Comment: A very large net
Daniel Kinahan, a man named in the Irish High Court as head of a violent crime family, is synonymous with what tabloid newspapers call "gangland", their term for the world of organised crime.
Paulie Doyle
Comment: Official Ireland wants a diaspora of visitors and investors
In the 17th century Swiss doctor Johannes Hofer wrote his thesis about a disease he had observed. It mostly affected young people sent abroad, but also those who led cloistered lives before travelling, who were stricken with an all-consuming desire to go home.
Comment: Free State Nationalists and loyalists: natural allies
Five years ago a friend and I visited Belfast on 12 July. She was researching a potential book about a united Ireland. I was interested in writing about loyalism. We walked around the city, went to Sandy Row, saw the KAT graffiti and heard the sectarian chants.
Comment: The elite meet in private – but their intentions are clear
It’s said that a frog in a slowly heating pot of water won't notice it's being boiled alive. You hear this as an apologue for a shortcoming of mankind, our tendency to ignore impending catastrophe because we're not in immediate danger.
Comment: The public forced the state to act on South Africa – it can do so again
You get a sense of how theatrical parliamentary politics is while perched in the gallery above the Dáil chamber.
Comment: We removed the Good Friday alcohol ban for capital. It was a mistake
Some of the best house parties of my college years were on Good Friday.
Comment: The trouble with Experts
Years before my job with The Ditch, I worked freelance for Irish and British magazines. The subjects I was assigned were often interesting, but putting together articles could be mechanical.
Comment: The true nature of the Irish-US relationship can't be denied
There’s a revisionist Irish history that goes like this.
Comment: In this house, Chaim Herzog is a hero
I like to work The Sopranos into classes I teach. Earlier this year, while teaching a module on narrative studies, I played one of my favourite scenes for some undergraduates.
Comment: Taking things Seriously
I knew things were about to get pretty Serious when I saw Stephen Collins. The Irish Times columnist had written yet another piece explaining we’d better start acting like adults because our betters in Europe and the United States aren’t looking at us favourably right now.
Comment: You don’t need to be left to know the establishment lies about Catherine Connolly
Ivan Yates was at least honest about the tactics he would need to use to get a candidate like Heather Humphreys elected president.
Comment: The right is unified in opposing the worthy successor to Higgins – Sinn Féin should support her
The political right hates Michael D Higgins – with good reason.