ENFIELD isn’t far from Mullingar. It was a meeting in Enfield last Christmas that sowed the seeds of Ireland’s Grand Slam in rugby.

FOUR cabinet meetings in a week. Members of the government snowed under with paper.

WHY don’t we admit it? Instead of talking all sorts of gobbledegook about mental health and how much we care, why don’t we admit it is so low down on the list of national priorities it would take some sort of disastrous epidemic for us to begin to take it seriously. We will publish reports, evaluations, strategies, policy documents and manifestos until everyone is fed up talking about it.

IT’S time that all the leading economists in Ireland were locked up.

FRESH thinking and a winning mentality. That’s what I heard the Taoiseach call for on Saturday night.

I SAW Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue on the news the other night, talking about the members of the Oireachtas feeling pain and yet being determined to give a lead.

IT’S apocalypse now.

MUCH as I don’t want to admit it, I don’t always play golf brilliantly.

EIGHT days compared to eight months. Eight days of hope, of energy, of a palpable sense of new direction.

A GROUP of senior bankers have gone to see the Minister for Finance.