Careful project selection is being supplanted with advance political commitment to unevaluated schemes, after which "delivery" becomes an obligation regardless of value for money.
“Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos,” said the perenially angry Walter character in Joel and Ethan Cohen's film. A swathe of the Spanish electorate voting this Sunday are on the same page.
By any measure, Ireland is better off than at any point in time before. Yet it is also angrier. So, what gives?
European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness wants to push new rules to ease the flow of capital across the continent before elections take centre stage next year. She also discusses green finance, Russian sanctions and her own future. Read or listen.
The Oireachtas Media Committee quizzed RTÉ representatives all afternoon in the first of two sessions planned in response to revelations of hidden payments to Ryan Tubridy. There was light shed on some of the many dark areas surrounding the scandal but not all.
No one likes taxes but everyone wants a larger state. What’s the smallest larger state we’ll need?
The political nervousness around migration for decades has contributed to the increasingly worrying spectre of polarisation and disturbance. 2023 has shown just how divisive the provision of shelter and care to those at risk is in our society.
The start of the kite-flying season includes a proposed Dublin weighting allowance for public servants, which makes less sense than just increasing people’s pay.
The US President's warm visit to Ireland looked a lot like a pre-campaign launch. The Democrats want to make the tax paid by multinationals a voting issue in next year's US election, with huge potential consequences for Ireland's public finances.
The guest list at the Stormont commemoration of the Good Friday Agreement showed that it worked because it brought in republicans. Adams understands it also requires unionist support.
© 2026 Currency Media Limited
