THE contemptible arrogance of the Government seems to know no bounds. Last year, Eamon Ó Cuív announced that the name of Dingle was being changed to An Daingean on all road signs, whether the people of Dingle liked it or not.

IN the past week we had posthumous pronouncements from both Judge Seán O’Leary and the late US President Gerald Ford.

IT was a year of hope in the North, with realistic signs of progress in that there was so little talk about ending partition. It was not even mentioned during the talks at St Andrews.

IN THE concluding paragraph of my book, Haughey’s 40 Years of Controversy, I wrote that in the end he “probably destroyed his political legacy. It was a great pity because he was unquestionably a very talented politician”.

MUCH of the publicity for this week’s Hidden Ireland programme on Frank Aiken projected dark secrets of his past that were to be exposed.

MORE than a quarter of Irish prisoners are back in jail within a year of release, and a majority are back in jail within four years, according to a study of 19,995 inmates undertaken over a four-year period up to 2004.

FOREIGN Minister Dermot Ahern and MEP Proinsias de Rossa had a radio confrontation about extraordinary rendition during the week. To say they were arguing like a couple of fishwives would be an insult to women.

HAVING dealt with the Brian Curtin matter last week, I am loath to revisit it again so soon.

THERE was a deep sense of outrage on the airways during the week that Judge Brian Curtain has been paid approximately €600,000 since he was charged with possession of child pornography, and that he will now get a further €57,000 in severance.

THE Republican Party took a beating in the mid-term American elections this week, even though the economy was possibly never better.