BEING a taxpayer is no fun, we all know that.

WELL, Happy New Year to ye all!

WHAT a year.

I DON’T know whether I want to say Bah Humbug, or a heartfelt Happy Christmas.

DEAR Taoiseach and Tánaiste, You were elected to be different.

YOU could spend your life in despair, couldn’t you? Certainly the papers and the news this past week would encourage nothing but negative thoughts.

A LONG, long time ago, when you and I were young, I wrote a column here about the myths and mantras of Irish politics.

The line is from Casablanca, of course, and that movie was about a time when the world was even crazier than it is now.

DEAR Taoiseach, I listened with great care to your speech at the Inauguration ceremony last week, and I have to say I was impressed. It was a powerful and moving ceremony in many ways, and it was impossible to come away from it without feeling a surge of hope in our capacity as a country.

I HAVE a suggestion to make. It won’t be very popular, and won’t win too many friends. But it’s essential that we do something that can make a real difference.