ALONG with the Presidential election, a referendum will be held on the right of the Dáil to determine judicial pay levels. Despite private howls of protest and refusal to voluntarily accept the pension levy by some judges, it is certain that a massive majority of the electorate will endorse this limitation on the independence of the judiciary.

THE bank holiday break should have given ministers opportunity to consider medium-term viability prospects rather than short term hyperactivity.

CRITICS of Enda Kenny have taken cheap shots at his College Green performance.

POLITICIANS cannot resist expediency. Urgent takes precedence over important. Years of demographic analysis, a Green Paper in 2007 and the launch of the National Pension Framework in March of last year set out our looming dilemma of unfunded pension obligations. By 2050 the ratio of workers to retirees will be 1.8: 1. Currently that ratio is 5.6: 1.

FAIR dues to Edmund Honohan. The master of the high court has called it as he sees it. His job means that he has the role akin to air traffic controller in processing legal debt conflict.

LATE last week, a handful of media organisations contacted me with bad news concerning the serious illness of Dr Garret FitzGerald. Fearing the worst, they were preparing appropriate tributes. He was gravely ill, suffering from pneumonia and surviving on a ventilator in hospital.

BENEATH the radar of tumultuous politics, Dr James Reilly ascended the greasy pole. Elected at his initial attempt in Dublin North, his rise through the ranks has been utterly remarkable.

THE national preoccupation of living life through the rearview mirror meant that Peter Nyberg’s historic analysis of our economic crisis took precedence over Colm McCarthy’s privatisation prescriptions for state companies.

The hoopla emerging from Friday’s distressed property auction in the Shelbourne Hotel obscures huge headaches for the new Government.

NOW that ministers are sitting comfortably in their new offices, with advisors appointed, time to press ahead with the 100-day programme.