SO, ANOTHER strand of the Taoiseach’s evidence to the Mahon Tribunal is in conflict with the recollections of those who are in a position to substantiate his story.

ANYONE brave enough to step forward to look after a local under-14 team is moving into that dangerous place between reality and the ambitions of his charges and their parents.

LET’S start with the spur-of-the-moment murders of Polish men Pawel Kalite — who was buried yesterday — and his friend Marius Szwajkos on February 23.

AS EVER the first casualty in war is truth and Iraq has been no different.

Young people in other generations did not have the social pressure from peers to drink. There was, in fact, a much stronger public awareness of the dangers of drink.

Incidents involving the 54 coastguard units around the country increased by 8.5% in 2007. The year began with the tragic loss of seven lives in the sinking of the fishing vessels Pere Charles and Honeydew II.

LAST YEAR St Patrick’s Day drinking led to about 1,000 public order offences, widespread vandalism, some violence and a number of stabbings.

THE laws governing how disruptive pupils can be removed from secondary school classrooms will be changed in June and come into effect from September.

THOUGH there are less than 150 days to go before the August 8 opening of the Beijing Olympics, China has ignored the international mores that might have constrained their suppression of Tibet’s biggest anti-Chinese demonstrations in more than two decades.

THE Health Service Executive is a relatively new organisation that has had to deal with a series of scandals rooted in the legacy it inherited from the politically influenced health boards it replaced.