PUBLIC spending by the Irish State has to be reduced substantially.

I DON’T see why the Government should express either embarrassment or shock at revelations that the German parliament is examining our budget.

WITH the announcement of reforms to the public service, would the time have arrived when public service employment contracts should include a section whereby a public servant who, by omission or commission causes public money to be wasted, should work for a period of years at reduced salary?

IN my years as principal in an English school I was only too aware of the financial benefit that attached to each student because, like all other schools, my school was funded according to the exact number of students on roll.

HARDLY a week goes by without yet another report highlighting the harm caused by alcohol.

Would the INO not be better off applying increasingly scarce resources to doing the job that its members are paid to do — nursing the sick?

WHEN the CEO of a private company receives a lot of complaints back from the retailers of the goods manufactured by his company and are remaining unsold on their shelves, it is his duty to discover and remedy the problem.

WITH respect to the eurozone crisis, all interested parties — citizens, political parties in and out of government across all EU member states — must work together to resolve the current crisis.

NOW that the Irish soccer team has qualified for Euro 2012, we can look forward to great times next summer.

NOT one more penny of public money should be paid out to denominated or faith-based schools in a forward-looking society.