For all the years I have lived in Dublin, I never knew that the Iveagh Gardens existed until last week. What brought me there was to hear Paloma Faith in concert and what a night!

Iveagh Gardens is like a hidden pearl nestled at the back of the Concert Hall and stretching across to Harcourt Street. It is a designer setting for a concert. The performance opened with Candi Staton who won her first Grammy in 1971!. Cut out of the same mould as Tina Turner, she belted out old Elvis Presley classics as well as her own successes. She was some supporting act to have, and Paloma Faith had the good grace to recognise it. Read the full story

I am speaking next week in the MacGill summer school on:

“Building a Republic that Reflects the Ideals and Ambitions of its Founders”

It is a challenging topic that questions the foundations on which our politics should be based. It also raises historic questions:

• Did the founders share common ideals beyond the pursuit of Independence?
• Did the declaration of a Republic change the way we approached things?
• Are there fault lines in the republic, that has been built, which created the disaster we are now experiencing?
• Do we have a common set of ideals and ambition as we seek to confront this crisis?
• Can we seek to confront it without such a common purpose?

If you have ideas on the subject, I would be delighted to receive them. My email is richard.bruton@oir.ie

I am not sure who said ‘Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.’ For me a lot of positive things have come out of the experience of the past two weeks in Fine Gael. First was the well spring of goodwill and support that I received from all over the country. I would like to particularly thank Councillor Jim Allen, who set up a Facebook site in support and the 675 people who joined it. With so many people despairing that politics can change anything, this shows that there are still many people who believe politics can shape up and show that it is capable of a response that matches the scale of the crisis affecting so many lives. Read the full story