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Easy Come,
Easy Go
Last week was budget week in Ireland, and it is years since a Budget
was looked forward to with as much interest.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 13 December
2006
|
Money Makes Ireland Go Round
This is budget week in Ireland. All will be revealed on Wednesday
when the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen delivers his budget speech
to the Dail (Irish Parliament). And given the state of the public
finances, you’d have to feel sorry for the opposition.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 06 December
2006
|
The Ugly Side of Immigration
There are many positive aspects to the huge immigration that Ireland
has experienced in recent years. The coffee bar in the newspaper
office block where I work, for example, is entirely staffed by young
immigrants. They’re bright and cheerful and make excellent coffee
and, if you like, they can discuss Sartre or Kafka with you while
you’re waiting.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 29 November
2006
|
The Truth About the Travelers
A FEW events happening together put the well-worn issue of the travelers
back near the top of the news agenda here again last weekend. .
more... |
(Irish Voice) 22 November
2006
|
Boy Racers and Old Drinkers
IT happened here again last week, another horrific car crash in
which several young men were killed. And once again it was not on
a motorway around Dublin or near some other city in Ireland, but
on a secondary road way out in the country.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 15 November
2006
|
Time
to Think Nuclear
THERE are advantages to being stuck out in the Atlantic on a small
island on the far west of Europe — lovely fresh air, gentle rain
to keep everything green, uncrowded open spaces, a lifestyle still
close to nature and relatively relaxed in spite of the Celtic Tiger
boom. more...
|
(Irish Voice) 8 November
2006
|
Property
Party Is Over
THE party’s over for the Irish property market. After 10 years of
phenomenal growth, when the value of houses shot up by anywhere
from 10% to 20% per year — and this went on year after year with
no end in sight — the last few weeks have seen the market finally
go flat. more...
|
(Irish Voice) 1st November
2006
|
Northern Frost Is Melting
IT’S a bit like global warming, slow but inevitable. Inch by inch
the permafrost between the two sides in Northern Ireland is melting.
more...
|
(Irish Voice) 25 October
2006
|
Ahern Will Weather the Storm
AS I write this column (on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Irish time), the Taoiseach
(Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern is live on the 6 o’clock evening news
program on RTE fighting for his political life.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 27 September
2006
|
A
Hole in One for Ireland
WHEN it comes to golf, I’m in the Mark Twain school (Twain famously
defined golf as “a good walk spoiled”). But I have to admit to watching
it on TV, and I even play it now and then with my 13-year-old son
who always beats me.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 20 September
2006
|
McDowell
Is a True Leader
THE worst nightmare of the center left in Irish politics became
a reality last weekend when Michael McDowell became the new leader
of the Progressive Democrats.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 13 September
2006
|
Gaelic
Is Such a Waste
THE past couple of weeks were back to school time here in Ireland,
and in the Spain household there were heavy hearts and long faces
of regret at the ending of a great summer.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 06 September
2006
|
Closing the Doors Into Ireland
YOU think the hardened American position on immigration is not something
that any Irish person could support? Well, according to leaks to
the Irish papers over the past week, the new U.S. rules on immigration
will be the model for an unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigrants
into Ireland in the near future.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 30 August 2006
|
The Great Irish (Taxi) Rebellion
A FEW weeks ago we arrived back at Dublin Airport after a short
holiday and got a taxi home. We live on the Northside of Dublin,
the same side as the airport, and it’s about seven kilometers from
the terminal to our front door. Unless the traffic is really bad,
the trip takes less than 30 minutes.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 23 August 2006
|
Bono
— From Hero to Zero
THE news last week that U2 are moving the royalties part of their
multi-million business empire out of Ireland to avoid tax has turned
Bono from hero to zero at a stroke.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 16 August 2006
|
The
65 Dollar a Day Men
A COUPLE of weeks back the front page of the Irish Times “Weekend
