Irish people need to get on the move again
April 30, 2012
Never mind the likes of Messi, Ronaldo or Drogba; never mind Barcelona, Chelsea or Real. In our house, when it comes to football at the weekends, there is only one team: the Cabinteely FC under-10s. Every Saturday morning, under the watchful eye of Michael, our Scottish manager who is Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and David…
Teachers need to learn hard lessons about pay
April 11, 2012
Did you ever have a teacher who was compassionate to his or her students? Did you have a teacher who took so much interest in individual pupils that they’d take the time to worry about whether the student was good enough for honours or pass papers? This was done with the welfare of the pupil…
A future where children are poorer than parents
August 17, 2011
Every time I walk past a tiny house on Railway Road in Dalkey, it amazes me that my immigrant grandmother gave birth to six children there in the 1920s and 1930s. As is typical for many Irish people, our family history is one of upward social mobility in a generation or two. My dad left…
What Croatian Football can tell us about the Bank of Ireland Deal
July 27, 2011
Last Saturday night in Split, on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, the local team, Hajduk, hosted the brilliant Barcelona. The omens weren’t good. Earlier that day, storm clouds had swept across the Adriatic from Italy and more rain fell more heavily than any of our seasoned Irish company had ever seen. Not only torrential rain,…
Superquinn saga sums up our economic tale of woe
July 20, 2011
IF anything sums up what went wrong with Ireland, it is the saga of Superquinn. On the positive side, if anything shows how we can get out of this mess, it is also the receivership of one of Ireland’s best-known brands. Before looking at the receivership and the implications for the rest of the country,…
Diaspora’s ‘soft power’ will help fuel our future
May 25, 2011
David Mc Williams watching Obama’s speech in Fallons in the Coombe on Monday afternoon. Photograph by Gabe Murphy. THE lad beside me in the queue for Obama had driven down all the way from Donegal. We joined the queue at 2pm, just at the back of Christchurch. The very same scarf seller who was flogging…
Irish emigrants are glue that binds our countries
May 18, 2011
One of the funniest afternoons I’ve had in years was going on the lash with Wayne Rooney’s granny a few years back in Croxteth, Liverpool. Croxteth is almost all Irish. These are the Liverpool Irish — the Irish of Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison — the people whose people first lived in Scottie…
Time to play another game in a new Ireland
May 16, 2011
Last week was a great week. I have employed a few people and intend to employ a few more every month if things go according to plan. Ireland is full of good people who just need the proverbial ‘start’. There is always a great sense of excitement setting up a new venture, rolling up the…
Recession party poopers beware: the future is fun
April 27, 2011
When you leave this country for a few days, you get the distinct impression that we are stuck in a time warp. We aren’t moving on. This is the feeling I got over the weekend in London. On the eve of the Royal Wedding, the British capital captures the very essence of modernity or globalisation…
It’s the enormous debt, stupid
February 14, 2011
“Faced with the choice between changing our mind and proving the there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.” This wonderful quotation from the brilliant economist JK Galbraith sums up where most of the Irish establishment is with respect to the biggest question facing the electorate. The only question…
April 3, 2012
May 21, 2012
May 18, 2012
February 10, 2012
January 4, 2012
