Welcome once again to our semi-annual musings on the prospects for the Irish electoral steeplechase. The race is a marathon, not a sprint. The winning post, dissection of the outcome and prospects beyond that are all some way off. But the trend apparent in 2021 has been reinforced by the…

[This blog is operating to a fortnightly production schedule during July and August to facilitate downtime in France. Next edition will appear on 20 July. Bonnes vacances a toutes et a tous!] =================== Though Brexit is still fairly described as “recent”, there has been so much water under the bridge…

“If you have time to read only one book this year, this is the book you should read.” I wouldn’t quite say that about The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis. But I would certainly recommend its consideration for your reading list. …

Britain’s parliament is broken. It is a fire risk. It is insanitary. Asbestos worms its way through the building. …

Peter Murtagh was a relative novice as a journalist with The Irish Times in March 1982 when he met then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey strolling through the corridors of Leinster House. …

As far back as 2013, the Irish government announced plans to replace the existing national maternity hospital in the centre of Dublin with an entirely new one on the campus of St. Vincent’s Hospital, a large general hospital located in Elm Park in the southern suburbs of the city. Built…

The Irish Times front page of 25 May 1972 led with an announcement in the Dáil by the Minister for Justice, Desmond O’Malley that the Government was preparing legislation to allow the introduction of special juryless criminal courts — a response to the escalating violence of the Troubles. …

In 2010, viewers of RTE, Ireland’s national television network, voted in a public poll to choose the greatest person in the history of Ireland. The top five in ascending order were Bono, James Connolly, Mary Robinson, Michael Collins and John Hume. Three of them were still living at that time…

If the EU is stupid enough to retaliate over the NI Protocol, it will mainly be hurting itself. Britain is in a much stronger position than when we signed the treaty — we should call Brussels’ bluff This was the headline over an opinion piece in the most recent edition…