By any yardstick, the weekend by-election results were an unmitigated disaster for Ireland’s main political parties. Combined with Saturday’s massive protest bymore than 100,000 people on the streets of Dublin, the outcome is an unmistakable warning shot across the bows of a Government showing all the signs of being out of touch with the mood of an increasingly angry public.

A politically-shaken White House promised a sharper focus on jobs and the economy, but was less sure-footed on health care reform.

ANGER with “over-stringent” planning policies in Kerry is about to boil over, it was claimed yesterday.