Review” section was devoted to a major feature on the immigrants
here who are finding out the hard way that life in the lair of the
Celtic Tiger can be very hard indeed.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 09 August 2006
|
McConville Death An IRA Atrocity
IT’S now almost two weeks since the Police Ombudsman in Northern
Ireland Nuala O’Loan released the results of her examination into
the police investigation of the murder of Jean McConville by the
IRA in December 1972
more... |
(Irish Voice) 19 July 2006
|
A Priest
of the People
A SPECIAL hero of mine died while I was out of the country a few
weeks back. Father Denis Faul, fearless defender of ordinary people
in Northern Ireland over more than 30 years of the Troubles, was
the most courageous man I ever knew.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 12 July 2006
|
World’s Top Scoring Resort
THIS week, as the World Cup heads for the final on Sunday, this column
leaves behind the usual cares and woes of everyday life here to bring
you a holiday dream. more... |
(Irish Voice) 05 July 2006
|
Veronica Died in Vain
Ten years after Sunday Indepen-dent crime journalist Veronica Guerin’s
murder, gangland crime in Ireland is now three times worse than it was
a decade ago when she wrote about the drugs bosses and was murdered for
making trouble for them. more... |
(Irish Voice) 27 June 2006
|
Thanks a Million, Little Fella
IT was easy for us news hacks to be cynical about the state funeral last
week for former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charlie Haughey. more...
|
(Irish Voice) 21 June 2006
|
Murder on Main Street
LAST week was
the tenth anniversary of the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe by
IRA thugs. more... |
(Irish Voice) 14 June 2006
|
Ireland’s Sex Law Fiasco
IT’S the unexpected things you don’t see coming that get
you into trouble, the former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Albert Reynolds
said ruefully back in the 1990s after he had lost power over the Father
Brendan Smyth affair (Smyth was a pedophile priest whose case had been
delayed and mishandled by Reynolds’ government). more... |
(Irish Voice) 7 June 2006
|
Fianna Fail Facing Meltdown?
THIS week Fianna Fail is in a state of shock. In spite of everything
it has done for us over the last decade, in spite of a continuing economic
boom that is the envy of Europe, in spite of almost full employment, in
spite of our unprecedented wealth, in spite of the achievement of peace
in the North with the declaration that the IRA’s war is over, we
are turning against the country’s biggest political party. more... |
(Irish Voice) 31 May 2006
|
Bittersweet Ending for Irish Sugar
IT was one of the first words of Irish we all learned. Suicre. It means
sugar in Irish. And you could not forget it because every time you bought
sugar here it was there in large purple letters on the front of the bag. more... |
(Irish Voice) 24 May 2006
|
Death of the Small Country Pub
LAST week figures were released here which confirm something truly sad.
In small pubs across Ireland the familiar closing time call of, “Time
Now Please!” and “Have Yez No Homes to Go to!” is being
made as usual, but many of the pubs are closing not just for the night,
but forever. more... |
(Irish Voice) 17 May 2006
|
A Tale of Two Cities
AT the age of 29, John F. O’Donohue had already put nearly a decade
into the New York City Police Department. Yet he still craved new experiences.
more... |
(Irish Post) 10 May 2006
|
A Nation of Property Speculators
LAST weekend, the Sunday Independent had huge ads for foreign property.
“My Kinda Investment, Chicago” said the headline on one skyscraper
development in the Windy City which will be sold to Irish investors at
a special two-day sales event in the swish Westbury Hotel in Dublin next
weekend. more... |
(Irish Voice) 3 May 2006
|
Foreign Menace on Irish Roads
YOU may be aware that there have been a number of horrific car crashes involving
immigrant drivers on Irish roads recently. In spite of this you are unlikely
to read a headline like the one above in an Irish newspaper. more...
|
(Irish Voice) 26 April 2006
|
The Long Shadow of 1916
THE sun shone, the bands played, the soldiers (thousands of them) marched,
the tanks growled past and the kids pointed in awe at the big guns being
towed behind the weird military vehicles. more... |
(Irish Voice) 19 April 2006
|
Then and Now — the 1916 Legacy
NEXT Monday, Easter Monday, is the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising,
and a major celebration of that historic event is planned here this coming
weekend. Which may seem a little strange. more... |
(Irish Voice) 12 April 2006
|
|
McGahern Writes Final Chapter
THE acclaimed Irish author John McGahern — universally recognized as Ireland’s greatest living writer — died suddenly in the Mater Hospital in Dublin last Thursday. more...
