Even at a basic financial level – which is how you have to talk to Fine Gael – why won’t the Government prioritise the capital, when Dublin is the driving force of the economy? File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times Una Mullally: Why two Gaeltacht Ministers but no minister for Dublin?

With a directly elected mayor scuppered for now, there’s a feeling no one is in charge of the city

Arlene Foster and DUP colleagues speak to the media outside Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, as parties begin talks to form a new government following the assembly elections. Photograph: Press Association DUP’s stance on marriage, abortion may woo Catholic voters
  • Francis Campbell
  • May 23, 2016

As Northern Ireland politics normalise parties cannot rely on traditional vote-bank

The Republic of Ireland is one of those countries where a combination of private health insurance payments, “out-of-pocket” health spending and GP costs make up a significant amount of overall health expenditure. File photograph: Dylan Vaughan Where is evidence that we are over-spending on health?
  • May 23, 2016

On relatively simple comparison of total spending, Republic not much different to similar EU countries

John McManus: What Moody’s A rating really tells us about the new politics

Little concern that a resurgent Dáil will be allowed stray too far from the economic status quo

Finian McGrath was perfectly entitled to articulate the plight of Irish smokers, who are, as he points out, a very sizeable minority – roughly 20 per cent of the population. Photograph: Alan Betson Diarmaid Ferriter: Finian McGrath smokes out the puritans
  • Diamaid Ferriter
  • May 21, 2016

Must he prostrate himself before those who imply there is an onus on him to kick the habit?

A propaganda poster during the cultural revolution is displayed at the Propaganda Art Museum in Shanghai, China, May 17 2016. The Propaganda Art Museum in Shanghai collect reproductions and original pieces of propaganda posters during the Cultural Revolutions. Photograph: Raul Ariano/NurPhoto via Getty Images Unmarked anniversaries cast shadow over China and Middle East

World View: Cultural Revolution and Sykes-Picot pact retain a grip on the present

The roles of an academic subject teacher and a guidance counsellor are very different, and trying to move from one role to another very rapidly is causing some guidance counsellors to burn out. Breda O’Brien: Cuts in the number of Guidance counsellors hit the poor hardest
  • May 21, 2016

Richard Bruton’s plan sounds like fudge that will not translate into what young people need

DUP Leader Arlene Foster claims she won the election but she only brought her base out – more unionists voted for her unionists than voted for other unionist candidates. Photograph Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press Pól Ó Muirí: Why Catholics just won’t vote unionist
  • Pol O Muiri
  • May 21, 2016

It is odd that after years of enlightened unionism so few Catholics see its benefits

Brendnan Howlin and Alan Kelly with Sean Sherlock. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES Stephen Collins: Labours choice of Howlin reflects fear of quick election

Dissapointing week for some Government back benchers and Alan Kelly

Object in foreground by Grayson Perry. The artist has been inspired by the City of London’s bankers and traders to create a huge glazed ceramic penis. Cocks of the walk: ode to Grayson Perry’s urn for bankers

“It is stating the bleeding obvious,” said Perry. “But that’s kind of what needs stating.

James Nesbitt as a convincingly sinister Howell, and Genevieve O’Reilly as the passive yet quietly duplicitous Hazel in the dramatisation of the 1991 murders of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan in Coleraine, Co Derry. The Secret: Coleraine murder drama causes hurt but ultimately does good
  • Fionola Meredith
  • May 20, 2016

The daughter of Lesley Howell says the the show has re-awakened her original trauma

‘At least a further 15% of UK exports to Ireland are really exports from the rest of the world.’ Photograph: EPA Brexit debate obscured by misleading statistics
  • Eamonn Walsh
  • May 20, 2016

Trade figures may greatly exagerate the impact on Ireland of the UK leaving the EU

File photograph of Feargal Quinn. Feargal Quinn: Opposition must resist temptation of populist measures
  • Feargal Quinn
  • May 20, 2016

Representatives have a responsibility to promote legislation which is credible and constitutional

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. File photograph: Maxpix/Julien Behal Noel Whelan: Half a year of government has been lost

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have set a slow pace for the new parliament

Cooking, we’re told, at its highest level, the bit that’s important, the bit that’s about impressing and innovating, is apparently a man’s job. Una Mullally: Cooking should be woman’s work
  • May 19, 2016

Why can’t women excel in kitchens when the world designs itself around keeping women in them?

