Our TDs want to be landlords, so why doesn’t the State? Some 35% of members of the Oireachtas are landlords or landowners, wildly out of step with the country at largeFri Aug 26 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Commemorating Michael Collins has been tricky for all political partiesApproaching his legacy without bias is a noble aim but beyond Martin and Varadkar sharing a platform, the habits of a century will hardly be brokenFri Aug 19 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Greece burns while the tourists fiddle with their phonesThere are no shortage of ambitious targets being outlined in both Greece and Ireland to reduce carbon emissions, but stubborn national myopia also persistsFri Aug 12 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Liz Truss has yet to show any interest in or understanding of IrelandWhen Tony Blair was elected 25 years ago, he was heavily engaged with the politics of Northern Ireland. Now we have a Tory elite that couldn’t care lessFri Aug 05 2022 - 05:00
David Trimble understood that unionism had to changeUUP leader took a difficult path and in the end, even unionism’s most entrenched enemies of change adopted his approachFri Jul 29 2022 - 05:00
Cathal Brugha: ‘An Indomitable Spirit’ — a sympathetic if not uncritical reappraisalDiarmaid Ferriter on a nuanced portrait of a man who ‘fought and died in a civil war that he opposed’Sat Jul 09 2022 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Reconstruction of records destroyed in Four Courts a sign of political maturityBoth sides in the Civil War sought to lay the blame for the destructiuon of the public records office on each otherFri Jul 01 2022 - 05:00
Ireland urgently needs to learn lessons from its past to survive inflation surgeThe lessons of history must be heeded as politicians grapple with a price spiralFri Jun 24 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: The 1922 election set an important precedent for the century that followedThe election was overshadowed by the Civil War but its significance should not be forgottenFri Jun 17 2022 - 01:00
Protocol impasse the latest chapter in well over a century of Tory misuse of the Irish questionManagement of the Conservative Party has always taken precedence over the stability and welfare of Northern Ireland that is supposedly essential to the `integrity of the UK’Fri Jun 10 2022 - 05:00
United Nation: The Case for Integrating Ireland: Thoughtful if over-optimisticFrank Connolly draws on nuanced reflections about likelihood and logistics of unitySat Jun 04 2022 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Inflationary lessons of Richie Ruin should be heeded by GovernmentAs Fine Gael minister for finance in 1973-1977 Ryan presided over a period of high inflationFri Jun 03 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: It seems life and liberty cannot be balanced in the USHistory teaches that we should not expect any meaningful moves on gun control in the USFri May 27 2022 - 05:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Brexit ineptitude shows Anglo-Irish relations have come full circleBritish politics today is poisoned by Brexiteers inept in the art of statecraftFri May 20 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: How the Irish became Britain’s oldest, loneliest ethnic groupDiarmaid Ferriter on Catherine Dunne’s reissued An Unconsidered PeopleTue May 17 2022 - 06:18
Diarmaid Ferriter: Would Brexit fallout push EU to advocate for Irish unity?European Union vocal and financially generous in support of peace processFri May 13 2022 - 01:00
Despair, defiance and democracy: Ireland in 1922Part of the challenge of this year’s centenary is to confront the silences around 1922Tue May 10 2022 - 06:01
Diarmaid Ferriter: Concerns over new NMH are understandable given Irish historyPlenty of reminders on church power, especially when it came to women’s welfareFri May 06 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Turf-burning row exposes myopic localismAmid the mock horror among rural politicians, issue of global warming fails to registerFri Apr 29 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Green Party concern on turf not snobberyA notable level of double speak exists about measures needed to tackle climate changeFri Apr 22 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Psychology of Putin seems horribly simpleBloodlusting Russian leader reveres strength regardless of human tollFri Apr 15 2022 - 01:00
