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But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder"/><meta name="twitter:description" content="Our system of PR is praised for incentivising consensus and civility. But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder"/><meta property="og:description" content="Our system of PR is praised for incentivising consensus and civility. But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder"/><meta name="keywords" content="hugh-linehan,fianna-fail,fine-gael,labour-party,sinn-fein,social-democrats,people-before-profit-solidarity-pbps,green-party,general-election,election-results"/><meta property="og:title" content="Hugh Linehan: Beneath the vote for stability and small-c conservatism, darker currents are stirring"/><meta name="twitter:title" content="Hugh Linehan: Beneath the vote for stability and small-c conservatism, darker currents are stirring"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?smart=true&auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&width=1200&height=630"/><meta property="og:image:alt" content="Hugh Linehan"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?smart=true&auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&width=1200&height=630"/><meta name="twitter:image:alt" content="Hugh Linehan"/><meta property="og:type" content="article"/><meta name="robots" content="noarchive"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="The Irish Times"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/12/03/beneath-the-vote-for-stability-and-small-c-conservatism-darker-currents-are-stirring/"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@IrishTimes"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/12/03/beneath-the-vote-for-stability-and-small-c-conservatism-darker-currents-are-stirring/"/><link rel="alternate" hrefLang="en-IE" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/12/03/beneath-the-vote-for-stability-and-small-c-conservatism-darker-currents-are-stirring/"/><link id="fusion-template-styles" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/pf/dist/components/combinations/default.css?d=168"/><link id="fusion-siteStyles-styles" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/pf/dist/css/irishtimes.css?d=168"/><style data-styled="" data-styled-version="5.3.5">.dKXkMj{c-expanded-menu;visibility:hidden;position:absolute;left:0px;top:0;}/*!sc*/ data-styled.g2[id="styled__StyledExpandedMenu-sc-1amt4zz-1"]{content:"dKXkMj,"}/*!sc*/ .gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty){max-width:100%;}/*!sc*/ .gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty)::before{content:'ADVERTISEMENT';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;font-family:star-font,'Roboto',sans-serif;}/*!sc*/ .gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:empty[style]{width:0 !important;height:0 !important;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty){max-width:100%;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty)::before{content:'ADVERTISEMENT';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;font-family:star-font,'Roboto',sans-serif;display:none;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:empty[style]{width:0 !important;height:0 !important;}/*!sc*/ data-styled.g8[id="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0"]{content:"gKEhzJ,kjbLvz,"}/*!sc*/ </style><script type="application/javascript" id="polyfill-script">if(!Array.prototype.includes||!(window.Object && window.Object.assign)||!window.Promise||!window.Symbol||!window.fetch){document.write('<script type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/engine/polyfill.js?d=168" defer=""><\/script>')}</script><script id="fusion-engine-react-script" type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/engine/react.js?d=168" defer=""></script><script id="fusion-engine-combinations-script" type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/components/combinations/default.js?d=168" defer=""></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0004" async="" data-integration="nativo-ad" src="https://s.ntv.io/serve/load.js"></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0002" async="" data-integration="comscore" src="https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"></script><script defer="" data-integration="queryly" src="https://www.queryly.com/js/queryly.v4.min.js"></script><script id="xtreme-push" type="text/javascript"> (function(p,u,s,h,e,r,l,i,b) {p['XtremePushObject']=s;p[s]=function(){ (p[s].q=p[s].q||[]).push(arguments)};i=u.createElement('script');i.async=1; 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class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_sport"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/rugby" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Rugby</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/six-nations/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Six Nations</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/gaelic-games" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gaelic Games</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/soccer" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Soccer</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/golf" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Golf</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/racing" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Racing</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/athletics" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Athletics</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/boxing" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Boxing</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/cycling" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Cycling</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/hockey" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Hockey</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/tennis" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Tennis</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/your-money" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Money</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_your-money" aria-label="Show Your Money sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_your-money"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/tags/pricewatch" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Pricewatch</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/budget/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Budget 2025</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/crime-law" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Crime & Law</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_crime-law" aria-label="Show Crime & Law sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_crime-law"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crime-law/courts" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Courts</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/property" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Property</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_property" aria-label="Show Property sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_property"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/residential" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Residential</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/commercial-property" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Commercial Property</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/interiors" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Interiors</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/food" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Food</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_food" aria-label="Show Food sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_food"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/drink" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Drink</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/recipes" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Recipes</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/restaurants" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Restaurants</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/health" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Health</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_health" aria-label="Show Health sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_health"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-family" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Family</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-fitness" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Fitness</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-wellness" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Wellness</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-fitness/get-running" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Get Running</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Life & Style</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_life-style" aria-label="Show Life & Style sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_life-style"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/fashion" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Fashion</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/tags/beauty/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Beauty</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/fine-art-antiques" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Fine Art & Antiques</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/gardening" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gardening</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/people" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">People</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/travel" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Travel</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/culture" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Culture</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_culture" aria-label="Show Culture sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_culture"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/art" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Art</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/books" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Books</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/film" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Film</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/music" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Music</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Stage</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/tv-radio" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">TV & Radio</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/environment" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Environment</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_environment" aria-label="Show Environment sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_environment"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/environment/climate-crisis" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Climate Crisis</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/technology" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Technology</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_technology" aria-label="Show Technology sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_technology"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/big-tech" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Big Tech</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/consumer-tech" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Consumer Tech</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/data-security" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Data & Security</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/gaming" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gaming</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/science" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Science</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_science" aria-label="Show Science sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" 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b-flex-chain__grid-container__12 gap" style="--c-stack-gap:var(--global-spacing-0)"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-grid b-it-overline-block"><div class="c-stack wrap" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="start" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0"><span class="c-pill c-it-subscriber-pill b-it-overline-block__subscriber-pill">Subscriber Only</span><span class="c-stack b-it-overline-block__text" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="wrap"><a class="c-link false" href="/election2024/">Election 2024</a></span></div></div><h1 class="b-it-headline align-center">Beneath the vote for stability and small-c conservatism, darker currents are stirring</h1></div></div></div></div><h2 class="b-it-subheadline align-center ">Our system of PR is praised for incentivising consensus and civility. But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder</h2></div><div class="c-grid b-it-right-rail-advanced__rail-container"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-interior-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-interior-item-1" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-grid b-it-lead-art__wrapper"><figure class="c-media-item b-it-lead-art"><div class="b-it-lead-art__image-wrapper" style="aspect-ratio:1024 / 683"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Hugh Linehan" class="c-image b-it-lead-art__btn-full-screen-open" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=1024&height=683" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=440&height=293 440w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=1024&height=683 1024w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZD3F2TKITRAL3LHCWXXSXKUUAE.jpg?auth=70f46531242b9bd90a1aa3af26081eec24633264fb0454071c7b7a3004de514d&smart=true&width=1440&height=960 1440w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 400px, (max-width: 440px) 440px, (max-width: 800px) 800px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, (min-width: 1025px) 1440px" width="1024" height="683"/></div><figcaption class="c-media-item__fig-caption"><span class="c-media-item__caption">A crisis of democratic engagement: This was the lowest voter turnout in the history of the State. Hugh Linehan </span></figcaption></figure></div><div class="c-stack b-it-byline-block" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-it-byline-block__author-image"><div style="aspect-ratio:118 / 118;background-color:var(--global-neutral-1)" class="c-it-placeholder"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Hugh Linehan's picture " class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Firishtimes%2Fbe84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png?auth=0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512&width=118" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Firishtimes%2Fbe84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png?auth=0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512&width=78 78w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Firishtimes%2Fbe84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png?auth=0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512&width=118 118w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Firishtimes%2Fbe84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png?auth=0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512&width=158 158w" sizes="(max-width: 440px) 78px, (max-width: 800px) 118px, (min-width: 801px) 158px" width="118"/></div></div><div class="c-stack b-it-byline-block__text" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="start" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="author"><span class="author-name"><a class="c-link" href="/author/hugh-linehan/">Hugh Linehan</a></span></div><div class="b-it-byline-block__date">Tue Dec 03 2024 - 06:00</div></div></div><div class="c-grid b-it-social-share-block 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height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M448 192V77.25c0-8.49-3.37-16.62-9.37-22.63L393.37 9.37c-6-6-14.14-9.37-22.63-9.37H96C78.33 0 64 14.33 64 32v160c-35.35 0-64 28.65-64 64v112c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h48v96c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h320c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32v-96h48c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16V256c0-35.35-28.65-64-64-64zm-64 256H128v-96h256v96zm0-224H128V64h192v48c0 8.84 7.16 16 16 16h48v96zm48 72c-13.25 0-24-10.75-24-24 0-13.26 10.75-24 24-24s24 10.74 24 24c0 13.25-10.75 24-24 24z"></path></svg></a></li></ul></div></div></li></ul></div></div><article class="b-it-article-body article-body-wrapper article-sub-wrapper"><p class="c-paragraph">The Dublin rock band <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fontaines-dc/" target="_blank">Fontaines DC</a>, who sang of “the gall of <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fine-gael/" target="_blank">Fine Gael</a> and the fail of <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fianna-fail/" target="_blank">Fianna Fáil</a>”, will not welcome the fact, but it is pretty clear who won this <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/election2024/" target="_blank">election</a>. The two-party bloc that opponents derisively call FFG took 43 per cent of the popular vote and 49 per cent of the seats.