“Whereas we have legally enshrined the right of people not to be judged on race, gender, sexuality, faith, age and disability, can we really legislate against what is known as ‘lookism’ – the last great ‘ism’ of our times?” Brian Boyd: High heels and the curse of the beautiful people

Studies show physical appearance has a lot to do with our financial and societal value

Nesbitt had been forced by disappointing poll results to take a last desperate gamble, with no better plan than disrupting the environment and hoping for more favourable conditions. Photographer Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Newton Emerson: Something is stirring in Stormont
  • Newton Emerson
  • May 19, 2016

Mike Nesbitt’s decision to take the UUP into official opposition has put pressure on the SDLP and Alliance to follow

Sgt Maurice McCabe: Efforts to impugn his integrity or motivation have been unfair and might have destroyed a less careful man .Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES Colum Kenny: Reputation of the Garda at stake in O’Higgins report
  • Colm Kenny
  • May 19, 2016

The report invites many questions about how the force goes about its business

Weekend Review August 2015. Collection of charity collection boxes. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Photographer's Choice/Getty Opinion: Shining a light on Ireland’s charities
  • Patricia Quinn
  • May 18, 2016

We need a better understanding of a sector that turns over more than €7bn annually, about half of that coming from government

Independent TD’s Noel Grealish, Denis Naughten,Mattie McGrath,Michael Harty, Michael Collins. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins Kathy Sheridan: Meet the new Dáil, same as the old Dáil

This is how the brave new project begins - with the customary bellows of faux-outrage and a whimper?

The great majority of young men and women remanded to Irish prisons while actively unwell with diagnoses of severe and enduring mental illnesses have fallen through the net of a public mental health system which is not designed to meet their needs. 09/12/2015 - NEWS / Archive File photo of interior of cell in D Wing Mountjoy Prison . Keywords: crime solitary confinement lockdown lock down criminalPhotograph: Bryan O’Brien / The Irish Times Opinion: Prisons now a dumping ground for mentally ill young men
  • Harry Kennedy
  • May 18, 2016

We have amongst the lowest number of secure psychiatric beds per head of population in Europe

A new entrant staff nurse will earn €129,000 less over 40 years. Seven myths about the public sector pay differential
  • Pat O'Sullivan
  • May 17, 2016

This is not just a pay issue, this is an equality issue. People have been systematically marked as worth less than colleagues who do the same work

It was Time Magazine’s cover rather than the very substantial article itself that attracted most of the ire back in 1966. Rite & Reason: Is God dead yet?
  • Brian Maye
  • May 17, 2016

Still no answer to the question posed by ‘Time’ magazine 50 years ago

“If you mention inheritance tax in print, as I have done in the past, you will be bombarded with sob stories about the current oppressive regime and about adult children being thrown out of the family home because they have to sell the house to pay the tax when their parent dies. Some of these stories are complete nonsense.” File photograph: John Giles/PA Wire Fintan O’Toole: A huge tax break for comfortable people

The Government has shown its true colours with its cynical inheritance tax stunt

Enda Kenny: Three crucial areas could decide this Government’s fate: not housing, health and water, but the role of the Dáil, transparency and accountability and Independent Ministers. Photograph: Alan Betson Kenny has a chance to leave a legacy of Dáil reform
  • Liam Weeks
  • May 17, 2016

With Fine Gael lacking an overall majority, the role of the Dáil may change

Celebrations in the courtyard at Dublin Castle following the same-sex marriage referendum result. File photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Una Mullally: Politicians use same-sex marriage shield to deflect abortion fire

Eighth Amendment is being kicked into touch in the same manner as marriage equality

An aerial view of Dublin city. File photograph: Frank Miller Frank McDonald: Dublin’s character is threatened by high-rise plans
  • Frank McDonald
  • May 16, 2016

Councillors should oppose a city project that would put the capital’s human scale at risk

The people’s event celebrating the 100th anniversary of 1916 Rising. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Philip Pettit: The republican image of freedom offers a moral compass for our country
  • Philip Pettit
  • May 15, 2016

