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Elaine Byrne

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Elaine Byrne: More judges needed if €363m ‘zero tolerance’ sexual violence strategy is to work

Overworked district courts are ‘managing’ family law lists instead of getting through them. It seems Ireland is very good at legislating but not at resourcing

Elaine Byrne: Belt up for a bumpy ride as spectre of stagflation haunts coalition

War, Covid and supply chain disruptions have resulted in fears of a return to the stagflation of the 1970s. What can be done?

Elaine Byrne: A historic taoiseach swap is coming, so what job might the new tánaiste want?

Traditionally the tánaiste becomes minister for foreign affairs but Micheál Martin might have his eye on finance to push through Fianna Fáil’s ‘big government’ model

Elaine Byrne: Coalition’s taunts of ‘populism’ will only hasten Sinn Féin into office

Instead of hurling insults at the opposition, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would do better to work out what they stand for in their remaining time in power

Elaine Byrne: After eleven long years in power, Fine Gael seems tired and low on ideas

Irish political history shows that the longer a party is in government, the more it gets stuck in a rut. Battle fatigue has set in, while Sinn Féin is winning over the middle classes

Elaine Byrne: Don’t read too much into Ronan Glynn’s move to EY – talk of a public service ‘brain drain’ doesn’t hold up

In a highly competitive jobs market, it is not unusual that people transfer in and out of the public and private sectors, and nor is it necessarily a bad thing

Elaine Byrne: French vote tells us that politicians must pay heed to those who abstain

Emmanuel Macron’s speech following his victory over Marine Le Pen reflected an awareness of the level of democratic rejection, and there’s a lesson in that for our own politicians

Elaine Byrne: Change comes gradually, then suddenly to politics in Ireland

A historic, once-in-a-generation political upheaval is surely on the way in Northern Ireland. But will it survive it?

Elaine Byrne: How the people’s champions became tools of the Kremlin propaganda machine

In their Dáil days, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly were fearless in the public interest, but their subsequent tenure in Europe has amplified their controversial world view

Elaine Byrne: Watt isn’t the only one who needs to learn lessons from the Holohan debacle

Top civil servant Robert Watt, whose salary has earned him some notoriety, may be a convenient scapegoat in the secondment controversy but politicians, including the Taoiseach and some junior ministers, are not without blame

Elaine Byrne: We need our own Magnitsky Act to hit Russian oligarchs where it hurts

It took a war for our politicians to consider sanctioning Russian oligarchs, despite almost a decade of campaigning by American businessman Bill Browder

Elaine Byrne: A global realignment is happening before our eyes as China ensnares Russia in its power game

The Sino-Russia relationship, with Russia the subservient partner, is united by the belief that a strong autocracy is a bulwark against a decadent democracy

Elaine Byrne: Russia is fighting two wars, and it is winning the one on western influence

While it wages war on Ukraine, Russia is also waging a disinformation war, aiming to sow mistrust and destroy social cohesion – and it is a savvy operator

Elaine Byrne: We must not blame the Russian people for Putin’s war crimes

Ordinary people are terrified even to voice their thoughts in a regime that is becoming ever more Orwellian

Elaine Byrne: The invasion of Ukraine will change the world

From food security to defence to our very government, the humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe will affect every area of Irish life in ways we can’t yet fathom

Elaine Byrne: Sinn Féin has accepted the Kremlin view of the world

The party’s dysfunctional relationship with the EU has been apparent for years. In 2019, its MEPs voted against a European Parliament resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its interference in European elections

Elaine Byrne: The political big beast whose instincts failed him

Phil Hogan was peerless in understanding how the court of public opinion worked but it was his failure to understand that ultimately Ursula von der Leyen was his boss which proved his undoing

Elaine Byrne: Seanad’s centenary gives us the opportunity to celebrate our shared history

Sixteen southern unionists were appointed to the Seanad in 1922 by WT Cosgrave, giving a voice to minorities not represented in the Dáil, and bringing maturity in the form of amendments to major pieces of legislation

Elaine Byrne: Could Greens’ dilemma over the cost of living see the coalition crumble?

The party's support comes from both middle-class homeowners and people trapped in the rental sector. That support might not hold together in the face of the pressures to come

Elaine Byrne: Public deserves more than a pantomime of politician heroes and civil service villains

The vilification of civil servants – as exemplified by an offensive post retweeted by Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness – needs to be challenged