Spare a thought for Griffith amid centenary of Collins’s deathWorking-class Dubliner did not fall in combat but covered for others at crucial timesFri Apr 08 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Superficiality cloaks desire for united IrelandDespite SF claim to speak of little else, call for unity weakens before tax and symbolsFri Apr 01 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Call for truth commission on adoption should be heededInvestigation model has proven too lengthy, legalistic and cautiousFri Mar 25 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Labour Party not entitled to survive but would be missedParty’s history and contribution, collectively, amount to something substantialFri Mar 18 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Ireland’s neutrality did not equate to silence and inactionState championed nuclear non-proliferation and contributed to peacekeeping missionsFri Mar 11 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Ukraine arguments risk denigrating its complex historyStripping the country of its right to be other than a buffer is a trouncing of its dignityFri Mar 04 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: UCD Confucius Institute not above criticismAcademics entitled to be concerned over extent of Chinese government influenceFri Feb 25 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: It will take more than political stances to shake up 100-year-old SeanadForum for anything but ‘other voices’ could become a permanent citizens’ assemblyFri Feb 18 2022 - 01:00
Will the Army ever be given the financial capacity to protect this island?Commission on the Defence Forces lays bare the consequences of neglect and underspendingFri Feb 11 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Old-age pension is about much more than moneyAims of De Valera for old-age pension remain attractive and laudableFri Feb 04 2022 - 01:26
Diarmaid Ferriter: Fianna Fáil now bereft of its catch-all credentialsSoldiers of Destiny unlikely to charm both sides of political divide: the winners and losersFri Jan 28 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Will an Garda Síochána tackle sordid aspects of its own history during centenary?Apologies long overdue to those who suffered egregious behaviour of gardaí in 1970sFri Jan 21 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Have we really got to stage where the auld Púca must be cancelled?‘Sinister’ sculpture of pagan mythological figure will now not be erected in Clare townFri Jan 14 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Tension, tears and anger as Treaty ratified 100 years agoToo easy to take a simplistic hero-and-villain view of those on both sides of the debateFri Jan 07 2022 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: The treaty passed and peace of Christmas 1921 shatteredCatholic bishops gave treaty crucial backing in Christmas day homiliesFri Dec 24 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Desire for united Ireland remains theoreticalLittle dialogue on pragmatics of North and South joining back togetherFri Dec 17 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: State drags its heels over Thalidomide apologyGovernment’s delay in drug recall could be responsible for up to 50% of injuries hereFri Dec 10 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Latest assessment of Haughey era seems derailed by deferenceNew biography devotes more attention to family rejection of Moriarty contents than to findingsFri Dec 03 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: An ‘official’ Troubles history is not needed right nowChief problem with a UK-commissioned history is not just one of accuracy, but credibilityFri Nov 26 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: It would be a mistake not to reflect on trauma of pandemicCovid-19 must not be buried in amnesia or our health service failures be forgottenFri Nov 19 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Currie always doubted South’s commitment to the NorthCivil rights leader rued lost opportunity of short-lived 1973 powersharing agreementFri Nov 12 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Climate nationalism could be the end of the worldThe necessary action is being stalled by national and sectoral pleading and defianceFri Nov 05 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Colourisation undermines the essence of old photosThere is now a relentless quest to seemingly ‘improve’ original photos and video footageFri Oct 29 2021 - 01:00
Puttnam’s speech highlights hollow nature of British politicsNorthern Ireland might be a useful pawn, but for how long and with what consequences?Fri Oct 22 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Can celebrity SUV virtue waving please cease?I roll my eyes when I look at their cost and the notion that they represent sustainabilityFri Oct 15 2021 - 01:00
Tension between unionist hearts and pockets as relevant today as 100 years agoDiarmaid Ferriter: In 1921 many also thought trade would provide impetus for Irish unityFri Oct 08 2021 - 01:00
We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958, by Fintan O’TooleBook review: An original and absorbing work underpinned by a profound humanenessSat Oct 02 2021 - 06:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Sexual abuse in the Army has been ignored for decadesWhy does it take a broadcast to prompt a sense of urgency to act upon systemic abuse?Fri Oct 01 2021 - 01:00
Diarmaid Ferriter: Armagh controversy vindicates independent presidencyControversy a reminder of changes in perception and style of presidencyFri Sept 24 2021 - 03:52
