Previous Day
A real contest in the election
So there is to be a real contest for the first time in 10 years. Fianna Fáil's worst fears are realised by the findings of today's Irish Times /TNS mrbi opinion poll showing that support for the party has declined to 34 per cent in a matter of months. The Fine Gael party is only three percentage points behind. A lot can happen over the course of a campaign but the Taoiseach should be worried by the trends. If public voting intentions remain constant up to polling day, a change of government would be the outcome.
Greening our aid
The link between development and environmental degradation is well-established, even in Ireland as Galway's water crisis shows. Internationally, it has been recognised at least since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, more properly called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). p
Opinion
Political correctness gone mad
Despite us feeling we know exactly what it means and sensing that it is all pervasive, political correctness is difficult to define, writes David Adams . pKenny within sight of power
The Taoiseach has not yet called the election. . . and today's opinion poll may make him more hesitant. Stephen Collins , Political Editor, on how Enda Kenny now has a real chance of replacing Bertie Ahern.Chicken's reputation untarred, unfeathered
A source of nutritious, white meat has been besmirched by incorrect ideas about its production, writes Vincent Carton. p
An Irishman's Diary
We all felt the Taoiseach's pain on Wednesday when he tortured himself - yet again - with the thought that Ireland's reliance on pencil-and-paper voting made us "the laughing stock of Europe". Until recently, I would have said that Europe had better things to laugh at. But now that poor Boris Yeltsin has passed on, right enough, the Irish voting system is the next most obvious target for international ridicule, writes Frank McNally. p
