THE deaths on our roads over the weekend again highlight the problems of driver behaviour.

The one day that people all over the globe associate with Ireland is St Patrick’s Day. The British may have had the largest Empire, but there is no similar day associated with them.

A prevalence survey to determine the rate of hospital-acquired infections has just been conducted and published by the Health Service Executive (HSE). It surveyed forty-four different hospitals.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell hardly had Judge Sean McBride in mind when he changed the rules this week on the force people can use to protect their life and property from intruders.

NOBODY can afford to take comfort from the latest inflation figures showing the annual rate fell back last month to 4.8% as prices for petrol, diesel and clothing goods eased a little.

THE public can be forgiven for comparing judicial sentencing for rape in this country to a lottery.

REDUNDANCIES are snowballing at an alarming pace as Ireland lost 470 more jobs yesterday in Waterford, Limerick, Kildare, Meath and Dublin.

TWELVE years after RSE — Relationships and Sexuality Education — was introduced in Irish schools, parents will be dismayed to discover that many youngsters today are not being taught about sex at all.

THE inconsistency of judicial sentencing is again put under the spotlight by contrasting sentences handed down this week for rape, one of the most heinous of all crimes.

WITH Taoiseach Bertie Ahern likely to go to the country in May, there was a strong whiff of electioneering in the air as the White Paper on Energy was launched yesterday in a sunburst of green politics from the Government.