Former Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery has said that gender quotas have made it "difficult" for young, ambitious men in politics.

Former Tánaiste Michael McDowell said the banking inquiry has shown that "political incompetence" played a role in the economic collapse.

The rate of suicide in one coroner’s area has doubled in the past five years.

The job of sorting through mortgages in arrears and SME debts could be completed by 2016 so as to ensure the country does not “limp on” with the hangover of the banking collapse, the MacGill Summer School heard yesterday.