Confusion is rife over who is participating in the community drugs scheme, with some pharmacies on the HSE list insisting they notified the Health Service Executive they would not be participating.

ONE of the less charming characteristics of the Irish is our innate ability to say one thing and do another with a straight face. This trait was recognised by that most domineering but pliable of politicians Charles Haughey when, in relation to the Health (Family Planning) Act all of 30 years ago, he used the phrase “an Irish solution to an Irish problem”.

THOUGH anyone waiting for a dry day to cut a field of barley could have told you, now it’s official.

IT is less than reassuring that so many senior gardaí have decided to opt for early retirement at a time when drug arrests have reached record levels.

DREADFUL weather and collapsing farm-gate prices are conspiring to make farming ever more difficult and dangerous. Last year 21 people were killed on Irish farms; there were 2,800 injuries.

OVER the last while we’ve all been enthralled and horrified as our great national soap opera unfolds, each episode more spectacular than the last.

ONE of the greatest life-long challenges a parent or a family can face are obligations involved in providing for the needs of a disabled child or sibling.

NOT even the great, soul-filling genius of Samuel Beckett or Flann O’Brien, our great champions of tragedy and irony, could have imagined a more appropriate symmetry.

EVEN in the best of times organic food was an expensive option, especially if you wanted to buy beef or poultry. The €20 chicken was a Celtic Tigerism too far — even if you could afford it. Getting one ethically produced and supposedly-happier chicken for the price of four supermarket birds never seemed a good deal for the consumer, whatever about the fancy bird.

YOU do not have to be an expert to realise that sending text messaging while driving is stupid and represents a threat far greater than any benefits it offers.