Politics

Anti-government protests continued yesterday with noticeable changes from last week; increased Garda presence and a significant jump in the numbers attending. By Shane Creevy.

Both Seán Brady and Brian Cowen perceive a happy coincidence between the wider interest and their own. By Vincent Browne.

Brian Cowen's recent 'mea culpa' was really just an exercise in finger-pointing. By Vincent Browne.

Several years ago, I was asked to speak at a lunch function in Limerick. I asked the chairman how long I should speak. He said: ‘‘You can talk for as long as you like, but we’re going to the bar in ten minutes.”

I hope that is what the chairman of the North Dublin Chamber of Commerce said to Brian Cowen last Thursday evening before he started his 7,427-word, extremely qualified half-apologia.

Faith in Jesus cannot be squared with the pernicious authority the church claims to derive from his person. By Vincent Browne.

Minor skirmishes marred an otherwise peaceful march against the government's reponse to the current economic crisis. By Joe Galvin.

Greek anger contrasts with our own abject apathy. By Vincent Browne. 

Following graphic television reports of the demonstrations in Athens last week, the first question an RTE presenter asked was about the financial markets’ reaction to the demonstrations.

The question was not why the Greeks were so angry over what was happening. Why are they saying on the streets of Greece: ‘‘We are not like Ireland’’ (meaning: ‘‘We won’t lie down in the face of the demands of the financial markets, as the people of Ireland did’’)?

At a conference in University College Dublin (UCD), leading academics and community workers called for a "new agenda" to be created to give the Irish electorate a real political alternative, while Labour's Michael D. Higgins signalled his support for a true left alternative. By Joe Galvin.

The conference, entitled Equality in a Time of Crisis, was organised by UCD's Egalitarian World Initiative and looked at how Ireland could create a "socially just society". It took place in UCD's Quinn School of Business building.

Isn’t it odd that the contributors to Fianna Fáil were those most advantaged by the policies of that party? By Vincent Browne.

A sense of solidarity from government would help recover Ireland's ailing economic team. By Vincent Browne.

Last Friday morning, I caught a snatch of the Pat Kenny programme, on which a panel was discussing the issues of the week.

The question of Alan Dukes’s ministerial and TD pensions arose, leading Kenny to comment to the effect: why would Dukes agree to take on the responsibilities of chairman of Anglo Irish Bank if he was required to relinquish his pensions, thereby earning no additional income from Anglo Irish? Why would he do it for nothing?

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was asked to ‘set an example’ by people costing the State €500,000 a year. By Vincent Browne.

Mary Hanafin was on television the other night telling Máire Geoghegan-Quinn she should forgo her ministerial pension while she is a European commissioner (this was before Máire had her epiphany). Mary Hanafin and the other Ministers, who said as much, had some nerve. Few more so than Mary Hanafin herself.