EVEN in this, The Land Of No Consequences, yesterday’s sentencing of pig farmer Donal Connaughton in Longford District Court stands out as a spectacular affront.

LAST week’s terrible events in France have inevitably led to a review of security measures and calls to extend the powers available to police and military to confront violent extremists.

OVER the last week or 10 days, our past — the history we cannot escape — has spoken loudly and occasionally with lethal force.

YESTERDAY’S confirmation that primary pupils’ reading and maths skills have improved significantly for the first time in 30 years is to be unambiguously welcomed.

THE Nevin Economic Research Institute, which works for a “better, fairer society” and is supported by unions affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, has published research which suggests that our expectations around State services and our “low” taxes are out of kilter.

Yesterday’s marches, ceremonies of remembrance and defiance, were among the greatest expressions of solidarity and determination seen in Europe since VE Day — May 8, 1945 — when the final destruction of an evil as malignant as that expressed in France and Nigeria last week was celebrated.

One of the turning tides that has lifted nearly all boats is the fall in fuel prices.

The long-awaited terms of the commission of inquiry into the mother and baby homes, one which will span almost a century, were announced to more or less widespread acclaim last week.

The welcome announcement of the terms of reference for the long-awaited Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes inevitably provokes a sense of foreboding but one tempered by a considerable degree of relief.

The terrible events unfolding in France show how very dangerous extremism can be — even for extremists.