The meeting yesterday between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and First Minister Ian Paisley at the site of the Battle of the Boyne was of deep historical and symbolic significance.

TWO reports on Irish marital trends, one issued yesterday and the other last month, illustrate fundamentally opposite faces of a rapidly changing society.

AS Tony Blair, Britain’s Prime Minister, prepares to step down on June 27, it is timely to acknowledge his achievements in restoring peace and establishing a working democracy in Northern Ireland.

THE High Court decision to grant a 17-year-old girl the right to travel to England for an abortion, was sensible and humane — and the right thing to do.

THE discovery of not just one but two budgies in the country’s maximum security prison would be laughable if the underlying situation was not so serious.

HISTORY was made in the North yesterday when democracy returned to one of Europe’s most troubled regions as once sworn enemies, Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, set the fledgling devolved government back on course.

The State is spending almost €30 million a year on specialised care for 72 disturbed young people. The main issue in relation to this should not be the cost, but whether proper treatment is being provided.

In the recent poll for the Irish Examiner, 79% of the people questioned believe there should be mandatory minimum sentencing for rape, while 12% are opposed to such sentencing.

WITH the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition mired in crisis, today’s Irish Examiner national opinion poll shows crucially that four out of 10 people have not decided which alternative government to vote for in the General Election.

THE pictures tell it all. Frightening images of so-called joyriders, racing in stolen cars through the streets of Dublin, speak volumes about the arrogant disregard of mindless young criminals for either the law or the safety of others.