Pauline O’Reilly to run for Greens in Galway West

Thu, Oct 26, 2017

In the aftermath of the 2016 General Election numerous politicians and political pundits continually warned, "There will be an election in six months". Some 20 months have passed in the meantime, with 2019 still being the likeliest date when voters will next go to the polls.

The figures don't lie - Galway needs an Educate Together secondary school

Thu, Oct 19, 2017

The notion of Galway as a growing city, a young city, a diverse city, is embedded in our psyche. Maybe it's that period we spent as the fastest-growing city in Europe. Maybe it's 18,000 students at NUIG, and thousands more at GMIT. Maybe it's in the stories we tell ourselves as we declare ourselves a cultural hub, a party town, a place to settle down.

Why teaching offers precarious employment, not a secure job

Thu, Oct 12, 2017

Last week, in the rare autumnal sunshine, Insider was sauntering across Wolfe Tone Bridge with a companion. On a lamppost we spied a Donny Osmond lookalike, with that synthetic cheesy smile, peering down from a Social Democrat poster.

It’s time to repeal the Eighth - women are counting on you to vote pro-choice

Thu, Oct 05, 2017

Since its introduction into our Constitution, the Eighth Amendment has been a serious issue of contention. For many years, women and men have fought for its removal and for reproductive rights in Ireland.

Varadker's calculated political decision to firm up middle class support for FG

Thu, Sep 28, 2017

As we face in to the winter of 2017, Insider cannot help sense that as each week passes we are much closer to a general election than many politicians and political parties would really like.

Galway city needs a pro-business candidate

Thu, Sep 21, 2017

As Insider spends endless hours each week sitting in the traffic, he finds it hard to believe the people of Galway, particularly those voting in the city, are so indulgent of populist candidates and those of the 'loony left’.

It is time the radical Left prepared for Government

Thu, Sep 14, 2017

The radical Left in Ireland has made significant advances since free market capitalism - which even had Insider fooled for a while - collapsed its own banking system in 2008. In that year, we were shaken unceremoniously awake from the long political sleep, which had fallen on the Western world since the fall of the Berlin Wall, by the sound of Allied Irish, the Bank of Ireland, and the rest of them, wailing at our windows for what amounted to the biggest social welfare payment in Irish history.

Can Niall Ó Tuathail challenge for a seat in Galway West?

Thu, Aug 03, 2017

Niall Ó Tuathail's official announcement as the Social Democrats' Galway West candidate at the next General Election is simply confirmation of what many political watchers had long expected.

Who is running in Galway West at the next election?

Thu, Jul 20, 2017

Theresa May's 'seemed like a good idea at the time' but in reality, reckless gamble, to call an early election in Britain, resulting in the Tories losing their majority, caused Leo Varadkar to resist any temptation to call a snap election in the Republic, after his elevation as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach.

Politicians - to much drift, too little grasp of the real issues

Thu, Jul 13, 2017

The first six months of 2017 have been hectic to say the least - a change of taoiseach, arguments which have severely tested the stability of the government and brought us to the brink of a general election more than once, a UK general election, and the collapse of the Stormont Assembly.

Grealish and Naughton's re-election made harder by constituency boundary changes?

Thu, Jul 13, 2017

While the last electoral constituency review of County Galway saw it divided into three - like Gaul in Caesar's time - the latest review is more tinkering at the edges - but even these modest changes will worry at least one of our most prominent TDs.

Pennies saved for lives lost?

Thu, Jun 29, 2017

Insider writes under the shadow of the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire in London, where, for £5,000 more in investment in better quality fireproof outer cladding, an as yet uncounted number of lost souls might have been saved.

Why Ireland needs Church-State separation

Thu, Jun 22, 2017

Crisis situations can often lead to unresolved issues being brought to the fore, and while the worst extremes of the financial and political crisis facing Ireland have been temporarily papered over, a host of other issues have reemerged to expose the social, political, and operational contradictions of the State.

Promotion for Kyne, and a return for Cannon, under new Taoiseach Varadkar

Thu, Jun 22, 2017

Seán Kyne has been given a junior ministerial portfolio that takes him across two government departments, while Ciaran Cannon has been rescued from the backbenches, having also been appointed a Minister of State, under new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Eight lessons Irish politicians can learn from the UK election

Thu, Jun 15, 2017

What a dramatic six weeks it has been for anyone closely following political events in Britain. While Insider does not want to be accused of hyperbole, what we have witnessed has been nothing short of a political meltdown for prime minister Theresa May and the Tories.

Ordinary people continue to pay the price for the elites failures

Thu, Jun 01, 2017

So where were you, the historic day the great Seánie Fitzpatrick walked scot-free from court? Coincidentally Insider was in the public gallery of an Irish district court, to see, via video link from prison, an array of petty offenders being further remanded in custody.

Precarious, contingent, flexible, unstable, stressful

Thu, May 25, 2017

Questions of labour, and its conditions, are moving into the centre of the political discussion again, driven by the rise of the so-called 'gig economy' - the notion that the sort of 'side-gig' job, long being used by many to supplement regular incomes, might instead become a mainstay of the economy.

Galway - welcome to Varadkar country

Thu, May 25, 2017

Hildegarde Naughton has set her face against the prevailing blue wind by pledging support to Housing Minister Simon Coveney in the Fine Gael leadership battle, but it is an isolated stance as Galway is overwhelmingly Leo Varadkar country.

Farrell, Cubbard, Keane - the coming generation?

Thu, May 11, 2017

THE LATE Bobby Molloy clocked in an astonishing 37 years as TD for Galway West, being first elected in 1965, and eventually standing down in 2002. The only other TD to yet come close to that tally is Fianna Fáil's Éamon Ó Cuív who celebrates 25 years in Dáil Éireann this year.

FF comeback continues as survey shows no recovery for Labour

Thu, May 11, 2017

A survey conducted by Ipsos/MRBI for the Galway Advertiser in County Galway, including Galway city, shows the Labour party struggling to recover from its disappointing showing in the 2016 General Election. The survey was conducted in late March and early April 2017.

E-paper

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