Article Category: Pillars of Society

PROFILE: DAVID COLLIER

December 16, 2021

A FLURRY of political and polemical activity around Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and Ireland’s role in this ongoing subjugation began recently. It... Read more »

PROFILE: RODERIC O’GORMAN

December 2, 2021

RODERIC O’GORMAN is turning into the Green party’s answer to Fianna Fáil’s health minister Stephen Donnelly, with a series of apologies, contradictions and... Read more »

PROFILE: EAMON RYAN

November 4, 2021

EAMON RYAN’S hour has come round at last – or has it? The Green party leader’s decade-long dream of a meaningful climate act... Read more »

PROFILE: NÓIRÍN HEGARTY

October 21, 2021

THE APPOINTMENT of Nóirín Hegarty as Ireland editor of the Times and Sunday Times Ireland, is seen in media circles as something of a renaissance for the Dubliner given her... Read more »

PROFILE: JIM BOLGER

October 7, 2021

BOLSHY TRAINER Jim Bolger has had a banner year on the racetrack in 2021, courtesy of his Classic winning homebred three-year-old colts Poetic... Read more »

PROFILE: MICHAEL MCGRATH

August 26, 2021

SINCE 2016 minister for public expenditure and reform, Michael McGrath, has presented as one of the few credible challengers to Micheål Martin’s leadership... Read more »

PROFILE: KATHERINE ZAPPONE

August 12, 2021

FOR YEARS Katherine Zappone was revered by Irish liberals as the most civilised, gender positive politician in 21st century Ireland. But, suddenly she is... Read more »

PROFILE: BRANDON LEWIS

July 29, 2021

After AN uneventful 14 months since his appointment, the northern secretary Brandon Lewis has had his plate full since the beginning of April.... Read more »

PROFILE: LYNN BOYLAN

July 1, 2021

LYNN BOYLAN’S decision to pick up the gauntlet for Sinn Féin in the Dublin Bay South (DBS) byelection appeared to inject a frisson... Read more »

PROFILE: SUSAN KIRBY

May 20, 2021

SUSAN KIRBY is less than six months in the post as chief executive of the film and TV business lobby group Screen Producers... Read more »

PROFILE: RICHARD HUMPHREYS

May 6, 2021

NOTHING REFLECTS the growing conversation about a united Ireland and a border poll more than the involvement of High Court judge Mr Justice... Read more »

PROFILE: SARAH MCINERNEY

April 22, 2021

IS SARAH McINERNEY really a cross between Martha Gellhorn and Kate Adie? Or is she a competent journalist who struck it lucky by... Read more »

PROFILE: PAUL CLARKSON

April 8, 2021

IS THE taoiseach’s new government press secretary, former editor of the Irish Sun Paul Clarkson, Micheál Martin’s Andy Coulson? Emphatically not. The then British... Read more »

PROFILE: GORDON ELLIOTT

March 25, 2021

WHEN THAT photograph emerged featuring top trainer Gordon Elliott astride a dead racehorse, the sport – and the Harry McCalmont-chaired Irish Horseracing Regulatory... Read more »

PROFILE: SIMON HARRIS

March 11, 2021

ANY DISCONTENT inside Fine Gael in the year since the general election has been obscured by Micheál Martin’s problems with his increasingly cantankerous... Read more »

PROFILE: DARRAGH O’BRIEN

February 25, 2021

HOUSING AND local government minister Darragh O’Brien has three tasks in hand: one is to conquer or at least ameliorate the housing crisis;... Read more »

PROFILE: DERMOT FARRELL

February 11, 2021

THE NEW Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, presents as an archaic culchie compared with his predecessor, the urbane liberal, Diarmuid Martin. This characterisation would be... Read more »

BETHANY BABY HOME AND THE IRISH TIMES

January 28, 2021

THE REPORT of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes dominated news coverage recently, especially in the Irish Times which has... Read more »

PROFILE: HELEN MCENTEE

December 16, 2020

STRANGELY, THERE have been several ministers for justice appointed to that important position while still in their early 30s – Kevin O’Higgins and... Read more »

PROFILE: TOM ARNOLD

December 3, 2020

THE JUNE 2020 Programme for Government (PfG) commits to publishing a new national 10-year strategy for the food industry within six months that... Read more »

PROFILE: PETER VANDERMEERSCH

November 5, 2020

BUYING A large newspaper group – Independent News & Media (INM) – just as print media looks to be in the final stage of... Read more »

PROFILE: STEPHEN DONNELLY

October 22, 2020

STEPHEN DONNELLY is a unifying force in Irish politics in that he manages to unite government and opposition politicians as well as many... Read more »

PROFILE: NORMA FOLEY

October 8, 2020

FAILING TO get on to the Fianna Fáil general election ticket in Kerry last year, Norma Foley could not have imagined she would... Read more »

PROFILE: FRANK CLARKE

September 10, 2020

THE CONSTITUTIONAL tenet ‘separation of powers’ has been bandied about in the gravest tones by politicians, lawyers, academics and media in the wake... Read more »

PROFILE: MICHELLE O’NEILL

August 27, 2020

On January 23, 2017, Gerry Adams announced Michelle O’Neill’s appointment as Sinn Féin leader in the north to succeed Martin McGuinness who had... Read more »

PROFILE: PAUL GALLAGHER

August 13, 2020

CHIEF LAW officer in the state – for the second time – is senior counsel Paul Gallagher, whose reverential sycophants in the Law... Read more »