While there is lots of talk about how fortunate we are to live in a democratic society, there is almost no appreciation of how thin our democracy is, and certainly no will to do anything about it. By Vincent Browne.
There is an impressive determination on the part of our public representatives to avoid the big issues besetting our society and our system of government.
Statements by lavishly-paid functionaries of international organisations, urging the lowering of the pay of people who are paid a fraction of their salary, are astounding to behold. By Vincent Browne.
Enda Kenny concluded the political season with yet another verbal howler, trying to be smart in answer to a question from Ursula Halligan about Eamon Gilmore having words with James Reilly.
On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Simon Carswell, Patricia Gilheaney, Tom Lyons and Maureen Martin will discuss the recent Quinn family arrests, looking at both sides, as well as the more recent arrests in relation to "financial irregularities" at Anglo Irish Bank. {jathumbnailoff}
On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Seán Healy, Ursula Tipp, Jimmy Daly and Tony Fahey will discuss the growing divide between rich and poor and the policy-making and governance that has perpetuated it. {jathumbnailoff}
The inquiry system we have is like an accused person deciding which judge can hear their case and who the jury members should be. By Vincent Browne.
If Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court needed an illustration of the incapacity of Dáil Éireann to conduct a fair and independent inquiry into a matter of current controversy, he could not have wished for a more vivid example than the shemozzle over the holding of an inquiry into the banking crisis.
On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Jon Ihle, Catherine Murphy, Peter Mathews and Karl Whelan will examine the prospects of the EU 'debt deal' for Ireland and the implications of the High Court ruling on the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism, the ESM. {jathumbnailoff}
Members of the Quinn family deployed every possible ruse to stick us, the Irish public, with the debt they recklessly amassed. By Vincent Browne.
Sean Quinn concocted an elaborate miasma of companies, at least in part, to transfer ownership of hugely valuable property assets into the names of his children. Presumably this was done for tax reasons, at least in the initial stages.
The lack of action on a survey of Travellers first published in 2010 shows no one cares. By Vincent Browne.
This business of human rights seems, in part, to be a device for privileged people to escape the discomfort of being the beneficiaries of a hugely unequal society. By Vincent Browne.
It was heartening to witness some 2,000 people packed into the Grand Canal Theatre on 18 June to honour one of the world's iconic campaigners for human rights, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.
The idea of democracy was to make the people sovereign but its modern trajectory has been to make people subjects again. By Vincent Browne.
A former “best friend” described him as “false, vain as Satan, ungrateful, cruel, hypocritical and wicked”. He arranged for his five children to be given over to a foundling hospital immediately after their birth. He was vain, truculent, obsessive and solitary.