Politics

A newly released Wikileaks cable reveals that the Taoiseach desperately sought US assurances on Shannon renditions. By Harry Browne.

Mick Wallace has been listening to constituents' fears about the future of education for their children

Wexford TD Mick Wallace continues his account of life in the Dáil...

The month of May began with the Technical Group putting a motion recommending a form of mortgage debt relief for people living under the threat of having their house repossessed. In the Dáil, I said:

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

A common refrain from the "indignados" protesting in Spain is that they are "not political". They should avoid the pitfall of seeing themselves as beyond left and right, writes Guy Aitchison.

The popular uprising of Spanish youth has been inspiring to behold. I witnessed some of the anger and determination first-hand on Saturday when I visited the 500 or so protesting outside the Spanish embassy in Belgrave Square in London.

Later this week Politico will publish a special e-book on Dr. Garret Fitzgerald. Here, Vincent Browne shares his memories of the former Taoiseach.

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.

A commemorative book is being published on Michael and the idea was that Garret and I would write a joint piece. We were on our own, although Garret's daughter, Mary, came in from the adjoining house to give us tea.

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.

One of the most notable moments in Garret FitzGerald’s political career was his speech opposing the nomination of Charles Haughey as Taoiseach on December 11, 1979. This was the speech in which he referred to Haughey’s “flawed pedigree”, a comment FitzGerald later excused by saying he had written the speech in the early hours of the morning and had not been able to seek the advice of his wife, Joan, as was usual for key speeches. The bulk of that speech is reproduced below. (The full speech is here.)