Perhaps it is an age thing but one of the most irritating, vacuous songs considered to be a rock classic must surely be Imagine written by John Lennon with the assistance of the deeply weird Yoko Ono. It will be 50 years old next year. Lennon was a key part of the then contemporary zeitgeist […]
Sinn Féin’s spectacular and unforeseen triumph in the general election has brought new focus on the party and the way in which it is run. That has intensified as post-election polls would seem to point to an even better result in the event of coalition talks failing and a new election being called. All this […]
One of the questions arising from our look at the role of cuckoo funds in the Irish property market is whether it is possible for states to curb their power and influence. Are there any countries which have been able to prevent international funds gaining a major foothold within their domestic housing market and pricing […]
Those of us who live in certain parts of Dublin and other cities and towns will be aware that there is a significant drug economy. Lots of people it would seem use all sorts of substances that can only be bought from the people who are the Dunnes Stores and Tescos of this economic demi-monde. […]
Despite the heated exchanges between Mary Lou McDonald and Micheál Martin in the Dáíl, one of the more likely Sinn Féin TDs to get a ministerial car if they are successful in inveigling their way into power is Chris Andrews, a scion of one of the founding families of Fianna Fáil. Andrews left Fianna Fáil […]
I have been thinking a lot about dogs. This is what you do when you get older and spend more time with them. Like the Tom T Hall song, old dogs and children and watermelon wine. I shall take a pass on the watermelon wine. They are endlessly fascinating creatures. ‘Do they have souls?’ was […]
I knew a woman from around Ardboe in East Tyrone whose family narrowly missed being killed by the loyalist outfit now commonly referred to as the Glenanne Gang. They were fortunate to have been out of their farmhouse in the fields and outhouses when their apparently friendly bread man who was a part-time member of […]
One of the main issues in the recent election was housing. We live in a state where even those who can afford to in many cases cannot buy or rent a place to live. That is a major fail on any level. It is going to be exacerbated by the state’s plan to increase the […]
The Cork senior hurlers and footballers will wear a black jersey for their next national league games to commemorate two former Cork City mayors who died in 1920. The first of those was Lord Mayor Tomás Mac Curtain who was murdered by the Royal Irish Constabulary (who Minister Charles Flanagan sought to commemorate) at his house […]
My grandmother, Esther Hannon, had two heroes other than Mattie my namesake granddad who was from Tipperary and whose own history remains a mystery. We are not closely related to the most famous Treacy who was from the football part of the county. She was a Dub going back generations, although her own mother, a […]
Sinn Féin members have been told that they need to maintain “maximum unity and cohesion” as they enter post-election talks aimed at forming a government. They have named a public negotiation team, but members have been told that others of the “core group” of the party are involved. The final election results present an interesting […]
It would not be an exaggeration to describe this general election as one of the most extraordinary in the history of the state. The only comparable one I can think of is the 1948 election which led to the participation of Clann na Phoblacta in government but their advance was nothing compared to that of […]