Opinion Private equity has been good for Ireland but something extraordinary is happening in health and housingWhere is the scrutiny of the consequences of international money owning Ireland’s nursing homes, housing estates, tolled motorways and private hospitals
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Upcoming referendums will expose Irish politics to influence of moneyThe gaps in the electoral legislation which allow NGOs and companies to fund campaign groups will come to the fore in the coming weeks
Comment Elaine Byrne: Signs of leadership give hope in a void filled with misinformation With the local elections looming, some politicians try to stand out by becoming a proxy for the ‘national conversation’ on immigration, while others have stood up
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Sipo stands impassively by as Sinn Féin plays to different rules on how it is fundedThe watchdog with responsibility for transparency in how elections are financed does not do its job
Opinion Elaine Byrne: President Conor McGregor is not as unlikely as you might thinkPeter Casey’s performance in the last presidential contest is a perfect case study of how utterly unpredictable elections for the first citizen have become
Ben Dunne Elaine Byrne: He was a likeable rogue but Ben Dunne was also a corrupting influence on public lifeThe late Irish businessman did not accept the adverse findings made against him by the various tribunals but he never legally challenged them
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Coroner’s Service needs reform to provide dignity to loved onesA US hearing has shone a new light on the shortcomings of Ireland’s Coroner’s Service, which has been in need of review for over 20 years
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Environmentalists are the key to flood management The state is wrong to blame 'climate zealots’ for delays in construction of flood defence schemes, and should instead be looking to nature-based solutions
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Greens are a shrewd, effective party but have yet to convince votersGreen ideas are easy to spot in government policy because they are smart, imaginative and new – but so far the party has not been rewarded with public support
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Cosgrave’s inflammatory utterances on social media come home to roostIt seems his belated apology came only when the financial interests of his Web Summit company came under pressure
Comment Elaine Byrne: Car crashes are rarely accidents, so let’s stop pretending they are We have become used to people dying regularly on Irish roads – but most collisions are preventable, and our language should reflect that
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Varadkar is like Goldilocks who finds reform of the Seanad too big or too little There will never, ever be any solution to the issue of changes of the Upper House that will be deemed to be just right for the Taoiseach
Opinion Elaine Byrne: How the dramatic transformation of Irish rugby’s fortunes was no accidentThe IRFU has hit on a winning formula – the more money it makes, the more it invests in the game, the more professionalised it becomes and the better it becomes at winning
Analysis Elaine Byrne: Biden should have the courage to not run again, despite his excellent recordBy any objective measure, Joe Biden has been a very effective president – but most Americans, on both sides of the aisle, see his age as a liability
Politics Elaine Byrne: Fine Gael urgently needs new blood as old stalwarts leave officeThe party is in danger of losing viability as a political force at the next election, as many TDs who have served for decades are retiring
Comment Elaine Byrne: From Pee Flynn to Big Phil and now Tubridy, we Irish don’t tolerate hubrisThe ex-RTÉ presenter was almost out of the woods and en route to a return to the airwaves, but he just couldn’t take his medicine and shut up
Comment Elaine Byrne: Drugs are everywhere in society so we must decide if they are a criminal or a health problem People from all walks of life in Ireland use recreational narcotics and the state spends a disproportionate amount of resources dealing with the issue in the courts
Comment Elaine Byrne: Politicians beware, tinkering with the electoral system is likely to backfireDarragh O’Brien’s suggestion that by-elections should be replaced by a European substiture list model may make sense – but history shows that voters may not agree
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Inaction over National Party gold bar farce highlights Sipo’s ineptitudeIncident reveals staggering lack of curiosity by Standards Commission about internal financing of a party that has never submitted annual accounts
Opinion Elaine Byrne: Sinéad wanted us to listen to things that were easier to ignoreMany people dismissed the singer as crazy – but underneath it all she just wanted to make things better