THOUSANDS of families are under tremendous pressure because they can no longer meet mortgage commitments entered before they lost jobs or endured substantial reductions in their incomes.

THOUSANDS of families are under tremendous pressure because they can no longer meet mortgage commitments entered before they lost jobs or endured substantial reductions in their incomes.

BECAUSE Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will have to find a way to raise or save billions in the December budget – just five months away – we can expect all sorts of speculation between now and then about how he might reach the commitments made to the EU.

HAD Brian Lenihan Senior, the father of our Finance Minister, been invited to speak at the annual Béal na mBláth commemoration in west Cork it is unlikely that he could have accepted the honour even if he had wanted to.

OUR planning system has been under a cloud for decades. Votes on rezoning land have often been preceded by bribery dressed up as political donations.

IT is wonderful that Waterford Crystal yesterday returned to centre stage in the city it defined for so many generations.

AT every opportunity Government voices suggest we need to be more optimistic.

IRISH mothers have often suffered from stereotyping. They have been described as overbearing, over-indulgent and sometimes domineering.

WITH five incriminating penalty points and fines of up to €1,500 hanging over drivers without a valid National Car Test (NCT) certificate, it is not surprising that motorists are worried over ongoing delays in getting appointments for the test.

IF the entirely justified international outcry that followed the May 31 killing of nine unarmed Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara was the catalyst for Israel’s decision to ease the land blockade on Gaza then some small good has come from the tragedy.