Gerard Howlin

Gerard Howlin columns

We now know which hospitals are overspending and which are delivering. Let’s fund them accordingly

In the past, there was a formula which ensured that the worse things were, the more money you got. That’s no longer the case

Next election will herald an age of Independents

Series of flip-flops by Sinn Féin on hate speech, the Nature Restoration Law, and the recent referendums raises questions. If they can’t speak clearly for themselves, how can they speak for us?

The idea this Government has another year is constitutionally correct but politically preposterous

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs know they are franchisees of brands in decline

‘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 today

The world is burning, but Sinn Féin is focusing on the local elections

The party decided not to be the party of change on climate change, which may be a smart political calculation, but comes at a cost

The children’s hospital project has been both meticulously planned and overly rushed

The problem isn’t the overrun - it is that the cost was grossly underestimated and all the information the market needed to squeeze the Government was made public

It’s official: The national mood is lightening. The black clouds are turning grey

There are no signs that the lightening of the mood is helping the Government parties. But it’s not necessarily good for Sinn Féin either

The concerns and prejudice boiling over in small towns mark the end of an era for Ireland

Politics is now increasingly a zero-sum contest seeking only tactical advantage

The young are caught in a grotesquely unfair trap

Unable to afford their own homes or save for a pension, they’ll have to carry the burden of paying for the pensions of the home-owning generation. More must be asked of older people

There is a grim Irish tradition of arson, from burning big houses to burning refugee centres

Accommodating asylum seekers and refugees is a medium-sized infrastructure problem in danger of imminent political contamination by the far right

Some of those who were attracted to Sinn Féin’s paramilitary past are now veering far-right

Sinn Féin rode wave of support on core social issues, but the context has now changed to law, order and immigration

Ireland doesn’t have the right people in the right places in the European Parliament

Too many of our 13 MEPs are in peripheral groups, where little real power is exercised. Thirty per cent of Ireland’s parliamentary presence is in a group that comprises just over 5 per cent of the parliament

Change is coming in Ireland – just not how the Government or the Opposition imagines

Ireland cannot sustain a bigger state on our current tax base

A government that cannot budget credibly is not a credible government

Just as a government worthy of the name must pass a budget that is credible, the health service must be able to live within its allocation

Health estimate is fiction and passing it makes a mockery of the Dáil

Budget day saw rare flashes of leadership but these were overshadowed by imprudent overspending

Ireland is on the frontline of the battle against misinformation

We have EU-wide responsibilities that are enormous in scale and consequence

Micheál Martin may be Sinn Féin’s greatest accidental cheerleader

If there is a slam dunk election in the making, it is an inside job, and Martin is a chief architect

There is a direct line between threat to Irish sovereignty and social disintegration

We are under-prepared and ill-equipped for the real threats to our sovereignty

Rhodes is burning but roads are the burning budget issue in Ireland

Leo Varadkar’s support for roads is nostalgia for a world suffocating on its own emissions

Gerard Howlin: There is a reason this RTÉ soap opera eclipsed the heatwave in Europe

Self-referential news cycle prioritising this controversy in the face of climate breakdown is a deadly extension of fake news

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