State shows its sharp edge to the little peopleIn 1983, asked what his society would do if the Government insisted on giving the Revenue Commissioners the power to examine …Fri Oct 22 1999 - 01:00
DIRT inquiry illuminates a sectarian stereotypeA few weeks ago, after I had written about the culture that enables the DIRT and Ansbacher frauds, I had a letter from a former…Fri Oct 15 1999 - 01:00
1993 tax amnesty rewarded the cheatsAmong the most useful of modern inventions are those ingenious power plants which convert human waste into electricityFri Oct 08 1999 - 01:00
The treason of the elite in a culture of corruptionWhy did they do it? Why, in the 1980s and early 1990s, did a very significant layer of the Irish bourgeoisie withdraw from the…Fri Oct 01 1999 - 01:00
What will happen to the guilty operators?At about two o'clock in the morning of October 4th, 1991, three car-loads of detectives pulled up outside the headquarters of…Fri Sept 24 1999 - 01:00
State robbed education to pay for tax cheatsIn the image we sell to outsiders, and perhaps to ourselves, we are an extraordinarily literate peopleFri Sept 17 1999 - 01:00
The call by PAYE saps should be, we want our money backIn November 1993 Maurice Doyle, then the governor of the Central Bank, gave a talk to the Philosophical Society at Trinity College…Fri Sept 10 1999 - 01:00
Papal visit a false dawn for hopes of conservativesRummaging in the garden shed recently, I came across a small dusty, rusted, fold-up stool that must have belonged to previous…Fri Sept 03 1999 - 01:00
Scientific progress is blighted by GM cropsImagine, for a moment, this nightmarish sci-fi scenarioFri Aug 20 1999 - 01:00
Drugs war invented by Nixon to extend his powerThis week, when the Garda seized 100,000 ecstasy tablets in Dublin, the haul was widely reported to have a "street value" of £…Fri Aug 13 1999 - 01:00
Real-life experience gives lie to `armed robber' mythHaving made so much political profit from allegedly rampant lawlessness, the Government has a serious problemFri Aug 06 1999 - 01:00
Alluring myth of `Black Irish' may be a sign of hopeI was writing last week about the strange historical relationship between Ireland and ideas of racial identity and suggesting…Fri Jul 30 1999 - 01:00
Redefining Irishness within a mixed-race societyThere are two critical problems confronting contemporary IrelandFri Jul 23 1999 - 01:00
Replacing a community of believers with one of citizensWatching Orangemen claim their territory with marches and ritual displays, southern Catholics affect a kind of superior puzzlement…Fri Jul 16 1999 - 01:00
McDowell's arrival as AG a most significant assignmentThe appointment of a new Attorney General might normally generate about as much excitement as the arrival of a new assistant …Fri Jul 09 1999 - 01:00
Tammany Hall is real spiritual home of Fianna FailThe most important document for an understanding of politics in independent Ireland is not the 1916 Proclamation, the Anglo-Irish…Fri Jul 02 1999 - 01:00
Blindness to horrors of Kosovo shows left's bankruptcyThe left-wing approach to world affairs used to consist of two essential steps: (a) look at what the United States of America…Fri Jun 25 1999 - 01:00
Low polls not just a matter of apathyOne thing, at least, about today's local and European elections is entirely predictable. The turnout will be lowFri Jun 11 1999 - 01:00
A case that mocks the image of a `fair' societyOne of the habits of mind we have developed as a result of our peculiar recent history is a certain innocence about the relationship…Fri Jun 04 1999 - 01:00
What the US military experts say about PfPWilliam J. Perry was the US deputy secretary of defence from March 1993 to February 1994, and then Bill Clinton's secretary of…Fri May 28 1999 - 01:00
Not asking questions could again fail childrenIn 1971, after the publication of the Kennedy Report calling for the abolition of the industrial school system, the then Bishop…Fri May 21 1999 - 01:00
Attitudes that led to abuse entrenched in system"I trusted a system that was there. I did my own workFri May 14 1999 - 01:00
`Late Late' subjected Sinead to crass voyeurismAs a vignette of contemporary Irish values, last week's Late Late Show was just about perfectFri May 07 1999 - 01:00
But she's not thereYou can look for her in The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, or the Dictionary of Irish Literature or the Biographical Dictionary…Sat May 01 1999 - 01:00
