FEW issues convulsed the Irish public more than the Supreme Court verdict in the statutory rape case which allowed a man to walk free from jail because he claimed he did not know the age of the 12-year-old girl that he raped after plying her with alcohol.

IT is heartening to note that for the first time ever in this country the employment rate for women has crept over the 60% mark, a figure which leaps from the pages of the quarterly national household survey.

We have long enjoyed good relations with the Government and people of the United States. Indeed, much of our Celtic Tiger prosperity is thanks to this relationship with the Americans.

When it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to tackle the problems of climate change, Ireland has been one of the worst performers in Europe.

FOR decades, the detention of patients in psychiatric hospitals against their will has been a chilling reality behind Ireland’s mental health scandal.

GIVING the lie to political spin portraying poverty as a thing of the past in this country, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) distributed a whopping €41.3 million last year helping people in need.

FOR decades, the detention of patients in psychiatric hospitals against their will has been one of the more chilling injustices of Ireland’s mental health scandal.

IT is ironic at a time when politicians are encouraging disenchanted voters to become more involved with the democratic process, that the names of thousands of citizens have been deleted from the electoral register.

On the balance of probability, it would appear judicious that another inquiry into the cause of the tragic Stardust fire be held.

After 15 years, and much worry and expense for the many primary teachers affected, the Department of Education may have at last learned its lesson.