Ireland
Is Ireland cosying up to China?
In 2019, the then-deputy prime minister of Ireland Simon Coveney spoke at the UN Human Rights Council, where he underlined Ireland’s…
Letters
Taking care Sir: I agree completely with Leo McKinstry that care for parents should be paid out of their estate…
Biden’s tax plan spells bad news for Ireland
Biden’s America, of course, is all about re-engaging with the world after four years of isolationism. But if you are…
My fears about an Irish border poll
Last week, Edwin Poots was elected leader of the DUP. You will have read all about him. I have. You…
An unholy trinity
Lisa McInerney likes the rule of three. Three novels set in Cork structured around sex, drugs and rock’n’roll and, within…
Sinn Fein’s hollow ‘apology’ for Mountbatten’s murder
Prince Philip’s death presented Sinn Fein with a particular challenge, given that the IRA murdered his beloved uncle. ‘I am…
Northern Ireland’s sink estates are fertile ground for fundamentalists
Northern Ireland is routinely voted one of the happiest places to live in the UK. A few weeks ago, a…
The turf
How Father Sean Breen would have loved this year’s Cheltenham Festival. The late parish priest at Ballymore Eustace, who owned…
Is Biden turning on Brussels?
The Joe Biden administration, headed up by a proud son of Ireland, has spent St Patrick’s Day briefing reporters in Washington…
The turf
With the Cheltenham Festival close, the quest for serious punting money intensifies. I had one potential contributor identified at Kempton…
Are loyalists plotting a return to violence?
What are we to make of Loyalist paramilitary groups withdrawing support for the Good Friday Agreement over the invidious trade…
Irish folklore
Bad history and Biden’s roots
Ancestral voices
Despite innovative work by younger writers, there remains a prominent strain in Irish literature of what we might call the…
Thatcher was completely right about the Euro
It was a ‘rush of blood to the head’. Its central bank would prove to be hopelessly ineffective. And cultural…
Beyond the new euphoria, the Irish question still looms
FTSE indices soared as the Biden Bounce met vaccine euphoria, underpinned by the Bank of England’s announcement of another £150…
Figures in a landscape
Some of my happiest fiction-reading hours have been spent in the company of Kevin Barry: two short-story collections, both prize-winners,…
What’s the real reason behind Joe Biden’s Brexit threats?
Is Donald Trump taking the Democrats’ line on Brexit and the Irish border? We might think so from the Financial…
Child of nature
Dara McAnulty is a teenage naturalist from Northern Ireland. He has autism; so do his brother, sister and mother —…
The dangers of comparing different countries’ death rates
Using differences in coronavirus death rates between countries to draw out policy conclusions is becoming a very popular pastime. Unfortunately,…
‘Irish writers don’t talk to each other – they shout abuse’
Sebastian Barry talks to Robert Jackman about family folklore, the joy of writing playsand why he is not an ‘Irish’ novelist
Galway
I was still digesting my delicious breakfast (kippers, poached eggs and soda bread — all local) when the sad news…
The death of the centre in European politics
Stockholm It’s hard not to feel sorry for Leo Varadkar. He positioned himself as Ireland’s champion and even ended up…
Europe’s shrinking centre
What happens when times change, but parties don’t?
Ireland’s election result is bad news for Brexit
Ireland has given its own twist to the populist uprisings across Europe, with its election ushering in a grim time…
Varadkar’s election gamble backfires as Sinn Fein surge
Irish election results are being counted and it seems that Leo Varadkar’s snap election gamble has worked out as badly…
