THERE is broad agreement that the Dáil must provide a legislative framework for a woman’s right to an abortion when her life depends on it, yet division persists about the inclusion of suicide as a risk to life.

SAVITA Halappanavar was just 11-years-old when the X case judgment was handed down. Today, she’s a martyr to the political cowardice that, for two decades, refused to implement that ruling.

A RECENT opinion poll revealed 96% of Irish people would have voted for Barack Obama in the US election so why, if we hate Republicans so much, is the State’s attitude to abortion an identikit copy of that party’s pariah fringe?

BANKERS have spent a good portion of the last couple of years trying to convince a jaded populace that they have seen the error of their avaricious ways, but their recent conduct belies any feeble attempts at faux humility.

THE Government took a brief break from taking an axe to public services last week in order to bulldoze through its labyrinthine €112m Oireachtas budget without any potentially embarrassing debate.

THE dysfunctional relationship the Irish State enjoys with Germany has latterly developed all of the hallmarks of a chronic case of battered wife syndrome — and in case there’s any doubt, the Irish are the ones wearing the skirts.

UNWITTINGLY pre-empting the findings of a comprehensive six-year study into drug enforcement measures, published this week, the late comedian Bill Hicks said: “I know this is not a very popular idea.

THE myth that crippling austerity measures have been anything other than disastrous for this country was finally nailed by this newspaper yesterday, when it revealed that the IMF hugely underestimated the devastating impact of a relentless programme of tax increases and spending cuts.

WHEN the Labour party crashes and burns in the next general election political commentators will be able to trace the definitive start of its implosion in government to its shameless shafting of Roísín Shortall.

WHAT does it say about our political system when the minister who publicly rails against cronyism, and raises concerns about the failure of government to deliver its pre-election promises, is the one being treated like a pariah by her colleagues?