Ireland will remain dependent on gas unless we embrace nuclear
Imagine a world in which all vehicles – bar a very few – were electric. If electric vehicles were relatively cheap to buy and to run, would there be good reason to see two-car households as a bad thing? Would there be a need to control the number of car parking spaces in new apartment developments in […]
If 166 brothels can operate openly in Ireland, the ban on paying for sex is not working
Gardaí visited 166 brothels and interviewed more than 250 people described as “sex workers” as part of an international crackdown on sex trafficking, according to a recent report in The Irish Times. The report quoted gardaí as stating that they had detected no victims of sex trafficking during the operation. But they nonetheless appealed for anyone with relevant […]
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 […]