MetroLink: Are we are setting in motion another financial runaway train?
We still have no clarity as to what Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien meant when he informed media that the 19km MetroLink project (12km to 14km underground) might now be built in two phases, the first of which would run from Swords to an unidentified point in the city centre. There has been media speculation that the two-phased approach […]
Hints about a two-phase MetroLink should ring alarm bells
Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien recently commented that the €12 billion-€20 billion MetroLink project was on track to proceed with excavation of certain sites starting some time in 2027. But he added that it was now possible that the underground railway would be built and opened on a “phased basis”. He suggested the system could be made […]
Making predictions about the world a year from now is a risky game, so here are mine
One of the less endearing characteristics of professional political commentators is their caution against being proven wrong in the future. The result, frequently, is bet-hedging, vagueness in editorial style, a blend of the lofty, vacuous and the ambiguous. As a counterpoint, I pose the question as to where we will be in one year’s time. […]
Loyalists who burn people out of their homes are firebombing their own political futures
Reflecting on the odious communal violence in Northern Ireland over the last fortnight, the first thing that comes to mind is that burning innocent people out of their homes is not new. Nor is the sight of a family’s possessions being destroyed in a sea of flames as they are bundled into the back of police vans […]
A referendum to expand the size of the cabinet would just look like ‘jobs for the boys’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin recently floated holding a referendum to amend the Constitution to increase the number of members of government. Article 28 provides as follows: “The Government shall consist of not less than seven and not more than fifteen members who shall be appointed by the President in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.” As somebody […]
The US will face a reckoning one day. In the meantime, Trump just gets more volatile
What happens in the United States often feels more like a bad dream come true than the outcome of democratic politics. If, say, 10 years ago someone suggested that a US president would one day sue the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion (€8.6 billion) and direct his own state lawyers to settle his suit by creating […]