THE peremptory decision of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) to ban a Trocaire advertisement highlighting the inequalities facing women in the developing world is absolutely ludicrous.

WITH Irish children getting less physical exercise (PE) at school than children almost anywhere in Europe, is it any wonder obesity is a major problem here?

THE pensions time bomb is ticking faster following the revelation that only half the country’s 2 million-strong workforce have personal coverage.

WITH a gimlet eye on Wednesday’s election in the North, and the other fixed on the looming General Election in the Republic in May, the transformation of militant republicanism gathered pace as Sinn Féin reiterated over the weekend that ‘‘the war is over’’ and that ‘‘peace must now be built’’.

THE much vaunted Celtic Tiger may be extinct but one of its principle status symbols is still going strong.

Injecting tax incentives into profit-making health service schemes is not in the interest of public health, because it will not fix the problems now besetting our health service, according to consultant neurologist Orla Hardiman, of Beaumont Hospital.

Professor Brendan Drumm, head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) candidly stated the superbug, MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, would never be fully wiped out in our hospitals.

THE grave dangers involved in rushing emergency legislation through the Dáil are graphically highlighted by the controversy raging over the horrendous case of a 14-year-old boy who was targeted by a paedophile ring.

IT is astonishing that three of the leading figures in Irish swimming during the 1980s were sinister criminals and predatory paedophiles.

DESPITE the fact that more people kill themselves than die on Ireland’s roads every year, there is an appalling lack of conviction about Government efforts to address this crisis.