Should we re-roof the Rock of Cashel?
During the summer, I had occasion to travel to Portumna to collect some boating equipment with a family member. Our business done, I suggested that we should call into Portumna Castle. It would be my first visit for more than 20 years. The castle was a fortified residence of Richard Burke, Fourth Earl of Clanrickard and Lord […]
Britain’s asylum shake-up poses big problems for Ireland
The British home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood of 15 years, a barrister, a former secretary of state for justice and former lord chancellor. Her family background is Kashmiri Muslim, and her parents were migrants to the UK. She is regarded as being on the more conservative wing of the current Labour Party. She is […]
Ireland badly needs to face up to the minimum responsibilities entailed in our independence
Now that Catherine Connolly is our 10th president, her role under Article 13.4 of the Constitution as supreme command of the Defence Forces comes into sharper focus. Although she has been sceptical and critical in relation to increased defence spending by Nato states, the plain fact is that Ireland’s Defence Forces has been allowed to atrophy over the last 40 years […]
This election wasn’t a lurch to the left, but a victory for Keep The Other Lot Out politics
Given that the vast majority of important decisions for Ireland’s future will continue to be made in Government Buildings, Leinster House, the White House, Capitol Hill, and the Berlaymont in Brussels (in no particular and quite changeable order) for the next four years, rather than in Áras an Uachtaráin, the outcome of last Friday’s election should be […]
Ireland should not be told by Brussels or Washington what to do about policing speech
We have to wise up to the drift of events across the European Continent. There are many in our establishment who make the argument that Ireland needs to be at the centre of EU affairs where we can aspire to “punch above our weight”. They argue that unless we are at that centre we will […]
Why I didn’t nominate Maria Steen for the presidency
I have been elected to Seanad Éireann on three occasions after standing as a liberal republican candidate. My record as a parliamentarian since 1987 has been consistently liberal on social and economic matters. I have taken the liberal side in successive referendums such as the divorce, marriage equality, Oireachtas powers and the Repeal the Eighth referendums. I […]