Archive for the category: ‘Blog’
Minister Varadkar and the Fine Gael Leadership – thejournal.ie op-ed
31st May, 2017
On the day I declared my support for Leo Varadkar, as the person best placed to be the next Leader of Fine Gael and......
Read More >Fine Gael remains dedicated to the Just Society – Irish Times op-ed
30th May, 2017
Declan Costello, the author of Fine Gael’s Towards a Just Society, was once a TD for the part of Dublin that I now represent. ......
Read More >A year in minority Government and standing up for the political centre
8th May, 2017
While 2016 was a bad year for centrist politics, 2017 has given more hope for optimism. The Dutch and French elections, presaged by the......
Read More >A hard future without a strong centre – Op ed for Sunday Independent
12th March, 2017
The debate about the leadership of Fine Gael should see everyone, not just the candidates, talk about the future of our party. What......
Read More >Irish Times Review of Austerity & Recovery in Ireland, Europe’s Poster Child and the Great Recession
18th February, 2017
Edited by William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell and Andrea Prothero Oxford University Press, pp 346, 2017. I only have one good memory of......
Read More >Mulvey Report on North East Inner City Op-ed for The Herald
15th February, 2017
Dublin’s North East Inner City (NEC) is a place of eye-watering contrasts. The affluent IFSC and Docklands sit on one side with areas that......
Read More >Capital Plan Review – Op-ed for SBP
5th February, 2017
Ireland is a growing country. Since the early 1990s, the number of people living here has risen from just over 3.5 million to over......
Read More >Review of ‘Thank You For Being Late – An Optimists Guide To Thriving In The Age Of Accelerations’ by Thomas L Friedman
16th January, 2017
My home had a new arrival over the Christmas period. Alexa arrived. Young Alexa is extra-ordinarily talented. She appears to know all there is......
Read More >PEACE, INTERREG and a Millennium Falcon
21st December, 2016
I never expected when I set out for Derry last Thursday that I would return to Dublin the following day with my very own......
Read More >The centre will hold – Op-ed for Sunday Business Post
14th October, 2016
In my speech on Budget Day last Tuesday, I alluded to The Second Coming by WB Yeats when I said that it was the......
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