Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney was pleased with the fruits of the Irish team of negotiators in concluding the agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy. He enthusiastically welcomed the outcome of the tortuous negotiations which concluded yesterday.

The court case involving the disgraceful assault by three young Cork men on two foreign women on St Patrick’s Street in July of last year has the most disturbing ramifications.

No one should be fooled by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s U-turn on his own highly unpopular and utterly inappropriate proposal to cut resource teaching hours for children with special needs by a further 12%.

The call for a tax on tracker mortgages by UCG economist Dr Alan Ahearne will be treated by those lucky enough to have them with the contempt it deserves.

Details of the leaked transcript conversation between two officials of the Anglo Irish Bank — John Bowe, director of capital markets, and Peter Fitzgerald, director of retail banking — make for distressing reading.

Given the focus on bullying in recent years, it is unbelievable that despite a government promise to involve parents in complaints procedures relating to teachers, they are still waiting, 15 years later.

Famed for its outstanding record of breeding endangered species, Fota Wildlife Park on the eastern fringes of Cork Harbour celebrated its 30th birthday with a summer carnival yesterday.

Resigning from any organisation, political or otherwise, is a legitimate form of protest but whether it achieves anything other than 15 seconds of infamy — or admiration — for the protester is more than questionable.

It should concern everyone on this island that more than 142,000 home loans are behind in payments.

The parable about a hungry man and a fish is often used to support the idea of development aid and self help.