THERE was some disquiet during the week over the disclosure that G2 (military intelligence) were keeping files on civilians like Anthony Coughlan, as well as the usual suspects who had previously had connections with subversive organisations.

ONE often hears the saying that “the law is an ass”. After this week, who could argue with that? On the one hand, we had the dangerous driving case against MEP Avril Doyle thrown out because of the delay in bringing it to court.

IT has not been a good week for Irish politics with politicians seeking to embarrass each other rather than putting peace and the national interest first.

RETIRED Detective Inspector Gerry O’Carroll persists in maintaining that the gardaí were right in the assumption that Joanne Hayes was the mother of the two babies at the centre of the Kerry Babies case in 1984.

THE biggest surprise about the continuing inability to form a government at Stormont was that anybody was surprised.

WITH negotiations going on to form a new government in Northern Ireland, this week’s RTÉ documentary on the life of Kevin O’Higgins seemed particularly timely.

NO ONE should be surprised that Eamon de Valera used the Irish Press for his own purposes, because he saw newspapers as a tool of political power and he had an almost insatiable need for such power.

AMERICA may be the oldest modern democracy, but wisdom has not come with experience. The way it elects its president is dangerously antiquated.

HAVING written full-length biographies of both Charlie Haughey and Jack Lynch, I was particularly interested in Frank Dunlop’s book, Yes, Taoiseach.

THE public opinion poll this week showing that 90% of voters are happy with the job that President Mary McAleese has been doing has exposed some of the chattering class as nincompoops.