Health Minister Mary Harney is right in seeking to cut the cost of medicines. Of course, people differ about who is responsible for the current inflated prices. The minister accused the pharmacies of doubling the cost of medicine since 2002, whereas the pharmacists contend that prices are largely agreed between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

LOCAL government in the Canary Islands have decided to remove airport taxes this winter.

“The damage caused by a culture that tolerated and even encouraged physical, sexual and emotional abuse for decades will not be undone by words alone. It is by implementing this action plan that we will win back the trust of those whom we abandoned.”

ANYONE who has noticed someone who has spent too long on a sunbed will not be surprised that sunbeds can increase the chances of developing skin tumours by 75% and pose the “highest” risk of cancer.

IT is widely expected that the report of the Commission on Taxation, which is to be finalised tomorrow will include proposals for a property tax, water charges and a carbon tax.

OVER the last while we’ve got used to thinking in billions.

HUNDREDS of Irish couples hoping to adopt a baby from abroad have every right to feel aggrieved over delays in vetting their applications or resolving inter- country difficulties.

WHAT is it about some Government ministers that when they represent this country abroad, they tend to splurge taxpayers’ money as if there was no tomorrow.

MR JUSTICE Paul Carney was emphatic yesterday when, in Galway, he sentenced murderer and double rapist Gerald Barry, aged 29, to two life terms for raping a French student.

U2 CAME home last night and what a homecoming it promised to be. The band, by far the most recognisable Irish faces of all time, promised their most spectacular performance yet.