AGAINST all the odds, a ray of light has emerged from the darkness after three days of intensive talks in Scotland, fanning hopes that the elusive prize of restoring a devolved power-sharing government in the North may finally be in reach.

SIX weeks holidays at Christmas! No wonder voters take such a jaundiced view of politicians and politics.

THE landmark decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal to quash the manslaughter conviction of Mayo farmer Padraig Nally and order his retrial for the fatal shooting of Traveller John “Frog” Ward will inevitably recall the bitter divisions that erupted between settled and Travelling communities during the murder trial.

CONTROVERSY invariably attends the opening of a new bypass, particularly when it involves an unpopular toll on local users by private operators.

The fear of paedophile sex offenders loose in any community is a nightmare for parents of young children, and the admission before a joint Oireachtas committee yesterday by a senior member of the garda’s sexual assault unit that there are deficiencies in policing the problem will only add to the fears.

With the daily tribunal disclosures, it should hardly come as a surprise to people that our planning laws are developing into a farce.

An internal garda enquiry has been launched into the siege in Gort, Co Galway, which ended with 39-year-old Anthony Burke being in a critical condition in hospital, having been shot once by the gardaí.

When “value for money” cuts are imposed arbitrarily and without any thought for the consequences they may bring, vulnerable people who turn to our health service for support very often are the victims of what can be a short-sighted policy of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The presence of actress Liz Hurley to publicise the funding of cancer research by Estée Lauder provided a photo op for the advertisers, but it also highlighted a great failing of our health service in providing proper breast cancer screening for around half the women in the most vulnerable age group in this country.

Both sides described as groundbreaking yesterday’s hour-long meeting between the Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady and the Rev Ian Paisley.