I spotted former taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the launch of the book on the late Brian Lenihan in Dublin during the week.

THERE are times when it feels we have a greater chance of sending a minister for health into space than successfully completing a new national children’s hospital.

THERE is much that we tip toe around when discussing the issue of rape; much that’s left unsaid because it risks offending those who have already been so gravely offended by a rapist.

No woman has ever told me she had an abortion. I find that quite amazing.

The new optimism bouncing around is great, but also scary. There’s the fear that it will disappear again, and the contradictory concern that it will take off like a rocket. We all know how that story ends.

THE best way for us to sort the issue of abortion in Ireland is to take politicians out of the decision making process.

There was something surreal about being immersed in a TV discussion on the botched nature of our abortion law, while on another channel the nation indulged in it’s annual "lovely girl" fest, celebrating all that is wonderful, innocent and global-peace loving about young Irish women.

The prediction at that time was that over the following nine years we would need 600,000 new homes to keep pace with vociferous demand. This year it looks as if there will be just 2,000 built in the Dublin area.

Leo Varadkar has done the impossible — he has brought hope that our battered and broken health system can be fixed writes Alison O’Connor

I’VE surprised myself by feeling a little sorry for former Fianna Fáil junior minister Ivor Callely this week.