This week I attended the McGill Summer School in Glenties, Donegal.  Much of the debate focused on the economy and how to fix it. I thought Eamon Gilmore’s contribution was excellent. You can read his speech on the New Republic here. I debated the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty in Glenties with Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal [...]

Below is my latest article on patronage in schools. It was published on the opinion page of today’s Irish Independent. I would be interested to hear any thoughts and comments as ususal. The debate on the future of our primary school patronage system has gathered pace. We currently have 500,000 pupils in 3,200 primary schools; [...]

Last night I opened the debate on the Labour Party’s Institutional Child Abuse Bill 2009. You can see a copy of the bill here, and an explanation of its main features here. You can watch my speech in full below, or you can read an extract of it . The Bill wants to change the [...]