OUR family law courts remain a mystery to everyone except those who work in them or those who need its protection or adjudication.

THERE can be few greater leaps of faith than the one involved in entrusting a young, beloved and vulnerable child to the care of a hired stranger.

IT IS inevitable that a substantial section of our whitefish fleet will accept an EU package aimed at reducing the number of fishing vessels chasing an ever-diminishing stock of fish.

LAST week, just as Transport Minister Noel Dempsey struggled to explain why he did not know what was going on in his department about Aer Lingus proposals for Shannon, the person blamed for the oversight — rightly or wrongly — found a ready-made source of comfort.

YESTERDAY’S mass beatification by the Pope of nearly 500 Catholics killed during the Spanish Civil War may not have had the exclusivity that can engender an air of authenticity on such occasions.

SOMETIMES you’d wonder if we’d be better off if Darby O’Gill and the Little People were running the country.

OUR ARMY, and by association all of us, can be very proud of the 24 years of dedicated service our troops have given to trying to establish peace in that war-torn, beautiful place — Lebanon.

WHEN voices as disparate as President Mary McAleese and Fr Peter McVerry find common cause it is time to take notice.

THERE is an impression of a collapsing deck of cards surrounding the discovery by various banks that they are vulnerable because of property deals involving members of the legal profession.

STEVE STAUNTON is gone and those who appointed him lined up the firing squad as soon as it was apparent that the consequences of their rash appointment would soon have an impact on their own security.