It's different here, I explained. We’ve a thing called Proportional Representation. We get coalitions of very different parties.

Fianna Fáil brought us terrible times, but all we can remember is the good time, writes Fergus Finlay

State papers revealed justice minister and Limerick TD Gerry Collins had become aware in November 1980 that the well-known manor and estate in Adare, Co Limerick, was due to be sold.

“If I have one regret,” my friend Patricia said, “it’s that I lived in Paris in the summer of 1968, and it all went over my head.”

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. The Taoiseach, that is.

Is there anything more comforting than fried chicken?

What does the modern iteration of Fine Gael stand for? This is the question that has dogged the leadership of Leo Varadkar since he became party leader two years ago, says Gary Murphy

Garret Island is impenetrable under a canopy of trees growing at every conceivable angle.

Michael Healy Rae made a typically colourful contribution to a Dáil debate last Wednesday, writes Michael Clifford.

The rural economy and rural employers will “suffer most” with Brexit, an economic conference has heard.

Every culture has its Tír na nÓg legend, celebrating a place of eternal youth, where age and decline never intrude.

“I am 8 years old

Meghan Markle is my princess. I love her girly enthusiasm and her expressive eyes and her impossibly gorgeous figure.

Part two of our look at the implications for rural life and for farming of the likely measures to reduce greenhouse gases

The directors of Staid Cois Laoi, the company tasked with running the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh, will meet in the next fortnight, with Munster rugby games, financial compliance, and naming rights for the stadium expected to feature on the agenda.

The Eighth Amendment was never about Catholicism. The Catholic Church did not insert it, the political system did, writes Victoria White.

AT THE 1982 Fine Gael ard fheis, hard-line conservative TD Alice Glenn praised her party leader’s support for a pro-life, anti-abortion referendum, should the party be elected into office later that year.

They publish the state papers of 30 years ago around this time every year.

William Whitelaw, former British deputy prime minister and the first Northern Ireland secretary, believed power-sharing in the region could lead to a united Ireland, newly declassified State papers reveal.

Six wrongfully imprisoned for Birmingham pub bombings ‘offered nothing but false hope, promises’

It was her action, or inaction while in Justice that finally led to Frances Fitzgerald’s downfall, writes Elaine Loughlin

I don't believe Frances Fitzgerald was, or could have been, part of the conspiracy against Maurice McCabe, writes Fergus Finlay.

For someone who was far more comfortable waiting quietly in the background than standing in the glare of the spotlight, the past few days of wall-to-wall attention must feel unusual for those who knew Liam Cosgrave, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

Liam Cosgrave’s monumental legacy is that he put the nation’s security and the national interest before party considerations, writes Ryle Dwyer   

From the backstreets of Walkinstown to the top legal bench in the land, the journey of new Chief Justice Frank Clarke has been a remarkable one.

In 1983, former Cork South West TD Jim O’Keeffe was involved in the discovery of a Russian spy ring in Dublin. His story now features in a new RTÉ documentary, writes Robert Mulhern

SINCE the foundation of the State, we have had a succession of taoisigh with various modus operandi, some prepared to work with those in opposition in a collegiate manner, others preferring to take the confrontational route.

Michael Clifford’s opinion piece about the George Hook sacking (Irish Examiner, September 16) includes throwaway comments about the 1983 “right to life” referendum campaign.

The Dáil’s summer recess lasts for another fortnight but party leaders have called reveille; they are preparing to lead eve-of-game captain’s runs. One or two autumn get-togethers may be of substance.

We are raising a generation of children without hope because we are unwilling or unable to start building local authority houses again, writes Fergus Finlay

Ireland should begin preparing for “peaceful reunification” to address the long-term consequence of Brexit, an Oireachtas committee has urged.

Have you ever the heard the story about how Vincent Browne sought and secured the help of then-taoiseach Garret FitzGerald to save the now defunct Sunday Tribune, asks Daniel McConnell.

Supreme Court judge Frank Clarke is to be appointed chief justice after the Cabinet signed off on his nomination in its last meeting before the summer recess.

The first of his family to enter third-level education, the socially liberal Frank Clarke is set to become the country’s next chief justice.

AS we stand on the cusp of weeks 29 and 30 of 2017, it is sobering to realise that we are already nearly two thirds of the way through the year, but uplifting to know that the best is still to come, starting with this weekend.

Munster have confirmed that Rassie Erasmus and Defence Coach Jacques Nienaber will leave the province at the end of December.

The Fine Gael leadership contest has risked causing a damaging party rift, after Leo Varadkar accused Simon Coveney of “divisive and dishonest” politics, with his rival claiming that Mr Varadkar is “spending money we don’t have”.

Justin Keating was Minister for Industry and Commerce in the early 1970s and a man of strong convictions, never afraid to voice his opinions. Ryle Dwyer reads between the lines of his collection of writings. 

Simon Coveney has shown that his is prepared to risk his political neck in order to do the right thing, writes Victoria White.

Primary care centres need to become the place of first resort. They need to be open seven days a week, writes Fergus Finlay

The British and Irish governments ruled out co-operation on testing emissions from the nuclear plant at Sellafield in 1986 in the wake of the major nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

Ryle Dwyer looks back 30 years to Garret Fitzgerald’s St Patrick’s Day State visit to the White House, and its impact on the Northern peace process

A police chief investigating an alleged shoot-to-kill policy in the North confided in a diplomat he was not concerned about a cover-up but “murder, six murders”, declassified files show.