I DROVE to Clonmel on Sunday for the finals of an under-nines and under-10s football tournament. It was organised by Clonmel FC and brought together young footballers from the six Munster counties. They (and the rest of us) had a brilliant afternoon and we were made to feel really welcome by the Clonmel team.

OVER the next week or so, we will see another couple of reports that will confirm, once again, how children really don’t matter in Ireland.

THIS George Lee phenomenon is dangerous. I don’t mean the man himself, of course.

WASN’T it Queen Elizabeth who first used the phrase “annus horribilis” to refer back to a particularly bad period in her long reign?

WHEN you’re hot, you’re hot.

LISTENING to Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme the other day, you’d really wonder what’s going on in the country.

THE Government that stole Christmas. And stole it, what’s more, from thousands of children and families who need it most and can afford it least.

I HOPE you get a good night’s sleep tonight. I have an awful feeling this is going to be a bad day, and that not a lot of good will come of it.

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.