Comment Lucinda Creighton: Getting her old job back may have been the easy part for Ursula von der LeyenThe re-elected president of the European Commission now faces the Herculean task of keeping all her supporters happy
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Chambers must give priority to ‘unloved squeezed middle’ in early budget A key feature of this plan has to be a commitment to reduce the personal taxation burden on individuals who work and gainfully contribute to the Irish economy
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael startlingly marginalised in EU power playsThe decision by Fianna Fáil MEPs to publicly declare they will not vote for Ursula von der Leyen puts the party at risk of isolation
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Sinn Féin’s 11 per cent vote was a gut punch Simon Harris and Fine Gael were rewarded for responding to changing public mood on migration in recent weeks
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Axis of upheaval of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran will not stop at Ukraine These powers have long been bad actors, but their willingness to push the West like this has not been seen since the early 1940s
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: EU cannot continue to lurch from crisis to crisisThe union should be setting the pace, not struggling to keep up at a time of global tensions
Opinion Starmer must set path for closer cooperation with Europe on security, defence and the economyIrish eyes are keenly watching how Britain’s likely next prime minister defines the UK’s relationship with Brussels on key issues
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Ireland ‘easy prey’ as true motives of malign foreign actors emerge across EU The arrests in Germany of Chinese spies may seem like a slightly fantastical scene from a John le Carré spy novel, but the operations are very real
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Ursula Von der Leyen may find time spent wooing the left coming back to bite herThe European Commission president has built bridges during her tenure, but they will fall when the elections begin and she will be left with few allies
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Dangerous Hate Bill will have chilling effect on free speech and should be cannedIf passed, the law would have a devastating impact on social cohesion and free and open political discourse
Comment What Simon Harris needs to do to be a different and successful TaoiseachThe major challenges for Harris are the timing of his elevation and how can he distinguish himself from my friend Leo Varadkar
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Nikki Haley refused to prostrate herself at altar of Donald Trump and paid the priceHowever, Haley’s refusal to endorse the ex-president is certainly not the end of her political career
Comment Lucinda Creighton: Leo Varadkar’s drift from biggest EU political bloc is short-sightedHaving been at the heart of the EPP, under Varadkar Ireland has drifted away from the group, weakening our position
Politics Lucinda Creighton: Varadkar should end election chatter and commit to a full termThe constant speculation about when is best to call an election distracts from the real business of government
Agriculture Lucinda Creighton: Ireland’s farming lobby has given up the ghost when its members need it mostA wave of farm protests has swept across Europe over recent months but the once-vocal Irish farming lobby seems to have gone missing, at least for now
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: From the jaws of victory, Sinn Féin manage to grasp defeat with United Ireland call DUP had the best week the party has had in quite a few years while Sinn Féin, by contrast, botched the news that the Assembly would finally resume
Analysis Ireland must heed example of the US on how not to deal with migration tensions By refusing to have a sensible discussion about immigration policy, political leaders in Ireland are currently driving large swathes of voters into the arms of a potential far-right movement
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Any misstep on economy or immigration could dent Sinn Féin’s election prospectsThe opposition will face greater scrutiny as ballots approach as blip in the party’s polling gives Coalition a boost
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Donald Tusk looks to drag Poland out of the dark The Poles’ decision to eject the authoritarian populist PiS party from power shows that positive politics can trump negative nationalism
Opinion Lucinda Creighton: Ireland needs a standalone intelligence agency to tackle modern threatsBy housing our domestic intelligence within An Garda Síochana, we leave the force exposed to infiltration and the interception of sensitive data