Michael McDowell: Public will not endure another lockdownPolitically, economically and socially, closing up Ireland again is not an optionWed Sept 02 2020 - 01:00
Martin and Varadkar need to earn our backing by communicating frankly with usGovernment needs to articulate a clear strategy for dealing with pandemic effectsWed Aug 26 2020 - 09:38
Michael McDowell: Would a Biden presidency be better for Ireland in particular?It would be great to see the back of Trump but a Biden presidency poses its own risksWed Aug 19 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Free the Shelbourne Four from ‘woke’ activismLet’s get one thing straight – the banished statues do not depict slavery in any wayWed Aug 12 2020 - 01:00
Trumpism may be dying but is still dangerousBiden cleverly avoiding presenting unnecessary targets for Trump attack dogsWed Aug 05 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Ireland silent on Uighurs’ plightTrade with China appears to curb our condemnation from UN Security CouncilWed Jul 29 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: EU might have disintegrated if it failed to agree post-Covid stimulus dealDeal does not determine whether federalists or realists have gained the upper handWed Jul 22 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Brace yourself for what a desperate Trump might doUS president is flailing amid his pandemic miscalculation as election battle loomsWed Jul 15 2020 - 05:00
Storey funeral highlights fundamental problems with Sinn FéinParty’s real power exercised not by politicians but by unaccountable politburoWed Jul 08 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Halting Trump tweets may be counter-productiveUncensored Trump more revealing than subtly manipulative dog-whistle versionWed Jul 01 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Sanitising Britain's imperialist past would require collective amnesiaStatues shouldn’t have to be boarded up let alone ‘defended’ by self-appointed racist thugsWed Jun 24 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: No optimism that coalition will last four yearsFF and FG marriage makes me happy but with Greens they face severe challengesWed Jun 17 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: What is ‘the science’ politicians must follow?No authoritative unitary understanding of Covid-19 epidemiological risks existsWed Jun 10 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Black Americans fear the future and so should weTrump’s coalition of both rich and poor whites is shameless and his words evilWed Jun 03 2020 - 03:00
Michael McDowell: We will laugh at the puritanism of the two metre adviceLet's imagine how, in late May 2021, we will look back on the first half of 2020Wed May 27 2020 - 01:00
Ireland should be slow to condemn KarlsruheGerman constitutional court has always been clear on limits of EU powerWed May 20 2020 - 01:00
We can’t afford to spend €1bn a year on single-use PPE in a massive fiscal crisisMichael McDowell: Enormous hole in public finances cannot simply be wished away by borrowing billionsWed May 13 2020 - 01:00
Independents a better bet than the GreensIndependents are less inclined to panic and pull the plug on governmentWed May 06 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: Donald Trump is running out of scapegoatsGrotesque performances hit US president’s popularity perhaps to Biden’s advantageWed Apr 29 2020 - 01:00
Michael McDowell: We must ease the coronavirus lockdownThe strategy to ease the lockdown cannot be dictated by public health experts aloneWed Apr 22 2020 - 01:00
The US is led by an emotional and moral monster in TrumpLike the monomaniacal ship’s master in Moby Dick, Trump’s obsession fuels his actionsWed Apr 15 2020 - 05:00
Michael McDowell: New Seanad can pass legislationUpper House is capable of functioning without incoming taoiseach’s nomineesWed Apr 08 2020 - 01:31
Michael McDowell: Covid-19 crisis raises important points on the limits of the EUState governments are better placed than Brussels to judge required remedial actionWed Apr 01 2020 - 06:00
Michael McDowell: It won't be easy, but leaders need to nurture hope and solidarityOutline of a pathway through and out of the crisis will have to be delineated soonWed Mar 25 2020 - 10:00
Michael McDowell: Coronavirus health regulations will have teeth1947 Act allows for civil prosecution of those who fail to take precautionsThu Mar 19 2020 - 07:32
