Fintan O’Toole

Mount Stewart Conversations are back on shores of Strangford Lough on 14 & 15 October

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NATIONAL TRUST’S Mount Stewart Conversations are back on 14 and 15 October with a range of speakers, music, performers and activities on the lough shore site. Figures like Ian Hislop, Rosie Boycott, Rachel Johnson and Fintan O’Toole will be talking about historic and contemporary issues. Standing alongside the world-renowned gardens, the country house was the scene of many political and diplomatic talks in past ages.

Catch up on the Mount Stewart Conversations: diplomacy and Europe, then and now

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MOUNT STEWART CONVERSATIONS – a weekend of ideas, debate and stories looking at relationships with Europe from Lord Castlereagh’s involvement in the Congress of Venice right through to Brexit and the kind of diplomacy that will be required in years to come. Throw in live music, food, and the gorgeous National Trust gardens and walks, you can see how country houses used to transact a lot of political business away from the cities and parliaments!

Who needs the Oireachtas to read your bills when you have a fireproof majority?

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So, what else is happening in the world? Well, at risk of breaching copyright of the Irish Times, I’m going to presume their tolerance and quote a chunk of Fintan O’Toole’s column today which measures just how much of a role the opposition played in getting through the bill that will enable the Household Charge to be enacted: The Bill to bring it in was not scrutinised – at all – by either of the relevant parliamentary committees, the select …

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Is a Yes vote in #euref absurd?

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Taoiseach Enda Kenny has already signed the European fiscal compact treaty along with 24 other European Union leaders at a ceremony in Brussels, although it still has to go to a referendum in the republic (at an as yet unknown date). The text of the treaty is provided here and is relatively short. A couple of extracts from Article 3 (below) give the real substance of this. ARTICLE 3 1. The Contracting Parties shall apply the rules set out in this paragraph …

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