THE number and intensity of attacks on ambulance crews had increased dramatically in recent years. It is only a matter of time before somebody is killed or seriously injured, unless they are provided with stab-proof vests, according to the Association of Ambulance Personnel.

AS the week’s seemingly irreversible choreography unfolds it appears certain that Bertie Ahern will be elected taoiseach for the third time on Thursday; the only doubts surround the names he will be able to, or wish to, include on his dance card.

THIS morning the parents of Jordan Denn, of Edenderry, Co Offaly, who was savaged by one of two Rottweilers that had escaped from an enclosure in their owner’s garden, could be forgiven for wondering why anyone would wish to keep two young animals with such destructive potential on a housing estate.

NEVER before was the number of Green Party deputies so appropriate to get into government.

DISCRIMINATION against disabled people is embedded in Irish society, President Mary McAleese said yesterday at the opening of “Get Ahead,” a new lecture series on living with disabilities in modern Ireland.

IN his annual report published yesterday, Paul Appleby, the Director of the Office of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), emphasised the need to improve the overall standard of corporate conduct.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern warned yesterday that “we are entering a period of more challenging economic conditions”.

THE European Central Bank (ECB) raised its interest rate by 0.25% yesterday for the eighth time in the past 18 months.

POLAND, as depicted in the series of articles in today’s Irish Examiner, is very reminiscent of Ireland in the 1950s.

IT WOULD be too easy to react to the news that 10 weeks after the tragic deaths of the Dunne family in Wexford an internal Garda inquiry has not been completed by questioning Garda efficiency.