THE crowd in the South Stand at the Aviva Stadium in Lansdowne Road last Saturday evening, with their cheering and singing, provided a noisy and lively atmosphere that made up for many of the empty seats at the European Championship qualifier with Macedonia.

DAVID Norris could have waited before formally declaring his candidature for the presidential election that will take place this autumn.

REMARKABLY little has been said or written about the financial crisis at one of Ireland’s most important companies: Eircom. The formerly State-owned company owes about €3.8 billion but does not look as if it can repay all of its debts.

A WEEK after election day here are some final thoughts on the conduct of the campaign and of the results.

A SURE sign that Tony O’Reilly is no longer in control of Independent News & Media was provided by the way the newspaper giant closed down its Sunday Tribune title.

If Fine Gael is to form a single-party government, for the first time, it is going to have to continue to grab even more undecided voters; yet it is possible that it will get its overall majority without matching the 41% first share of votes that left Fianna Fáil short of an overall majority last time around.

HERE are some of my random thoughts about the general election campaign to date. Significance is not indicated by their order:

THE general election campaign to date has created almost as much noise about who isn’t standing as it has about those who are seeking the endorsement of voters.

Do you seriously think that any of the party leaders is going to inspire us?