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">It is of course true that for most of their respective histories, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fianna-fail/" target="_blank">Fianna Fáil</a> and <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fine-gael/" target="_blank">Fine Gael</a> commanded twice that level of popular support between them. But the social and economic transformations and convulsions of the 21st century broke that old duopoly irretrievably. What is remarkable is that, out of the ashes, the two have managed to fashion a new duopoly, a powersharing arrangement that maintains their grip on government.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">What began with the confidence and supply agreement of 2016-2020 and blossomed into the full coalition of the last four-and-a-half years is now the dominant paradigm. At each successive election, transfers between the two have risen, helping to deliver a seat bonus which on this occasion accrued largely to Fianna Fáil. Now an FFG coalition, supported by Independents, looks the most probable outcome when government formation is concluded.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Remarkably, if that government serves its full term, Fine Gael will have been in power for almost 19 years, easily breaking the record held by Fianna Fáil administrations from 1932 to 1948 and from 1957 to 1973. Like Theseus’s ship, which remained the same even though every part was replaced, nearly the entirety of Fine Gael’s leadership and backbenches will have changed over that period, with <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paschal-donohoe/" target="_blank">Paschal Donohoe</a> almost the sole remaining spar from the original vessel.</p><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0frCB4hReP77YJ-3-4-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0frCB4hReP77YJ-3-4-0"></div><div><div style="border-block-start: 4px solid var(--global-neutral-2);font-family:var(--font-family-secondary);font-weight: var(--c-heading-font-weight);font-size:1.1rem; padding-top:0.8rem;margin-top:2rem;">READ MORE</div></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0frCB4hReP77YJ-3-4-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0frCB4hReP77YJ-3-4-0"></div><div class="c-grid b-top-table-list"><div class="c-grid b-top-table-list-small-container b-top-table-list-small-container--2"><article class="c-grid b-top-table-list-small b-top-table-list-small--right"><h2 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/politics/2024/12/02/election-2024-form-your-own-government-with-our-coalition-builder-tool/">Election 2024: Who will be in next government? 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href="/opinion/editorials/2025/01/31/the-irish-times-view-on-seanad-electoral-reform-still-indefensible/"> The Irish Times view on Seanad electoral reform: still indefensible</a></h2><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/editorials/2025/01/31/the-irish-times-view-on-seanad-electoral-reform-still-indefensible/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><figure class="c-media-item"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt=" The Irish Times view on Seanad electoral reform: still indefensible" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DCSDR6O5QQUFRVCPL2MNXAS6MA.jpg?smart=true&auth=9ac5d48b9d1be0c6ae3040dd1725db2bc08f26fec610ea7f799d14292d548f39&width=800&height=533" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DCSDR6O5QQUFRVCPL2MNXAS6MA.jpg?smart=true&auth=9ac5d48b9d1be0c6ae3040dd1725db2bc08f26fec610ea7f799d14292d548f39&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DCSDR6O5QQUFRVCPL2MNXAS6MA.jpg?smart=true&auth=9ac5d48b9d1be0c6ae3040dd1725db2bc08f26fec610ea7f799d14292d548f39&width=600&height=399 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DCSDR6O5QQUFRVCPL2MNXAS6MA.jpg?smart=true&auth=9ac5d48b9d1be0c6ae3040dd1725db2bc08f26fec610ea7f799d14292d548f39&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DCSDR6O5QQUFRVCPL2MNXAS6MA.jpg?smart=true&auth=9ac5d48b9d1be0c6ae3040dd1725db2bc08f26fec610ea7f799d14292d548f39&width=1200&height=799 1200w" width="800" height="533"/></figure></a><hr class="c-divider"/></article><article class="c-grid b-top-table-list-small b-top-table-list-small--right"><h2 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/editorials/2025/01/23/the-irish-times-view-on-the-new-government-new-cabinet-old-energy/">The Irish Times view on the new Government: new cabinet, old energy</a></h2><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/editorials/2025/01/23/the-irish-times-view-on-the-new-government-new-cabinet-old-energy/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><figure class="c-media-item"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="The Irish Times view on the new Government: new cabinet, old energy" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HI7J6Q4XWSBQU6BBHSOH3DKT2M.jpg?smart=true&auth=f027919001d2260c52642c7983affd057078e22ee2f37e1151420e0f14330ea4&width=800&height=533" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HI7J6Q4XWSBQU6BBHSOH3DKT2M.jpg?smart=true&auth=f027919001d2260c52642c7983affd057078e22ee2f37e1151420e0f14330ea4&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HI7J6Q4XWSBQU6BBHSOH3DKT2M.jpg?smart=true&auth=f027919001d2260c52642c7983affd057078e22ee2f37e1151420e0f14330ea4&width=600&height=399 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HI7J6Q4XWSBQU6BBHSOH3DKT2M.jpg?smart=true&auth=f027919001d2260c52642c7983affd057078e22ee2f37e1151420e0f14330ea4&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HI7J6Q4XWSBQU6BBHSOH3DKT2M.jpg?smart=true&auth=f027919001d2260c52642c7983affd057078e22ee2f37e1151420e0f14330ea4&width=1200&height=799 1200w" width="800" height="533"/></figure></a><hr class="c-divider"/></article></div></div><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Is such a long spell in government healthy? It is reductive to think of democracy as a simple Buggins’ turn in which one crowd exits via a revolving door simply so another one can enter. But two decades in continuous power, albeit with different personnel and partners along the way, is a very, very long stretch indeed. And the fact that most of that time will have been spent in co-operation or full coalition with Fianna Fáil, which itself has dominated government for most of the history of the State, adds to the sense of a fixed and immutable order. Where some will see stability, others may perceive stagnation.</p><p class="c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link"><span>[ </span><a aria-label="Open related story" class="c-link" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/12/02/fintan-otoole-irish-voters-keep-doing-the-same-things-and-expecting-different-results/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Irish voters keep doing the same things and expecting different results<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span> ]</span></p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Whatever you call it, it is clearly the expression of the will of those who voted. Since the result became clear, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sinn-fein/" target="_blank">Sinn Féin</a> representatives have barely tried to pretend any enthusiasm for the left-wing alternative they claim they will be exploring. Even stretching the definition of “left-wing” to breaking point, such an alliance would fall almost 20 seats short of a majority. And that is before taking into consideration the often fractious and distrustful relationship between its various component parts.</p><div id="arcad-feature-f0fA5zOjVt7q5My-3-4-3-87deda4d0370b" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:550px"><div id="arcad_f0fA5zOjVt7q5My-3-4-3-87deda4d0370b" class="arcad ad-550x250"></div></div></div><div class="b-it-article-body__quote-wrapper pullquote paywall"><blockquote cite="" class="c-stack b-it-article-body__pullquote" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">In order for democratic politics to thrive, voters need to be presented with a viable alternative to the status quo which they can then choose to accept or reject. That did not happen in this election</p></blockquote></div><p class="c-paragraph paywall">It has been a recurring theme in our political history that small parties with coherent agendas can play a disproportionate role in governments that deliver real reform. <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/labour-party/" target="_blank">Labour</a>, the Progressive Democrats and the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/green-party/" target="_blank">Greens</a> all successfully followed that template. But it is not necessarily a given.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Labour in the 1980s and in 2011-2016 failed to convince voters that it had made a positive contribution beyond reining in the worst impulses of Fine Gael at times of economic hardship. The PDs lost their ideological focus in the dying days of Bertie Ahern’s second term. The Greens floundered in the wake of the 2008 financial crash during their first spell in government and lost all their seats.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">If a small party does end up being perceived as a mere mudguard on the governmental bicycle, it can expect no mercy at the following election. That can also be true if it delivers on many of its promises, as the Greens have just discovered.</p><p class="c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link"><span>[ </span><a aria-label="Open related story" class="c-link" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/12/02/how-the-foreign-news-media-covered-the-irish-general-election/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">How the foreign news media covered the Irish general election<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span> ]</span></p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Given the composition of the next Dáil, it is hard to see how any small party could achieve sufficient leverage to justify entering government. Although <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/micheal-martin/" target="_blank">Micheál Martin</a>, who now holds the whip hand going into these negotiations, might welcome an additional centre-left component in Cabinet to bolster the advantage he already holds over Fine Gael.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Whatever combination emerges from what will probably be an annoyingly performative and long-winded negotiation process, the next government will be overwhelmingly dominated by FFG. Compared to its predecessor, that government may also nudge slightly to the right, particularly on climate (although its ability to do so will be constrained by binding legal commitments).</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">In any case, given the commitments made by all parties during the campaign, traditional left-right divides are moot, even though a clear divide will still remain between government and opposition over the correct balance between State intervention and market forces when it comes to housing policy.</p><div id="arcad-feature-f0fq2HIufcDr5Mt-3-4-4-82530617ed5c5" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:550px"><div id="arcad_f0fq2HIufcDr5Mt-3-4-4-82530617ed5c5" class="arcad ad-550x250"></div></div></div><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Beneath the vote for continuity, stability and small-c conservatism which many international media reported as the outcome of this election, darker currents are stirring. There is a crisis of democratic engagement: this was the lowest voter turnout in the history of the State. There is growing dislocation and alienation among some parts of society, as seen in the vote for <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gerry-hutch/" target="_blank">Gerard Hutch</a>. Negative sentiment towards immigration may not have found direct electoral expression this time, but polling shows it is rising, as elsewhere in Europe. And, based on demographic projections, there is little prospect of the housing crisis easing.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">In order for democratic politics to thrive, voters need to be presented with a viable alternative to the status quo which they can then choose to accept or reject. That did not happen in this election. There was never a prospect of the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael duopoly being challenged. That is surely the real reason why the campaign never really came to life.</p><p class="c-paragraph paywall">Our system of proportional representation is praised – rightly – for incentivising consensus and civility. But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder. That has happened in the past. Something in our current political order will need to change before the next election if we are to be confident that it will not happen again.</p><ul class="c-unordered-list paywall"><li class="c-list-item paywall"><i>Listen to our </i><a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/inside-politics/"><i>Inside Politics Podcast</i></a><i> for the latest analysis and chat</i></li><li class="c-list-item paywall"><i>Sign up for </i><a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/11/07/stay-informed-with-push-alerts-from-the-irish-times-delivered-straight-to-your-phone/" target="_blank"><i>push alerts</i></a><i> and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone</i></li><li class="c-list-item paywall"><i>Find </i><a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/10/27/find-the-irish-times-on-whatsapp-and-stay-up-to-date/" target="_blank"><i>The Irish Times on WhatsApp</i></a><i> and stay up to date</i></li></ul></article><div id="lazy_54764" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__12 gap"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div data-testid="article-container" class="c-stack b-article-tag" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="wrap"><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/hugh-linehan/">Hugh Linehan</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/fianna-fail/">Fianna Fáil</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/fine-gael/">Fine Gael</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/labour-party/">Labour Party</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/sinn-fein/">Sinn Féin</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/social-democrats/">Social Democrats</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/people-before-profit-solidarity-pbps/">People Before Profit Solidarity (PBPS)</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/green-party/">Green Party</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/general-election/">General Election</a><a class="c-pill" href="/tags/election-results/">election results</a></div><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"></div><div class="floating-subscribe"></div><div id="arcad-feature-f0fxlXV57SJ370m-3-5-3-107b999121d3d1" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:728px"><div id="arcad_f0fxlXV57SJ370m-3-5-3-107b999121d3d1" class="arcad ad-728x90"></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/><div class="c-grid b-it-header-block"><div class="b-it-header-block__header-block font-normal "><div class="c-stack b-it-header-block__heading-h5 font-normal" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack headline-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0"><h3 as="h5" class="c-heading font-normal margin_none">IN THIS SECTION</h3></div></div></div></div><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/opinion/2025/03/02/the-real-life-succession-is-back-for-one-last-season-its-funnier-and-darker-than-ever/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Murdoch family empire built on disrespecting people’s privacy is now getting a taste of it themselves" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-3-2 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg?smart=true&auth=e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/opinion/2025/03/02/the-real-life-succession-is-back-for-one-last-season-its-funnier-and-darker-than-ever/">Murdoch family empire built on disrespecting people’s privacy is now getting a taste of it themselves</a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/opinion/2025/03/02/pat-leahy-governments-speaking-rights-stroke-is-hardly-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Government’s speaking-rights stroke is hardly an existential threat to democracy" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-3-2 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg?focal=682%2C363&auth=6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/opinion/2025/03/02/pat-leahy-governments-speaking-rights-stroke-is-hardly-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/">Government’s speaking-rights stroke is hardly an existential threat to democracy</a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/opinion/2025/03/02/mark-oconnell-how-non-player-character-became-a-potent-insult-for-the-digital-age/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="How ‘non-player character’ became a potent insult for the digital age" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-3-2 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg?smart=true&auth=12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div 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type="application/javascript">window.Fusion=window.Fusion||{};Fusion.arcSite="irishtimes";Fusion.contextPath="/pf";Fusion.deployment="168";Fusion.globalContent={"_id":"FD7SYZ3KXFHM3GRWNVCNKLXM5Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":403,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/926a502c-b92e-43fe-8fea-fb1538974018/versions/1733154795/media/f72e4eb94ffae0dd178c701daa257c50_compiled.mp3","clipboard":{},"has_published_copy":true,"is_published":true,"publish_date":"2024-12-03T11:31:26.498Z"},"address":{},"canonical_website":"irishtimes","comments":{"allow_comments":false,"display_comments":false,"moderation_required":false},"content_elements":[{"_id":"MVKNUTY3GNFV7H6PLOARBHYHAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412548,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"The Dublin rock band <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fontaines-dc/\" target=\"_blank\">Fontaines DC</a>, who sang of “the gall of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fine-gael/\" target=\"_blank\">Fine Gael</a> and the fail of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fianna-fail/\" target=\"_blank\">Fianna Fáil</a>”, will not welcome the fact, but it is pretty clear who won this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/election2024/\" target=\"_blank\">election</a>. The two-party bloc that opponents derisively call FFG took 43 per cent of the popular vote and 49 per cent of the seats.