THE dispute at Aer Lingus has dragged on for too long. Workers feel threatened and the company feels it is being prevented from being as efficient as they might be. Passengers feel let down and very much an afterthought though the airline did spend huge sums trying to sustain services.

WHAT an appalling mess this country of ours is in — a dysfunctional and powerless minority Government surviving under what can only be described as political blackmail and an ineffective Taoiseach hanging on after losing the leadership of his party.

According to an alarming report from the HSE the availability of sleeping tablets has reached record levels and are now almost as commonplace as drugs for cholesterol and diabetes.

FIANNA FÁIL is expected to elect a new leader, the party’s eighth, this afternoon but as the political merry-go-round careers through uncharted territories nothing can be taken for granted.

MORE than half of all work-related deaths in Ireland last year occurred on farms.

WHILE he still commanded centre stage Taoiseach Brian Cowen repeatedly referred to the need to move away from the negativity and anger that chokes so much of our public conversation.

IT is probably just as well that all of the predictions made by scientists did not come true or that we did not follow all of their suggestions.

UNCERTAINTY and confusion continue to dog Irish politics following yesterday’s dramatic withdrawal by the Green Party from the tottering coalition Government.

FOR 30 years or more, Ireland has engaged in the shameful practice of exporting people with an intellectual disability. This appalling treatment of the victims of disability is highlighted in a damning paper from the College of Psychiatry of Ireland.