There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see, none do deaf as those who do not wish to hear, none so apparently stupid as those who do not want to seek.

As each minister inherits a team of civil servants, it should be that the minister has the capability and the courage to dispose of the misfits and no can dos - if he sees fit.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s comments on the Greek government’s decision to hold a referendum on a bailout as a “disastrous political decision” seems to confirm that politicians do not believe it appropriate to consult the electorate on important decisions effecting the electorate.

Bertie Ahern’s claim that “when I handed over, we were in a good position” must surely stand alongside the case of the man who set a delayed action-incendiary device on his premises, before locking up and going home, only to later tell the insurance company, “when I left to go home yesterday evening, everything was fine.”

I’ve just finished reading Dervla Murphy’s Between River and Seal: Encounters in Israel and Palestine. The contrast between Murphy’s narrative and Derek O’Flynn’s (from the Israeli embassy) letter last week is stark.

Can the European Union centre and ‘peripheries’ hold on together? Does everybody concerned even want to?

Some 12,000 families will be affected by reforms to the one-parent family payment.

Once again, social media was awash with images of 12th of July bonfires adorned with the flags of the Republic, Gay Pride, Palestine, together with election banners of non-unionist parties.

The EU ‘leadership’ has been irrevocably exposed for what it is — local-area enforcers for the self-serving transnational financial elites.

Re Bertie Ahern’s appearance at the banking inquiry. Bertie received 18 pay increases between 2001 and 2009. His pay in 2008 was a staggering €285,582.00 per annum, €5,500 a week, not including expenses.