Fianna Fáil rolls dice in the budget flyer game at weekend ardfheisLeader and Minister for Finance trail raft of fiscal initiatives months in advance of what is likely to be a crucial general election budgetSun Apr 14 2024 - 18:59
Joe Brolly and Sinn Féin are sick of experts. Have any of them heard of Brexit?The united Ireland conversation involves listening to people who don’t agree with you and whose advice you don’t want to hearSat Apr 13 2024 - 06:00
Harris scraps difficult proposals, aiming instead for focused approach to childcare, farms and businessReferendum on patents, vote on Dublin mayor and disabilities green paper among plans to be droppedSat Apr 13 2024 - 06:00
‘There are significant concerns’: Plans to change disability welfare benefits scrappedThe controversial green paper contained proposals to introduce three different levels of disability benefitsFri Apr 12 2024 - 12:37
Delay ‘not credible any longer’: Recognition of state of Palestine expected in coming weeksIreland and some EU states set to announce formal recognition once peace initiative with Israel – expected within weeks – is under wayWed Apr 10 2024 - 06:00
Inexperience no barrier to potential success for Simon Harris Taoiseach may be very young but he has demonstrated he is highly skilled at politics and his Cabinet choices indicate a concern for geography and the next electionTue Apr 09 2024 - 20:05
Ireland will soon formally recognise state of Palestine, Tánaiste tells DáilIreland and some other EU states to announce formal recognition of Palestine once peace initiative is underwayTue Apr 09 2024 - 18:15
Varadkar resigns as Taoiseach with ‘no regrets’ as Harris loyalists eye promotionNew Cabinet is expected be announced to the Dáil at about 5pm on TuesdayTue Apr 09 2024 - 06:00
Varadkar out, Harris in: what will happen today?By early Tuesday evening, the Fine Gael leader will have likely become taoiseach and formed his new cabinetMon Apr 08 2024 - 18:33
Simon Harris’s vague commitments leave hardly a single area of Government untroubledFine Gael leader provides plenty of platitudes but little information about what he will do as taoiseach in ardfheis speechSat Apr 06 2024 - 19:59
Simon Harris pledges to fix housing ‘once and for all’ in first ardfheis speech as Fine Gael leader‘I’m gonna hit the ground running’: Harris promises a ‘new energy’ will succeed outgoing Taoiseach Leo VaradkarSat Apr 06 2024 - 18:30
Tough, lucky and clever (but not too clever): what makes a good taoiseach?It’s like no other job in the country. If you think anyone can do it, you have no idea what’s involvedSun Mar 31 2024 - 07:00
New measures to support struggling businesses could come before Budget - McGrathSimon Harris under pressure from party to emphasise supports for enterprise in coming monthsTue Mar 26 2024 - 10:50
Simon Harris rules out early election after taking over as Fine Gael leader‘I would like to see this Government going full term,’ says presumptive taoiseach, ‘that is my intention’Mon Mar 25 2024 - 06:00
Snapshot survey: Is the Government making the country go in the right or wrong direction?Recent referendums have been the main focus of the public’s attention this last month as housing and immigration slip into second and third placeMon Mar 25 2024 - 05:00
Fine Gael is tired from 13 years in Government and badly in need of a shot in the armSimon Harris promises to expend ‘blood, sweat and tears’ in his efforts to rejuvenate Fine GaelSun Mar 24 2024 - 20:38
Maria Walsh and former jockey Nina Carberry nominated to run for Fine Gael in European electionsPair to run in Midlands-North West constituency as Welsh seeks second term in European ParliamentSun Mar 24 2024 - 18:42
Housing crisis is civil rights issue of this generation, Labour leader Ivana Bacik tells party conferenceBacik says Labour would transform Land Development Agency into State construction company to build homesSat Mar 23 2024 - 18:30
In the goldfish bowl of the Taoiseach’s office, it was clear Varadkar’s focus had driftedWe were all waiting, says one Government insider, like waiting for a kettle to boil, when it wasn’t plugged inSat Mar 23 2024 - 06:30
New Fine Gael ministers to be asked to prioritise small number of issues after Cabinet reshuffleFocus to shift to Coalition’s remaining time in office and preparations for next election when Dáil reconvenes after Easter with Harris as next taoiseachSat Mar 23 2024 - 06:00
Leo Varadkar says there is no ‘scandal’ that prompted decision to quit as TaoiseachOutgoing Taoiseach says he is ‘not interested in any form of ministerial office’Fri Mar 22 2024 - 13:53
No regrets as Varadkar limbers up for the last dance in Brussels Suddenly, the Taoiseach seems tired of it all. Tired of Brussels, evenThu Mar 21 2024 - 20:15
Varadkar says ‘no one thing’ triggered resignation and that it is ‘time for somebody new’Taoiseach tells reporters at summit of EU leaders in Brussels he has been doing the job long enoughThu Mar 21 2024 - 15:12
Martin and Ryan to insist Varadkar’s successor commits to Coalition going full term as Opposition seeks electionOpposition parties demand early general election as Taoiseach shocks country by announcing he would resign as Fine Gael leader immediately and step down as the head of Government in early AprilThu Mar 21 2024 - 06:41
Coveney rules out succeeding Varadkar after Taoiseach stands down as Fine Gael leader - as it happenedVaradkar on his resignation: 'In the absence of anyone trying to stab me in the back, I have decided to fall on my own sword'Wed Mar 20 2024 - 20:40
Leo Varadkar’s bombshell resignation turns the political world upside downAnticipated bounceback once Varadkar regained Taoiseach’s office in 2022 has not materialised for a directionless Fine GaelWed Mar 20 2024 - 16:38
