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Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy

The Irish Times

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Joe Brolly and Sinn Féin are sick of experts. Have any of them heard of Brexit?

“I think the people in this country have had enough of experts,” the British minister and leading Brexiteer Michael Gove said at the height of the...

13.04.2024 20

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Tough, lucky and clever (but not too clever): what makes a good taoiseach?

What will he do about housing? Will he kill the Hate Speech Bill? Will he start to soft-pedal on climate measures to shore up Fine Gael’s creaking...

31.03.2024 9

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

In the goldfish bowl of the Taoiseach’s office, it was clear Varadkar’s focus had drifted

Reading it back now, the coverage of Leo Varadkar’s election as Taoiseach seems impossibly optimistic. “Even at a time of scepticism about...

23.03.2024 8

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Is Ireland compassionately centre right or cautiously centre left? A lot hangs on the answer

In the week since the shock results of the twin referendums, there has been an abundance of hot takes, lists of lessons, much recrimination,...

16.03.2024 7

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

As the EU prepares for war, Ireland sticks its head in the sand

“I do not believe that Putin’s ambitions will stop at Ukraine. This is our war too and it’s not just happening on Ukraine’s territory. It’s...

09.03.2024 30

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

I’ve worked out when the general election is most likely to be

Here are they key questions and some answers about the timing of the next general election in Ireland. The timing of elections is a matter of politics...

02.03.2024 6

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

‘You’d be out of your mind to go there’: How witnesses really feel about Oireachtas committees

Anyone who is called to appear before an Oireachtas committee should turn up – but only if they can be reasonably assured that the committees will...

24.02.2024 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

After the Holly Cairns bounce, the Social Democrats must face up to three key questions

The Social Democrats gather this weekend in UCD for the party’s annual conference, facing some big imminent decisions. It’s not quite a year since...

17.02.2024 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Seven lessons for Leo Varadkar from the career of John Bruton

Former Fine Gael taoiseach John Bruton inherited the system of programme managers and special advisers from the Fianna Fáil-Labour Coalition that...

10.02.2024 6

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Is Mary Lou McDonald just goading unionists about a united Ireland ‘within touching distance’?

The picture of a beaming Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill dominated the front pages of both the Financial Times and the Guardian on Wednesday...

03.02.2024 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Two big questions Micheál Martin can’t avoid for much longer

In a political era that is roiled by uncertainty of every type, one of the most significant unknowns in Irish politics concerns the future of someone...

28.01.2024 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Could immigration replace housing as the big issue of the next election?

It’s housing all the way in the next election. Isn’t it? Housing, housing, housing – that’s what the next election will be about. Right across...

21.01.2024 6

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Will Varadkar or Higgins mention human rights when the Chinese premier visits next week?

In the political dead zone between Christmas and the return of the Dáil next week, senior politicians often use the opportunity for some...

14.01.2024 6

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

The burn-them-out craze will end in tragedy unless the State quickly gets a grip

When people tell you who they are, the saying goes, you should believe them. For months and months, gangs of people have been gathering at venues that...

06.01.2024 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Hate speech, elections and banana-skin referendum: Five political trends to note in 2024

Here are five things that will crowd on to the political agenda in the new year: It’s not going away, folks. The riots in Dublin — powered by...

31.12.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy’s reasons to be cheerful (and not)

It’s Christmas and so timely to consider that for which we should be thankful. The welcome for the new Polish prime minister from his colleagues in...

23.12.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

A dysfunctional Northern Ireland makes a united Ireland more attractive

For the past two weeks, The Irish Times has been publishing the results from this year’s iteration of the North and South project. It examines the...

16.12.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

The Government could lose its two most able ministers next year

A mixed week that tells us some important things about the present and future of Irish politics: two bits of good news for the Government and for the...

09.12.2023 7

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

This is exactly the right time for a conversation about migration

Reacting to the Dublin riots in their immediate aftermath, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was calm and correct on the gunpowder subject of migration and...

02.12.2023 6

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

The Dublin riots have changed everything. Law and order are now top of the political agenda

The events in Dublin city centre on Thursday evening will cause a juddering change in our politics. Law and public order, keeping the streets safe,...

25.11.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

It’s not hard to imagine the fun bad actors might have using AI to disrupt Irish politics

Last week, amid considerable political tension in the UK over a planned pro-Palestine march through London on Armistice Day, an audio clip from the...

18.11.2023 40

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

It’s easy to forget that Ireland wasn’t always rolling in cash

In a recent interview about his memoir of life with the late Marian Finucane, John Clarke was describing to Pat Kenny the Ireland in which he came of...

11.11.2023 9

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Five things that should be on the Coalition’s to do list before the election

We are entering the pre-election phase, right enough. With a general election due in or before March 2025 and most speculation (and it is only that,...

04.11.2023 20

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy: Here’s what to look out for in party conference season

Casual television viewers wondering what to watch on Saturday evenings now that the Rugby World Cup is drawing to a close will be pleased to hear that...

28.10.2023 5

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

So Dame Louise Richardson wasn’t plotting to push us into Nato after all

So it turns out that Professor Louise Richardson – Tramore woman, Trinity scholar, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, Dame of the British Empire,...

22.10.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

The Budget is broadly popular but that doesn’t mean the Government is

“This was the best budget I have ever heard a British chancellor deliver, by a massive margin. The tax cuts were so huge and bold, the language so...

14.10.2023 9

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

What does it cost to run Ireland per year? Which costs most: education, health or retirees?

Next Tuesday’s budget will probably be the most important event of this Government’s remaining time in office. With the polls looking sketchy at...

07.10.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy: We ‘will in our arse’ have an Irish NHS

Last week, Sinn Féin’s health spokesman David Cullinane published his alternative health budget. Cullinane is a serious operator, aware of the...

30.09.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Ireland has had three books on Covid but still no inquiry. What’s going on?

Swanking around New York during the week (along with the two other leaders of the Coalition Government, despite the return of the Dáil), Taoiseach...

23.09.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

RTÉ will get its bailout, but the terms and conditions will be painful

The omnishambles at RTÉ has moved past the Gogglebox stage to the grim reality of an impending financial crisis. Two things seem clear: firstly,...

16.09.2023 10

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

Next-gen politicians should study how Richard Bruton worked the levers of power

Richard Bruton’s announcement this week that he will step down at the next election does not come as a surprise around Leinster House: 41 years as a...

10.09.2023 9

The Irish Times

Pat Leahy

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