Category Archives: Republic of Ireland

Walking the Kerry Way to happiness

Posted on Friday, 21 August, 2020 by

Earlier this month I took my annual long summer walk for five days along the Kerry Way. I left Killarney on a sunny Monday morning along the Old Kenmare Road and passed through the ancient, boulder-strewn oak forests above Derrycunnihy … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | 2 Comments

An Open Letter to Micheál Martin

Posted on Wednesday, 1 July, 2020 by

Dear Taoiseach Congratulations on your election last Saturday. We have known each other for 23 years, since you were the rookie Fianna Fail education spokesman (soon to become Minister for Education) and I was the rookie Irish Times education correspondent. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 7 Comments

Is the future green (saving the planet) or green (driving on to Irish unity)?

Posted on Monday, 1 June, 2020 by

We in the Republic of Ireland have two prospects when it comes to the colour of the next government (and indeed the one after that), I would suggest. Those prospects have little to do with Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein, The island environment | 2 Comments

Why we need to fight the Corona virus on an all-island basis

Posted on Tuesday, 7 April, 2020 by

This is an updated and expanded version of an article published in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ on 2 April. I find I have a little more to add to the Covid-19 reflections of my last blog: specifically about North-South cooperation in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | 1 Comment

Two reflections on the Corona virus crisis: one Irish, one international

Posted on Friday, 27 March, 2020 by

What more can one ignorant retired journalist add to the trillions of words written about the Corona virus? Not much, except perhaps two points that readers will have seen before from me ad nauseam on a range of topics: 1) … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment, Views from abroad | 2 Comments

My plea to Irish voters: don’t put Sinn Fein close to power

Posted on Thursday, 6 February, 2020 by

We in the Republic have a general election in two days, and it looks as though Sinn Fein are going to do exceptionally well. The unhappiness of people – particularly young and poor people – with the shortcomings of Fine … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein | 4 Comments

Now they’re going to be on the losing side again, is it time to be nice to the Unionists?

Posted on Thursday, 24 October, 2019 by

Writing this on 24 October, I forecast that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, despite parliamentary delays and perhaps a general election,  will eventually pass through the British parliament (the 30 vote Commons majority for the second reading of the Withdrawal Agreement … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Republic of Ireland | 4 Comments

A walk through Ireland’s bloody history in Wicklow’s peaceful mountains

Posted on Wednesday, 31 July, 2019 by

Last month I went on my annual longish summer walk through the Irish hills and countryside. This year I decided, as a change from my usual cross-border itineraries, to go far away from the North to the deep south-east. I … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | 8 Comments

The simplistic engagement of people in the Republic with the complexity of the North

Posted on Monday, 24 June, 2019 by

Earlier this month I attended a session of the Dalkey Book Festival entitled ‘Who’s afraid of a united Ireland?’ It may be difficult to credit, but in nearly 40 years of living (mainly) in the Republic, this was the first … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

Mutual contempt and ignorance are no way to build relations between peoples (especially in Ireland)

Posted on Sunday, 24 March, 2019 by

As the crisis deepens in Britain, the old negative stereotypes are back. The right-wing British press is full of fury at the treacherous role of the Irish in the ‘backstop’ to keep the UK hobbled and handcuffed indefinitely to the … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Republic of Ireland | 3 Comments