In the past 10 years there have been 161 gun-related killings, but only 21 people have been convicted of those murders, which amounts to just 13%.

IT would overestimate the challenges faced by the members of the first Dáil, who held their inaugural meeting 90 years ago yesterday, to suggest that they were greater than those faced by President Barack Obama on this, his first morning in the Oval Office.

IT may be in some way comforting to accept that George W Bush’s greatest legacy were the conditions that made the impossible possible and ultimately real.

IF the inauguration of President Obama represents hope on a grand scale, schemes like the Barnardos Brighter Futures initiative in the Cork city suburb of Knocknaheeny represents it on a local, active level.

When the Dáil reconvenes in special session tomorrow, it will be faced with passing legislation to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank.

Nobody should be surprised that the Government has been breaking its promises.

IT is increasingly difficult to remain composed, or to even want to, as the behaviour of a voracious, immoral and appalling coterie of bankers forces our government to take another do-or-die gamble with taxpayers’ funds.

THE welcome news that a reduction in oil prices and cheaper mortgages cut inflation to its lowest rate in almost 11 years last month is inevitably overshadowed by worrying news that nearly 2,000 more jobs may be lost in Munster in the coming days or weeks.

THE number of complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman increased by 36% last year.

There are rights and wrongs on both sides in the current Gaza conflict. Israel was undoubtedly provoked, but its response has undoubtedly strengthened the hand of Hamas within the Arab world.