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W6AO2H3DZJHO3KG6V23I7MQBIM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412549,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[{"comment":"w","pos":422}]},"content":"It is of course true that for most of their respective histories, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fianna-fail/\" target=\"_blank\">Fianna Fáil</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fine-gael/\" target=\"_blank\">Fine Gael</a> commanded twice that level of popular support between them. But the social and economic transformations and convulsions of the 21st century broke that old duopoly irretrievably. What is remarkable is that, out of the ashes, the two have managed to fashion a new duopoly, a powersharing arrangement that maintains their grip on government.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"QCTV6BOVAVBNJJNJPWNRFKSWEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412550,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"What began with the confidence and supply agreement of 2016-2020 and blossomed into the full coalition of the last four-and-a-half years is now the dominant paradigm. At each successive election, transfers between the two have risen, helping to deliver a seat bonus which on this occasion accrued largely to Fianna Fáil. Now an FFG coalition, supported by Independents, looks the most probable outcome when government formation is concluded.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"56P5JJXAAJCHJLBLHM23KVUSZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412551,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Remarkably, if that government serves its full term, Fine Gael will have been in power for almost 19 years, easily breaking the record held by Fianna Fáil administrations from 1932 to 1948 and from 1957 to 1973. Like Theseus’s ship, which remained the same even though every part was replaced, nearly the entirety of Fine Gael’s leadership and backbenches will have changed over that period, with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paschal-donohoe/\" target=\"_blank\">Paschal Donohoe</a> almost the sole remaining spar from the original vessel.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"JKSXKYCJWBDJRKOAIJU7GRDB6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412552,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[{"comment":"it ","pos":191}]},"content":"Is such a long spell in government healthy? It is reductive to think of democracy as a simple Buggins’ turn in which one crowd exits via a revolving door simply so another one can enter. But two decades in continuous power, albeit with different personnel and partners along the way, is a very, very long stretch indeed. And the fact that most of that time will have been spent in co-operation or full coalition with Fianna Fáil, which itself has dominated government for most of the history of the State, adds to the sense of a fixed and immutable order. Where some will see stability, others may perceive stagnation.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"5DEIX7GKRJBWPG7UOEXU2USQSY","additional_properties":{"_id":"NBZK5N77ZRAYBHWAVNMFDBQAKI","comments":[]},"content":"Irish voters keep doing the same things and expecting different results","type":"interstitial_link","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/12/02/fintan-otoole-irish-voters-keep-doing-the-same-things-and-expecting-different-results/"},{"_id":"IDFUJFAVKBAYNHS3GOOMUCN44Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412553,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Whatever you call it, it is clearly the expression of the will of those who voted. Since the result became clear, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sinn-fein/\" target=\"_blank\">Sinn Féin</a> representatives have barely tried to pretend any enthusiasm for the left-wing alternative they claim they will be exploring. Even stretching the definition of “left-wing” to breaking point, such an alliance would fall almost 20 seats short of a majority. And that is before taking into consideration the often fractious and distrustful relationship between its various component parts.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"ZHGD55AJWRABNKGO7NO5IBDGOE","additional_properties":{"_id":"NG4UK6DS5FBVRCLUK54MUHDNEI","comments":[]},"citation":{"content":"","type":"text"},"content_elements":[{"_id":"GSMP74JLXJAGPNUESKXRXSHRW4","additional_properties":{"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"In order for democratic politics to thrive, voters need to be presented with a viable alternative to the status quo which they can then choose to accept or reject. That did not happen in this election","type":"text"}],"subtype":"pullquote","subtype_label":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"TCBROVIA2FDRVNQTIW2VHU3L6A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412554,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"It has been a recurring theme in our political history that small parties with coherent agendas can play a disproportionate role in governments that deliver real reform. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/labour-party/\" target=\"_blank\">Labour</a>, the Progressive Democrats and the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/green-party/\" target=\"_blank\">Greens</a> all successfully followed that template. But it is not necessarily a given.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"TE7WGO3G7VHQZF5SVWT2QA35DA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733170598306,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Labour in the 1980s and in 2011-2016 failed to convince voters that it had made a positive contribution beyond reining in the worst impulses of Fine Gael at times of economic hardship. The PDs lost their ideological focus in the dying days of Bertie Ahern’s second term. The Greens floundered in the wake of the 2008 financial crash during their first spell in government and lost all their seats.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"FVFUFREKAFCG7LGKNXRIB4A3EU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412555,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"If a small party does end up being perceived as a mere mudguard on the governmental bicycle, it can expect no mercy at the following election. That can also be true if it delivers on many of its promises, as the Greens have just discovered.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"OVT63FZ3YFABNIHLMOWLUJN3XE","additional_properties":{"_id":"SXB4PTNXYZFRHGAKUOCYOBVDZE","comments":[]},"content":"How the foreign news media covered the Irish general election","type":"interstitial_link","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/12/02/how-the-foreign-news-media-covered-the-irish-general-election/"},{"_id":"HZPUXVSM35B35CYMMBLXG2XUE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733170598309,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Given the composition of the next Dáil, it is hard to see how any small party could achieve sufficient leverage to justify entering government. Although <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/micheal-martin/\" target=\"_blank\">Micheál Martin</a>, who now holds the whip hand going into these negotiations, might welcome an additional centre-left component in Cabinet to bolster the advantage he already holds over Fine Gael.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"PVHWZBFH6VC4PO5VTS2RQRIUOE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412556,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Whatever combination emerges from what will probably be an annoyingly performative and long-winded negotiation process, the next government will be overwhelmingly dominated by FFG. Compared to its predecessor, that government may also nudge slightly to the right, particularly on climate (although its ability to do so will be constrained by binding legal commitments).","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"QU3QZMHXYZBC3CJVLGMW3PC324","additional_properties":{"_id":1733170598311,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"In any case, given the commitments made by all parties during the campaign, traditional left-right divides are moot, even though a clear divide will still remain between government and opposition over the correct balance between State intervention and market forces when it comes to housing policy.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"LLCB6V74EFHKLFND7GVM3LNJZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412557,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Beneath the vote for continuity, stability and small-c conservatism which many international media reported as the outcome of this election, darker currents are stirring. There is a crisis of democratic engagement: this was the lowest voter turnout in the history of the State. There is growing dislocation and alienation among some parts of society, as seen in the vote for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gerry-hutch/\" target=\"_blank\">Gerard Hutch</a>. Negative sentiment towards immigration may not have found direct electoral expression this time, but polling shows it is rising, as elsewhere in Europe. And, based on demographic projections, there is little prospect of the housing crisis easing.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"GZRJECPIFRGM3AAJODJRY4EJEI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733150412558,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"In order for democratic politics to thrive, voters need to be presented with a viable alternative to the status quo which they can then choose to accept or reject. That did not happen in this election. There was never a prospect of the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael duopoly being challenged. That is surely the real reason why the campaign never really came to life.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"4PAY2ZGDZBDBXF67SMH4AGRXFE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733170598314,"comments":[],"inline_comments":[]},"content":"Our system of proportional representation is praised – rightly – for incentivising consensus and civility. But it can also lead to entropy – a gradual decline into uncertainty and disorder. That has happened in the past. Something in our current political order will need to change before the next election if we are to be confident that it will not happen again.","type":"text","paywall":"paywall"},{"_id":"3TXQBAJRLVAPPKEIWTTEG5AHRE","additional_properties":{"comments":[],"indent":0,"inline_comments":[]},"items":[{"_id":"UD5CL4FFANGE3AVX2KD5G5CPWY","additional_properties":{"comments":[],"indent":0,"inline_comments":[]},"block_properties":{},"content":"<i>Listen to our </i><a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/inside-politics/\"><i>Inside Politics Podcast</i></a><i> for the latest analysis and chat</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"4XGZPCPKTRC5HIXFIT3IFDNEHA","additional_properties":{"comments":[],"indent":0,"inline_comments":[]},"block_properties":{},"content":"<i>Sign up for </i><a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/11/07/stay-informed-with-push-alerts-from-the-irish-times-delivered-straight-to-your-phone/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>push alerts</i></a><i> and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"IUFDL5PACVFCBBKH4JNEWQS7PA","additional_properties":{"comments":[],"indent":0,"inline_comments":[]},"block_properties":{},"content":"<i>Find </i><a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/10/27/find-the-irish-times-on-whatsapp-and-stay-up-to-date/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>The Irish Times on WhatsApp</i></a><i> and stay up to date</i>","type":"text"}],"list_type":"unordered","type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"created_date":"2024-12-02T14:40:10.91Z","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"hugh-linehan","type":"author","version":"0.5.8","name":"Hugh Linehan","image":{"url":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/be84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png","version":"0.5.8","type":"image","auth":{"1":"0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512"}},"description":"Hugh Linehan is an Irish Times writer and Duty Editor. 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He also presents the weekly Inside Politics podcast.","role":"Duty Editor","author_type":"Staff","twitter":"hlinehan","facebook":null,"status":true,"image":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/be84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png","books":[],"podcasts":[],"education":[],"awards":[],"last_updated_date":"2023-08-11T17:04:52.326Z","email":"hlinehan@irishtimes.com","type":"author","bio_page":"/author/hugh-linehan/","ansImage":{"type":"image","url":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/be84b451-eea6-4f5d-bed8-a5fc20f9d2e3.png","auth":{"1":"0ddac82151a43fb93f844210915eaf24d760e959e10f16dd1afca3833d82f512"}}}}}]},"description":{"basic":"Our system of PR is praised for incentivising consensus and civility. 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a delicious irony about the fact that the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rupert-murdoch/\" target=\"_blank\">Murdoch</a> family psychodrama, which they went to great lengths to keep secret, has been <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/02/18/james-murdoch-ruperts-troublesome-beneficiary-has-shared-a-story-thats-painful-for-us-all/\" target=\"_blank\">playing out in excruciating detail</a> across the pages of the global media. The Murdochs, who did not become the grotesquely wealthy moguls they are by being respectful of other people’s privacy, have been embroiled in a bitter succession battle that culminated last September in a secret courtroom fight in Reno, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\">Nevada</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2E7TIU3TFRBGZOVOANZLIQZACU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745087970},"content":"The probate hearing was the final stage of a mission by 93-year-old Rupert to secure his legacy and ensure that his media empire’s drift rightward continues after his death. (“Secure my legacy” is ageing billionaire speak for “oust one of my sons to benefit the other”. Daughters do not get a look in.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZZWSTLHHGJFQLIN7VDYINIOVNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593945},"content":"He lost and, as it turns out, it was not entirely secret: all 3,000 pages of court documents promptly <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/magazine/rupert-murdoch-succession-family-trust-fight.html\" target=\"_blank\">leaked to The New York Times</a> while Rupert’s son James has further <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/04/rupert-murdoch-family-succession-james-murdoch/681675/\" target=\"_blank\">unburdened himself to The Atlantic</a>. The two pieces together paint a picture of an utterly dysfunctional family locked in an ideological battle that is a scaled-down version of the culture wars; and of four middle-aged adults – Prue, Lachlan, Liz and James – who tiptoe around the snarling ego of their senescent father. They can’t seem to decide if they love or loathe Rupert (except James, who is clear that he loathes him), but all of them seem to crave his attention.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2KVG7TO3QL6QDEXE4Q6GQIXALE","additional_properties":{"_id":"4OJ3CP7NC5FB3MWP5L4YRNDMQY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"V6YNBGCKJVHVZB7QWQ5RPPECAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593946},"content":"Rupert and Lachlan concocted a wheeze they called – the irony really is tasty – “Project Family Harmony”, which was supposed to strip three of his other children of their power to change the direction of the family business, should the unthinkable happen to Murdoch. His greatest fear was that James and James’s wife Kathryn would pivot the family business in the direction of “woke”, and that he – by virtue of being dead – may not be in a position to stop them.