In order to enjoy democratic freedom, the people of a republic should share equally in imposing community standards on government

Photograph: David Sleator Fintan O’Toole: O’Higgins report raises troubling questions

The report concludes with the deeply depressing words: “the commission considers that the institution of any disciplinary proceedings, which might conceivably arise out of its findings, would not be helpful”

‘We seem to have lost our islands a long time ago; did they finally sink?’ Above, Inishbofin Island, Co Galway. Photograph: Frank Miiller Diarmaid Ferriter: We have lost our heritage along with the islands

One Inishbofin fisherman’s battle is relevant in Brexit debate

Naomi Klein: the commitment to perpetual growth is incompatible with planetary limits. Photograph: Getty Images Naomi Klein argues climate change is a battle between capitalism and the planet

Paul Gillespie: ‘These are big, bold and challenging ideas with a significant and informed following in Ireland’

Like it or not: “This giant company [Facebook] is now the major source of news for many people.” Photograph: Getty Images Breda O’Brien: Facebook may be liberal, but its gospel is consumerism

Hundreds of millions are being influenced by this hugely powerful company

Stephen Collins: “Of course, Kenny is only Taoiseach again courtesy of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.” Photograph: Bloomberg Stephen Collins: On Enda Kenny’s shelf life in office

Can the new politics stand the test of tough decisions? Time and events will reveal all

Minister of State for Disability Finian McGrath. ‘Imagine going to ask the AG if you should obey the law. It appears that he got the predictable answer and will pay his bill.’ File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times Cliff Taylor: To pay or not to pay? Mixed messages on water charges

‘That Finian McGrath wanted to consult the Attorney General on whether he should pay shows level of farce we have reached’

‘When Frederick Douglass toured Ireland as the Famine was beginning, he saw and was touched by the suffering of the Irish poor. He saw some parallels with the slavery he had escaped in Maryland.’ Photograph: MPI/Getty Images Claiming Irish people were slaves ignores degrees of freedom
  • Cathy Barry
  • May 13, 2016

Swift: ‘All government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery’

‘I’d also appeal to those many Irish in Britain who, because of the historical relationship between our two islands, have the right to make their vote count in the referendum’. David Puttnam: Brexit would impoverish film, TV and creative industries
  • David Puttnam
  • May 13, 2016

‘As Ireland’s Digital Champion, I have seen at first-hand the importance of the digital single market’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny stands in Government Buildings with members of the new Cabinet. Photograph: Merrion Street Noel Whelan: New Government seems to be under the spell of spin

‘One wonders why the Government’s media handlers felt the need to engage in this “put the wimmin” up front manoeuvre’

‘The current system of water charges must be abolished and employment protected while an alternative model is developed.’ Photograph: Colm Mahady/Fennells Why we need a water referendum, a living wage and pension changes
  • Patricia King
  • May 13, 2016

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has compiled key policy priorities to address the deficits and social strains that have become visible

Newly elected People Before Profit MLAs Gerry Carroll (left) and Eamonn McCann outside Stormont. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Eamonn McCann: Neither green, nor orange, but up for the fight

‘You probably shouldn’t vote for anybody who doesn’t seem a bit uneasy about asking you to vote for them’

Photograph: Frank Miller Lorcan Roche Kelly: Why the Garda complaints process needs to change
  • Lorcan Roche
  • May 12, 2016

The O’Higgins report includes complaints that relate to the Sylvia Roche Kelly murder case. Her husband writes that issues raised by his experience of the case go to the heart of how Garda complaints are dealt with by the force

President Michael D Higgins’s wife Sabina said on Wednesday it was an “outrage” against women that in the case of “foetal abnormality” a person should be “made carry” the baby. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters Brian Boyd: Sabina Higgins and the unwritten rules for ‘first lady’

It is purely convention that President’s spouse does not speak publicly on politics

Postponed: ‘The reality is, if the festival couldn’t happen in 2016, with all of the marketing buzz around the commemorations for the centenary year, the goodwill towards all things Irish and patriotism, it is doubtful that it can be successful a year later’ Ravelóid unravels: the Irish language festival didn’t sell enough tickets

