It was not so long ago that the notion of Irish cuisine was regarded as a bit of a joke and prompted visions of hairy bacon and watery cabbage.

It is, in a way, an absurdity that two neighbouring island nations should have to engage in tortuous planning and negotiations and no small amount of soul searching simply to organise a state visit.

Don’t judge Ireland’s ability to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup on the current performance of the national team. Take it from Kiwi World Cup winner Sean Fitzpatrick who believes we have the wherewithal to do it.

IT IS sad to record that, as Ireland yesterday marked ‘World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims’, two more fatalities were added to the growing list of people killed on the roads.

THE relentless spread of drugs throughout Ireland, and their ready availability from one end of the country to the other, are worrying developments.

The announcement in London that a Presentation Brothers cleric is to receive an MBE from Queen Elizabeth is a timely reminder of the debt owed by generations of Irish citizens to the Catholic congregation founded in 1802 by Blessed Edmund Rice, who also founded the Christian Brothers.

In a week that saw the end of our international bailout and a return to the international markets, there was more good news yesterday with the announcement of a new energy research centre for Cork.

The Government announced yesterday that one month from today this country will make a clear break on the three-year EU-IMF bailout programme, without seeking the safety net of external precautionary funding. Thus Ireland will become the first country in the eurozone to exit a bailout.

The hacking of the customer database of the Clare-based business Loyaltybuild poses serious questions that seem to be growing hourly. The hacking occurred during October, but there has been a distinct delay in relaying the gravity of the situation to the public.

If the Government hoped to avert controversy over the relentless march of giant electricity pylons across the country, the appointment of ex-Bord Pleanála chairman John O’Connor as head of Eirgrid, amounts to another self-inflicted public relations disaster for the Coalition.