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XGN37W6KBFD7XEFQHZGGBNW2XM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593947},"content":"The vanity, political machinations and mind games are eye-popping, but it’s the little details that make you most grateful not to be a Murdoch. There’s the obsession with the television series <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2023/05/29/dont-read-this-succession-review-until-youve-watched-the-epic-finale-what-a-punch-it-packs/\" target=\"_blank\">Succession</a>. We learn that the siblings are completely transfixed with finding out which of them spoke to the show’s writers (everyone thinks it’s Liz; Liz think it’s her ex; Succession’s writers claim they pieced it all together from press cuttings. Yeah right).","type":"text"},{"_id":"WXWXCTGNYNC5TCSSFYT5TZJCYM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762213105},"content":"Liz Murdoch watched the episode in which the family patriarch dies twice and then promptly started panicking, as though it was only the sight of Rupert’s avatar Logan Roy prone on the floor of his private jet that convinced her that her father might actually be mortal.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4DG3UR25GFGM5FGF7R4CDQEFDQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593948},"content":"We learn that Rupert planted stories about his own children in the press. He cheats at Monopoly, according to his daughter-in-law, Kathryn Hufschmid, whom he detests for having a mind of her own. And for a man who has, at the last count, persuaded five women to marry him, he is singularly lacking in charm. When they were conspiring about buying James out a few years ago, Prue emailed her father with a few tips. Email James, she advised, and say “you miss seeing the kids, ask how they are, etc, ask him about all the things he’s been doing”. Murdoch snarled back: “Not totally stupid.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"AXC5TFY7JBAPDMLVCFCVNXDLMU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762213107},"content":"Rupert Murdoch in secret battle with three of his children over future of media empire","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"CF7DBLZUAJFSBB5S6JWHX7OZVA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593949},"content":"And so, fascinatingly, it goes on, in a family psychodrama that may be the most gripping show you’ll see all year. There’s nothing quite so entertaining as the travails of a family far more dysfunctional than your own. Unfortunately, there’s more at stake than the opportunity to bask in the schadenfreude. One of the issues that most dismayed James was his father’s increasingly hardline conservatism, his pivot on Trump, his stance on immigration and especially on the climate crisis.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XOOVAJJ3ZJBAPAUFFYYPBLCS4Y","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"6T3SELCUZJCFXAW4ZWAEYSOLX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593950},"content":"The tycoon, who will turn 94 on March 11th, still maintains a tight grip on his empire. Through News Corp, Murdoch owns hundreds of media titles including Fox News (which is in a symbiotic relationship with Donald Trump) and the Wall Street Journal; the UK Sun, Times and Sunday Times; publisher HarperCollins and several more titles in Australia. Because of the enormous influence this brings, his dysfunction becomes all our dysfunction.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F52FQXPMYZESPNBQTUBQODCGM4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593951},"content":"This is, of course, also true of the entire coterie of paranoid, narcissistic billionaires with big wallets and Daddy issues to match who currently hold a disproportionate amount of power in our world. For another example, see Elon Musk: abused and constantly told he was worthless by his father; relentlessly bullied as a child, and once hospitalised for a week after other children pushed him down some steps. Decades later, he and his own squad of teenage super-bullies wreak havoc on the US federal government and cast about in Europe for strongmen to throw their weight behind. Then there’s Donald Trump, whose father was a “high-functioning sociopath”, according to his niece Mary, and you don’t have to have read Freud to draw your own conclusions.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JRZRVVCMKNC4HN3GIQMJRG7QHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762213112},"content":"Mary Trump’s book: Eight of its most shocking claims about the US president","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OJMEWFFKB5CGHHNGCGBFGTV3LA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593952},"content":"As they seek vengeance for some real or imagined slight, as they posture and showboat and change allegiances on a whim or a threat, it is society that pays the price. Look at the formerly liberal Jeff Bezos. He had a fraught relationship with Trump in his first term that culminated in the <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/08/the-national-enquirer-v-bezos-scandal-hits-the-scandal-sheet\" target=\"_blank\">National Enquirer threatening to publish</a> his private sexts; this time out he is a convert who has issued an <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/business/media/washington-post-bezos-shipley.html\" target=\"_blank\">edict to the Washington Post</a> that it must no longer publish opinion pieces which oppose the Trump worldview on “personal liberties and free markets.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"72JBVW2QRRCI7NPZYCQ4ALUCLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740731593953},"content":"You wouldn’t trust these men to look after a kitten, and yet somehow the safekeeping of much of our democracy, social fabric and access to information lies within their gift. So while it might seem fair that the Murdochs – whose media empire contributed so much to making America and Britain angry, divided and miserable – are themselves angry, divided and miserable, it’s only a very small consolation.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Jennifer O'Connell"}},"name":"Jennifer O'Connell"}]},"description":{"basic":"The vanity, political machinations and mind games are eye-popping, but it’s the little details that make you most grateful not to be a Murdoch. Unfortunately, their dysfunction is our dysfunction"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T07:05:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Murdoch family empire built on disrespecting people’s privacy is now getting a taste of it themselves","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU","auth":{"1":"e613405f12604771da3136430fba08ff03d1ced69eb922a7fd7a50e534857acf"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/J2MDINNHGZ6TLPOA7J7KRVKOGU.jpg"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Opinion"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/the-real-life-succession-is-back-for-one-last-season-its-funnier-and-darker-than-ever/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/opinion","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Opinion"}}}},{"_id":"BSDFSL4A3RB25MFSVCFWZHCTTQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":332,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/e5e47391-1a30-4cbc-bbd7-445ab336eaaa/versions/1740747581/media/200e5a2eb349f427f5e76a3bdefca550_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/pat-leahy-governments-speaking-rights-stroke-is-hardly-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/","content_elements":[{"_id":"JUOQSV7O2VCFZLJGVFX7JYXMKM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930172},"content":"You can’t beat Irish politics for a sense of perspective. On Thursday evening, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump\">Donald Trump</a> – with Elon Musk hovering menacingly nearby – told his first Cabinet meeting that he had decided to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from the European Union. In Dublin the big issue was the row between the Government and Opposition over whether Independent TDs who support the Government should get a few minutes’ speaking time in the Dáil.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HBAHWNDO3RBX7JUD3ZFHL63GOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930174},"content":"The Government said it had a “solution” to the dispute, which has occupied so much political time and attention since it erupted in January. And what was that solution? To <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/oireachtas/2025/02/26/dail-speaking-rights-fffg-use-committee-majority-to-push-through-change/\">railroad</a> its disputed plan through the Dáil Reform Committee by using its inbuilt majority. A stroke of genius, all right.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UEVAVJE27BBIHAAG77G7DZ5UDA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930175},"content":"“Outrageous,” said the Social Democrats. “Disgraceful,” said Labour. “Dangerous and unprecedented,” said Sinn Féin. Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins, channelling the rebel resolve of his namesake, said: “We’re not having it. No way.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZAA7QN4T2FENDNXW7JTJI3PTUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930176},"content":"Why does the Government bend over backwards for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/01/07/fintan-otoole-its-a-national-indignity-that-new-government-will-rely-on-the-grace-and-favour-of-michael-lowry/\">Michael Lowry</a>? The answer, I think, is because Lowry was central to the formation of the Government in the first place, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael trust him to stick to his side of the deal, and therefore they will stick to their side. And that deal clearly involves – along with the various constituency wheezes that we are told don’t exist, but assuredly do – carving out some high-profile speaking time slots for the Lowry lads.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FSEKEYJ26VHXRLD4F7NNC2LRIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930177},"content":"You can make up your own mind whether Lowry’s past misdeeds should permanently exclude him from polite political society, but Micheál Martin and Simon Harris have clearly decided that they do not. There may be a political price for that in the future. But that is the road they have chosen to go down.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W7KROOESFFCDNNZAELOKTATH4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762256708},"content":"The Irish Times view on the Dáil speaking time row: time to get back to work","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"ZOZXKTPVBVF33PKNIWU3XWGBCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930178},"content":"The attempt to designate Lowry and his fellow Government-supporting, non-ministerial backbenchers as Opposition TDs was always an outrageous try-on. The current proposal is a modification of it, and is on somewhat firmer ground. Though that wouldn’t be hard.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RQUNXR3SZVE7XHZZDI2DSMCZZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930179},"content":"True, the Government has a majority on the committee and in the Dáil because it got more votes in the general election, so there’s that. And it’s hardly sustainable to insist that current standing orders remain set in stone forever – standing orders change all the time. But parliament can’t function without some measure of co-operation from the Opposition, so one way or another this row – and it is an exceptionally bitter one – will have to be resolved.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BNYFEP4F5JA3BOEUE5UHJXSU6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930180},"content":"There’s a pair of them in it. The Opposition is acting like the Government is proposing to shut down its capacity to ask questions entirely. That’s bogus. It’s a bit of a stroke, all right, but hardly an existential threat to democracy. Dáil debates normally take place in a near-empty chamber.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TZDGHKDSRNFNBPYPJSQRFNTAYM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930181},"content":"And in any event, there are, it’s fair to say, rather more important things going on right now. It looks very like the time for tomfoolery is coming to an end, and some very stark choices will have to be made by the Government on behalf of the country. Couldn’t we talk about that?","type":"text"},{"_id":"26PQDWDRWBEJ5NMDVOSSX457BE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762256713},"content":"EU is about to become bigger and more powerful and there will be consequences for Ireland","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"YH3T3DF4MJFINIFFJHB5ELFU6I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930182},"content":"For one thing, like their counterparts in all member states, the Government will have only limited input into the EU’s response to the Trump tariffs, as trade – and the conduct of a trade war, if it comes to that – is an exclusive competence of the European Commission. The decisions, in other words, will be made in Brussels, even though Ireland is likely to be more exposed than any other EU state to US tariffs. The commission will take Ireland’s interests into account, but it is just one of 27 states.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5QACABTMHBBPTI4ZN5FMNP2SUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930183},"content":"So you might think the Opposition would like to put the Government on the spot in the Dáil about what it knows about the EU’s planned responses and its evaluation of what those responses will mean for Ireland’s economy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GPPF6LPBPNFGVLLXHYTQ4NLIY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930184},"content":"Meanwhile, next week EU leaders will commit to further military and financial assistance for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/ukraine-war/\">Ukraine</a>, as US support dwindles. Keir Starmer this week unveiled a plan for vastly increased military spending, raiding the UK’s foreign aid budget to pay for it. The incoming German chancellor, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/friedrich-merz/\">Friedrich Merz</a>, said it was “five minutes to midnight”, and that Europe must prepare to defend itself without US support. Emmanuel Macron is pushing for joint EU debt to fund new defence spending. Higher military investment, he acknowledged, would come at a cost to other areas of public spending. As Politico put it: more guns, less butter.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKSPQXP7VFEMFGTMZ5YAWWXZ64","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930185},"content":"Well yes, sigh the nations of central and eastern Europe, looking nervously at Ukraine and wondering who might be next; we told you this three years ago. Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you desire peace, prepare for war.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F4ZM7MNGZVHUNERHNV7GOFVACI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930186},"content":"All this will cost EU countries many billions, and Ireland – most likely – hundreds of millions of euro. Where is the money coming from? What is our exact role? Europe is re-arming and Ireland – whose proud boast has been that it is at the centre of Europe – cannot simply ignore all this.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7EMICUSNL5FF5LCX3GH5Q45REY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930187},"content":"The world is a changed place and Ireland must figure out how to deal with those changes. Would it not be an idea to have some debate about this in the national parliament?","type":"text"},{"_id":"G2CP7IOJS5A4PCZWALY3IUMCIM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740743930188},"content":"Remember, the Government has to tell the truth – or at least not be caught lying – in the Dáil. Deliberately misleading the Dáil is still grounds for ministerial resignations – or at least serious political heat. So the Dáil is the place to ask these questions. But to do that the Dáil has to be functioning. Get on with it.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Pat Leahy"}},"name":"Pat Leahy"}]},"description":{"basic":"The world is a changed place and Ireland must figure out how to deal with those changes. Would it not be an idea to have some debate about this in the national parliament?"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T07:05:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Government’s speaking-rights stroke is hardly an existential threat to democracy","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ","auth":{"1":"6b9de53e67630ea4f7579da45e4dff4d4ca3e1b29265948a424b108077ebda7b"},"focal_point":{"x":682,"y":363},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/4SUUFM7JAJAT7GROVDWZEYRBIQ.