Serbian aim to kill all Kosovans is nothing newHere is the Catholic archbishop of Skopje, Macedonia, writing to the Pope about the situation in Prizren in the neighbouring …Fri Apr 30 1999 - 01:00
Judicial class bias still to be addressedIn his eloquent and dignified resignation speech on Monday, former Mr Justice Cyril Kelly said that "the stuff of the courts …Fri Apr 23 1999 - 01:00
IRA must face up to grotesque reality of its campaignOne of the problems with a conflict that goes on as long as the one in Northern Ireland is that people start to believe their…Fri Apr 16 1999 - 01:00
A stupid, inhumane, hypocritical approachHere are the stark words of an asylumseeker: "Our choice is one of two unattractive options, to return to poverty and hopelessness…Fri Apr 09 1999 - 01:00
Hypocrisy of US position on rights is exposedLess than five years ago, Bill Clinton delivered a televised address to the American people, preparing them for an imminent US…Fri Apr 02 1999 - 01:00
Imposing rule of law on RUC is now urgentEvery day now, dozens of people deliberately get themselves arrested outside the headquarters of the New York Police Department…Fri Mar 26 1999 - 00:00
The last gasp of social democracyWhen the European Commission and Europe's most powerful finance minister resign within a week, it's safe to say something important…Fri Mar 19 1999 - 00:00
It's up to gunmen to sort out arms issuePART of the problem with the debate on decommissioning is that the history of militant Irish nationalism makes it seem irrelevant…Fri Mar 12 1999 - 00:00
Archbishop's insensitivity arises from ignoranceSpeaking on the 30th anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae last Tuesday, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell…Fri Mar 05 1999 - 00:00
Haughey's rise to become a beggar on horsebackIn April 1963, the up-market Irish women's magazine, Creation, ran a feature on the latest ideas for dinner partiesFri Feb 26 1999 - 00:00
How does joining PFP sit with Irish neutrality?The week before last, on Questions and Answers, Mary O'Rourke told the nation that the Government wanted to initiate a debate…Fri Feb 05 1999 - 00:00
The paper bag and the four green fieldsIf Tom Gilmartin's memory of his phone conversations with Padraig Flynn last autumn is correct, the Commissioner was suggesting…Fri Jan 29 1999 - 00:00
Poor Flynn has missed Ireland's new moodThree years ago, Padraig Flynn sent out Valentine's Day cards with condoms inside themFri Jan 22 1999 - 00:00
Clinton passed test on racism many failedOne of the problems with the US is that too few people have a sense of the grotesqueFri Jan 15 1999 - 00:00
Opposition to divorce condemns Hierarchy to silenceTo many conservative Catholics, exemplified by the former High Court judge, Mr Rory O'Hanlon, their church's silence on Ms Celia…Fri Jan 08 1999 - 00:00
Rising to the challenge of the electric oppositionWe are looking into a dark cave. Through a large opening at the back we see a shimmering lake and a bright, full moonTue Jan 05 1999 - 00:00
Civil War shattered a belief in our uniquenessIn contrast to the other historic anniversaries which have fallen in 1998 - the 1798 Rising, the end of the first World War, …Fri Dec 18 1998 - 00:00
Why making it tougher for the unemployed won't workLast week's budget gave very small increases to people on social welfare, especially to the unemployedFri Dec 11 1998 - 00:00
Rejoining debate not a monarchy fantasy tripIn her last significant speech as President, Mary Robinson suggested that the question "should Ireland rejoin the Commonwealth…Fri Dec 04 1998 - 00:00
Entrippment of Clinton is tangled web of intrigueEven as the US House of Representatives begins its impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton, it is becoming obvious that they have…Fri Nov 20 1998 - 00:00
If towns are country you can call me RadovanNo one has ever accused the farm lobby and its supporters of being given to understatementFri Nov 13 1998 - 00:00
For today's voter the personal is no longer politicalWhen Americans went to the polls on Tuesday, most of them probably did not see their votes as a judgment on Bill Clinton, Monica…Fri Nov 06 1998 - 00:00
Whingeing farmers who forget their collusion in corruptionGalling as Wednesday's demonstrations may have been to most Dubliners, farmers have a perfect right to protest in their capital…Fri Oct 30 1998 - 00:00
