The opposition’s solution to a creaking infrastructure is to get the rich to pay for it, writes Michael Clifford

After a trend, this column is today being presented as an inquiry into inquiries, writes Michael Clifford

Populism did the job for Bertie, and all parties have cottoned onto it, writes Michael Clifford

With his customary confluence of adroit responses and confusing Bertie-Speak, the former taoiseach largely sailed through the afternoon having changed few minds about his legacy, writes Michael Clifford

ONCE upon a time, long ago, I spent a summer employed as a yardman in a concrete mixing depot in north London. It was a serious operation in which sand and gravel were transported to the depot by train, unloaded, and fed into the mixer by a JCB. I had a handy number, but so did the man driving the JCB, a native of Killarney who went by the name of Fran.

IT WAS back to the future yesterday at the Public Accounts Committee hearing. Strange goings on at the interface of business and politics. Middlemen pulling in serious bucks. Offshore accounts. Apparent conflict of interest.

Brian Cowen’s appearance at the banking inquiry yesterday was more assured than last week but his testimony showed a serious lack of curiosity at times during the crisis, writes Michael Clifford.

Everybody would like to pay less tax, but at what cost? That is the question, writes Michael Clifford

He threw his hands up now and again in deference to wisdom after the event, writes Michael Clifford

Anybody expecting Charlie McCreevy to enter the banking inquiry armed with sackcloth and ashes would have been a long time waiting.