AS the beauty contest for the crucial job of next Taoiseach begins in earnest, today’s Irish Examiner poll provides fascinating insights into how the public regard the two contenders for the highest political office in the land.

ANY lingering doubts about the draconian nature of Ireland’s proposed new privacy laws have been scotched as media groups from 20 European countries oppose Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s repressive legislation.

AS politicians vie for the hearts and minds of voters, the intriguing findings of today’s Irish Examiner opinion poll show that if the general election were held tomorrow, there would be relatively little change on the political landscape from a year ago.

THE Government’s White Paper on overseas Irish aid is an ambitious blueprint which will for the first time tell people how their money is being spent abroad.

AFTER 14 years of having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it might be expected that the Government would have implemented key areas of it.

THERE is no way to mask the enormity of the problem posed by the crisis of obesity, and last year’s Government National Taskforce on Obesity is proving, unfortunately, to have been almost prophetic.

Previous deadlines in relation to the North may have been rather like moveable feasts, but November 24, as set down by both the Irish and British Governments for the restoration of devolved government, may not be quite as mutable.

By CALLING for an internal investigation by the Garda Commissioner into the garda handling of a case before him, District Court Judge John Neilan may have done a public service, but in a direction which he may not have intended, or anticipated.

TODAY’S heart-rending report on the tragic death of an 85-year-old woman, who died following hospital treatment for a broken wrist, is yet another damning indictment of Ireland’s health system and particularly of management procedures at one of the country’s biggest hospitals.

IN contrast with the opposition from gardaí, the public is sure to endorse the views aired of the new Garda Inspectorate boss on the vexed question of increasing the number of civilians in the force.