SHOULD there be a banking inquiry? Yes, of course there should. In fact there must be one. Should it be conducted in parliament? Yes, absolutely. We need to know what happened and how it happened — both within the banks, between the banks and the authorities, and within government. Only a parliamentary inquiry can be as revealing as we need — I’ll tell you why in a minute.

YOU have got to make a trip to Cork. The city is looking beautiful (of course) and it’s full of life. It seems as if the people of the Rebel County are thumbing their nose at the recession, and getting on with things as they always did. Streets are busy, restaurants and bars are hopping, there’s a lot of colour about.

I was driving into town early this morning, and I saw the Fine Gael posters calling on us to abolish the Seanad.

ODDLY enough, I know a lot of people who work in the bank that sent that appalling letter to Stephanie Meehan. They’re decent people, and I know they’ve gone out of their way to help others. I suspect that individually and as a group, they’re horrified at what happened.

The difference between a politician and a statesman is that the latter approaches every issue with an open mind, a politician with an open mouth.

When we moved into our first house, years and years ago, we needed a phone.

Dear Minister Lynch, First of all, thank you for your kind message about the article I wrote in last week’s Irish Examiner.

WE celebrated Mandy’s 40th birthday on Sunday.

HOW do you behave like Speaker Conolly when you smell like Mary O’Rourke? I can tell you, it’s not easy.

AODHÁN O’Riordáin is a Labour TD for Dublin North central and Brian Collins is a Labour councillor in Co Meath.