‘The organisers of Ravelóid should be applauded for giving it a shot’

‘Emotional claims about a Euromartial fantasy conceal a much more important point: an effective EU defence policy is in the British interest.’ What risks would Brexit pose to UK and European security?
  • Daniel Keohane
  • May 11, 2016

‘It is no secret that some senior German politicians are rhetorically committed to the long-term aim of a European army’

‘Nama could also play a major role in delivering social housing but instead is being directed to pursue a commercial mandate aimed at achieving “a maximum return” to the State’ How the Government should tackle the housing crisis
  • Rory Hearne
  • May 11, 2016

We need rent control and a larger plan to deliver social housing

Prevent panicked, last-minute mistakes. Photograph: Frank Miller Five easy ways to improve the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert
  • Mary Feely
  • May 11, 2016

Girls should get a top-up on their results

Frances Fitzgerald: will be asked today about Ireland’s efforts to expand non-religious education, introduce safe and legal abortion and strengthen equality laws Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill Tánaiste faces tough questions at UN over Ireland’s human rights record
  • Mark Kelly
  • May 11, 2016

Four states have lodged written questions about our ‘restrictive abortion regime’

‘In November 2015, Irish Water announced that John Tierney (above) would be stepping down as managing director at the end of April 2016. Who is Irish Water’s managing director now?’ Photograph: Cyril Byrne Lifting lid on Irish Water reveals unusual governance
  • Niamh Brennan
  • May 10, 2016

‘There is a large section on Ervia’s website on transparency ... These pages are empty’

A secular state does not imply a secular society
  • Cornelius Casey
  • May 10, 2016

Belief and faith are alive and well in our State’s traditional and evolving communities

“It would be great to think that the new Government has had a Damascene conversion . . . But its programme reads like somebody blurting out awkward truths and then, appalled at the implications, shrinking back into silence.” Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Fintan O’Toole on an astonishing ideological volte-face

‘Maybe we’ve just seen the greatest ideological reversal in Irish politics. I genuinely hope so’

Mossack Fonseca’s offices in Panama City: tax authorities around the globe are anxious to get their hands on the Panama Papers data. Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters Panama Papers: Secret offshore world feeds global inequality

The person who leaked the papers says growing inequality caused by ‘massive, pervasive corruption’

Kevin Thompson, chief executive Insurance Ireland: “Despite its fine work, more than 90 per cent of claimants to the Injuries Board are now represented by solicitors even though it was meant to be a lawyer-free zone.” Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill Uncertainty in motor insurance sector can be eased
  • Kevin Thompson
  • May 9, 2016

Setanta liability and high payouts add to volatility for insurers and customers

Irish cute hoorism is often applauded in politics. But in Danny Healy-Rae’s case his is devoid of tactical skill, and his particular brand of it – not yet has polished as Michael’s – is stupidity dressed up as self-interest. Una Mullally: Nothing to admire in Healy-Rae’s bluster on climate change

TD abandoning interests of very people he claims (repeatedly) to be representing

Newly elected Taoiseach Enda Kenny arrives to receive his seal of office from President Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times Stephen Collins: FG and FF have incentive to deliver political stability

Instability is more likely to arise from panic on the part of Independents

Indpendent TD Katherine Zappone is now seeing her preferred model of childcare, that is, direct payments to childcare providers, being implemented.Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times Breda O’Brien: New Government but same line on childcare

It is the triump of ideology over what parents want, which is to look after children at home

An Irishman's Diary

At issue were a number of curiously belated compensation cases arising from incidents during the 1916 Rising An Irishman’s Diary on 1916, compensation and a case of conscience
  • John Horgan
  • May 23, 2016

Our Columnists

Una Mullally Una Mullally -

Una Mullally: Why two Gaeltacht Ministers but no minister for Dublin?

John McManus John McManus - Business Editor

John McManus: What Moody’s A rating really tells us about the new politics

Patrick Smyth Patrick Smyth - Foreign Policy Editor

Unmarked anniversaries cast shadow over China and Middle East

Stephen Collins Stephen Collins - Political Editor

Stephen Collins: Labours choice of Howlin reflects fear of quick election

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Former attorney general and the Rising
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