Soldiers could lead the battle to reform public service
Irish troops serving the cause of peace internationally My column from tonight’s Evening Herald on how the reform and modernisation of the Defence Forces over the past year could prove a model for...
View ArticleCan you read and digest this Bill in 30 mins? #promnight
I defy anyone to read this and be ready to argue for or against in 30mins or less….. IRBC Bill
View ArticleNew young politicians? Yes, but some diversity too
Miliband and McEntee – Milintee? Not surprisingly, most of the commentary on the Meath East by-election result has focussed on the electoral drubbing meted out to the Irish Labour Party, but as Fergus...
View ArticleYou are playing senior hurling now lads: why renegotiating the PfG won’t work...
The late Séamus Brennan: “You are playing senior hurling now lads…” “You are playing senior hurling now lads – but you are playing with lads with All Ireland medals”. This, according to Eamon Ryan, is...
View Article#Merkel & #EU need to learn the lessons of Germany’s own economic renewal
1957 Adenauer Election Poster: No Experiments Yesterday (Thurs April 11th) the Irish Times ran a story saying that the German chancellor Angela Merkel is facing mounting political pressure at home to...
View ArticleWhy waste time speculating about possible @FiannaFailparty and @FineGaeltoday...
This piece is also on www.TNT24.ie Surely I cannot be alone in realising that there is less chance of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael linking up than there is of Luis Suarez having all his teeth pulled and...
View ArticleScrap the #Seanad? No, we need a new, revamped one more than ever
Sorry for being late in posting this – it is my Herald column from last Friday, May 24th, on why the the Government’s plan to abolish the Seanad is as far from reform as it is almost humanly possible...
View Article#LE14 changes expose the big weakness in Government’s #Seanad Abolition case
On Thursday last the hopes and political aspirations of many hundreds of aspiring and existing City and County Councillors were either dashed or revived with the publication of the new local government...
View ArticleWho is the worst Minister in Government – you decide
The first meeting of the cabinet I recently discovered the opavote.org website and wanted to try it out, so I decided to create an online poll to see how the site works. The poll is determine the worst...
View ArticlePoll results: Worst Minister in Government
Last weekend I ran a poll under PR STV on the excellent www.opavote.org website to select/elect the worst Minister in Government. I closed polling a few minutes ago. Many thanks to all those who took...
View ArticleLucinda Creighton and the “Rats in the Ranks”
Thanks to a lot of travelling with work it has been a few weeks since I last posted on here. Here are my belated thoughts on Lucinda Creighton’s departure from the ranks of the Fine Gael parliamentary...
View ArticleEnda Kenny has questions to answer after @Independent_ie reveals his #Anglo...
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, T.D. (pic from FG website) This morning’s Sunday Independent story that back in January 2009 when he was still leader of the opposition that Enda Kenny had been in informal...
View ArticleAn analysis of @REDCMD @pppolitics poll & why the @fiannafailparty leadership...
RedC Polling Today’s RedC poll for Paddy Power brings very little good news unless you are an independent or a don’t know. The unadjusted core figures rank the parties in descending order as: Fine Gael...
View ArticlePlan to give Dublin its own Boris Johnson is bonkers
Tonight’s Herald Editorial Page My column from today’s Herald on the current discussions to have directly elected mayors for Dublin in the future. ____________________ Should Dublin have its own...
View ArticleWhy @simonharristd makes the case for a #seanref #No vote much stronger #Seanad
The Seanad Chair As a firm believer in Seanad reform – and consequently a trenchant opponent of Seanad abolition – the Sunday Independent’s Millward Brown poll showing the No to Abolition side gaining...
View Article“Is Chris Andrews a Shinner or Just a Mé-Féiner”
My column from today’s Herald on Chris Andrew’s joining Sinn Féin My column in today’s Herald ———————————————————————— Cui Bono, who gains? That is the question political analysts normally ask when...
View ArticleDownload #seanref #seanad information booklet here…
Download the Seanad Information Booklet produced by Democracy Matters! Seanad Reform Information Booklet
View ArticleObama – one year on from his second victory
My column for The Herald from Washington DC on my “coffee shop” poll one year on from President Barack Obama’s second term win. My “in Washington” Herald column “The worse I do, the more popular I...
View ArticleShatter and @willieodealive were right: There is only one Óglaigh na hÉireann
Apologies for delay in posting this column which appeared in the Herald just before Christmas (on December 18th) _____________ THE people of Belfast were forced to endure a trip back in time to the bad...
View Article#ep2014 will bring new @Europarl_EN and new @EU_Commission
This is a piece on the 2014 EU Parliament elections and the appointment of a new EU Commission I wrote for the Jan 10th issue of BEERG‘s Global Labor Relations Newsletter ——————————————————————————–...
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