“A must-see event” Evening Herald
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/temple-barack-1522277.html
“Smashingly good” Harry McGee, The Irish Times
“David McWilliams might have trained as an economist but his true vocation is as a star of vaudeville.” Harry McGee, The Irish Times.
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2008/11/05/confined-to-baracks/#more-117
“The city’s hottest ticket” The New York Times
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/travel/26letter.html
The Irish Times - Friday, February 5, 2010
Call for church and State to be separated
MARY MINIHAN
IRELAND NEEDS complete separation of the Catholic Church and State as a matter of urgency, the Leviathan political cabaret heard in Dublin last night.
Former Labour Party general secretary Brendan Halligan, now chairman of the Institute of International and European Affairs, said the church should no longer have a role in primary education.
“No question they should be taken out of primary education as soon as possible. We need proper and thorough complete separation of church and State,” Mr Halligan said.
He understood that in the past the church had provided a health service where none existed. “We should say thanks and get on with it,” he added.
The topic under discussion was “A new Constitution: a second republic?” Mr Halligan said he would like to see the Constitution changed, and called on the “political class” to give leadership and take firm decisions on the matter.
“I’m with Napoleon. He said constitutions should be short, simple and vague.”
Irish Times columnist Dr Elaine Byrne, adjunct lecturer in the department of political science at Trinity College Dublin, said she was in favour of cautious constitutional reform. However, she stressed the Irish people had to “take ownership” of the issue.
The Irish Times
Saturday, February 14, 2009
STILL STUCK? More ideas for cost-effective courting
Leviathan political cabaret It only just scrapes into the cheap(ish) category at €15 a go, but David McWilliams’ regular Dublin chat-off does offer the opportunity to cast yourself as a hip young citizen with your finger on the pulse – no, in the very ventricle! – of current political debate. With its “live blogging”, however, be aware that posting web updates on the progress of your date can lead to a loss of that special cosiness.
The Irish Times
Monday, April 27, 2009
Debate told of ‘bold’ measures to tackle financial crisis
Paul Sommerville, head of private clients at Delta Index (left), and Dr Alan Ahearne, lecturer in economics at NUI Galway, before taking part in Leviathan, the Cuirt Debate, at the Hotel Meyrick in Galway last night.Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy
LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent
THE GOVERNMENT has implemented “bold, ambitious measures” to address the current financial crisis, NUI Galway economist Dr Alan Ahearne has said.
“No other country in the world has taken that amount of fiscal leadership,” Dr Ahearne told the Cúirt literary festival Leviathan debate, which was chaired by RTÉ journalist John Murray in Galway last night.
Dr Ahearne, recently appointed special adviser to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, said four measures initiated by Government since last July had amounted to an €8 billion adjustment to the economy. These had prevented the current gross domestic product (GDP) from reaching 15 per cent.
Much depended now on the global situation and there were two types of economists – “those who know they don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know”, Dr Ahearne said.
Aer Arann chairman Pádraig Ó Céidigh said political leadership was “quite weak”, but there was also a collective responsibility on the electorate. Mr Ó Céidigh confirmed that he had been approached by Fianna Fáil and one other political party to run in the forthcoming European elections and he was “tempted to give it a try”.
Ireland should forget about multinationals now, he added, as the future depended on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Paul Sommerville of Delta Index, who has worked abroad for 21 years, said Ireland was “sleepwalking into a financial Armageddon” and he had not seen any politician capable of leading the State out of this. He wondered why Irish people “weren’t more aggressive” about what had occurred.
North American poet and former hedge fund banker Katy Lederer said the current situation reflected the “apotheosis of capitalism”.
Irish Times journalist and author Kathy Sheridan said there had been a “failure of communication” by economists and politicians to transmit their message.
The country had been “taken in by a culture of greed” and a “lack of altruism at the top” which had “seeped poison into the lifeblood of the nation”, Ms Sheridan said.
During questions, Galway West TD Michael D Higgins said it would be “very valuable” if the public knew the level of toxicity involved in the banking sector.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times