New Seanad can pass legislation without incoming Taoiseach’s nominees
It has been suggested that the Oireachtas cannot legislate at the moment because the Seanad has yet to be “fully constituted” pending the nomination of 11 members by the Taoiseach appointed by the Dail after the General Election. The argument seems to be that the Seanad cannot lawfully be convened unless and until the 11 […]
Government in the public interest is needed now while financial chaos causes human suffering
Only time will tell whether the Goverment’s relief package including the wage subsidy will be effective in saving a broad range of enterprises from financial collapse in the coming weeks. Because it was emergency legislation, it was rushed. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions. The Act as passed seems to prohibit any subsidy in […]
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 […]