At the same time, who knows how any of us would react to a diagnosis of any extremely painful and incurable – if not strictly terminal – disease? As many as a third of Irish doctors say they have been asked by patients to helpend their lives

Another blessing for the Government is the fact that what you might call the moderate, pro-European but anti-Lisbon camp is largely leaderless. For all his egomania, Declan Ganley was a key factor in swaying undecided voters not to give their assent to a document they either felt they didn’t understand or suspected was deliberately obscure.

Sad to say, it’s a telling sign that when a statue to a Nazi collaborator goes up in Dublin, the least that happens is a splash of emulsion. Can you imagine if a statue to Marshal Pétain were erected in Paris? Or one to Quisling in Oslo? Or even of Mussolini in Italy?

All sorts of views were ascribed to her whether she actually held them or not, from wanting rape victims to pay for their own medical examinations to independence for Alaska, to the war in Iraq being divinely sanctioned by the Almighty himself. Her personal life came under withering assault as well

The comforting news is, however, that the Irish population, like that of Britain, France, Scandinavia and the US, is projected to keep on growing. For a country to reproduce itself, it requires the average woman to have 2.1 babies. Iceland is the only European country meeting that threshold, but Ireland is very close behind

As the protests continue, however, Mousavi might be propelled into a position he never sought: the Mikhail Gorbachev or FW de Klerk of Iran, a member of the ruling establishment who surprises even himself by deviating from the line to the point where the system falls apart

The Omagh families have succeeded in turning the tables on the terrorists by humanising their plight while dehumanising the Real IRA. The perpetrators were unable to paint their opponents in court as large oppressive forces hostile to humanity, or even civil liberties for that matter

In the last election when asked what he had ever done, Kenny had little to say while Bertie Ahern could point to his achievements on the world stage. Next time, Kenny will be able to say that at least he didn’t screw up the economy. Previously always the nearly man, Kenny is growing in stature almost by the day

The European expenses scandal is just symptomatic of a much wider malaise, of course. For 14 years, the EU’s own auditors have refused to sign off on the accounts, so uncertain are they about their reliability. So why, having listed just some of the EU’s many obvious flaws, should you make the effort on Friday?

There is a crucial difference between talking to terrorists who are on the crest of wave, who believe they have momentum on their side, and those who have been made to believe their strategic commitment to violence is hindering their political aims