FEARS over the threat posed by the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant to Ireland have deepened following yesterday’s guilty plea by the operators to a massive leak of radioactive fluid at the plant in Cumbria.

AS Ireland’s underage sex controversy continues to reverberate, the emergency measures unveiled yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are clearly intended to patch up the calamitous communications breakdown within Government and between departments.

DESPITE Government attempts to play down this country’s involvement in so-called ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights, involving CIA transport of terrorism suspects for torture, Ireland is among 14 European states named as colluding with the United States.

Higher property prices and a looming increase in interest rates are among the unpalatable realities faced by homeowners and prospective buyers in the immediate future.

For the 113,500 students beginning the Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate examinations today, the most important thing to remember is that while they are important, they are not a matter of life-and-death.

Backbench members of the Oireachtas spent over €500,000 on fact-finding missions to varied and exotic places on behalf of the Irish taxpayers during 2005, according to figures just released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Annual Report of the Cork Simon Community for 2005, which was published yesterday, makes for obscene reading, despite the dedicated work of that organisation.

IN the relative calm that has settled after the extraordinary events of the past 10 days, the Government must apply itself in repairing the collateral damage in the system that has become glaringly obvious, especially in the area of child protection measures.

THE designation of today as World Environment Day should serve to encourage people to seriously consider the extent to which natural resources are squandered and how lip service is generally paid to protecting the environment.

The dramatic decision of the Supreme Court in allowing the State’s appeal against the release of Mr A, a convicted sex offender, is a major relief, not just for the Government, but for the general public.