Articles: Politics %

It is often the case that we fail to recognise the significance of events when we witness them and it is only years afterwards that we realise that this or that moment was a major turning point. In September 1988, I sat in a medieval hall in Bruges and listened to Margaret Thatcher giving the now famous Bruges speech. The speech was delivered at the opening of the academic year of the College of Europe. More

In Latin America, just before a bankrupt state entirely runs out of money, it is traditional to try one last smashand- grab for the savings of the private citizen. We have seen this trend not just in South America’s recent financial history but down through the ages, where kings, tyrants and emperors expropriate the wealth of the nation to prop up their dysfunctional regimes. More

For us in Ireland, the example of New Zealand should give us cause for hope, because it reveals that a new government with a fresh mandate can reverse the decline More

No wonder the Greeks are upset. Yesterday, the IMF and the EU were busy trying to limit the damage following their mission to Greece. One auditor, also the EC representative, Servaas Deroose, encouraged the Greeks to “sell beaches” to pay back the IMF/EU loan. More

IT is quite surreal to see the opening days of the campaign have been dominated by arguments about whether party leaders will appear on TV programmes. More

Back in the early 1990s, I was working in the Central Bank when work was under way on framing much of the Irish position on the Maastricht Treaty. More

Strange as it may seem now, the next few years offer the greatest opportunity to change Ireland. It is difficult to see beyond this crisis when many of us are mired in a deep, deep depression, but we can fix this economy and heal this society. More

It’s 8.15am on New Year’s Eve. More

What is it? What is the difference between Donegal and Tyrone? And I don’t just mean in Gaelic football. More

Most political societies are divided along lines that are broadly left and right. More