Hardest hit will be hit hard... again

The country’s leading forensic scientist, Harry Kennedy, head of the Central Mental Hospital, is involved in managing some of the most violent patients in the State. It goes without saying, therefore, that his warnings on the use of tranquillisers should be heeded.

It may be a tad cynical to suggest that because the first meeting of our long-awaited constitutional convention was scheduled to begin its work just days before a much-feared budget that it might not get the attention such a radical, in Irish terms at least, innovation deserves.

It may be too much to hope that Israel will realise that the margin of the UN vote — 138 to 9 — enhancing Palestine’s status reflects the world view on how badly they have behaved towards the displaced people trapped in their sphere of control.

By this time next week we will know how the Government proposes to take another €3.5bn out of this faltering economy.

Traditional media has been afforded great privilege. The idea of a proactive, honest media deeply involved in the serious affairs of a society justifies that position.

Amid the wreckage of the so-called Celtic Tiger era, twin spectres that continue to haunt the economy are the hundreds of unfinished ghost estates up and down the country — many of them built in the middle of nowhere — and the timebomb of mortgage arrears facing landlords, now double the rate of arrears confronting ordinary home owners.

Despite the appalling increase of suicide in Ireland, it is still a taboo subject in this country.

Thankfully President Michael D Higgins is, like his two immediate predecessors, redefining how the office might contribute to our public life.

Ireland assumes the presidency of the European Union in just over a month but it is fair to say that the European project has not faced greater challenges or been more uncertain since the Treaty of Rome, the foundation document of the European Economic Community precursor of the European Union, was signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany in 1957.