The country’s second most senior Catholic cleric says the “smugness” laid bare in the Anglo tapes jars with the desperate conditions many victims of the economic collapse now suffer.

Taped phone calls from inside the walls of the bust Anglo Irish Bank have so far revealed the attitudes of just three key players.

DRUGS Minister Róisín Shortall has said the suicide of a young man after a drink-fuelled night out highlighted the need to address the problem of cheap alcohol.

WITH a major study suggesting that alcohol is causing more harm to society than heroin or crack cocaine, a leading addiction counsellor has called on politicians to end their public relationship with drink.