbour in the fishing village of Howth, Dublin. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Premium

John Downing Opinion Brexit’s ‘final hours’ have arrived – and it’s mainly all about fishing rights

“It’s the moment of truth. We have very little time remaining — just a few hours," Michel Barnier said.

Hundreds of survivors of sex abuse in schools – many of whose abusers were convicted in court – have had hopes of success in redress scheme claims dashed

‘It’s causing untold trauma’: Survivors of sex abuse in schools face ‘culture of obstruction and denial’ when they seek redress from State, report claims

VICTIMS of sex abuse in schools face an official “culture of obstruction and denial” – leaving many survivors to die without redress, a new official report for the Government states.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels, Belgium December 9, 2020. Olivier Hoslet/Pool via REUTERS

Premium

Brexit: Growing hope that a no-deal crash-out can be averted after many false dawns

USUALLY talkative people have gone quiet, the UK pound sterling is at a two-year high, and UK MPs expect their Christmas break, due to start today, to be delayed into next week.