NO matter how authoritative Taoiseach Brian Cowen, his cabinet colleagues, or the few Fianna Fáil backbenchers still brave enough to face a microphone try to sound, they have absolutely no mandate to commit to a four-year austerity programme to try to clean up the mess they did so much to create.

WE need another example of public resources being wasted like we need falling leaves to tell us that winter is on the way.

THE morning after the night before, as we all saw recently, is never the best time to be too definite about anything of real importance.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan spoke for the great majority yesterday when he described the cost of the bank rescue package as “horrendous”.

A cement mixer with “Anglo Toxic Bank” displayed on the drum of the truck blocked the gates of Leinster House yesterday. The stunt was obviously carefully planned.

As of tomorrow, everybody with a medical card will be charged 50 cent for each prescription filled. The levy is designed to collect €25 million annually.

IT is not an exaggeration to say the most important Dáil session in the lifetime of any living Irish person opens this afternoon.

THERE are 25 members of the Cork Vocational Education Committee but the rawest gombeenism has been used by Fine Gael to advance their party interests and bring an admirable tradition of inclusion to an end.

AS a response to our economic difficulties the innovative projects unveiled by the Mallow Development Partnership yesterday are inspiring in a way that has not been seen recently.

THOUGH the debate about the paltry number of women elected to the Dáil has run for decades it is hard to imagine politicians, many of whom are fighting for their political careers, making any great effort to resolve that dichotomy in the immediate future.