Political violence was the decisive factor in the creation of the Irish Free State
History is necessarily retrospective. Politics is prospective. Good history is concerned with truth. Bad history tries to use a particular version of events for contemporary political purposes. Of course, history is inevitably written and understood from a contemporary perspective. But good historians know that and attempt to carry out their craft in that awareness. One […]
Will Trump call to the Áras for an icy courtesy visit with Catherine Connolly?
It is almost impossible to follow, let alone describe, American foreign policy. The armed conflict with Iran which Donald Trump, for legal reasons, refuses to describe as a war, even though his self-styled secretary for war is nominally in charge, has become ridiculous. With numerous claims of victory, equally numerous claims that the Iranians are desperate to negotiate, […]
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. […]