HOLLYWOOD actor Jeremy Irons is to unveil a memorial today in Waterville, Co Kerry, to those who took their own lives. Located in the town’s community gardens, its purpose is to raise awareness of the extent of suicide in Ireland and in rural areas, in particular. 

THE Health and Safety Authority and gardaí are investigating a farming accident in which a 14-year-old boy died in Carlow on Wednesday morning.

THE Government is to provide new and upgraded equipment for the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps, including new aircraft and ships.

FORMER Justice Minister Michael McDowell may have taken many ordinary Irish citizens by surprise by revealing that the total abolition of the IRA was never part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

KATHLEEN LYNCH, the minister with responsibility for mental health, is confident she can secure extra funding in next October’s budget for services under her control.

THE anger and sense of betrayal building around the probability that the IRA still exists in one form or another is entirely justifiable. That anger is exacerbated by the fact that one of the central players in the current debate has little credibility when it comes to being trustworthy in these matters.

OUR capacity to sustain human life — our bodies — has improved tremendously but so too has the impact of an escalating rate of dementia in older people. One trend seems to act as a counterbalance to the other.

OUR perception of some diseases is not always accurate. Sometimes, maybe because of a particularly effective education campaign, we might imagine that one particular disease represents a particularly potent threat and deserves a prominent place in the hierachy of illnesses we face.

THERE is a significant swathe of people who will never vote for Sinn Féin no matter what the party does, says, proposes or promises.

IT is unfortunate that the bonus culture has become so very embedded in our semi-state companies. EirGrid, the state-owned electricity network, is the latest organisation to find itself the subject of unwelcome attention on the issue, just as Irish Water was so very soon after it was established.