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"HLPOQFNWSNGLPDXJPVB7U4HGHI","type":"image"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Opinion"},{"name":"Politics"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/pat-leahy-governments-speaking-rights-stroke-is-hardly-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/opinion","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Opinion"}}}},{"_id":"PGQEYFAUTZE2VK4DENRHMAYU7E","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":394,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/18f7add0-7f7f-4dd5-94ae-630f554f219f/versions/1740740218/media/6d9f0bcf79e58c832f6a4a04b6acaef8_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/mark-oconnell-how-non-player-character-became-a-potent-insult-for-the-digital-age/","content_elements":[{"_id":"6M2DSSDXNNBO3BGXI37FOMJUL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813408},"content":"There is a term that, for a few years now, has been close to ubiquitous online, and by which I find myself equally troubled and fascinated. The term is “NPC”; it originated in video games, and it’s an acronym for “non-player character” or “non-playable character”. If you’ve spent any time gaming, you’ll likely know these guys: the villager who helps you on your quest, or the storekeeper who sells you inventory items, and whose dialogue is limited to the point where, if you keep talking to him long enough, he begins to repeat himself ad nauseam. These are characters who are positioned within a game in order to advance the plot or to otherwise give the imagined world a feel of depth and reality. They’re the unimportant bystanders in, say, the Grand Theft Auto series whom the player can casually murder without any consequence to the overall trajectory of the game.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ACX6RQ5PWZD2JLHGCQTOMRW5SY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813409},"content":"The reason the term has become ubiquitous online is that it functions as a potent rhetorical shorthand for whole groups of people whom the speaker wishes to dismiss as not possessing minds of their own. In a way, NPCs can be seen as basically interchangeable with such categories as normies, basic bitches, sheeple, and so forth: people whose taste in culture, products, and political ideas mark them out as essentially just drifting through life without any real agency or originality of though – in crucial distinction from oneself, a person with a high degree of agency and intellectual autonomy. One prominent recent usage of the term came from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/01/28/openais-sam-altman-vows-better-models-as-chinas-deepseek-disrupts-global-ai-race/\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Altman</a>, the cofounder and chief executive of OpenAI, announcing his change of mind about a US president of whom he’d formerly been critical: “i wish i had done more of my own thinking,” he posted on X, “and definitely fell in the npc trap.” The fact that this change of mind was made in exact sync with the mass adoption of Trumpism among his fellow Silicon Valley billionaires reveals much about Altman, and about the volatile irony at the heart of the NPC concept.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EZ76GFHH2NAHJDNBVIM4M72S3M","subtype":"twitter","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"A7LD62BSMBGSZDCJYQZK42V3X4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813410},"content":"Although the term is not an explicitly ideological one, it has obvious political connotations. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, especially favoured as an epithet by the online right, who are inclined to dismiss leftists and liberals as collectively in thrall to a rigorously enforced set of groupthink norms.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CSK722SMEZFSFLDKKI45QGZFCU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813411},"content":"The meme that is often used to illustrate this critique is a crude and simplistic cartoon of a grey and near-featureless face – two tiny black dots for the eyes, an acute angle for the nose, a perfectly straight and grim slot for the mouth. This character, known as “NPC Wojak” is often shown surrounded by speech bubbles expressing various reductive renderings of bien pensant liberal sentiments – “diversity is strength”, “orange man bad”, that sort of thing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"52PVIOYFMNDSFLQAP62TR3RN5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813412},"content":"Its popularity can partly be explained by its containing a kernel of truth, albeit of a subjective kind: looked at from one’s own vantage point, people on the other side of an ideological divide can often appear to hold the same cluster of almost arbitrary opinions, and to be driven by a kind of herd mentality. As with so many insults and epithets, it’s partly a kind of psychological projection: a person who accuses his enemy of being an NPC might be attempting to ward off the deep suspicion that he himself is somehow not the protagonist of his own life.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HG446X3BOVCONM3MT4FWUQXDA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813413},"content":"In one sense, this seems like an expression of a sharply contemporary condition: a kind of solipsism that arises from spending a lot of time online, and in particular on social media, where other lives are glimpsed in the form of avatars, scrolling text, fleeting video, and where it’s increasingly difficult to tell whether one is encountering a genuine human intelligence or some kind of algorithmic emanation. But this suspicion that other humans might not be real is, of course, an ancient one with a varied philosophical heritage. The Gnostics (adherents of a widespread early Christian heretical sect) believed that there were levels of human existence: the spiritually enlightened Pneumatic, and the so-called Hylics, who were without minds or souls. Descartes, in his Meditations,<i> </i>explored the idea that we can know only our own minds, and therefore can’t be sure that other minds exist. Nietzsche basically never shut up about herd mentality. And let’s not even get into The Matrix<i> </i>films<i>, </i>other than to acknowledge that it is the obvious proximal source of most of this contemporary NPC stuff.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AGRIYOO3U5AIXIY6RWNGNCGZUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813414},"content":"For all that the idea is rooted in philosophical antecedents, it’s not Descartes or Nietzsche or the Gnostic heresiarchs that I really think of when I see a person dismissing people as NPCs: it’s myself, as a teenager, in my more foul-tempered and alienated moments. There is, I think, something fundamentally adolescent about the desire to see oneself as an authentic, self-guided freethinker, hemmed in on all sides by herds of conformist sheep. It’s this realisation, ironically enough, that allows me to identify with, and even feel for, the people who call others NPCs.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HTZWDSVR2FDYPMWMMYOYKLPD5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762301821},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"W2GKSE6UJVC5XMS3YE2GMFE4FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813415},"content":"It suggests a view of the world constrained and impoverished by incuriosity and isolation: a level of dehumanisation of others that can only arise out of a deep alienation from one’s own humanity. And I don’t mean this as a cheap dig: nothing is more profoundly and irreducibly human than a deep alienation from one’s own humanity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"77OZGTOEXFHHLMPMP4XOUACAUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740668813416},"content":"In a sermon he gave in 1941, CS Lewis delivered two sentences that I love for their simplicity and beauty and almost shocking clarity: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” Although I don’t share the Christian conviction out of which Lewis wrote – that every human being carries within them the potential to reflect the divine light of God, and that we are all of us on our individual journeys toward final salvation or damnation – I admire, and in my better moments share, the sentiment. And it is, too, something I have learned again and again through my own work, where I have mostly written about other people, in all their inexhaustible strangeness and fascination. I have never met an ordinary person. There are no NPCs; there are only worlds you have not yet met the responsibility of imagining.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mark O'Connell"}},"name":"Mark O'Connell"}]},"description":{"basic":"Desire to see oneself as authentic, self-guided free-thinker, hemmed in on all sides by herds of conformist sheep is fundamentally adolescent"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T07:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"How ‘non-player character’ became a potent insult for the digital age","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U","auth":{"1":"12a4a8556bd1faf32f7a773cb76301c56b2dc16522591f7625d7ac2209b25792"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ZFXH4ZKL2J5FAR56CCDV3K3S2U.jpg"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Opinion"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/mark-oconnell-how-non-player-character-became-a-potent-insult-for-the-digital-age/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/opinion","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Opinion"}}}},{"_id":"QK53AF6QAZACRMWOB7AQMKQYQU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":351,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/27ae80ed-5fdc-4a22-bae3-60da6d90a51d/versions/1740754220/media/9d3fccdb540725f8bfca1dcbe7189cb7_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/breda-obrien-as-pope-francis-battled-against-ill-health-this-week-the-catholic-community-in-ireland-lost-two-great-leaders/","content_elements":[{"_id":"3XWYZTAW5NACDMGAS64A7NOJGM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209021},"content":"As the eyes of the world lay on Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where Pope Francis was seriously ill last week, two significant Irish religious figures slipped quietly away to their eternal reward.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BKQN26T7T5F2BLHZ6GTGKW32QM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209022},"content":"Bishop emeritus <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2025/02/24/he-stirred-things-up-bishop-willie-walsh-remembered-at-funeral-as-radical-advocate-for-the-poor/\" target=\"_blank\">Willie Walsh</a> of Killaloe died in his own home, while <a href=\"https://rip.ie/death-notice/srmaire-osb-hickey-galway-kylemore-586552)%5B6\" target=\"_blank\">Sr Máire Hickey, Abbess Emeritus of Kylemore</a>, died in the loving care of Mother Karol, the new abbess, and the Benedictine Community.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LXMFNNWY4FDN7FUTVWOMZ4BZPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209023},"content":"Initially, I was prejudiced against Willie Walsh. I deemed him one of those priests who could not resist a microphone and was liable to say anything once one was placed before him. A priest friend of mine suggested that I might try waiting until I met him before passing judgment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPIGB7EOBNG3ZHO7TYQQO5OD24","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209024},"content":"When I did eventually meet him, the simple goodness of the man changed my view of him forever. In biblical terms, he was a Nathaniel, a person without guile. That does not mean that he was always right, much less that I agreed with all his public stances. However, far from courting attention, because of his innate courtesy, he tried to facilitate journalists when he could. More often than not, it got him into trouble.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YW3NN5WPL5K2VECH4UPE426QTA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740756709482},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LBCXNTYX4JHSNJKPAU7ZBQOFTI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209026},"content":"He was an exceptional listener, despite his deafness. He was a person of deep compassion, which spurred his pilgrimage of apology for clerical sexual abuse of children and his care for Travellers. Just before he was installed as bishop of Killaloe, I asked him what his priorities would be. I was astonished and a bit put out when he said it would be his “little band of brothers” – that is, his priests. As a layperson, I thought this smacked of clericalism and said so. Clericalism – undue deference either demanded by or awarded to clergy by laypeople – is a real problem, but Willie Walsh was the least clericalist of people.","type":"text"},{"_id":"COJ2WKEUSRDKBOD4BAQYOTI53U","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209029},"content":"He simply saw that if a bishop did not care for his priests, probably no one else except their families would. The Irish Catholic has been running a series written by priests, <a href=\"https://www.irishcatholic.com/category/opinion/relentless-ministry/\" target=\"_blank\">Relentless Ministry</a>, which chronicles the fatigue and burnout suffered by ageing and overworked priests. The priests also describe the unique fulfilment and satisfaction they receive from their role, but younger men are not being attracted to the life. It is not unconnected to the horrified reactions many parents would have if a child declared an interest in a religious vocation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VWOU4ZACDRAAJPZSZZM3E6JNTI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740762278569},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"57IZB7AH75G4TGBMBL6DEIYO3M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209031},"content":"Sr Máire Hickey’s ancient order, the Benedictines, founded in the sixth century by St Benedict and his sister, St Scholastica, has also experienced vocational decline. Nonetheless, Sr Máire and her community prioritised building a new monastery to welcome spiritual seekers when other orders are closing or amalgamating communities. After being delayed by Covid-19, it finally opened last August. Opening the monastery fulfils a century-old dream in a striking act of faith and courage. Since the 17th century, there was a Benedictine foundation consisting mostly of Irish nuns at Ypres in Belgium.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CE3NR7653NA4FCY7CMZMX7CTMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209034},"content":"The convent was bombed to smithereens in 1914, and the community eventually settled in 1920 in beautiful, tranquil Kylemore in Connemara, so iconic that it even features on the Irish passport. The nuns in Kylemore farmed and ran a school. When Sr Máire arrived there in 2007, the writing was on the wall for the school, which closed in 2010. Today, Kylemore Abbey is central to Irish tourism and is the largest private employer in Connemara. It showcases the best of Irish goods and crafts, and even Connemara ponies. It has a strong environmental and conservationist focus.","type":"text"},{"_id":"54ZVGR7T6JATNPW4JDMKOLXA3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1740756709488},"content":"However, Sr Máire was acutely aware that the vital spiritual role of the Benedictine Community was in danger of becoming sidelined by the economic success story it had created.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NYCYQE5NTJA45DPX4DO5OHWE2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209038},"content":"An extraordinary woman born in 1938, this wise, wry and kind individual had a PhD in classics and taught at Oxford before she entered a German Benedictine Monastery. She was modestly famous in Germany, where she was Abbess of Burg, Dinklage, for well over 20 years. In 1997, <a href=\"https://www.domradio.de/artikel/vor-75-jahren-wurde-aebtissin-maire-hickey-geboren\" target=\"_blank\">a photo flew around the world</a> of her religious community in their floor-length traditional habits staging a sit-down protest. They were preventing the German government from deporting a Ukrainian family to whom the monastery had given sanctuary. It was a time of tumult in Germany and churches had been victims of arson for pro-asylum-seeker stances. It did not deter Sr Máire.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPETVQC73VB7PMP7LKTEO4I4XI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209040},"content":"The same courage and perseverance was evident in Kylemore, where she, ably assisted by her community, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/university-of-notre-dame-opens-campus-in-connemara-1.2768727\" target=\"_blank\">forged links first with Notre Dame in Indiana</a>, which opened a third-level education centre there, and then with funders for the new monastery.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I7Y3SJQUW5GMDH5JFT4BU5GAU4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209041},"content":"Sr Máire’s vision for the next century is rooted in Laudato Si, Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment. Where better than Kylemore to demonstrate the connection between spirituality and sustainability?","type":"text"},{"_id":"TBZGFKATNZHG5CSIXF46L7BLXA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740745209042},"content":"“Ní bheidh a leithéidí arís ann,” is the traditional tribute to exceptional people who have died. Both Sr Máire and Willie Walsh, I suspect, would be better honoured by the lesser-known Benedictine motto associated with Monte Cassino – succisa virescit. It can be translated as “cut back, it grows back green”. Seeing others embrace religious vocations of selfless service would be the best possible tribute.