ACTOR and writer, Peter Gowen is happy that the tour of his one-man show, The Chronicles of Oggle, is making its way to Cork, but describes feeling “absolutely gutted” that it will not be staged at Youghal’s Mall Arts Centre, where it first premiered two years ago.

The RTÉ television audience voted TK Whitaker “Irishman of the 20th Century” in 2001. 

ON radio yesterday morning, Olivia O’Leary, who chronicled his era in power as a political reporter, recalled the time she danced with Albert Reynolds. He was, she said, a great dancer.

DEAR Eamon,

1982: Main events

Diarmaid Ferriter’s Ambiguous Republic portrays an Ireland where change came very slowly. Alan Dukes wonders how much, if anything, has changed

Ireland’s farming community is in mourning this week for former IFA president Paddy Lane, whose funeral took place yesterday in his native Parteen, Co Clare.

UBIQUITOUS coverage and analysis of the Mahon Tribunal report suggests we have arrived at a watershed moment in Irish politics.

A FAIRLY routine medical procedure went wrong and I had to go to the Accident and Emergency at Tralee General Hospital last week. I immediately realised the agony that one would have to endure if there were no local hospital.

FORMER tánaiste George Colley was prescribed Valium to help him relax during chauffeured car journeys while minister for finance.

Former Tánaiste George Colley was prescribed Valium to help him relax during car journeys while minister for finance, newly released State files reveal today.

I USED to be an inveterate funeral goer – several per week. I hadn’t been to one for the past two years until the unexpected death of newspaper man and former schoolmate, Alan Ruddock.

Political Correspondent Paul O’Brien traces the history of the PDs.

BY 1990, there was a general consensus that the office of president was worthy but dull, and there was no sign of debate or discussion in the 1980s about the possibilities of expanding the role of the president or a sense that its profile could or should be increased.

IAN PAISLEY Jnr had to resign this week as a junior minister in the Northern Executive headed by his father.

ALL newspaper columnists face the same dilemma: how much of ourselves should go into an article? Should we select a topic, adopt a lofty tone, present the arguments, and come to some clever conclusion by weighing up the evidence? Or should we just say, “This is what I believe”?

LISTENING to some of the attacks on Mr Justice Alan Mahon over his handling of Tom Gilmartin reminds me of the story of Friedrich Riesfeldt, 46, of Paderborn, Germany, a highly conscientious zookeeper who cared passionately about his animals.

ALL compromise comes at a price and sometimes the price is too high.

Of course, the events of either of those earlier decades have little to do with the present, but it worth remembering that the only other head of government to enter 10 years of continuous service is Bertie Ahern. By contrast, his 10 years as Taoiseach have been spectacularly staid.

VINCENT BROWNE’S questioning of the Taoiseach at the launch of the Fianna Fáil manifesto on Thursday was riveting. Bertie Ahern was refusing to answer questions about the £30,000 he got from his friend Michael Wall in December 1994.

THE current rumblings within Fianna Fáil and Mary Harney’s hand bagging of MichaelMcDowell this week were reminders that prior to the arrival of Charlie Haughey on the political scene, there were no power struggles in the main political parties within Leinster House.

Charles Haughey’s towering political presence cast a shadow over events in the North.

Charles J Haughey’s political career stuttered at first with an embarrassing defeat in a by-election in the 1950s.

SOME people have been suggesting that Catherine Butler’s interview in The Village magazine is a Fianna Fáil attempt to rehabilitate Charles Haughey, but publisher Vincent Brown has more reason than anyone to realise that the role played by Fine Gael and Labour in the telephone tapping was the height of hypocrisy.

ECONOMISTS are still optimistic about the Celtic Tiger, but they frequently get things spectacularly wrong. People should therefore beware.

THE most important piece of new information to come out of the RTÉ series on Haughey was the disclosure by former Deputy Commissioner Joe Ainsworth, head of the security division of the Garda Síochána, that Taoiseach Charles J Haughey summoned him to a meeting in the spring of 1982.

YOUNGER viewers will no doubt find the TV series on Charles J Haughey interesting, and it will evoke memories for older people who can still remember the events.

WHEN the time came to end his eventful political career, Charles J Haughey quoted Shakespeare’s Othello: “I have done the state some service, and they know it. No more of that. I pray you.”

Enterprise and Employment Minister Micheál Martin talks to Political Editor Harry McGee about the trials and triumphs of eight years in office.

POLITICAL ecumenism reigns in the sale of the Dublin home of the former Taoiseach, the late Jack Lynch.

HAVING written full-length biographies of both Charlie Haughey and Jack Lynch, I was particularly interested in Frank Dunlop’s book, Yes, Taoiseach.

WAS Charlie McCreevy rewarded or shafted? It would seem that he was both. He was offered the velvet shaft and invited to jump for the reward of a plum job in Europe.

ON July 7, 1970, protesters picketed outside the home of Peter Berry, Secretary of the Department of Justice.

WE can be sure that Larry Goodman did not drop his multi-million euro lawsuit against the Government because he thought he had such a good case.

NOBODY is asking who stitched up Mickey Martin, because everybody knows who did it. It was Bertie Ahern. “He’s the man,” as Charlie Haughey once said.

NEXT month, Róisín Shortall could make political history.

By Ryle Dwyer Since last October, Michael Lowry has been the main focus of the Moriarty Tribunal and, when it reconvenes in October, he will again be the focus of attention.