Exactly how many more people have to be gunned down before the Government realises that the battle against serious crime is in danger of being totally lost?

Legislation not just governing management companies of apartment developments but outlawing any sharp practices that exist in the property sector, must be enforced stringently.

It remains to be seen whether the new Government policy on care for the elderly will prove to be the fair deal which it has been billed by Health Minister Mary Harney.

After five-and-a-half years the Competition Authority has produced a report which basically said that the legal profession is in need of fundamental reform, a fact which is neither surprising nor illuminating.

SHORT of tearing up the Mullingar accord with Fine Gael, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte appeared in a TV3 television interview to hint that the post-General Election landscape might be different.

THE direct intervention yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urging Sinn Féin to hold its special Árd Fheis as soon as possible was important — not dismissing how problematic the issue of policing is for that party.

Paul Stevenson, president of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), had called for the introduction of legislation to provide a compensation package for the rural pubs for loss of business since the introduction of random breath testing in July.

Speaking on behalf of the Catholic Hierarchy, Bishop Willie Walsh criticised a recent suggestion in the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection recommending the lowering of the age of sexual consent.

DOUBLING the rate of mortgage interest relief over seven years for first-time house buyers in this week’s Budget was welcomed, but within hours a distinct dampener was thrown on the gesture by the announcement of the European Central Bank (ECB) that it is raising its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to 3.5%, the highest it has been in five years.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney announced plans yesterday for spending her department’s mammoth budget of €15 billion, which comes to a quarter of the Government’s whole Budget.