IT is more than 20 months since the Department of Justice withdrew funding from Ireland’s national missing persons helpline, run by Victim Support, but there has been no sign of a replacement service.

FINE GAEL are planning to launch a poster campaign with billboards deliberately attacking Michael McDowell and other high-profiled members of the Government, like Mary Harney and Martin Cullen.

NOBODY questions the need for radical reform of Ireland’s outdated coroners’ courts but Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s approach to this issue leaves much to be desired.

AS the New Year dawns, it is timely to reflect on 2006 which, by any yardstick, was an annus horribilis.

The Sinn Féin leadership, by its crucial vote yesterday, has given the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) a clean bill of health.

Given that anti-social behaviour is something near the top of peoples’ agenda, measures to counteract it are something that a government, or a party, facing a looming General Election would be tempted to view with favour.

GIVEN the Christmas blitz against the scourge of drink driving, a crack-down launched by gardaí in a blaze of publicity, it defies credulity that more than 100 motorists have been arrested at the height of the festive season.

ALERTS over the threat of looming power cuts have gained considerable weight now that the IDA has added its voice to the mounting chorus of warnings from industry and business.

DESPITE the customary whingeing from elements within Irish tourism, 2006 has turned out to be a bumper year for the industry.

YET another shocking gangland murder brings to 26 the number of fatal shootings in 2006, a year marked by an epidemic of violent crime in Ireland.