Michel Barnier, the EU Commissioner for Internal Markets and a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (pictured), sees light at the end of the tunnel for Ireland.
Chevaliers of the Légion d'Honneur must have special vision.
The people who matter, the bond traders, can't see any light. Not even after the beseeching effort of last Thursday to impress the bond traders by more promises to get the state's finances right with a €6 billion down-payment.
Apologies are due to the Taoiseach for there is someone more to blame than him – the worst tánaiste ever, writes Vincent Browne.
First an apology to Brian Cowen. Here and elsewhere I have written and said that of all the people still holding public office, he was most to blame for the wanton damage that has been done to this society and this economy. On reflection I now believe this is mistaken.
There is not a twinge of embarrassment on the part of the government about the criminal neglect of one of its agencies responsible for the care of children, writes Vincent Browne.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) flagrantly neglected the care and protection of six children who were obviously endangered in a dysfunctional home.
Mary Harney, the Minister for Health and Children, has not bothered to even make a statement about the revelations of delinquency by an agency for which she is responsible.
As we stand on the edge of the abyss, it is business as usual for our bumbling and inane Cabinet members, writes Vincent Browne.
Today the Dáil meets at 10.30am and there is scheduled to be Leaders' Questions for 14 minutes. Then at 10.44 there will be statements on macroeconomic and fiscal outlook.
This will continue until 8.30pm, although with a "sos" of undeclared duration at some stage. Sos, as we all recall from our school days, is Irish for "rest". They like their sos in Leinster House.
There is an apprehension now that the crowd who have caused such terrible damage to this society over the last decade might be about to go one better and do fatal damage to this society - and they could do this in the next few weeks. By Vincent Browne
There can be no confidence in a government that was talking a few weeks ago at the lock in in Galway about budget adjustments of €3 billion and now are talking about budget adjustments of €7 billion.
Our so-called national debate is merely a process of softening us up for cuts while real options are ignored, writes Vincent Browne.
This Government has lost the support of 80 per cent of the people, the vast majority of these want Fianna Fáil and the Greens out of office ASAP.
Solidarity had to be won in that mine in Chile, writes Vincent Browne.
In the early days after the mine collapsed on August 5, there were fistfights. Five of the miners who worked for a sub-contractor broke away. A few of the miners simply stayed in their beds underground, waiting to die.
The absurd, menacing consensus among our political parties means a chance to improve society is being missed, writes Vincent Browne.
The idea of a national government is absurd, unless, that is, the establishment parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens, agree on everything. And there is reason to suppose they do agree on everything – at least on all essentials – aside from which of them should partake in the spoils of office for another four or five years.
It is unfortunate for the country that we have a government that may be the worst ever - and that is saying something, writes Vincent Browne.
The irrelevance of Dáil Éireann can hardly ever have been more evident than now, writes Vincent Browne.
In the midst of the gravest crisis to afflict the State since the Civil War, our national parliament has no role to play, 141 of our 166 elected representatives have no function. They stand by, as mere onlookers, while the remaining 15 decide in secret the fate of the country.