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Breda O'Brien"}},"name":"Breda O'Brien"}]},"description":{"basic":"Bishop emeritus Willie Walsh’s simple goodness changed my view of him. Mr Máire Hickey sought to forge a connection between spirituality and the environment"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T07:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"As Pope Francis battled against ill health this week, the Catholic community in Ireland lost two great leaders","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"SBMUHKMCLBVC7FNSSOTX7DS53M","auth":{"1":"ed27b6ac1d2e6ca3d53d8b9753ede10b9bfbf283a815df85483b85c5e845644e"},"focal_point":{"x":631,"y":304},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SBMUHKMCLBVC7FNSSOTX7DS53M.jpg"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Opinion"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/breda-obrien-as-pope-francis-battled-against-ill-health-this-week-the-catholic-community-in-ireland-lost-two-great-leaders/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/opinion","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Opinion"}}}},{"_id":"NFUEUSEVOFBWDNS57TZDHGB3XE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":341,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/ee05d975-251c-4b3b-9e63-062a2ac4f4f7/versions/1740759443/media/ba25dc2a1ff26886e2b9d6723a85fabc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/opinion/2025/03/02/her-17-year-old-daughter-is-under-psychiatric-care-after-becoming-addicted-to-hhc-vapes/","content_elements":[{"_id":"VSIWFFVXKBGBHLMLAKZGKDKMK4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967302},"content":"Recently the Irish Bishops’ Drugs Initiative received a letter from a heartbroken parent outlining the dangers of hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/10/14/hhc-vapes-it-only-took-a-few-puffs-to-turn-him-completely-zombie-like/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/10/14/hhc-vapes-it-only-took-a-few-puffs-to-turn-him-completely-zombie-like/\">synthetic cannabinoid openly sold in vape shops across Ireland</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P6OOPFWLPVEX7NGU7E6DYBSPZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967303},"content":"The mother had written to public and media representatives urging an immediate ban of HHC, warning that <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/09/16/cannabis-like-drug-causing-severe-psychosis-in-young-men-college-of-psychiatrists-warn/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/09/16/cannabis-like-drug-causing-severe-psychosis-in-young-men-college-of-psychiatrists-warn/\">HHC was highly addictive and unregulated and saying it posed severe mental and physical health risks</a> to young people including psychosis, addiction, depression and suicidal thoughts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5SJTJ3AEIJGJXHTVT4OZFG6WWE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967304},"content":"HHC has been regulated or banned in several other European countries including France, Austria and Denmark. However, Ireland has failed to act, leaving many vulnerable to its effects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EHYKYP3IQRBQ5N6DOOHI5L4Y5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967305},"content":"The parent was reaching out following the experience of her teenager with HHC. Her 17-year-old daughter had become addicted to the drug, purchasing it legally with ease. Now struggling with severe mental health issues, she has been forced to leave school and is under psychiatric care. This parent claimed that the family sought help from authorities, only to be dismissed due to the legal status of HHCs in Ireland.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YONTMN6BLBCNTIMHGFGRHRZRLQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967306},"content":"This story is just one of thousands replicated across the island, affecting all age and socio-economic groups.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5YJMNUC5NEFRGS6H6IXW2A33U","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967307},"content":"We have always had a difficult relationship with alcohol in this country. Excessive drinking is tolerated and accepted, regardless of its damaging and often-catastrophic effects. Back in 2002, I undertook a survey of drinking habits among the senior students at a school where I was teaching at the time. Of the 84 students who took part, 77 said that they drank alcohol and 33 of that cohort said that they began to drink at the age of 13 or 14. So, even 23 years ago no one was shocked or surprised at that level of alcohol use among young people.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I6IWST46Q5DINOT3RHTZEFO6ZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967309},"content":"Alcohol abuse is still a big problem, but added to that is the widespread and relatively cheap availability of drugs such as cannabis and cocaine. Attempts to deal with the problem have focused on the prosecution of the user, while the gangs who import and sell drugs have often escaped effective punishment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5KLO2EZ46BAA5OXJSZQRK6LUWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967310},"content":"These gangs have developed a network of intimidation and violence that leaves countless families struggling with the stigma, fear and debts – all the consequences of a loved-one’s drug addiction brings.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KVNDCCMN2ZC53KVZEBJ77FYZ2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967311},"content":"In my work as interim-chair of the Family Addiction Support Network (FASN) in the northeast region I frequently receive reports from staff and volunteers of the growing problem of addiction, a problem that still doesn’t receive the funding and publicity it needs if it is to be controlled effectively. FASN, despite its tremendous work with families, faces a year-on-year struggle to operationally survive due to the lack of resources.","type":"text"},{"_id":"H2FYBU5DS5BUNCUJ3WJVDVNAHA","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"PD7UVCBXTBHI3CEL5RZTHTWWWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967312},"content":"While funding and publicity are hugely important in the fight against addiction, a focus on the spiritual side of the person is also vital. Today is Temperance Sunday, a day of prayer for those who struggle with addictions of all kinds.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CUHPADLJNNAFXC4NEWM2W4CGME","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967313},"content":"We are fortunate in Ireland to have Venerable Matt Talbot to draw on as an example of how prayer and abstinence can help overcome substance addiction.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CZYY4FNN3VCNZB4VZHEN6O5CH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967314},"content":"In 2025, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the death of Matt Talbot. Born in 1856 into a poor working-class family in Dublin, he was the second of 12 children. He left school early to go working for a wine merchant and, later, to work on the Dublin docks. In both locations, Matt had access to alcoholic drink and by his early teens he had become an alcoholic. For more than 10 years he was a severe addict.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y7RAL3C3PJFRPHMDIIIO3OLS6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967315},"content":"At the age of 28, Talbot was at his lowest point and, in a state of destitution and despair, he decided to give up alcohol. The only way he could do it was to rely on prayer and abstinence. Once he embraced his faith in God, Talbot never drank alcohol again.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LD5GYESRRFGD3IXLUJ3Q5HVU24","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967316},"content":"It was only when Talbot died suddenly on the way to Mass on June 7th, 1925, that those preparing his body for burial discovered the true extent of his penitential acts. (On his death, a chain was found to have been wound around Matt Talbot’s waist, with another around an arm and a leg, and cords around the other arm and leg. In 1975 he was declared Venerable, a step towards canonisation.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"PXOS6AMY2JG2VOOSXZQ7HIHNUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740756819705},"content":"There is little doubt that Talbot overcame his addiction through the willpower, determination and courage that his spiritual practices brought to him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OP33SMWY4FEX7P2BOJSFCYENBU","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"KUYPR7XLLVBILG7YWYOMQHUM3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967317},"content":"Willpower and faith are important attributes that organisations such as <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alcoholics-anonymous/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alcoholics-anonymous/\">Alcoholics Anonymous</a> have always recognised as a prerequisite for success. Overcoming addiction needs a reliance on a higher power if goals are to be achieved.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UZVPDBP3ONGPVG76WNHXHIAMOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967318},"content":"Ultimately, if we are to deal effectively with the drug and alcohol problem that we are experiencing in Ireland, then we must see the issue as primarily one of healthcare and resource it adequately.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C6G7TNTW3NBRDIJSWWT332UUHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967319},"content":"Intervention is needed in the life of the person who has started on the road to addiction. This intervention may take the form of education, physical therapy or psychological help. If we ignore the importance that spiritual belief plays in the wellbeing of so many, or the importance of religious faith in the creation of a balanced and well-functioning society, then true healing will remain out of reach.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NNEX6HCFV5EIPOBYXKEVJOXMLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967320},"content":"Talbot’s example, I believe, along with annual moments such as Temperance Sunday and the Lenten season that begins in a few days on Ash Wednesday, remind us that it is only from within – from the Spirit – that personal and communal restoration and renewal can be attained and maintained.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3ETPC377LRENBBT2X7V5POVSCE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740670967321},"content":"<i>Bishop Michael Router is the auxiliary bishop of Armagh and liaison bishop with the Irish Bishops’ Drugs Initiative</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Bishop 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Derry have their first shot at goal cleared off the line.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B76OG5SS7NBDDLGPGHT232E26Y","additional_properties":{"_id":"LZESE5Y6ZRCXNKFIK22TI3BA5A"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740923699406},"id":"timestamp-73984","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"BSKAGCQJUJCRREB3USOQBMXKDQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Galway 0-2 Tyrone 0-2: Down at Tuam Stadium, Mark Bradley brielfy puts Tyrone in front, before Galway level it on nine minutes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KB2IDZ66Q5CYPC7N4GIVFB3LPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"WGCHAFHUTNFPNHLOJKXNCBHKJQ"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740923791769},"id":"timestamp-39057","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"SSZLMJYQCNAG3C2NXSVN6NPNJY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Galway 0-2 Tyrone 1-2: A Darragh Canavan goal has Tyrone in 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team.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AWSET35WEREVROVEQPLBJI2JF4","additional_properties":{"_id":"OIGZHWWYEVDYLIJMF4VTTDWVNQ"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740924165690},"id":"timestamp-60524","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"JU7L43NONNCNBPC653GADLEYKY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Galway 0-7 Tyrone 1-2: Galway have hit straight back after the Tyrone goal and now lead by two points.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UXM6CP6T5BERTGPE7VBRJBC75A","additional_properties":{"_id":"MNLPR6HKCBDRDLLWO3FS3334FQ"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740924308086},"id":"timestamp-41447","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"JWYKSLSKDJDZ3FBJJX23BSSE2Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Donegal 0-5 Derry 0-4 : The fear was Donegal-Derry might turn into someting of a shadow boxing match, given they meet again in the preliminary round of the Ulster championship on April 6th, and it’s tame enough so far at Ballyshannon after 22 minutes, Ciaran Thompson putting the home team back in front.","type":"text"},{"_id":"67UCZFRG6RCONBOW3MNNXUJYNM","additional_properties":{"_id":"2IZROPLD2VBOLJDAGZH2KBU6VM"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740924552289},"id":"timestamp-76711","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"VY4ICBOJOJDZ3FCHP6KUGSF7VA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Donegal 0-5 Derry 0-6: An impressive two-pointer from Lachlan Murray edges Derry back on front.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVLNJFYNVZBODMWMXQABO4NJTA","subtype":"twitter","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"O3SFXZ5GEVF4PIQDHPY2DCQYWU","additional_properties":{"_id":"45P7PT2TFNCNDNWV5TYMN72TNM"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740924764973},"id":"timestamp-56623","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"27KD3HODOJFT7MYDPK47PHUDTE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Dublin 0-5 Waterford 0-3: In the Allianz Hurling League, Dublin are building an early advantage against Wateford at Walsh Park.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BM6E6UFRENABRHAACUBEBPRVOA","additional_properties":{"_id":"O2GFGTUTPRH6BKNOW43N7QWDQU"},"embed":{"config":{"dateTimeField":1740924820326},"id":"timestamp-20240","url":"/"},"subtype":"timestamp_powerup","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"2KF2SPI5ZRECTHCML7NJSQKZ3I","additional_properties":{},"content":"Donegal 0-5 Derry 0-8: Against the run of play and possession stakes, Derry pull three points clear thanks to a Shane McGuigan free after 28 minutes.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"free"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ian O'Riordan"}},"name":"Ian O'Riordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"In the National Hurling League, Munster rivals Limerick and Clare clash at the Gaelic Grounds"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T13:27:13.043Z","headlines":{"basic":"GAA live updates: Galway host Tyrone as Donegal meet Derry","native":""},"label":{"basic":{"display":true,"text":"Gaelic 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which she bought 50 per cent of using her tax-free gift/inheritance from us a few years ago. </b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"UPIPSXCFGFCZBIOH2ERAFX2URI","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>We would now like to give her a loan to buy out our 50 per cent. She is entitled to an extra €100k under the new inheritance tax threshold so she would need a loan of €200k from us to secure the title deeds of the house.</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"FWZGYD7ZRJD7LOIRLYDY3B53FU","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>We are in the happy position of having the loan amount in a savings account in the bank where it is currently earning a paltry 0.02 per cent interest. My questions are as follows:</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"337T6UEFQRENZGIBETJVO2WMYU","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>Are there tax implications on our side as the lenders?</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"4D2COLS5NRBBDIND6OAAWH3K4I","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>Does Revenue demand that our daughter pays interest (above 0.75%) on the loan and, if so, who decides the interest rate?</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"NAAN6WRUYBHHTDAEY25FTT3VHU","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>Can we decide the terms of repayment of the loan, eg. €1,700 per month over 10 years?</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"HL6EBFQF6ZELVEVE4PRUK2JQWM","additional_properties":{},"content":"<b>Mrs H.C.</b>","type":"text"},{"_id":"4IZQSHA4QRE53K2OJBRCKPAVPQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The first thing to note here, as you concede yourself, is that you are in the very fortunate financial position to consider both early use of your daughter’s inheritance tax threshold to get her foot on the housing ladder and also to be able to fund a loan for her to buy the balance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QHHQRQN5X5DR5FF7O544O5HW4I","additional_properties":{},"content":"That, obviously, is not a position that is available to many families. However, where it is, it is a perfectly sensible approach.