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By flirting with the far right, Europe’s centre-right parties play a dangerous game

In France they call it the “cordon sanitaire”, in Germany the “Brandmauer”, or firewall. Throughout Europe in the decades since the second...

yesterday 60

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Council’s all-out offensive on Airbnb lockboxes won’t solve the mess that is Dublin

Dublin City Council is going to war on litter. Not litter generally – not the split refuse bags vomiting their innards all over the inner city, or...

yesterday 10

The Irish Times

Jennifer O&x27Connell

We should declare war on dereliction and a tax amnesty is our best weapon

The dilapidated state of our cities and towns is an embarrassment. The sight of such urban vandalism should make us wince. With a homeless crisis,...

yesterday 9

The Irish Times

David Mcwilliams

Micheál Martin has real power at last. The big question is what he’ll do with it

Micheál Martin is finally the real Taoiseach. His epic political journey since 2011 is a Fianna Fáil version of Mao’s long march. He has arrived...

previous day 30

The Irish Times

Gerard Howlin

Amid all of the toxic masculinity, no one mentions the toxic femininity that supports it

“Wear something tight,” garda William Ryan instructed the woman before hanging up the phone. That was a red flag, any man might think. Not many...

previous day 20

The Irish Times

Justine Mccarthy

Ministerial overload isn’t going to solve our problems. Neither is Civil Service squeeze

Preparing for the launch of the digitisation of the Richard Mulcahy papers in UCD last month brought me back to the cabinet room of the early...

previous day 9

The Irish Times

Diarmaid Ferriter

Moral panic about build-to-rent apartments overlooks their obvious advantages

Ireland’s hostility to build-to-rent apartments is taking on the quality of a moral panic. Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s call for more private...

thursday 10

The Irish Times

Newton Emerson

Kanye West has taken vice-signalling to a new level of brutishness. Can he come back?

Kanye West’s first major screw up came in 2009. Taylor Swift – a promising 19 year old ingenue at the time – was giving an acceptance speech at the...

thursday 3

The Irish Times

Finn Mcredmond

The ‘give it a lash’ attitude of developers is contributing to Dublin’s dereliction problem

One of the more striking features of the derelict buildings dotted around the south of Dublin city centre that were profiled in The Irish Times at...

thursday 3

The Irish Times

John Mcmanus

What we need now is a Tony Holohan for housing

Over the years I’ve wondered here how many people fully understood what was happening in the housing market. Who were they listening to for...

12.02.2025 10

The Irish Times

Kathy Sheridan

England is mired in self-doubt and disillusionment - but Ireland can’t afford to gloat

The English Patient is a much feted film adaptation by Anthony Minghella of Michael Ondaatje’s novel of the same name. Its title, however, has a...

12.02.2025 3

The Irish Times

Michael Mcdowell

Fintan O’Toole: Trump’s adoption of imperial manner is a function of failure

On his 1993 album American Caesar, the soothsayer Iggy Pop conjured the second coming of Donald Trump: “People of America/ I bring you a great...

11.02.2025 10

The Irish Times

Fintan O&x27Toole