If Government promises were enough to resolve our problems, we would probably have no problems, because the current Government has never been short on promises.

The story of four-year-old Eve Barnwell is an uplifting story of the bravery of a little girl, and it is also a reminder that much of the gloom around us should be put in proper perspective.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was one of the success stories of the Celtic Tiger economy, especially with the development of the wonder drug Viagra.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) yesterday denounced Communications Minister Eamon Ryan’s proposals to ensure certain rugby games are on free-to-air television.

IN THE midst of all the gloomy economic news, and the volcanic disruption of the travel and tourist industries, today’s interview with Edward Kiely, the surgeon who led the team that separated the conjoined twins, Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf, makes inspiring reading.

Everybody in society is going to end up paying for the current financial debacle, but in many instances it will be the people at the bottom of the ladder – those who had nothing to do with what went wrong – who will probably be compelled to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden.

For years the drug scourge was seen as just a Dublin problem, but it has since spread throughout the country.

Allegations that the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is “de-emphasising” the importance of Dublin and Cork would seem to be open to interpretation.

The disclosure that people on bail on suspicion of other offences committed some 30,000 crimes inevitably raises public disquiet, especially when those include prime suspects of 15 different murders. The statistics would seem to suggest that there is something seriously amiss with our system of bail.

A Health Service Executive report published in June 2009 estimated that as many as one in 20 people in Ireland suffer from diabetes, but half of those were not yet diagnosed. Recent predictions indicated that the prevalence of diabetes in Ireland would increase to 232,000 people by 2020.