If you’re going to go and U-turn on commitments, why go back on those which were intended to protect low-average income groups? By Michael Taft.

On 27 November 2012, the Eurogroup (comprising the Eurozone’s finance ministers) reached a decision on Greece. Its essence is a guarantee that Greece will remain in the Eurozone (and therefore off the Northern European agenda) for another ten to twelve months; at the very least until the German federal political cycle has seen through the election of a new Bundestag. The repercussions of this short-sighted agreement are grave not only for Greece but for the Eurozone, and indeed the European Union, more broadly.

This present government, which promised an end to politics as it had been, has continued in the rut of politics as it has been and continued to use blatant party affiliation as a basis of appointment to the judiciary. By Vincent Browne.

The unborn do not have an unqualified right to life: that qualification centres crucially on the pregnant woman and only she should decide. By Vincent Browne.

How anybody thought an investigation panel into the death of a person in a hospital controlled by the Health Service Executive could include medics from that hospital and a representative of the HSE itself would be beyond belief were it not devised by the hapless James Reilly.

So too is the absence of any clear legal basis for investigation, made worse by the absence of legal expertise on the panel.

If means-testing delivers resources to those most in need, then we should have seen this in Ireland. But have we? By Michael Taft.

The Troika is at it again – putting pressure on the Government to do something. This time the ‘something‘ is to introduce more means-testing.

During periods of enforced unemployment, where the private markets cannot employ people who want to work, the state should employ people until sufficient job creation commences. By Michael Taft.

Even the Government admits their policies are having little effect on job creation. They expect unemployment to remain at 13% by 2015, a fall of only one percentage point since they took office. The number of people at work will only grow by 12,000 over the lifetime of this government. Truly, we are into a period of medium-term stagnation.

There is a clear division between the two government parties on abortion, and also a clear necessity to bring clarity to the law. By Vincent Browne.

On Monday, 14 May 2007, during that year's general election campaign, I did an interview with Enda Kenny on behalf of Village magazine, which I then edited.

The anti-austerity march on Saturday will give people the chance to tell the Government that it’s time to change economic direction. By Michael O'Reilly.

Austerity is costing jobs.

No one knows for sure yet what happened to Savita Halappanavar. We know that she wanted to be pregnant, that she miscarried, and that the care she received did not save her life. It is important to push for medical accountability in such cases, and to demand a full investigation into whether protocols existed and were followed, and if the patient was subject to discriminatory harassment and remarks, as has been alleged.

Why not do something creative with the €400 million cut from the drugs bill? Maybe address a social need, increase growth and employment, and reduce household costs? By Michael Taft.

One of the keys to an alternative budgetary strategy is to stop cutting current public spending. This would provide an opportunity to re-direct or re-invest productivity gains and spending efficiencies into expanding growth and employment. This would be more effective at repairing public finances than the current austerity strategy.