Gerard Howlin

Gerard Howlin: If Micheál Martin survives this, his achievement will almost rival Catherine Connolly’s Taoiseach’s position is weakened among parliamentary party members after presidential election debacle

Gerard Howlin: If Micheál Martin survives this, his achievement will almost rival Catherine Connolly’s

Gerard Howlin: If Micheál Martin survives this, his achievement will almost rival Catherine Connolly’s Taoiseach’s position is weakened among parliamentary party members after presidential election debacle

If Micheál Martin survives this, his achievement will almost rival Catherine Connolly’s

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: In a low-energy presidential debate, only one candidate lit a spark Jim Gavin sounded like he was reading from a PowerPoint, Heather Humphreys was lacklustre and Catherine Connolly had one big advantage

In a low-energy presidential debate, only one candidate lit a spark

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Sinn Féin has placed a foot in every camp. No wonder it’s wobbling A party that doesn’t want local property tax for anyone but wants free third-level fees for all isn’t a left party

Sinn Féin has placed a foot in every camp. No wonder it’s wobbling

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

We cannot police the streets if online material is not regulated Racism in this State goes back a bit, but vile discourse online is new and most of it comes from abroad – principally the US and UK

Racism in this State is an old story, but vile discourse online is new and most of it comes from abroad

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: The EU status quo Ireland prospered in for 50 years is over Being at the centre in Brussels requires new credentials we have yet to acquire.

Gerard Howlin: The EU status quo Ireland prospered in for 50 years is over.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Ireland needs to stop holding out against Mercosur Trade deal is a big win for Ireland, but beef farmers feel challenged

Government promise to oppose Mercosur trade deal was an error of judgment.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Keeping student fees down and reducing VAT would cost €3 billion we don’t have Just days away from the next turn in the Donald Trump tariff saga, we are being egged on to slash a dangerously narrow tax base further

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Sunny evening on Capel Street, street is paved, people dining outdoors and full on melee as entertainment. Kicking, boxing and then a bottle broken by one over the other. @garda.ie now with bloodied victim.

Gerard Howlin: Micheál Martin and Paschal Donohoe are responsible for this Government’s lethargy They have power, but seem unwilling to introduce cultural change and fiscal discipline

Micheál Martin and Paschal Donohoe are responsible for this Government’s lethargy

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: There’s never been a better time for a left alliance. Shame they can’t get on Housing, Trump and fading traditional political loyalties mean anything is possible come the next election

Gerard Howlin: There’s never been a better time for a left alliance. Shame they can’t get on

Gerard Howlin: Renters forking out €2,000 per month are paying the price for water charges debacle As the housing shortage cuts into economic competitiveness and social solidarity, the consequences of bad decisions are more apparent

Gerard Howlin: Renters forking out €2,000 per month are paying the price for water charges debacle

James Browne has little power to fix the housing crisis. The status quo is in charge Housing gets enormous amounts of money and endless new initiatives. But it has never had an alignment of power and responsibility

The status quo is in charge of Irish housing policy

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Micheál Martin would be a more credible leader of Fine Gael than Simon Harris and that's a problem It’s a sign of Fine Gael’s watered-down identity that it’s easy to imagine Harris in Labour or the Social Democrats

Micheál Martin would be a more credible leader of Fine Gael than Simon Harris and that’s a problem

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

The general election campaign was a raucous wake for an era that was already over We stand on the brink of a tariffs war weighed down by the cost of our inefficiency and self-indulgence

The general election campaign was a raucous wake for an era that was already over

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Ireland is not anti-Semitic but it’s no wonder Jewish people here feel uncomfortable There is no space left here for either a broader perspective or nuance. There is an increasingly automatic overlapping of Jewish people with Israel

Ireland is not anti-Semitic but it’s not a good time to be Jewish in this country

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: EU is about to become bigger and more powerful. There will be consequences for Ireland The coming period will see the working out of ad-hoc compromises to provide money and means at speed, and a view that things can be finessed afterwards

EU is about to become bigger and more powerful and there will be consequences for Ireland

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Micheál Martin has real power at last. The big question is what he’ll do with it Martin reshaped politics after the economic crash by building the widest possible base committed to some version of the status quo

Micheál Martin has real power at last. The big question is what he’ll do with it

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: A good foreign policy is one that no-one notices. Unfortunately that’s not Simon Harris’s style Harris’s success or failure in his new role will mean success or failure for all of us

A good foreign policy is one that no one notices. Unfortunately that’s not Simon Harris’s style

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Programme for government is notable not just for a lack of ideology, but a lack of passion Gathering almost every TD with a stake in the status quo in one government will prove to be a mistake

If only the band plays on, we have politics made for jiving to.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Divorce between managing the economy and managing public spending is harming the country Where there is neither control of spending nor effective delivery, it is the worst of all worlds

Divorce between managing the economy and managing public spending is harming the country

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Gerard Howlin: Verona Murphy getting the Ceann Comhairle job was a sign of Michael Lowry’s political savvy With no third party to disproportionately set the agenda or take the blame, the prospect of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parting as good friends at the end of the next Government will be more challenging

Fine Gael’s reinvention as a digital cartoon of Fianna Fáil is a stunning mistake.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024...

Gerard Howlin: It’s a measure of the importance of Independents that a lot hinges on Verona Murphy’s next move With Labour divided and the Social Democrats sceptical, the focus – and the balance of power – is on a handful of Independents

With Labour divided and the Social Democrats sceptical, the focus – and the balance of power – is on a handful of Independents.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024...

The #GE2024 #EchoChamberPod with Gerard Howlin is out now. Political Polar Opposites? Yes. But a very engaging conversation. We even laughed once or twice.

Listen: www.patreon.com/posts/patron...

Alan Dukes: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil should stop squabbling and concentrate on their messages Sniping between the two parties is counterproductive and risks turning off voters

👇 Tallaght Strategy II 🥴. Bring back the PDs.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil should stop squabbling and concentrate on their messages

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024...

Gerard Howlin: The false election promises being made to Ireland’s under-40s Forget ‘one for everyone in the audience’, there’s two for everyone in the audience. Unless what you want is choice

Backloading liability on to people under 40 is the theme of this election.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024...