The news that gun and drug crime rates have fallen dramatically is very welcome.

Even though the An Taisce planning report reminds us all of issues we might like to forget, it cannot be ignored.

Two of today’s stories perfectly illustrate the great, diametrically-opposed challenges facing this society.

Anthologies and shortlists that celebrate the taste of a nation at any given moment in time are subjective, and are usually as celebrated for what they omit as for the works they include and therefore endorse.

The seizure at Dublin Port of 38m contraband cigarettes being smuggled into this country this week was the third largest seizure of its kind here.

Brian Hayes, the minister for State at the Office of Public Works, has called for residents in flood-affected areas to help his department determine the number of homeowners being refused house insurance as a result of the flooding in Nov 2009.

In recent days, we have again seen how an authoritarian Vatican responds to those who question the assertions it regards as absolute truths.

Anyone heating a home, trying to fill a car or run a fleet of business vehicles will not be surprised that soaring fuel costs have contributed significantly to an increased inflation rate last month.

At first glance there is something reassuring about the announcement from the St Vincent de Paul Society in Cork that donations made at church gate collections have increased by 11% since last year.

Sadly, once again the great chasm between the public and private sectors has been underlined by the news that performance assessments in the civil service were more a rubber-stamping exercise than a properly conducted performance assessment.