A DEVOURING cancer at the heart of Irish society — an apt description of the exodus of so many of our brightest young people seeking jobs anywhere they can find them, be it in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe, Canada or America.

AS state agencies go, the Road Safety Authority has had remarkable success. The latest figures show its policies have been highly effective in reducing carnage on the roads — while 177 people were killed so far this year, it is a welcome change from the appalling death toll of 640 in 1972.

THE recognition of the need to have a real, honestdebate about our education system, how it serves our students, our society and its integrity — and how it is funded — seems to be gathering momentum.

IT’S not so long ago that a charity auction was not worth the smallest picture on the social pages unless hundreds of thousands of euros had been raised for good causes.

While Christmas is frequently the happiest time of the year, especially for people with young children, it can also be a very difficult time for some people for many different reasons.

In the midst of all the other difficulties, it seems incongruous to suggest that horses and donkeys are particularly hard hit by the current recession.

UNIVERSAL access to education is the mark of a civilised society and, in this country, considerable progress has been made in that fraught, divisive but empowering area over recent decades.

IT would be nice to think that the publication of the final details of the Cloyne Report represented some sort of closure for those abused by the priests of the diocese.

ANYONE with an interest in European history will be appalled and fascinated by 1930s Germany when Hitler consolidated his power and prepared to launch World War II.

THE loss of three members of one family in a single tragedy would be overwhelming at any time, but the fact that a father and two of his children died in their home during Christmas week deepens the tragedy in the cruellest way.