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4OSXMBWOQRH6TCTYZFQAOCREYE","additional_properties":{},"content":"There are all sorts of societal challenges presented by the inability of a generation that is now in its thirties to be able to move out of their family homes and establish their own family units and they require significant Government action but that should not preclude those who can, doing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QJLRJ6B7CNCCDGW6PSFVNNWVGA","additional_properties":{},"content":"As a family, you have taken the decision that your daughter’s need is now, not when you die and that seems to make perfect sense.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D6ZVJ66IEZHMFPFILHW2TAD2GI","additional_properties":{},"content":"But you want to make sure you get your numbers right. You say the property is valued at €600,000 and your daughter has €100,000 of wriggle room under the category A inheritance and gift tax (capital acquisitions tax) allowance before she is liable for tax.","type":"text"},{"_id":"22JCCQXFOVH7XKEL6OGFOVBYUQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Category A threshold governing gifts and inheritances from parents to children was increased in the last budget to €400,000, from €335,000 previously.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PHCPZW3EMRCR5HKCMMJ7T4JEKE","additional_properties":{},"content":"I’m slightly concerned about this €100,000 figure on two grounds. It suggests she has already invested €300,000 in a property now worth €600,000. But if she invested €300,000 for a half share “a few years ago”, the house should be worth substantially more now.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E5RY6JGNWNE3NHRH2QTVPXARD4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Property price Inflation last year was 8.7 per cent nationally, and fractionally less in Dublin. From the end of 2022 to the end of 2024, the rate nationally was 13.1 per cent, rising to 21.9 per cent if you are going back three years and an impressive (for homeowners anyway) 39.2 per cent over the four years since the end of 2020.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WQWL5NDB3BHV7LK3XTPPTSBDZ4","additional_properties":{},"content":"So if the property is worth €600,000 now, it would have been worth around €431,000 at the end of 2020, €492,000 at end 2021, €530,000 in December 2022 and €552,000 at the end of 2023.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DYG3WPGASJBJ7PGEKAONEZ3FSA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Conversely, if it was bought at €600,000 in 2020, it would be worth over €835,000 now. That 2025 market price is likely to be around €731,500 if it was bought in 2021, €678,500 is acquired in 2022 and €652,000 if it was a 2023 purchase.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PMJAJEXZBGEBH6IZJMK3IXM6Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"That’s a lot of numbers but the bottom line is that it makes no sense if she put €300,000 into the property when it was bought that it would be worth €600,000 today. And today’s valuation is what you will need when you are figuring out what she needs to borrow from you to buy out your share and for your own tax liability.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5J56HCDNIFGWRHVYMPSHUMUYOI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Of course, it could be that she had already used up some of her category A allowance even before this house purchase – or that she did not use all of it when the property was acquired.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6RHDFW4DNRG6NMKPTY2ZTKOEMQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"For reference, the category A allowance was €335,000 for the five years up to October last year. Before that it was €320,000 from October 2018 to October 2019 and €310,000 for the two years before that. Prior to October 2016, it stood at €280,000. The point being that it was never a flat €300,000.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GHPUOF6JYJBTVNQMBICQMEZFWM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Getting the figures wrong on her allowance could land her with a tax bill so make sure you have that correct before working on the “borrowing” bit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6Y7IGL6DMVHP5O2RUTQWGF35YE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Family loan","type":"header"},{"_id":"MBX5OX6ISBBVTETBFM6QRKM72Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Getting to the nub of your query, you have money earning more or less zilch on deposit. You have, as you say, €200,000 available to lend her which is currently earning an interest rate of just 0.02 per cent. That means you are getting just €40 in interest each year for your €200,000 investment, which is derisory.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WO2XJ3KAMNGNZH2QGZAIHV242Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s an even worse €26.80 once you deduct DIRT at 33 per cent.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2X4ILZXJWBG33CMXESPG5I4T2Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"So it make perfect sense to get better use of this money – if only by giving a helping hand to a family member rather than boosting your bank’s net interest income. After all, the money it is paying you 0.02 per cent on, it will lend out to other customers at a rate of at least 3 per cent – or 150 times what the bank is paying you.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3F3XCXXBONEENG5ZLW7DB2QBX4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Are there tax implications for you are lenders? Only insofar as any interest you get from your daughter will be treated as income on your side and that is something to consider as you agree an interest rate. You should not be out of pocket on this deal.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MCST43CLPBD5NMSIJEVMBLEWCI","additional_properties":{},"content":"But there are separate tax liabilities on you as sellers. This is not your principal private residence – your family home – so Revenue considers it an investment property, whether it was rented out or not. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"YSVD6UV5QZB6FNX4TIBQXGDQDU","additional_properties":{},"content":"You will be liable for capital gains tax on the difference between the value of the 50 per cent share at the time it was bought and the value of that half share now. The fact that you are “selling” to your daughter makes no difference.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STQ6I3IZS5CFZFHVST7TIQBMDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"There can also be tax issues n your daughter’s side. The key here is that, for it to be considered a loan, Revenue will want to make sure she is not paying interest at a rate “below the market”. If she is, Revenue will consider that the difference between what she is paying and the “market rate” is a gift from you to her. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"PO4CIPVJQBHHTA3CNGYFTAIBAQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"And while you are allowed gift her €3,000 a year under the small gift exemption – and your husband can do the same, anything above €6,000 will be deducted from her lifetime allowance. And if that is used up as you plan here, she will be liable to capital acquisitions tax on it at 33 per cent.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JNAKYG3IF5HGZN7MYPF64AKVNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The key here is “market rate”. The best fixed rates on the market from Irish banks currently are between 3 and 4 per cent – which would be between €6,000 and €8,000 a year in interest.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SN3O5YUCP5HI3CU6QAN77HBX24","additional_properties":{},"content":"However, for the purpose of loans between closely connected people, like family, Revenue has a long-standing practice of accepting the highest rate of return the person making the loan could obtain on investing the funds on deposit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HCYTAZNMAZCGPFAUPEZKFL5MCQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"There was a move a few years back to peg the “acceptable” rate to the lowest borrowing rate – which would have been much higher – but it was dropped from the Finance Bill after heavy lobbying by the financial advisory sector.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LTB5JQMAXVBHZG27KI72C2SGSU","additional_properties":{},"content":"But that “highest rate of return on deposit” does not mean you can charge just this 0.02 per cent rate you are currently earning. I’m not sure where your money is but AIB is currently offering 0.25 per cent on its demand deposit while Bank of Ireland is offering 0.1 per cent – either of which is substantially better (in relative terms) that what you are getting now. Even PTSB’s market lagging rate of 0.1 per cent is five times better than you are getting.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZZATRDDTLJFLVIF6QI5XV5TY2Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"In this case, I suspect Revenue would expect the logical saver to be moving their cash to AIB’s market-leading demand deposit account – and therefore the acceptable interest charge for your daughter would be a minimum of 0.25 per cent, regardless of where you actually hold this money.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LMAW5W27XJHJVNWFVTLSVDR5NM","additional_properties":{},"content":"That means a minimum interest bill of €5,000 in year one for your daughter which – if you chose – could be forgiven under the small gift exemption.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2AVNEJOG75ACNP6O7V52SPFBFY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Can you decide the terms of the loan repayment between you? You can but if that involves no payment of interest in any year, Revenue will likely consider the interest due to be a gift so be careful with that.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MCGM7HETMBBFJP6H7LERALTZVE","additional_properties":{},"content":"One final thing. Once she crosses 80 per cent of the relevant inheritance tax category’s tax free limit, your daughter is obliged to file a capital acquisitions tax return even though no tax is owing at that point. With a €400,000 limit, that threshold is passed at €320,000.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GYGJY4FFIZECZOLUGM5BKYU2J4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739547837252},"content":"<i>Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street Dublin 2, or by email to </i><a href=\"mailto:dominic.coyle@irishtimes.com\"><i>dominic.coyle@irishtimes.com</i></a><i> with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Dominic Coyle"}},"name":"Dominic Coyle"}]},"description":{"basic":"Loans within families can offer far better value to the borrower than having to go to the banks but make sure you follow the rules"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T13:12:27.071Z","headlines":{"basic":"Are there tax issues if we lend to our daughter to buy us out of shared home?","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"BNFOAJSZVNCMBNPA7AMRFXUQ2M","auth":{"1":"01ae0b6fbd5d3d50c4e1e12702515492982bc344d11af07bcbb76d17091b5605"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/BNFOAJSZVNCMBNPA7AMRFXUQ2M.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"B2EMMGAC3FHS3L5OZA7Z7JYPRE","type":"image"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Your Money"},{"name":"Business"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/your-money/2025/03/02/are-there-tax-issues-if-we-lend-to-our-daughter-to-buy-us-out-of-shared-home/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/your-money","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Your Money"}}}},{"_id":"A4632V3BHVBZ5E5X4FM2EL7ASA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":174,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/b43f42cf-4906-4e9a-b634-1bfa9a2b36f8/versions/1740921105/media/605ed7da9fc1d0c100a181d27e269d32_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/ireland/dublin/2025/03/02/were-in-dire-straits-st-michans-appeals-for-public-support-as-it-plans-crypt-reopening-after-arson/","content_elements":[{"_id":"KXRVZSO6PFHXLDOVUAE7TUMX6Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/church-of-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/church-of-ireland/\">St Michan’s Church</a> in Dublin has appealed for public support ahead of its crypt’s reopening after losing tens of thousands in income following an arson attack that left the parish in “dire straits”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FXIJMNMDTRDLLHL5HJZNVQBIIM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Last month, Cristian Topiter (39) pleaded guilty to arson at the crypt of the church which was built in 1192, burning some mummified remains “beyond recognition”. He was sentenced to six years in prison.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XXT36ENTC5HONDR2WL7I5XUX6I","additional_properties":{},"content":"The crypt has been closed to the public since the fire, with the church now hoping to reopen before St Patrick’s Day, though this depends on the speed of Dublin City Council’s granting of an exhumation order.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PWYEUIGV6VAB3GLHEIKS4D22EA","additional_properties":{},"content":"The church hopes to exhume “desecrated” mummified remains and move them to a separate crypt which is sealed and not open to the public.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YJKCLEKJNJEAZAORHVVQS6XKOI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Those subject to an exhumation order include the remains of a crusader which has been lying within the crypt for some 800 years prior, alongside the 350- to 400-year-old remains of a man believed to have been buried alive. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"X4MOAS5XAJEU5DXB4UGSAGCOQQ","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"X4K43BNXOFEX5CN3Z4XXGVPYAA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Both remains formed part of the church’s “main attraction”, according to David Pierpoint, Archdeacon of Dublin and Vicar of St Michan’s Church, who said they are now “beyond redemption” and unsuitable for public viewing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2FUGD6X6WVBATNLFK7RD4W42AE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Describing the crypt as a “grotesque scene” following the arson attack, Archdeacon Pierpoint said the parish has been in “dire straits”, both financially and emotionally, having been closed for almost nine months.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KEPBER7RXVFJNOJGRTYKNNGOKU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“We’re losing out considerably,” he said, adding that the church does not seek to make a profit but to “break even”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2GP4RZDSSNGMHJUN372MT65PQM","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Unfortunately, as I said, for the past year, that hasn’t happened,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LE7725S4ZBCZZKQFO6OVF2LZZY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Although it has received some contributions since the fire, the church has “no income” due to the crypt’s closure which is used to maintain the church building and its vaults.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5UGN37Q7ENCOFAMMOLYDRMIKQY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Over the year, we will have lost between €75,000 and €100,000,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RASSFH4NVJFOXJMQFFQE3IUPKY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“The problem is that apart from losing out financially and emotionally on the damage that was done inside the crypt, ESB prices have risen, gas prices have risen and we haven’t increased our entrance fee,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MKXBE6QUPBDVDFXUIC6PGNQGPI","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"4YKWUPXNF5HE7GQHX6CZ3URVUY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Archdeacon hopes the crypt will be reopened soon to the public, before Easter of not by St Patrick’s Day, noting that some mummified remains were not damaged in the fire, including those of John and Henry Sheares, who were executed for their role in the 1798 rebellion.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SZNDLPOSFRG3HNXYH3YL7RH36U","additional_properties":{},"content":"“What the parish would need to see happen is that, even when these bodies are removed, that people don’t just dismiss the church and say: ‘Well there’s nothing to see there.’","type":"text"},{"_id":"HTQOJXGZO5CKXPXS3AZX7V2RHQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“There’s plenty to see in the church and in the crypts and plenty of things to do,” he said, adding: “We would like people to actually come and visit.”","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Jack White"}},"name":"Jack White"},{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Enda O'Dowd"}},"name":"Enda O'Dowd"}]},"description":{"basic":"Mummified remains burnt in medieval crypt left church facing up to €100,000 loss"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T13:10:00.978Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘We’re in dire straits’: St Michan’s appeals for public support as it plans crypt reopening after arson","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HKHYRX7RSBC65CL7WEMPNXCSWI","auth":{"1":"ff11f70e172982bce7b1d7911ae5315c859a55e4dbdcb17e9c5ac238cdb7ab1d"},"focal_point":{"x":1876,"y":843},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HKHYRX7RSBC65CL7WEMPNXCSWI.