THE soon-to-be-fulfilled promise of Ireland walking upright from the bailout, beyond the maw of the troika, needs a national song to be celebrated. Sunday, Dec 15 is the day of reckoning; when Ireland regains her sovereignty. Great moments — like good marching — need music, and marching and music are indispensable to civic pride.

The Government should adopt a system based on area of property. As the benefits and facilities available to residents in some local authority areas are far greater than in others, a zoning adjustment could be applied.

PUBLIC anger about Gerry Adams’s past, prompted by the RTÉ documentary The Disappeared, and his alleged inaction over his brother’s crimes of child sex abuse is probably trumped by public apathy.

YESTERDAY’S cabinet meeting committed the Government to holding a referendum on same-sex marriage.

PERFECT transparency, like a bird flying into a glass building, is the state of being able to see nothing.

It is a matter of taste, or maybe conviction. Either way the relics of St Anthony have prompted the devotion of thousands in all-weathers around the country.

On this day, 100 years ago, 4,000 workers marched through Dublin, demanding recognition by employers for the ITGWU and the reinstatement of striking employees.

Calm please. Don’t lose the run of yourselves. Less happened last weekend than may be imagined.

AN APOLOGY is owed to Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore.

AT THE United Nations in New York today, Trócaire director Justin Kilcullen will leave the international stage. In a few weeks he will retire after 20 years leading and 30 years working for Trócaire.