02 May 10
Will the terms of reference for the Irish Banking Inquiry be as wide as that of Iceland?
The Irish public does not have any such opportunity to engage in an inquiry which from the outset is perceived to lack legitimacy because of the decision to hold the investigation in private, unlike similar inquiries in the [...]
27 Apr 10
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 [...]
14 Apr 10
Who will be accountable when we discover, like in Iceland, that no global bogeyman was to blame for our banking collapse? asks ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES 14 April 2010
THE SPECIAL investigation commission, established by the Icelandic parliament, published its nine-volume 2,300-page report yesterday into the causes of Iceland’s ecnomic collapse.
It found the collapse [...]
09 Mar 10
Elected to the Althing in the ‘kitchenware revolution’, a leading writer has found politics a frustrating profession, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES March 9, 2010
THRAINN BERTELSSON describes himself as someone “who happens to being doing time in parliament”. The Icelandic “kitchenware revolution” of January 2009 enticed him to join a contagious grassroots coalition [...]
26 Jan 10
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, [...]
19 Jan 10
Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore need to convince the public of the radical policies they intend to put forward, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the Irish Times January 19 2010
THE RETURN of the Dáil today marks the inauguration of a decade which will commemorate the 100th anniversaries of the 1916 Easter Rising, the seminal 1918 election, [...]
12 Jan 10
The long-term consequence of ignoring the obvious is, sooner or later, yet another ‘crisis’ in the IRISH TIMES January 12, 2009
WHEN SNOW falls heavily, the pressure from the accumulated snow piles up on top of itself. By failing to take immediate action to clear or grit the snow, falling temperatures combine to create the perfect [...]
05 Jan 10
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 [...]
22 Dec 09
THE LAST RTÉ Radio One This Week programme of the decade on Sunday encapsulated much about Irish public life. Three of its four stories dealt with the consequences of secrecy, writes ELAINE BYRNE in the IRISH TIMES December 22, 2009
Tommie Gorman’s searching interview with Gerry Adams unveiled allegations of sexual abuse made by his niece [...]
Dr. Elaine Byrne is a weekly Irish Times columnist and adjutant lecturer on Irish politics in Trinity College Dublin. She writes on political reform, corruption, citizenship and Irish history. Her first book: Political Corruption in Ireland will be published by Manchester University Press in 2010.
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