His handling of the banking crisis reflected the variety of politics he practised – not the type of person he was, writes Vincent Browne.
The problem with Brian Lenihan was his politics. No, not that he was a member of Fianna Fáil, but his politics. He was a fine fellow, generous, sociable, funny, clever, articulate, well-read, musical, courageous, committed to this society and us its people. But the politics...
Brian Lenihan was uninsultable - as was his father and as is his brother, Conor. It is a lovely trait, bespeaking humility and tolerance. Quite a contrast from the more familiar characteristic of preciousness, that capacity to search for insult and offence in the most casual remarks.
Vincent Browne traces the different trajectories of two Fine Gael figures who have died within weeks of each other
Declan Costello and Garret FitzGerald were very different. This was even though both were Fine Gael, the fathers of both were Fine Gael, both were perceived as being on the liberal wing of Fine Gael in the 1960s, both were very much of the well-off Dublin middle class, both were born in 1926, both died aged 85 within weeks of each other.
Lies, concealment and contempt for the people are the hallmarks of much political behaviour in Ireland. By Vincent Browne.
Amid all the bluster about the health of our democracy, accountability to the electorate, the sanctity of the ballot box, there is at the heart of our political culture a contempt for the people, a conviction that parties can say anything to get elected and then do what they like.
There's the odd lie to the people here and there - sometimes whopping lies but, more regularly, concealment.
The fate of the third city demonstrates how division was supervised from the top, writes Vincent Browne
What has happened in Limerick over the last decade and a half tells us a lot about the policies pursued by governments during that time and the nature of our political culture.
A superb insight into this is available in Understanding Limerick: Social Exclusion and Change , edited and mainly written by UCC sociologist Niamh Hourigan.
Fine Gael and Labour promised voters before the election that they would renegotiate the EU/IMF deal; now they promise to pay the full debts for which we have no responsibility at all. By Vincent Browne.
The first specific promise in the Labour manifesto for the election 13 weeks ago was the following: ''Put jobs first. This means renegotiating the EU/IMF deal to include a jobs strategy to share the debt burden with bondholders to reduce the interest rate, and to leave room for Ireland's economy to grow."
The former taoiseach achieved the impossible by making Ireland more plural but was content with our inequality. By Vincent Browne
His generosity of spirit marked him out in both his political and personal life, and is just one of the reasons why Garret Ftizgerald will be so deeply missed. By Vincent Browne.
A few months ago, I went around to Garret FitzGerald’s home in Ranelagh on a Saturday afternoon, to talk about a mutual friend, Michael Sweetman, who had been killed in the Staines air crash in 1972.
Although not of her making, Irish disregard for the significance of May 17 in Dublin drags Queen Elizabeth into the insult, writes Vincent Browne
Unwittingly, as she arrived in Ireland yesterday morning, Elizabeth was complicit in a belittlement of Irish people; or rather she was compounding a belittlement of Irish people perpetrated by Irish governments and by most of the Irish people themselves.
The tale of modern Ireland as told to Elizabeth II would no doubt be greeted by gales of laughter, writes Vincent Browne
Nine months before she died in January 1901, Queen Victoria visited Ireland for the last time.The visit was prompted by the concern of the British government about the unpopularity in Ireland of the Boer War, and the visit was intended to generate national (British) enthusiasm for the Union. It did so. Victoria was greeted everywhere by cheering crowds.