SHOCK revelations that half the ultrasound examinations in Irish hospitals are performed by unqualified staff, climax a week that saw Ireland’s maternity services put under the spotlight by an Irish Examiner survey.

NO sooner has an independent Government-appointed committee sought to outlaw drift-netting for salmon, an issue of international concern which has brought intense pressure on Ireland from tourism, environmental, and angling interests, than back-bench Fianna Fáil TDs have taken to the barricades.

IT is outrageous that a government which regularly leaves voluntary organisations to fill the void in vital areas of Irish life is clawing back millions of euro from charities in VAT.

BY ANY yardstick, the Government’s decision not to allow free access to the Irish labour market for migrants from Romania and Bulgaria after they join the EU goes against the spirit of the Euro club.

WITH the country’s health service creaking, it is not surprising that women should take issue with broad aspects of maternity care.

IRELAND’S unenviable reputation for binge drinking is underlined by new statistics showing the country’s female university students are among the worst binge drinkers in the world.

With six more fatalities on our roads this weekend, the carnage seems to continue relentlessly and confounds the efforts of government, gardaí and the Road Safety Authority to contain it.

While it is quite unlikely that the Government will scrap such a lucrative earner as the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), it might adopt a more realistic approach to it, and taxation generally on vehicles, to make buying a vehicle more customer friendly.

The case of the British sex offender who absconded to the south from the North where he was convicted of sexual offences, highlights the dangerous gaps which exist in our legislation.

Common sense seems to have prevailed in the wrangle over the naming of the Kerry town, and whether it should be called An Daingean or Dingle.