Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and there is a conference at University College Dublin to mark the occasion. In January, the Irish Examiner disclosed that the existing 26 elder abuse officers reported 927 cases of elder abuse in the second half of 2007.

The annual rate of inflation increased to 4.7%, according to figures published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. This was up on the 4.3% last month.

THE fishermen’s blockades of Cork and Waterford ports were called off yesterday after Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Brendan Smith agreed to meet the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) tomorrow. But the fishermen were quick to point out they have not called off their protest, just suspended that aspect of it.

THE eyes of Europe are on Ireland for today’s vote on the Lisbon treaty. The Irish Examiner has taken a strong stand in favour of the treaty, calling on people to vote yes. But it is even more important that people should vote, one way or the other.

THE MAJORITY of Irish people have been a la carte Catholics for several decades and it seems we are perilously close to becoming a la carte Europeans.

MORE than 100,000 people attended various GAA matches over the weekend confirming the pre-eminent position of Gaelic games in our culture.

NEXT Sunday is Father’s Day and though it is little more than a marketing swizz dreamt up by some card manufacturer — and Mother’s Day too — they have been firmly established in the lexicon of things to be celebrated in our lives.

WITH global reserves of oil and other crucial natural resources dwindling at a frightening pace, Ireland is probably perceived as having an abundance of perhaps the most vital resource of all — water.

ANY doubts about the effectiveness of Operation Anvil, the nationwide crackdown on serious crime, are well and truly scotched by the latest statistics from the Garda Síochána.

IT IS natural to have sympathy for communities whose ambitions and traditions are threatened by the shortages and escalating costs stalking the world we have created.