Columns - Irish Examiner

Fergus Finlay

Let’s remember Bertie’s promises during Olympic opening ceremony

SO, we’re nearly there. The Games will begin next Saturday, with a spectacle capable of being enjoyed around the world.

Tue, 17 Jun, 2003

Bertie, you have the cash. Spend it on our most disadvantaged people

By Fergus Finlay THERE’S a woman called Mary Kinsella.

Tue, 10 Jun, 2003

We’re the responsible half million — and they treat us like idiots

I’M writing this on my 53rd birthday. No, it’s okay, don’t worry, this is still a political column. I’m not on the cadge.

Tue, 03 Jun, 2003

Spending cuts are funding FF’s five-year plan to buy your vote

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, I suppose I should say. It’s never really clear when the anniversary of a government is — the current one, for instance, wasn’t voted in by the Dáil until June last year. But we have just passed the first anniversary of their election.

Tue, 20 May, 2003

Let’s use an existing law to stop drinks firms targeting our children

DO you know what a rainbow is? Do you know that girls have been treated in the Sexual Assault Unit in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin with the amount of alcohol in their systems that is normally found in the morgue?

Tue, 13 May, 2003

Special Olympics is fuelled by wholesome, not mercenary, motives

IT was the words of a Protestant clergyman that really upset me this week.

Tue, 06 May, 2003

Common sense can cure both SARS and our misplaced panic

SHOCKING? Awful? Reprehensible? Scandalous? Or just plain Silly Amateurish Ridiculous Shambles? Whatever way you look at SARS, it's been another bad week for the government, and especially for the increasingly hapless Minister for Health.

Tue, 29 Apr, 2003

Resources and reform are what the gardaí need — not stun guns

MORE aggressive policing? Did I understand that right? Reading my Irish Examiner yesterday, it was revealed that the gardaí, apparently with the support of Fine Gael, want stun guns to deal with “violent protests and public disorder”. These stun guns, it seems, are capable of causing temporary paralysis with a 50,000 volt electric shock.

Tue, 22 Apr, 2003

SDLP could be a refreshing change from republican gamesmanship

SO, can Northern Ireland get on with the rest of its life?

Tue, 15 Apr, 2003

Forget civil rights, all you’ll get are photo opportunities and logos

SO, how’s the European Year of Disabilities going for you? I only ask because stuff seems to be happening in a lot of countries throughout Europe.

Tue, 08 Apr, 2003