We’ve lived through suppression and oppression, war and horror and famine and disease, to the point almost of extinction. And now we’re different. Thriving, achieving, building and rebuilding whenever we have to. 

Discourse about the festival is framed in terms of audiences and artists, but the big bucks end up in the hands of a multinational

Angela Merkel will leave an enormous hole in German and European politics when she finally waves goodbye next month, writes Fergus Finlay

We must open our doors to these families — and particularly women and girls — fleeing the most appalling fate imaginable 

The recent mess surrounding the Merrion Hotel party and Katherine Zappone's appointment and subsequent pulling out of the role of "special envoy on freedom of opinion and expression” to the UN, shows that the first rule of politics has to be that if you don’t want to get caught doing it, don’t do it in the first place

Due to the character of its people, this beautiful Irish jewel is a different, better place than when I first came to visit

We all owe a debt to his courage and integrity, but the country is still recovering from the rightward lurch initiated by the PDs

Johnson is leading his people into a dangerous and unncecessary situation, with no scientific basis, writes Fergus Finlay

'There is a chance that Ivana Bacik’s election can shape the dynamic of the next few years here. But only if her party is brave,' writes Fergus Finlay

People, especially women, who fight for change may be labelled as trouble — but they're the ones who make things happen