Yesterday’s announcement that health insurance provider Aviva is to increase its fees by an average of 5.2% next month makes it even more difficult to believe that our health service is not careering towards some kind of catastrophe.

The sense of public outrage at the latest top-up disclosures in relation to the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) is matched only by the public incredulity that such a thing could be allowed to happen.

The EU decision to introduce a partial ban on three insecticides that have been having a devastating impact on the bee population should be welcomed, but it will be important to keep an eye on further developments.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin had not only every right but also the responsibility to raise the issue about Sinn Féin allegedly dealing with cases of sexual abuse internally, instead of reporting such allegations to the proper civil authorities.

The Law Reform Commission is a statutory body established to ensure that law is kept up to date by suggesting necessary reforms to keep pace with changing circumstances in society.

An Bord Pleanála’s decision to turn down a memorial to victims of institutional abuse, planned for the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square in Dublin, represents a slap in the face for those who were treated outrageously by nuns and brothers of religious orders under the unseeing eyes of state agencies.

The National Asset Management Agency has badly come out of the war of words with Focus Ireland which accuses it of failing to deliver on its promise of making 2,000 housing units available for homeless people.

There is something chilling about the response by Brendan Ogle, head of the ESB Group of Unions, to proposals that customers switch suppliers if a threatened strike goes ahead next month and leads to power cuts.

John Buckley, the Bishop of Cork & Ross, is the quiet man of the Irish Catholic Church hierarchy.

Euphoria in Tehran, fury in Jerusalem, and a mixed reaction in Washington has greeted the accord reached with Iran on curbing its nuclear programme.