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"2612bc4f-6a81-4033-9e59-08d6968ff421","embed_html":"<div class=\"powa\" 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has enough bedrooms to solve the housing crisis “three times over,” according to Cairn Homes boss Michael Stanley. At the launch of the home builder’s latest annual results, he conducted a back-of-the-envelope calculation. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"L7WHWT76QJDFPKECIEFTYLDUOU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Assuming there are 2.1 million housing units in the State (mainly three and four-bed homes) that means there are roughly 6.7 million bedrooms for a population of 5.3 million, he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DJ5CWWSFTFGGTOELUMWFXRI55U","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455269},"content":"Further enhancing the room-to-person ratio is the fact that roughly a million of us are couples, sharing a bedroom, Stanley said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHN64XLWOJG7PAPMX52EJ432FQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455270},"content":"Hence the conclusion “we have enough bedrooms to solve our housing crisis three times over”. He claims the country is full of half-empty three and four-bed homes. “What does that tell us about our housing stock? It’s underutilised,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FDCTSITF4FEKXCU4KHHXBZDTTU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740738474012},"content":"This was of course Stanley’s preamble to his central contention: we need smaller housing units, in other words “more apartments”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GMUENHQXQNGCXAEQOI3BLDA5GA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455272},"content":"But Ireland, he claims, has an irrational fear of apartments. Stanley, who cofounded Cairn and was appointed chief executive prior to the company’s initial public listing in 2015,<b> </b>said he cringes when he hears the narrative about Irish people not wanting to live in apartments. “I hear it on radio shows, in newspaper articles . . . it’s the greatest piece of misinformation that’s put out there.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DFEPA2CYBJEYPBJG63JIYEDN6Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"The latest housing crisis ‘solutions’: Which could work and which are hare-brained?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"W5FDSKZO3FEOJJV7F2JCUBCRNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740738474014},"content":"If it’s correct why did 2,300 people apply for 46 apartments at Google’s recently redeveloped Bolands Mills quarter in Dublin 4, he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W6QKSVNTSVDLNLHX5FCLCMB3WI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455274},"content":"The units, which went on the market last week, are being leased by housing agency Clúid at “discounted” rents of €1,710 a month for the two-bed units; €1,850 for the three-bed units; and €2,100 for the sole four-bed unit. According to property website Daft, these rents are 27 and 36 per cent below the current market averages for Dublin 4.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MYCDZB6CY5DCBLADE7N6NO4TN4","embed":{"config":{},"id":"acast_podcast-53510","url":"/"},"subtype":"acast_podcast","type":"custom_embed"},{"_id":"KWINS5YCCNGWTBN2Y4CJMANNMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740738474015},"content":"Stanley likes these sorts of polemics. The country’s appetite (or not) for apartments is his current bugbear. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that apartments have become the company’s main product. Apartments comprised 60 per cent of Cairn’s sales last year. The company’s bestselling product and highest-growth area were duplexes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UZB2MP2CE5DBXJYPOK5PGI6RIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455276},"content":"Apartments will also form the bulk of Cairn’s high-profile redevelopment of the former RTÉ lands at Donnybrook in Dublin 4. Last year An Bord Pleanála granted a 10-year planning permission to Cairn Homes Montrose Limited for a €345 million, 608-unit apartment scheme on the site.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MTTWOOIMJFEXTIYYYBK6LEQCUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455277},"content":"For many, apartments (or the lack of them) are at the crux of our housing problem. We missed out on the great big urban apartment builds that cities like Amsterdam, Berlin and Vienna are famous for. We built out instead of up. Dublin is a monument to low-rise urban sprawl with aggravating implications for transport and other infrastructure.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STMIYVGTCBEPVE6MQC2GLQEDTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455278},"content":"According to Eurostat, Ireland had the highest rate of people living in houses (89.7 per cent) versus those living in apartments (10.2 per cent) in the EU in 2022. The EU average was 51.9 per cent versus 47.5 per cent. Dublin City Council, however, maintains that about 35 per cent of the units in its area – as of 2016 – were apartments and that this was comparable with Amsterdam and Copenhagen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RFAW7JU4LRFYJLPXBHWSOCRIIA","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Debate: Could granny flats help tackle the housing crisis?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LDAJF3SAABBYFAIMJUYB7MBAIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455279},"content":"The Eurostat figures are nonetheless stark and reflect a historical aversion to apartments that we haven’t quite come about. It stems, in part at least, from the State’s conservative Catholic heritage which equated high-density housing with low moral values and saw in the big European apartment networks a potential for social unrest.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6Z2VX6D7NRBGLI5ECYLDUW2CBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455280},"content":"Apartments were the main reason why our home completions hit a post-crash high of 33,000 in 2023 (they were the main driver, accounting for over a third of the total). They were also the primary reason why completions dropped off last year and why Taoiseach Micheál Martin is now considering loosening the State’s system of rent controls to entice institutional investors, the main financiers of apartment schemes, back into the country.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BYFWAO3RKRC2PIHASD3DRNUHNA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455281},"content":"More than any other housing unit, apartments also illustrate the extraordinarily high cost of construction here. On a square metre basis, Dublin was found to be the second most expensive city in Europe to build apartments, eclipsed only by Zurich in Switzerland, according to a recent report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI).","type":"text"},{"_id":"MKLI3BBMVBA4DD6HVEAAOZNC4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455282},"content":"In a separate report from 2021, the SCSI estimated the cost of delivering a two-bed apartment in Dublin at €359,000 for a low-rise unit in the suburbs rising to €619,000 for a high-rise unit in the city centre. Costs have gone up since then.","type":"text"},{"_id":"THL26NI6MREDJLE3LMI7MAKF4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455283},"content":"The lack of smaller housing units makes it difficult, if not impossible, for people to downsize hence we have a very low-level of churn in the second-hand property market and high room-to-person ratio in the midst of an acute housing shortage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Z6FRXI7VMJF3PHNPNLQLZOWUEE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455284},"content":"Apartment schemes, more than other, also seem to get sandbagged in the State’s troublesome planning system. Planning applications for apartments are three times more likely to fail than planning applications for houses. “I’d suggest that the people already lucky enough to own a home in our country are quite happy to object to apartments,” Stanley said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4XQ77XIF4FCE5FQQT66NVQNGAM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740834455285},"content":"He insists he’s not saying the sole answer to our housing woes is to build more apartments just that it’s a significant piece of the pie.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Eoin Burke-Kennedy"}},"name":"Eoin Burke-Kennedy"}]},"description":{"basic":"The country is full of half-empty three and four-bed detached homes, chief executive of Cairn Homes Michael Stanley says"},"display_date":"2025-03-02T13:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Is the answer to Ireland’s housing crisis more apartments?","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"A4JNPWBIRNDUZBRRXWJUHAKE3Q","auth":{"1":"fcb9114515b9e0a03af56ef5fdc50a280014ae65d6158469dff2a413837838e6"},"focal_point":{"x":682,"y":384},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/A4JNPWBIRNDUZBRRXWJUHAKE3Q.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"URTQHZ6L6JAMJCPFL4IIQPS2Z4","type":"image"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Economy"},{"name":"Business"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/business/economy/2025/03/02/is-the-answer-to-irelands-housing-crisis-more-apartments/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/business/economy","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Economy"}}}},{"_id":"5ZH6MXLQMBGRVCVA4YYCAJRRR4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":257,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/1ccdbb99-cbdb-4354-8db5-daab3103189a/versions/1740919879/media/6057dd6205b125681313173896c8c610_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/world/europe/2025/03/02/uk-and-france-will-work-with-ukraine-to-present-a-peace-plan-to-washington-says-starmer/","content_elements":[{"_id":"QIACAUKLZVB2HBHQJNDVDOPLUE","additional_properties":{},"content":"British prime minister <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/keir-starmer/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/keir-starmer/\">Keir Starmer</a> said on Sunday that the UK and France will work with Kyiv to present a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/ukraine-war/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/ukraine-war/\">peace plan</a> to Washington. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"B4BCEU7ADFBV7I5XPM62RR2V2E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mr Starmer said that after discussions with Ukrainian president <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/volodymyr-zelenskiy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/volodymyr-zelenskiy/\">Volodymyr Zelenskiy</a> and French president Emmanuel Macron that there has been an agreement made that the UK, along with France, and “possibly one or two others” will work with Kyiv to stop the war. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"REGRXYSMI5DGNBCAOSTHSIVJI4","additional_properties":{},"content":"He said this agreed peace plan will be presented to the United States. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FJLZT6FQJNBDRG2UFLYKSLEDRY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I think we’ve got a step in the right direction”, Mr Starmer told Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. “We have to find a way that we can all work together. Because, in the end, we’ve had three years of bloody conflict. Now we need to get to that lasting peace,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6GWGKRV23ZEYJC7RYMDKXSTCSY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mr Zelenskiy, Mr Starmer and other western leaders are meeting in London today.","type":"text"},{"_id":"USW72JQB5NGWZOJUUO625H5X6I","additional_properties":{},"content":"The two are being joined by Mr Macron, the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and leaders from Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania. Turkey’s foreign minister is also attending.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A3GZUC46PVDU3GY7HW346T3DIY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Ahead of Sunday’s gathering, UK chancellor Rachel Reeves signed a loan agreement worth £2.26 billion (€2.74bn) with her Ukrainian counterpart, to pay for further military support and the rebuilding of Ukraine in future.","type":"text"},{"_id":"G4555C35HJCR3B3YX4X6EC2LU4","additional_properties":{},"content":"The UK hopes to recoup the costs from frozen Russian assets locked in bank accounts across Europe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HEA5E4OLLBCQJKO2A462EVOMKM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mr Starmer started Sunday by holding talks with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni after welcoming Mr Zelenskiy on Saturday with a clear message of support for the Ukrainian leader.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OMEHJSBUE5FG7DQLAWQEVEBI6Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"He told Ms Meloni that they approach the issue of the conflict in Ukraine with a “very similar mindset”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PJ5KF3GT3FD5NOECYAXKA33GCY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Speaking in Downing Street, Ms Meloni said that in a “precious moment” it is “very important to talk to each other, to co-ordinate”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ERMNFCDKQREVLA55SRBWOQ7JQM","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I think it is very, very important that we avoid the risk that the West divides. I think on this the UK and Italy can play an important role in bridge-building,” she said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZRQSIBNY2RGILAV56WFFOTHSFA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Sunday’s meeting in London comes two days after the Ukrainian leader and US president <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\">Donald Trump</a> clashed in Washington.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EH4IWYPABNFSRJRPKFNI7JG5IM","additional_properties":{},"content":"After a heated row with Mr Trump, who threatened to stop support for Ukraine after accusing Mr Zelenskiy of being ungrateful for US aid, the Ukrainian leader flew to London on Saturday to be greeted on Downing Street with a long, warm hug from Mr Starmer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HOQ4BUXTGVANXDTYNMBJ4D6ZFI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mr Zelenskiy will receive a pledge of support from Mr Starmer and other European leaders, who face the stark question of whether they can take over the lead in providing Kyiv with weapons and finance before any peace talks begin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FVHPZJXY6BEDDCMCYPY2Y3T62M","additional_properties":{},"content":"Lacking the weaponry and depth of ammunition stocks of the United States, European leaders have so far offered expressions of support after the Mr Zelenskiy row, with Germany calling for the release of €3 billion for Ukraine.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZW3DK3POUZFKZABHP54LS2W5LM","additional_properties":{},"content":"On Sunday, Mr Starmer will hope they will offer more concrete means to support Ukraine and try to revive a possible peace deal with Russia by convincing Mr Trump that Europe can step up to defend itself. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EI77EZLY3FGP7JY2HYZBXLKETE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Some leaders might also encourage Mr Zelenskiy to go back into talks with the US leader.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BX2E5RNXPBBEFDIQSMJXJDIVGU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Three years on from Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, we are at a turning point,” Mr Starmer said in a statement, offering his “unwavering support for Ukraine” by doubling down on providing capacity, training and aid to Kyiv.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTQRKWQDN4UPFJKPCHURY7Q3NU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"EVQRDL6KZVG3HDYNHJMFQ2RVQI","additional_properties":{},"content":"","type":"text"},{"_id":"R3XEF45VLJCOLAZZF7A5NQ2EBI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“In partnership with our allies, we must intensify our preparations for the European element of security guarantees alongside continued discussions with the United States.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5OJS4S6TKJD6DHHAM64NZAAVDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mr Zelenskiy’s row with Mr Trump on Friday ended a week when Europe had appeared to be in a better position in its drive to encourage Mr Trump to continue to offer support to Ukraine after cordial visits to Washington by Mr Macron and Mr Starmer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PHQPCDIDVDYLBWFQKK2RQQRBY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Both had pressed the US leader to offer what is known as “a backstop” to a potential European peacekeeping force in the event of a deal between Kyiv and Moscow. While they had failed to secure a promise from Mr Trump, he had not totally rejected the idea.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DEWSRSF3EVCMLN4LM6LOPLSHJA","additional_properties":{},"content":"But the rest of Europe is a long way from falling in behind the French and British leaders' plans to safeguard a peace deal. – 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