THE idea of a Cabinet reshuffle seems to be gaining momentum, but whether Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be swept along in the excitement remains to be seen.

HEALTH Service Executive management have beeninvited to explain to the Oireachtas Health Committee why the system of providing medical cards for people over 70 has collapsed.

SOME of the facilities we offer to people with mental health issues seem as likely to exacerbate illness as to contribute to recovery.

RIGHT around the world habitat depletion – human activity in one form or another – represents the single greatest threat facing wildlife.

FOR a country so unused to political resignations, despite myriad opportunities, these last few weeks and months have been a spectacular break from our usual fare of denial and intransigence.

THE idea of image, of how we perceive the worth of things because of their visual presentation or impact, has won influence well beyond its significance.

THE ordinary people of Ireland are, it seems, changing.

YESTERDAY’S report from Fáilte Ireland, that our tourism sector is highly dependent on domestic customers, is sobering.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will confront Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Brussels this morning over the use of fake Irish passports by the Mossad agents believed to have murdered Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

DISHONESTY is destroying our country. It is destroying social cohesion and making it even more difficult to rebuild an economy ruined by political, banking and individual dishonesty.