This is going to be a big problem for customers, both personal and business, of many of the other foreign-owned banks, especially if they abandoned AIB and Bank of Ireland for seemingly better deals and now have to go back to their original bankers, tails between their legs. Will they be entertained?

U2 TAKE to the stage in Croke Park tonight basking in some good publicity arising from Monday’s announcement of its provision of €5 million towards the musical education of some of the nation’s children.

The ability of the system to cope with a large-scale outbreak of swine flu must be in serious doubt given the problems it has in coping with demand for normal health services. Doctors and nurses will be put under severe stress to cope and will have to protect themselves from contracting the illness as well, not just for their own sake but so they don’t spread it further.

The temptation for the Yes side, if it avoids attacking personalities on the No side, might be to tell its own lies to win public support. I’m sorry for any cynicism, but victory might come down to the side that tells its own lies most convincingly or which scares the voters more

The bad economic news is unrelenting and unforgiving, but the Government is fearful of taking action, even though our recession is the deepest in the developed world, our recovery is many years off and will be weak when it happens, and non-existent until the public finances are sorted

THE collapse of Setanta Sports in Britain probably means little to most people in this country, other than it is an Irish company that has taken a big blow.

Walsh made his offer to work for free during July when the results were announced. He has gone further now though by asking all staff to do the same. And that’s where he has come unstuck. He made the suggestion in the staff’s newsletter – it was not a formal request

Sinn Féin has hit a glass ceiling in Irish politics and this is one of the most interesting examples of how Irish voters do not like extremes. Sinn Féin should have made hay in these polls, given the collapse in Fianna Fáil’s support. Instead, it has lost its only European seat and has failed to add anything to its list of local councillors

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? People bring cans and bottles of drinks and wrapped foodstuffs in bags, so what’s wrong with putting the remains back in the same bags.

So if standards of journalism are to be maintained, then investment is required and that means end-users are going have to pay for it. The alternative is so-called citizen journalism which is great in theory but which has more flaws than merits because of the unprofessional approach often adopted by its users