The hedgehog defence — roll up into a ball and do nothing — is a standard ploy in Irish life. Any institutions robust enough to endure an immediate scandal knows that once the eye of the storm passes normal service can pretty much resume.

History, or at least one version of it, suggests that tomorrow week— October 31— we should remember that date as the 500th anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

HERE’S the dilemma faced by finance ministers in Asia and Africa: They want to see their economies developing swiftly so that more people can be lifted by employment out of poverty, leading to the higher tax revenues that will pay for the improved public services that result in better health and living standards.

CONGRATULATIONS to the organisers of this year’s Guinness Cork Jazz Festival; they have planned it for a weekend — October 27-30 — when the 10-day weather forecasts promise mere clouds and only a moderate risk of rain... the weather, then, as normal in our part of the world.

WITH the latest communications advances comes a problem along with the gains. 

If Ireland is to secure as much as it can during negotiations on Brexit it is essential that the Taoiseach and our European commissioner Phil Hogan are singing from the same hymn sheet.

The all-party Oireachtas committee examining Ireland’s abortion law took many people by surprise when it voted overwhelmingly against retaining the Eighth Amendment

For many years the Rape Crisis Network Ireland has provided sterling service to survivors of sexual violence, offering support, counselling and advice to thousands.

Sometimes it pays to take chances, experiment and venture outside traditional comfort zones. 

There is only one way to deal with wayward banks — hit them where it hurts.