Taxes on those with higher incomes will have to go up if we are to manage our own mess rather than let Brussels and Frankfurt call the tune, writes Vincent Browne

We need to get serious about our politics now – for we have to make choices between policy options, all of which are dismal, but some less dismal than others.

Monday, May 9, is a day of national debasement - otherwise known as Europe Day, writes Vincent Browne

The real challenge our economy and society faces is to restructure our revenue collection so the wealthiest pay the piper, writes Vincent Browne

The European Union project has involved a derogation, not just of sovereignty, but of democracy in a way most of us did not anticipate, and far more serious than even Eurosceptics feared, writes Vincent Browne.

It has to do with the European Central Bank.

This has emerged as the most powerful institution on the European Union plateau. It is entirely unaccountable to anybody or any institution.

We, the Irish people, voted for this in the referendum on the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992 without any appreciation of the consequences of what was entailed.

Anglo's attempts to keep its share price afloat in the wake of Seán Quinn's disastrous speculation were at best highly dubious, writes Vincent Browne

Seán Quinn said on Monday: "Our mistake was to place an overreliance on the Irish banking system and the many predictions for continued sustained growth in the Irish economy from some of the country's leading financial services experts."

He seems to be in denial.

At 11.30am last Friday, Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin were telling journalists how Ireland had passed the first quarterly EU/IMF examination with second-class honours.

They were very pleased. Noonan was probably thinking of getting an extra 10 per cent by answering a few questions in Irish.

Noonan seemed knowledgeable about everything - until he volunteered that he knew nothing at all about property prices, but he said he talked to people who did know about property prices. He did not say who these people were or how they knew about property prices.

The only reason anyone would give money to a political party is because they expect to get something in return, writes Vincent Browne.

Senior counsel have advised the Government that a ban on corporate donations would be unconstitutional. Other senior counsel have advised others that a ban on all private donations to political parties would be unconstitutional.

Politicians are prone to defer inter alia to senior counsel. As though what a senior counsel says is the end of the matter constitutionally.

Remember all the promises before the election about new politics, more openness, real debates and proper accountability? This past week we have been given a flavour of what this new politics, openness, accountability and all that are really about, writes Vincent Browne.

The culture of greed and complacency that drove our nation over the precipice cannot be pinned on the banks alone, writes Vincent Browne.

Patrick Honohan said last Thursday the Irish banking crisis was "the most expensive in banking history". The scale of the economic downturn is by far the worst in the developed world.

We are in danger of losing forever to emigration a generation of young, highly qualified people. What has happened is a major calamity for this society and a great many of us are to blame. Perhaps it is time we owned up.

Politicians showed a lack of knowledge, or even interest, in the lengthy but explosive Moriarty report, writes Vincent Browne

The two main speakers on the government side in the Dáil, Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte, said nothing at all of consequence, supposedly inhibited in what they could say lest they prejudice further investigations and possibly criminal prosecutions. There was a reasonable turnout of backbench government TDs present when Enda Kenny was speaking. Immediately afterwards most of them left the chamber.