There is a vacuum in the public perception of the issues surrounding water charges. People are confused because they have not been getting straight talk from the Government, and the various opposition parties have been exploiting the resulting confusion. That was inevitably going to happen in the run-up to elections.

With Ireland beset by economic hardship and the ethos of society undergoing enormous change, few topics are more calculated to concentrate the popular mind than the vexed issues of pay and religion.

If ever there was a reminder that Premier League football is a cut-throat, multibillion-dollar business, it was painfully obvious yesterday when the axe finally fell on David Moyes after less than a year as manager of Manchester United.

We in Ireland are rarely found wanting in acknowledging those moments in history that have shaped our past. Only this week we have been commemorating the 98th anniversary of the Easter Rising and the 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf.

The Government’s proposal to change the model for grading the Leaving Certificate is to be welcomed.

It is a revealing and shameful comment on austerity-mad Ireland that low earners have to wait more than a year to see a solicitor because the number of people seeking free legal aid has doubled during the Coalition’s harsh economic programme.

Billed by its architect, Environment Minister Phil Hogan, as the most radical change in over a century, the looming reform of local government is the nub of heated debate on whether or not it will exclude communities from decision making.

This weekend thousands of re-enactors, that wonderful blend of the theatrical, the fantastic, the historical, the childish and the borderline weird, will imagine themselves heroic defenders of the fatherland as they mark the 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf.

Like so many things in life the symbolism of something can far outweigh the impact it actually has on our lives.

Deep-seated fears in the public mind, verging almost on suspicion, that bankers would ‘get away with it’ after being directly involved in the kind of financial crisis which brought this country to its knees, have finally been dispelled.