SUNDAY night’s terrible tragedy in Donegal, in which eight people died in a road accident, will mark everyone on the Inishowen peninsula. It will resonate with every parent, in rural Ireland especially, as they wonder how safe their children are, who more often than not must provide their own transport or stay at home, when they go out for a night’s fun.

WHEN Ireland was denied a place at the South African World Cup because a French player handled the ball to help score a goal there was an outcry.

IF five years ago — after the Dermot Weld-trained Ansar became the first horse in a decade to retain the Galway Plate — you were to suggest in a buzzing, self-congratulating Ballybrit tent, that Seán FitzPatrick would declare himself a bankrupt, your host might have asked why you bothered to get out of bed in the morning.

IT is natural that Fianna Fáil might grasp at any straw that might improve their image if not their ratings.

THIS country’s cyclical dependency on emigration is our greatest social failure since the foundation of the state.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney is right to express her discomfort at some of the executive wage levels in state-funded disability organisations. She believes some deals break public sector pay guidelines.

THOUGH there are very many different, if not conflicting, interests in our educational system it is assumed that there is a common purpose.

THE criticisms are predictable and annual. The response is traditional but infuriatingly teflon-coated. It is so symptomatic of an imbedded, outdated and unacceptable culture – not just political – that holds this unfortunate country in a kind of death grip.

Family resource centres throughout the country have been assuming a greater role in facilitating elderly people, because grandparents are assuming an ever-greater part in rearing their grandchildren, a report published by Family Resource Centre National Forum and Family Support Agency has revealed.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has warned that bankers who provide “misleading information” to the National Assets Management Agency could face criminal prosecution.