Considerable disquiet has been generated by the plans of Norwegian company Marine Harvest to build a salmon farm in Bantry Bay.

The stoicism shown by the majority of people in the face of collapsing standards of living, soaring unemployment, vanishing opportunity, resurgent emigration, and unmanageable national and personal debt has been considerable.

University College Cork has decided to honour its silent partners in medical education — those considerate and generous people who decree that their body might be used for research or educational purposes after their death.

When this country was making strenuous efforts to industrialise under the leadership of Seán Lemass, considerable emphasis was placed on the role that the Shannon area could play, as was highlighted during John F Kennedy’s famous visit in 1963.

Pat Rabbitte, the communications minister, has never been backward about coming up with an appropriate soundbite.

It is slightly unfortunate that this Government’s first report card was marked just as celebrations to mark the centenary of the Titanic’s sinking gathered momentum.

Crime statistics may not confirm it but there is a sense that gang violence, especially that connected to drug dealing, has reached a new, savage level.

Every few years the dark side of humanity reminds us of how bestial, how savage we can be when we put aside all the constraints of civilised behaviour.

Today’s report on how a school in Cork has linked up with a Spanish school via the internet to support language studies is not by any means revolutionary but it does underline the almost limitless scope of IT to bring the process of learning to life.

It’s not so very long ago, when Iceland was in turmoil, that the champions of official Ireland protested their outrage at a simple little joke that highlighted our squandered independence.