THERE was some anticipation that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan might use the introduction of the Finance Bill yesterday afternoon to bring forward measures appropriate to the times we live in.

YESTERDAY’S finding by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the Government has failed to properly implement the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive is the third time in less than two years that the Government has been found to be at fault in relation to the EIA directive.

The Government announced that it would provide increased tax relief for private health insurance premiums for everyone over 50 years of age.

There is an old saying that paper never refused ink, and it seems that some politicians can’t turn down an opportunity for airtime, whether or not they know what they are talking about.

BATTERED, bruised and increasingly incredulous investors had to watch again yesterday as bank shares took another pounding.

THE political deadlock in the North has dragged on for far too long.

OVER the past two years the Bank of Ireland has presided over the single greatest destruction of wealth in the short history of this State.

THE enduring romance and pride surrounding Munster’s victory over the All Blacks three decades ago are two of the essential elements in the great success enjoyed by the province today.

WITH the amount of waste each person generates annually set to double by 2020, it would be hard to exaggerate the sheer scale of the mountain of rubbish rapidly growing in Ireland.

HAVING hammered some of the most vulnerable in society, from low-paid workers, to schoolchildren, Travellers and immigrants, not to mention the attempted mugging of the elderly, the Government has finally come around to its pre-budget pledge to target the rich.