Previous Day
An anniversary of deep significance
TODAY IS the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, contemporary Ireland's most important political achievement. Signed on April 10th, 1998 by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair as heads of government, it is simultaneously an international treaty between Ireland and the United Kingdom and a solemn political agreement to share power within Northern Ireland. It provides for new institutions to link both parts of Ireland as well as the two sovereign states in co-operative policies. And it entrenches democratic consent as the fundamental principle governing any change in the borders between these jurisdictions. p
The nursing home mess
THE PRIVATISATION of the nursing home system is happening even faster than the transformation of hospital services, but has attracted little public debate. It would appear that care of the elderly is an embarrassing reality we wish to avoid. Concerns expressed to the Government about policy decisions, by groups representing older people, have been largely ignored. Now we have a situation where promised legislation and a new funding system that was to have been introduced last January may be further delayed. p
Opinion
Could the 26 ever really become the 32?
THE BELFAST AGREEMENT 10 YEARS ON: The Troubles have ended but what does the future hold for Northern Ireland? asks Deaglán de Bréadún, Political Correspondent. pAhern 'failure' would be the envy of many politicans
Whatever about his exit, the Taoiseach has the Belfast Agreement to his lasting credit, writes David Adams . pCowen looks to Lemass as he lays out vision of future
ANALYSIS: The new public face of Brian Cowen was on show for the first time yesterday, writes Mark Hennessey . pPayback time for our profit from the planet
Since 1900 we have changed the face of the Earth. While it has made us richer, the cost to our planet has been huge, writes John Gibbons . pWith no vital interests at stake for West, Mugabe and cronies have little to fear
Why is the world so reluctant to act against a dictator like Mugabe? asks Bill Corcoran . pFirst place is not the best viewpoint in life's race
FOR SOME people, the urge to compete is very, very strong, such as the tall, red-haired woman last Sunday morning at LaGuardia airport who cut in front of me at the boarding gate and did it so smoothly, expertly, no body contact, you have to assume she's been acing people out all her life, writes Garrison Keillor . p
An Irishman's Diary
HE SEEMS to have gone unnoticed amid the general obsession with Pat and Kathy Kenny. But among the more unusual visitors to the Dalkey land dispute case at the High Court this week has been the ghost of Patrick Kavanagh, writes Frank McNally . p
