Candidates disillusioned with the establishment are beginning to drift towards one another. Irish Times January 21 2010 THE ESTABLISHMENT of Nama in late 2009 focused minds and ultimately led to several meetings in a well-known solicitor’s office in Dublin city centre. The only item on the agenda was to explore the formation of a new Irish [...]

“The constitution may for a time seem lost. The character of the country cannot be lost. The ministers of the Crown will find that it is not so easy to put down for ever an ancient and respectable nation by abilities, however great, and by power and corruption, however irresistible. Liberty may repair her golden [...]

For most Irish people, the internal leadership contest within Fianna Fáil was nothing more than the last sting of a dying wasp. Guardian January 19 2011

The Taoiseach played Nero during the incredible weeks from July to September 2008, writes ELAINE BYRNE in Irish Times January 14 2010 NERO FIDDLED while Rome burned. The infamous inaction of the Roman emporer finds an echo in Brian Cowen’s time as Taoiseach. Nero occupied himself with unimportant matters and neglected priorities during a crisis – [...]

Young Irishwomen will decide the outcome of one of the most important general elections in the history of the Irish state. As the most politically powerful demographic in Ireland, the prospects for Irish economic independence will depend on the choice that this constituency of key swing voters will make. Sunday Business Post January 2 2011

Happy New Year Ireland. John Spillane and WB Yeats on Ireland in the Coming Times of 2011. .

Today is the first day of a new year that will change everything about Ireland. As the opinion polls suggest, the upcoming election will dramatically transform the party system. Irish public life may yet bear witness to a sharp and sudden intervention into national discourse by diverse actors seeking to fundamentally influence public opinion on economic [...]