Five-year national programme needed in new reality of Covid-19Michael McDowell: Short-term government would not bring predictability now vitalWed Mar 11 2020 - 01:45
Democrats on track to tackle Trump thanks to voters not mediaMichael McDowell: Bloomberg praiseworthy for focus on halting more years of US misruleFri Mar 06 2020 - 01:00
Sinn Féin’s problem with names much more than mere wordplayMichael McDowell: Loyalty to the State a duty of every citizen – and by extension members of the governmentWed Feb 26 2020 - 01:11
Fine Gael should swallow its pretend humilityMichael McDowell: Leo Varadkar cannot walk away from offer to support FF-led governmentWed Feb 19 2020 - 00:05
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael must join forces and grasp housing crisisParties must accept voters demand change and take radical actionWed Feb 12 2020 - 00:43
Sinn Féin is not a conventional democratic party – this is undeniableMichael McDowell: SF must ditch sway of unelected officials and focus on DublinWed Feb 05 2020 - 01:18
Coherent, capable and caring government must be electedMichael McDowell: Inanity and evasion beat reason in depressing TV debateWed Jan 29 2020 - 00:32
Is Ireland moving left or simply moving on?Election 2020: Fine Gael pin hopes on the Brexit factor to revive fortunes in the pollsWed Jan 22 2020 - 01:27
Michael McDowell: Time to stop kowtowing to China over TaiwanIreland has no representative office in Taiwan, the world’s 21st-largest economyWed Jan 15 2020 - 01:26
The only north Johnson cares about is north of EnglandDUP has served unionist voters poorly by supporting hard-Brexit wing of ToriesWed Dec 18 2019 - 01:32
Michael McDowell: Daft white-water rafting plan is anything but a capital ideaDublin is being destroyed by unelected officials and a lack of genuine local democracyWed Dec 04 2019 - 06:52
Let's not be throwing shapes on issue of Irish unityConfederal model is only viable approach in North for foreseeable futureWed Nov 20 2019 - 01:06
No workable alternative to some form of direct provisionDelay in deciding cases and implementing decisions is massive and indefensibleWed Nov 06 2019 - 01:51
Proxy voting an attempt to subvert ConstitutionPublic dissatisfaction would increase if TDs were allowed vote from outside DáilWed Oct 23 2019 - 00:34
Drew Harris reforms of Garda could have immediate impactCommissioner’s plan is long overdue and should make Garda careers more satisfyingMon Sept 02 2019 - 01:07
Michael McDowell: I did not blow my chance to reform the GardaMinister for Justice and Gsoc were given ample powers of oversight in my 2005 ActThu Sept 14 2017 - 05:00
Michael McDowell: Abolition of Provisional IRA was never on the cardsIRA could more easily metastasise than wind itself up – that was the greater evilWed Aug 26 2015 - 12:14
Controversy over Dáil claims raises serious issues about democracyMichael McDowell: ‘Deputy Catherine Murphy’s speech was firmly grounded in the public domain; it did not concern the private, intimate, domestic borrowings or banking affairs of just anyone or just any businessman’Sat May 30 2015 - 15:56
Michael McDowell: How did Justice get so rough?Without strong leadership – from both politicans and senior civil servants – government departments and those who work in them can quickly become dysfunctional, writes a former minister for justiceSat Aug 02 2014 - 01:00
It would be folly to deliver a single chamber into the hands of the whipsOpinion: Any reform package promised now will have no secure statusThu Oct 03 2013 - 00:01
Family of divided loyalties that was reunited in griefAll my sons’ great-grandparents were dramatically affected by the ‘decade of centenaries’ but Brian Mac Neill particularly epitomises civil war’s tragedyThu May 23 2013 - 10:00
Seanad Éireann should be reformed, not abolishedOpinion: My experience has been that the better legislative work by far is done in the Seanad, not in the DáilTue Jan 29 2013 - 00:00
Indispensable volume on company lawAn essential book for anyone whose business it is to know and to implement or operate Irish company lawMon Nov 19 2012 - 00:00
A tapestry of multiple histories and of voluntarism both in failure and triumphBOOK OF THE DAY: Cullenswood House: Old Ghosts and New Stories Edited by Victoria White A&A Farmar, 138 pp. €20Thu Mar 11 2010 - 00:00
Braving the cockpit of controversyDebating: The Literary and Historical Society (the L&H) was founded in 1855 by John Henry Newman as a forum for debate among…Sat Mar 12 2005 - 00:00
