The scandal of clerical sex abuse has been in the public arena for such a long time that people are in danger of becoming inured to what went on in the Catholic church in a shocking chapter of Irish history.

Even though the American Civil War ended nearly six decades before our own, that country, still the world’s biggest economy, still the great superpower, seems polarised in a way unimaginable in contemporary Ireland or Europe.

Yesterday’s decision by the Energy Regulator to approve an 8.5% rise in residential gas prices for Bord Gáis customers from October means that the semi-state company’s prices have jumped by almost 30% in a year.

Health Minister Dr James Reilly can expect to be dragged over the coals — at the very least — at today’s Cabinet meeting because of his proposals to cut €130m from home care and support programmes. But in a typical Irish denial of reality, those cuts — unacceptable and shaming as they are — are not the real issue at all.

Changing lifestyles have contributed to a growing obesity problem among young people.

The anger, and indeed sense of shame such a social failure brings, provoked by last week’s announcement by Health Minister James Reilly’s proposal to cut €130m in home care and home help programmes is matched only by surprise expressed by the minister’s colleagues who, unbelievable as it seems, had no knowledge of the cuts before they were announced.

The Irish Business Against Litter group’s annual stick in the eye about our very poor record on litter in public places is a stark but undeniable counterpoint to the celebratory nature of the excellent Tidy Towns movement’s wonderful achievements.

The cuts to home-help and home-care services may be a foretaste of December’s budget but that does not make them in any way palatable.

The High Court ruling that denies a Pakistani chef, who was “the victim of the most appalling exploitation by his employer” an award of €92,000 demands an early response from our legislators.

Announcing the national broadband plan yesterday, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte described broadband as “the rural electrification of the 21st century”.