THE changing face of Ireland’s social and economic fabric, reflected in the latest census figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), provides fascinating insights into Irish life in the 21st century.

HARD on the heels of a UN report on the global drugs crisis — which named Ireland among five countries where the problem is soaring — the threat facing Irish society from cocaine use was outlined at a government-backed conference yesterday.

ACCUSTOMED to getting his own way in things, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary will find it hard to swallow the European Commission’s decision to block his takeover of Aer Lingus.

THE medical card is one of the few perks available to people on the breadline.

IRELAND’S epidemic of death by stabbing has reached such alarming proportions the country risks being dubbed “stab nation”.

NEXT to drink-drivers, the biggest danger on our roads is posed by thousands of unqualified and ill-trained motorists. They were let loose by a reckless government.

DESPITE heartening claims in the latest UN report on the world-wide drug market, of significant progress in containing the problem, it would be wrong to be complacent.

THE perception of dullness, widely associated with the public service, is well and truly scotched by the annual awards for excellence in European architecture.

EVERY parish in Ireland has single-issue activists trying to get a school extended or a new one built, others trying to establish proper facilities for children with special needs; some determined to provide respite care so the parents and siblings of children with physical or mental disadvantages can try to live like a normal family for a few hours every few weeks; others fighting to keep their accident and emergency facility open; others trying to establish the cancer screening services regarded as everyday-as-aspirins in a properly functioning, European democracy.

SERIOUS questions are raised by the appointment of a doctor found guilty of professional misconduct to head up the country’s first National Clinical Skills Centre.