IN a little more than six months we will elect the ninth President of Ireland.

THAT Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, speaking on RTÉ on Saturday, felt unable to rule out any threat to long-term unemployment benefits following the revelation that this was being considered under the EU/IMF bailout is one of the starkest indications of where power now really resides.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny emphasised that actions are being taken to restore economic confidence. The fluctuations of the rating agencies are a reflection of a lack of international confidence, but this also applies within the country itself.

THE auction of some 80 repossessed properties in Dublin yesterday was the first auction of its kind for some time. It, therefore, afforded a real indication of current property values.

THERE are layers of bitter irony behind Ireland’s most toxic bank’s move to sell the empire created by a self-made businessman who became the country’s richest man only to fall victim to greed and over-weaning ambition.

WITH the memory of the appalling killing of PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr still fresh in the minds of right-thinking people everywhere, the message of the Dalai Lama will not go unheeded.

THE provision of special needs education supports (SNAs) in primary and second level schools have made it possible for many students to reach levels they might otherwise have found difficult.

THE psychological weakness and insecurity behind ostentation are not as evident as they were a few short years ago.

IT is tragic that 2,000 people will lose their jobs at AIB. The bank’s executive chairman David Hodgkinson, reporting a €10.4bn loss, suggested the bank should be “reasonably generous” on severance packages. Figures based on up to eight weeks pay per year’s service, plus statutory redundancy, were bandied about.