Government members have been vocal about the need for economic cuts, but they have provided very little leadership by example. They did cut their own salaries by 10%, but that was after raising them in a patently extravagant way.

WE got another indication yesterday of how divided the Catholic Church in Ireland has become over the Cloyne child abuse scandal.

THE chairman of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know when he told an Oireachtas hearing that some bank executives had behaved in a totally “unacceptable” way.

THE government task force set up to identify savings in public spending — An Bord Snip Nua — is expected to have an impact on tens of thousands of families within weeks.

IN these grimmest of times what could be better than a red carpet, some of the world’s most beautiful people in their party best and the recognition of your peers?

The announcement by the Financial Regulator Patrick Neary last Friday of his decision to retire — following a critical report into the functioning of his office — highlights the need for a whole new culture in relation to banking in this country.

Six out of 10 people believe children are better off if their parents are husband and wife, while 53% of 1,000 people surveyed believe that marriage is better for society than people living together.

WHETHER the four senior Catholic churchmen who yesterday publicly supported the embattled Bishop of Cloyne would have done so if they had been aware of allegations made public just last evening is questionable.

WHAT a dispiriting, challenging and worrying week it’s been.

EVEN though the writing was on the wall since the day workers at the Raheen plant in Limerick started training their Polish successors to run the new €200 million Dell plant in Lodz, yesterday’s announcement that 1,900 jobs, and anything up to another 10,000 downstream jobs are to go, is a huge body blow to our economy and our country’s badly shaken confidence.