FROM a political standpoint it may be a poisoned chalice, but it is vital that control of Ireland’s benighted health service be restored to Government control under the firm hand of a minister with unequivocal responsibility for how patients are served and how the huge budget of the HSE is spent.

HOW times have changed. There was a day when Irish people would have greater interest in the beatification of a pope than a royal wedding. Not anymore.

THE Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development yesterday published a mammoth study on how families in 34 OECD countries shape themselves, how they work, how they cope with the world around them and how they are supported by the society they live in.

THAT iconic organisation — the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association — may have to pull down the shutters because the well has run dry. Though our economic collapse may have something to do with it, the age of its members and the Catholic Church’s loss of influence must be contributory factors too.

JUST as we seem to be coming to terms with our new and grim normality, and what we must do to survive it, the possibility of a whole raft of price increases for motorists loom. Once again, the goal posts are about to be moved.

ANYONE who has seen how dementia can take away a person’s independence will understand the relief felt by Liam Cooney’s family when he was reunited with them after a four-night absence in the Spanish holiday resort of Alicante.

THE NATO air attack on Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s headquarters yesterday is an indication of how desperate things have become in that divided country.

FOR the next week or so the Dáil bar and canteen will host the drawn-out election count for the 24th, and possibly the very last, Seanad.

THE teachers’ unions begin their annual conferences in the next few days and it is expected that pay, pensions and conditions of employment, especially for new teachers, will dominate the agendas.