Politicians are not expected just to represent the people who supported them, but all of the people in the constituency in which they are elected.

THE Seanad will begin debating emergency legislation in relation to imprisoning people for debt tomorrow.

Workers of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) are going on strike today in support of a demand for an 11% increase in wages.

Work on the Cork Docklands project, the biggest proposed development in the country since the construction of the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin 20 years ago, could grind to a halt unless the State provides €2.3m in immediate funding to appoint a design team for the proposed Eastern Gateway Bridge.

For the past three weeks, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has been spending about €6,000 a week sending public patients from Mallow General Hospital (MGH) to the Bon Secours private hospital in Cork for CT scans, while a scanner lies idle at MGH.

Every parent’s worst nightmare must be the death of a child due to a freak accident in the home. Unfortunately, it happens all too often, so parents cannot be too careful.

In the past 12 years, 19 judicial tribunals were established. Their extravagant costs and seemingly interminable legal wrangling have seriously damaged the public standing of the legal profession.

There should be no sacred cows when it comes to cutting public expenditure, the Taoiseach has warned. Radical action is clearly needed.

It is outrageous that lifeguards are being expected to spend 30 minutes a day picking up litter on the beaches of Co Louth. Litter louts should pick up their own rubbish.

The radical shakeup involved in the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009, which was published this week, has come in for strong criticism from human rights and civil liberties groups. “If this bill were to be enacted in this form, the lawful basis for administration of justice in Ireland would be gravely undermined,” a spokesman for Irish Council for Civil Liberties warned.