WHEN Justice Minister Michael McDowell gratuitously gave the nod to US security men to take target practice during their upcoming visit to Ireland, he probably did so with members of Sinn Féin in mind.

IT’S reassuring, isn’t it, to hear Taoiseach Bertie Ahern declare unequivocally that Ireland is an al-Qaida-free zone?

WE are still living in a country with a Tír na n-Óg attitude to time, at least in a legal context. Why else would one of the most evil men who was ever forced into an Irish courtroom serve just nine years of the 238 years he earned for his horrific crimes?

ONE night last week gangs of men went into Cliftonpark Avenue, Cliftondene Gardens and Ciftondene Crescent in North Belfast and attacked seven homes: four with bricks and paint bombs and three with petrol bombs.

MAYBE — just maybe — the country has the semblance of an opposition after all, as evinced by the climbdown by the Government on the controversial issue of electronic voting.

THERE are certain aspects of Irish politics that have a lot in common with that inane television programme I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! with the glaring exception that the latter has an unfathomable attraction for millions of television viewers.

IF you had a spare €200,000 lying around the bank account and thought it could make a handy little earner with a bit of prudent investment, what would you do with it?

IRRESPECTIVE of age or sex, the decision arrived at by Mr Justice Paul Carney this week in the case of a young man who pleaded guilty to the rape of a much older man is perplexing in the extreme.

As China welcomes the year of the monkey, maybe the people of Ringaskiddy should mark the year of the three monkeys. Bureaucracy can see no evil, speak no evil and certainly hear no evil insofar as what it can dump on the community there is concerned.

THE Martians may not realise it, but they are part of US President George W Bush’s re-election plans to hang onto the lease on the White House for another term.