The political structure in Ireland is an absurdity. In practice, the Oireachtas takes almost no decisions, aside from the Dáil electing a taoiseach. By Vincent Browne.

Shortly after Michael Noonan became Minister for Finance in March 2011, he gave an interview to the Limerick Leader in which he expressed his belief that the minister for finance could defy the taoiseach of the day because the position of minister for finance was mentioned in the Constitution.

As part of a genuinely free and accessible education system, from pre-primary to fourth level, the student grant system should be open to all students, regardless of means. By Paul Murphy.

In so far as we can imagine what Michael Collins might have wished for, it is likely he would wonder what the struggle for independence was about, since we have given away so much of it, so casually. By Vincent Browne.

On 24 May 2012, 23 former workers of the Vita Cortex manufacturing plant in Cork left their former plant after a six-month sit-in protest. Their protest had already lead to a compromise deal to resolve the dispute earlier in the month, in what was one of the longest sit-in protests in Irish industrial history. The workers had to take extraordinary measures to enforce their rights and they were not the only ones to find themselves fighting for what they considered was fair recompense after being made redundant.

Julian Assange has been granted asylum in Ecuador, two months after he sought refuge at its London embassy. But this doesn’t mean he can escape arrest in the UK for violating his bail conditions. 

Assange risks arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy building – which he will have to do in order to get to the airport and hence to Ecuador.

Nor does remaining in the embassy guarantee the Wikileaks founder immunity from prosecution.

As soon as all the Katie euphoria dies down, it will remain business as usual for women's sports. By Vincent Browne.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, said that women's sport was "against the laws of nature", and that "the eternal role of [the] woman in this world is to be a companion of the male and mother of the family, and she should be educated towards those functions".

Terry Pratchett, literary superstar and cult hero, performed a publishing miracle when he dreamed up the universe of Discworld 30 years ago, and his magic is far from used up. Speaking to a Dublin audience recently the wizard of fantasy fiction talked about his inspirations, his struggle with Alzheimer's disease and his new novel, Dodger. By Ed O’Hare.

Given his interference in editorial matters in INM, in contradiction of the principles he himself has enunciated, Denis O’Brien is not a fit person to be allowed control the country’s second most powerful media enterprise. By Vincent Browne. (Updated: Denis O’Brien’s two letters and my response to the first can be read below.)

We, the people of Ireland, remembering "the heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation" enacted for ourselves Bunreacht na hÉireann, the basic law upon which our State exists.

In the extreme social climate that permeates everyday life in today’s Spain, what seems to be changing is more than just some political affinities. By Carlos Delclós.