Politics

The key problem with Brendan Howlin's proposed Constitutional amendment is that Dáil is in no sense independent. By Vincent Browne.

Gerry Adams said in a YouTube broadcast (below) on Friday 16 September that Martin McGuinness will draw the average industrial wage if elected President. Sinn Fein's ardchomhairle nominated McGuinness as a candidate for the 2011 Presidential Election. Drawing the average industrial wage is Sinn Fein policy for elected representatives. [Updated Sunday, 18 September]

It is obvious that whoever wrote the Enda Kenny's July 20 speech on the Vatican overreached themselves, which is hardly good enough on an issue as sensitive as this. By Vincent Browne.

With traditional policy options exhausted, and the economic outlook still very bleak, many are beginning to question the system of free markets that has brought such misery. By Vincent Browne. 

The continued economic crisis gripping the eurozone has raised questions of the role of democracy in the European Union, writes Paul Murphy, MEP.

Euro crisis – democracy diminished to facilitate austerity

In scrambling to avoid a break-up of the eurozone, the approach of the elites in Europe has been characterised by two common themes – austerity programmes to make the working class pay, and a further diminishing of democracy to facilitate the implementation of that austerity.

While many were critical of Enda Kenny before the general election, his popularity has risen during his time as Taoseach, in particular after his Dáil speech on the Cloyne report. Nevertheless he still faces significant challenges, writes Vincent Browne. 

Enda Kenny has proved many commentators and half his parliamentary party (as they lined up a year ago) wrong. 

Giving the closing lecture of the Cummann Merriman School on Changing Irish Childhoods, presidential hopeful Michael D. Higgins said on Sunday (21 August) that achieving “a fulfilling Irish childhood will require more than legal and constitutional change, it will require a change of consciousness at every level.”

Although Fine Gael work hard to give the impression that they are simple pragmatists, the party is in fact a highly ideological one. By Vincent Browne. 

With the world financial system on the verge of collapse, the imposition of unsustainable debt on this society because of the crisis in the banks, and the threat to our economic sustenance from the Franco-German push to harmonise corporation tax across the EU, the last thing we need right now is ideology, isn’t it?

On Tuesday (16 August), Fintan O’Toole wrote in the Irish Times that “The State is on the brink of signing away almost all of the [oil and gas] resources we have left on terms that are by far the worst in the developed world.

In terms of the only two independent powers the president has, one is a mess, and should probably never be used; as to the other, it is not entirely clear what that power is. By Vincent Browne.

Over the next two months, we will be told by those who like to think of themselves as our leaders about how important the role of the presidency is and how vital it is to fill that office with somebody of outstanding talents and capabilities.