As a culture we permit alcoholics the luxury of euphemisms. We are delighted to indulge our leaders the same way, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES June 22 2010
 
ALCOHOLISM IS a deeply engrained cultural phenomenon that we celebrate in Ireland with euphemisms that mask its black destruction.
 
The alcoholism grows into the white elephant in [...]

Loyalty to Fianna Fáil and its leader was Brian Lenihan snr’s lodestone. His son must take a new direction, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES April 27 2010
 
‘WILL THE Taoiseach indicate when the legislation on wandering horses will be introduced in the House?”
 
When Brian Lenihan made his first, rather unremarkable, Dáil contribution 14 years [...]

RENEWING THE REPUBLIC: This series has shown a thirst for political reform coupled with an uncertainty about how to achieve it, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish Times April 3 2010
 
ACCOMPANYING THIS series has been an image of our national flag, contorted at the centre by a knot. The narrative embarked upon by the various [...]

Fear is the driving force behind the most significant day in the country’s recent economic history, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish Times March 30, 3009
 
TODAY WILL be full of language that seeks to “once-and-for-all” draw lines in the sand. A public exhausted by financial fatigue will continue to be confused by the complexity of [...]

The culture of self-interested national interest, as defined by Fianna Fáil, has already thrown €4bn of taxpayers’ money at Anglo Irish Bank, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish TImes March 23, 2010
 
FINE GAEL is a failed political entity when compared to similar political parties in western democracies. It has never held two consecutive terms. It [...]

In contrast to our Government’s mantra that banks cannot fail, Iceland’s population is poised to vote against a deal to repay Icesave’s debts, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish Times March 2, 2010
 
I LIKE to describe the manner in which I play Gaelic football as that of being a determined footballer. Unfortunately referees do not always [...]

The country’s power dynamic must change if we truly aspire to be a republic in which citizens come first, writes ELAINE BYRNE in THE IRISH TIMES February 23 2010
 
OUR CONSTITUTION does not contain the word republic. Although the memory of the republic is rehearsed each year at the gravesides of Wolfe Tone and others, it [...]

Institutional change is necessary to restore public faith in politics – but it can only happen from the bottom up, writes ELAINE BYRNE in THE IRISH TIMES February 16 2010
 
WHY ARE those who seek to make politics better regarded as being anti-politics? Why are practical proposals to reform an antiquated political system deliberately interpreted as [...]

WHEN WAS it decided to call this inquiry into our financial crisis a banking inquiry? By limiting the description of what is under scrutiny, the perception may arise that the Irish banking and regulatory systems are the sole focus of inquiry, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES January 26 2010
 
In the Dáil last week, [...]

We cannot fix what is permanently broken – we must fundamentally reconstitute our political and economic systems, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES January 5, 2010
 
THE FIRST Irish Times editorial of 2010 stated that “at least there is a balance to be debated between optimism and pessimism instead of unrelieved gloom”. This is the [...]