Leaders need to nurture hope and solidarity during Covid-19
Watching the public pronouncements of Donald Trump in the face of the Corona virus crisis, I have to confess that a part of me is hoping that the crisis will at last awaken the great majority of Americans to the reality that they are led by a brutish egomaniac driven only by considerations of electoral […]
Covid-19 Health regulations will have teeth
There is a strong case for strengthening the powers of the Government and its agencies to deal with Covid 19. The Health Act, 1947, was enacted to give sweeping powers to the Government to deal with infectious diseases. But it needs an urgent review to deal with a pandemic in modern times. As enacted, the […]
Five-year national programme needed in new reality of Covid-19
Just as we thought that the general election had created a perfect political storm in which no combination of two of the three largest parties could form a government unaided, we now have a national crisis superimposed on the political crisis. As crises go, the common coinage of politics right through the election campaign was […]
Democrats on track to tackle Trump thanks to voters not media
The outcome of Super Tuesday has been dramatic and has confounded many commentators. Joe Biden has emerged as the frontrunner supported by all of the major contenders for the Democrat nomination, with the exception of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Strangely, Mike Bloomberg’s expenditure of a half a billion dollars on advertising has failed […]
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael must join forces and grasp housing crisis
Saturday’s election has left Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on the floor and in a state of shock. Like everybody else, including Sinn Féin, they simply didn’t see the political tsunami until it hit them. However, when they cease to be winded and come to their full senses they will realise that the only way […]
Sinn Féin’s problem with names is much more than mere wordplay
In recent times articles have been written concerning the attitude of the IRA to the legitimacy of the Irish State and its institutions. Recently elected candidates have spoken about “breaking the southern state” while others have referred to the election result as signalling a rejection of the “Free State”. If all that were in issue […]