Rural communities are in mourning this weekend.

What with the week that’s in it, there has been a lot of talk about how much things have changed since 1979. And there has been huge change, writes Michael Clifford.

Good morning. I would like to take the opportunity of this column to announce that I will not be running for the office of the presidency.

Is it time to ask whether the people have any right not to be arsed about democracy, such is the low turnouts in western democracy, asks Michael Clifford

Serious funding is required if the State is to produce the kind of education needed for a... dynamic economy, writes Michael Clifford

It didn’t take long for the Irish to get in on the act. 

Two men on the radio during the week reminded me of Daniel Blake. Mr Blake was a 59-year-old widower and carpenter who had a heart attack that kept him out of work.

We had a back-to-the-future event last Tuesday when Michael Lowry emerged from a building claiming vindication and victimhood. He had just been convicted of tax offences, escaped jail and declared that he had been hounded and vilified.

It is a triumph to either the human spirit or man’s capacity for self-delusion that the tournament continues to be the repository of dreams...tune in, tun on and drop out, writes Michael Clifford

Transport Minister Shane Ross wants to reform the system of judicial appointments and has threatened to block the naming of new judges, writes Michael Clifford