The Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science has an opportunity to instil a semblance of commonsense into a subject which has not been reviewed for 40 years and which has been a source of grievance to parents every year.

IT WOULD seem absolutely ludicrous for Justice Minister Michael McDowell to be discussing in America this week proposals to deal with violent and organised crime, when the gardaí lack the fundamental equipment to fight crime.

The establishment of the National Employment Rights Authority, and that of Ger Deering as its director, will be welcomed by the trade unions.

THE 230-page report of the 18-month inquiry conducted on behalf of the Mental Health Commission into conditions at the Central Mental Hospital at Dundrum makes grim reading.

What is happening in Kerry, with the obliteration of the name of Dingle on signposts throughout the county, is not just a waste of public money and time.

ASTONISHING is the best description of research into the detection of illicit drug use which found 100% of a sample of bank notes in circulation in the greater Dublin area were contaminated with cocaine.

NO DOUBT the Government will be accused of subsidising people’s drinking habits following the bizarre proposal from Minister Éamon Ó Cuív to introduce measures before the General Election to counter the demise of rural pubs.

A MALAISE at the core of our public services surfaced in a recurring theme this week.

IRELAND is one of the worst countries in Europe in which to suffer a stroke, a condition that claims the lives of more than five people here every day.

THE passing of David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, leaves a vacuum in loyalist politics that will be hard to fill.