Micheál Martin is using events in the North as part of his strategy to revive Fianna Fáil’s electoral fortunes in the South. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The award for opportunist of the week must surely go to Micheál Martin. His opinion piece in last Wednesday’s Irish News was a timely reminder of Fianna Fáil’s cynical approach to both the peace process and to politics.

The public’s trust in politicians and politics can be restored, but only if politicians act to earn that trust. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The public outpouring of self-pity by politicians during the Christmas holidays would make you think that it’s a hard life being a TD and even harder being a Minister.

Populism can be progressive or reactionary, democratic or authoritarian. But it is always a challenge to the status quo and is most powerful when a political or economic system is in crisis. By Eoin Ó Broin.

In his end of year review Sunday Business Post political editor Pat Leahy described Sinn Féin’s opposition to austerity in 2012 as “aggressive and populist”.

His description is one that has a broad currency among political commentators.

When Eamon Gilmore or any other Labour spokesperson claims that Budget 2013 “squares up to the wealthy in our society” and includes a “€500 million wealth tax package” they are being less than honest. By Eoin Ó Broin.

Eamon Gilmore claims that Budget 2013 is fair. He told RTÉ that, “This Budget… will produce over €500m in additional taxes on wealth… It’s the largest package of tax measures on wealth in this country that I have seen in my 23 years in the Dáil.”

How the Government handles the James Reilly affair will be a litmus test of its promise to break from the corruption and dishonesty of Fianna Fail. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The James Reilly affair is nowhere near from over. Róisín Shortall may have gone, but big questions remain. How they are answered will have significant consequences for the Government, the two men at its helm and the parties they lead.

If Roisín Shortall stands her ground it will create a political problem for Labour of far greater significance than the issues relating to health service reform. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The very public row between Minister for Health James Reilly and Minister of State with responsibility for Primary Care Roisín Shortall is about more than personalities. It is also about more than decision-making processes and policy choices within the Department of Health.

Stephen Collins's arguments for a 'yes' vote in the Fiscal Treaty are deeply flawed. By Eoin Ó Broin.

Stephen Collins is at it again. His latest Irish Times column on the Fiscal Treaty (10 March 2012) displays a disregard for the facts.

The column makes four key arguments. Let’s take them in turn.

While Labour TDs support the Fiscal Treaty as “vital to our national interests”, the same party's MEPs take a quite different view. By Eoin Ó Broin.

Something important happened in January. A group of determined women workers took a stand and won. By Eoin Ó Broin.

For many people the start of 2012 brought only bad news. Cuts to vital services like DEIS teachers and Community Employment schemes have caused distress and anger.

Stealth charges and tax hikes squeezed already hard-pressed families more than they can bear.

On Monday 9 January 2011 a group of women workers from the La Senza lingerie chain occupied the company’s store in Liffey Valley Clondalkin after the company had sacked them and withheld their pay. Eoin Ó Broin  spoke to the spokesperson for the workers, 20-year-old Tara Keane from Inchicore, about the workers' experience of the week long occupation.