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(Irish Voice) 5 April 2006
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A Boom or a Bust?
YOU can never have too much of a good thing, right? Suddenly, a lot of people here are not so sure. more...
|
(Irish Voice) 29 March 2006
|
Reality Check for Sinn Fein
ST. Patrick’s week in the U.S turned out to be a bit of a wake-up call for Gerry Adams, what with him being forced to take the train instead of the plane and being refused permission to hoover up money at fundraisers, although President Bush did relent somewhat and meet him as well as the McCartney and Rafferty families.
more...
|
(Irish Voice) 22 March 2006
|
Oh. My. God. Happy St. Pat’s!
ST. Patrick’s Day is here again, the day when what it means to be
Irish is celebrated not only here but wherever the Paddys have settled
across the world. Which is everywhere from Kanturk to Kazakhstan,
in both directions around the globe.
more... |
Irish Voice 15 March 2006
|
No Sympathy for U.S. Illegals
THE plight of the undocumented Irish in post-September 11 America
and the extraordinary growth of the Irish Lobby for Immigration
Reform (ILIR) has been getting a lot of coverage in the Irish media
in the last few weeks. That is likely to continue this week with
the ILIR taking the campaign to Washington.
more... |
Irish Voice 08 March 2006
|
Dublin’s Day of
Shame
NO one saw it coming. Of course after it had happened, after a few
hundred hardcore Republicans and a few hundred more ordinary thugs
and hooligans had turned the center of Dublin on Saturday into somewhere
that looked more like Baghdad, everyone was saying that more precautions
should have been taken.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 1 March 2006
|
Party Time for
Sinn Fein
SINN Fein had its annual party conference in Dublin last weekend
and, for a party that thinks of itself as central to the future
of Ireland and very much at the cutting edge of change in the country,
it all seemed very staged and dated, like a party meeting in Moscow
in the old Soviet days.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 22 February
2006
|
Cartoons Were No Joke
FOR an hour or so last Friday the normally peaceful Stephen’s Green
area in the center of Dublin looked a bit like Teheran. Around 500
Muslims, many in traditional dress and with long beards, marched
around the Green protesting against the Danish cartoons, waving
their fists in the air and chanting slogans about the Prophet.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 15 February
2006
|
IRA Flunks
on Report Card
LIKE anxious parents waiting for a school report, we were all wondering
what grades the boys in the balaclavas would get from the Independent
Monitoring Commission (IMC) last week.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 8 February
2006
|
Junk Justice Rules
in Ireland
EVERY now and then a court case here grabs public attention to such
an extent that the whole country talks about nothing else for days.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 1 February
2006
|
Bless Me, Father
Daddy
AT this stage it’s a truism to say that Ireland has changed almost
beyond recognition in the past decade. The evidence is all around
us, in the richer, faster, more liberated lifestyle that so many
Irish people have these days.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 25 January
2006
|
The Anti-U.S.
Irish Brigade
ABOUT a week before Christmas — on December 19 to be exact — the
Afghan Parliament met for the first time in over 30 years. For the
people of Afghanistan, after their years of hell under the Taliban,
it must have been an extraordinary day.
more... |
(Irish Voice) 18 January
2006
|
Silence of the
Wolves
IT never ceases to amaze me how so many sensible, sincere people
have a totally distorted view of reality when it comes to the rights
of Sinn Fein and the wrongs of the U.S. more... |
(Irish Voice) 11 January
2006
|
My Irish Wish
List for 2006
1. THAT Irish people will rediscover the value of moderation. 2.
That Bertie will get the credit he is due. 3. That the Irish economy
will slow gradually instead of crash.... more... |
(Irish Voice)5 January 2006
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