THE row over the extension of Cork city’s boundary, and how that evolution might have an impact on Cork County Council’s income, has not yet assumed what might be called Stormont-grade intransigence, but today’s poll, showing that a majority of Cork’s Oireachtas representatives oppose the Mackinnon proposals, suggests that it may.

THERE is hardly an area of public life that vindicates Albert Einstein’s admonishment that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting

WHEN junior education minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor challenged government pay policy, she showed that cabinet, just like any group, can hold different views.

HURRICANE Harvey was a sobering experience for some Americans but they can take some comfort in the fact that they are not as vulnerable to weather chaos as citizens of far poorer countries.

IRRESPECTIVE of which side of the fence you find yourself on, it is hard to imagine that those who made such effort and took such great personal risks to establish a democratic government in Stormont are not deeply frustrated at the contrived deadlock that may see direct rule from London reimposed in the North. 

THOUGH it’s almost 15 months since Britain voted 48/52 to leave the European Union, the stridency and deliberate dishonesty of the campaign seems as fresh as ever. How could it be otherwise?

THE one thing the leaders of the country’s Olympic movement do not deserve this week is any congratulations for accepting in full Judge Carroll Moran’s findings on the Rio ticket-touting scandal, a cocktail of dodgy dealings — enabled by autocratic control and shoddy accountancy practices and worthy of the Sepp Blatter prize for transparency and competence.

THIS week’s report by the Central Statistics Office proves that Ireland is a country increasingly on the move.

ONLY a fool or an adamant optimist would deny that the internet and associated technology brings us as many risks as rewards: It enables terrorists to communicate and recruit, paedophiles to lure victims, and hostile governments and so-called non-state groups — or just people with nothing better to do — to mess with democratic processes and attack industries in other countries. 

DO the math: 25,000 in nursing care, 65,000 homes vacant for five years or more and 5,000 homeless families. There must be some algorithm that can bring all those figures together to make social and economic sense.