Exodus of incumbents damages Fine Gael moraleCannon joins list of almost a third of 35 TDs who won seats for Fine Gael in the 2020 election that are unlikely to seek re-electionTue Mar 19 2024 - 17:00
Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon to quit: ‘There’s a toxicity in politics that was barely palpable 20 years ago’Galway East representative is the 10th Fine Gael TD to announce intention to quit politics at the next electionTue Mar 19 2024 - 10:02
Two-thirds of political and media advisers recruited by Government are paid more than €100,000The two most senior advisers earn between €185,000 and €195,000 a year, though both gift part of their salaries back to the StateSun Mar 17 2024 - 07:00
Is Ireland compassionately centre right or cautiously centre left? A lot hangs on the answerRelations across the cultural chasm in the Coalition have been deteriorating for months, with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail ministers increasingly given to mutterings about their Green colleaguesSat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00
Political adviser pay is linked to pay of senior grades in the Civil ServiceMost advisers aren’t on highest levels of Civil Service pay and they have none of the job stability of a civil servantSat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00
‘Political advisers are like poisoners: either famous or good at their job’A short history of political advisers in Ireland, from the early 1990s to todaySat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00
The people behind the power: Who are Ireland’s political advisers and backroom experts?A large staff network oversees everything: communication, policy and smooth Coalition relationsSat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00
Referendums’ defeat leads to divisions between Ministers over blame for failed campaign Coalition politicians turn fire on proposed hate crime law, saying new legislation should be abandonedTue Mar 12 2024 - 06:00
Paschal Donohoe’s prospect of International Monetary Fund top job slips away EU finance ministers are set to endorse the head of the International Monetary Fund, Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva, for a second termMon Mar 11 2024 - 12:02
Amid all the finger-pointing, it’d be unwise to overlook central thrust of referendum resultsGovernments will likely be more cautious about making constitutional changes in futureSat Mar 09 2024 - 21:30
As the EU prepares for war, Ireland sticks its head in the sandIn fairness to us, we really have some neck. There is literally no end to our chutzpahSat Mar 09 2024 - 06:30
Growing anxiety in Government over results of referendums after voters stay home Just 25% of electorate had cast a ballot in Dublin city as of last nightSat Mar 09 2024 - 05:44
The most underwhelming referendum campaign since blasphemy has stuttered to its finaleYour essential end-of-week politics catch up and are pay rises for all on the cards for semi-state bosses?Fri Mar 08 2024 - 12:08
Accountant, HR specialist, film-maker: who Terence O’Rourke and the other new RTÉ board members areNew chairman is reputedly collaborative, approachable and ‘artsy’, but had to defend KPMG’s pre-crash audits of AIBWed Mar 06 2024 - 06:00
Siún Ní Raghallaigh challenges Minister’s version of events as new RTÉ chair appointedTerence O’Rourke set to chair board as row between predecessor and Catherine Martin deepensTue Mar 05 2024 - 06:00
Terence O’Rourke set to be named as new chair of RTÉ boardThree Coalition party leaders have approved suggestion of Catherine Martin to nominate the former KPMG managing partnerMon Mar 04 2024 - 21:03
Ryan and Coveney in heated row over data centresSimon Coveney forcefully argued that Minister for the Environment’s proposal was not agreed Government policySat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
Former HSE boss sounded out as new chair of RTÉ boardPaul Reid is one of a number of potential candidates understood to have been approachedSat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
Catherine Martin: RTÉ’s biggest champion in Cabinet is now at war with broadcaster’s leadershipMinister’s move to effectively sack RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh on television escalated political aspect of crisisSat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
I’ve worked out when the general election is most likely to beTwo sets of political considerations will influence the decision: tactical and practical.Sat Mar 02 2024 - 06:00
Immigration top of the list of issues getting the attention of voters in the past monthContinuing prominence of immigration in Snapshot survey comes after moves to discourage both Ukrainian refugees and people seeking asylum from coming to IrelandMon Feb 26 2024 - 06:00
Is Ireland going in the right direction? Here’s what poll respondents said Latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A Snapshot poll asked respondents to comment on what in Ireland was going in the right direction or the wrong direction. Here are a selection of answersMon Feb 26 2024 - 06:00
‘You’d be out of your mind to go there’: How witnesses really feel about Oireachtas committeesMeetings have frequently been farcical. It’s ridiculous that two committees should jostle for attentionSat Feb 24 2024 - 06:30
RTÉ board members ‘furious, insulted and fed up’ over forced resignation of chair Row between broadcaster’s board and Catherine Martin over exit payouts for departing executives deepening following resignation of Siún Ní RaghallaighFri Feb 23 2024 - 21:40