Any positive assessment of the decision to hold soccer’s World Cup in Qatar in five years required the suspension of all critical faculties.

IRELAND has, for decades, been one of the back doors into Europe for drug smugglers and, latterly, people traffickers.

IT is all but impossible for an Irish person to legally own a handgun; we persistently tighten drink driving limits; we impose speed limits, and we have developed an all-powerful culture of health and safety because we want to do all we can to prevent avoidable injury or loss of life.

TODAY marks the 73rd anniversary of D-Day, a seminal event in modern European and world history.

In June 1967, Arab leaders decided to crush Israel, then the only democracy in that divided region. 

Saturday night’s terror attack in London, which left seven people dead and 48 injured, continues a pattern that the West has had to accept as the new normal. 

An Garda Síochána has been subjected to sustained criticism, sadly, most of it justified, over recent years. 

WHEN Yip Harbug — real name Isidore Hochberg — and Harold Arlen wrote ‘Over the Rainbow’ for The Wizard of Oz in 1939 they were writing about America. 

WHEN British Prime Minister Theresa May cast aside her assurances that she would not call an election, her opponents, and a growing number who are happy to be numbered in their ranks, accused her of trying to stage a coup.

Ireland’s bid to host the 10th Rugby World Cup in 2023 was formally submitted to the World Rugby offices in Dublin yesterday.