THE £22 million Belfast heist raises the very apt question of whether it was civilian criminality, or paramilitary criminality.

AS that poor old “Dáil pensioner”, Ray Burke, ponders what the New Year holds in store for him - whether he’ll be a free man or in a cell - he can take a modicum of consolation from a presumption that exists for Irish tax evaders.

IT looks doubtful at this stage that even Santa could deliver what Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wished for yesterday - that the deal on Northern Ireland could still be delivered by Christmas. This Christmas.

TO put Brian Cowen’s first budget in context, millionaires like U2 will continue to pay no tax. Neither will horse breeders.

HAD St Francis of Assisi been engaged in animal welfare in this country, it’s more than likely he would have been done for it, despite his good intentions.

YESTERDAY’s Book of Estimates, as an indicator of what could eventually emerge from this neo-socialist Government’s Budget, must come as a great relief to the Progressive Democrats.

IT’S remarkable that when there’s a threat that the State might have to spend money on something other than a minister’s extravagance - like somebody’s rights - there are colossal implications for the exchequer.

I DON’T know what’s more confusing — the American electoral system or the controversy over whether or not Cian O’Connor’s horse, Waterford Crystal, was drugged.

THE future of the national airline seems to be on automatic pilot, and to judge from the confusion at cabinet level the Government, like Aer Lingus, seems to be going around in circles.

BERTIE AHERN’s Cabinet reshuffle was not so much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but more like declaring the iceberg to be a national monument.