The selection of an Irishman to head up the Agriculture portfolio at the European Commission will be seen as a major feather in the cap for the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, following a pretty fruitful week on the European front for a Government about to come under renewed attack from the Opposition.

Ruairi Quinn railed against Church patrons and inequality in education. But his follow-through often seemed ineffective as he got tangled up in his desire to appear ‘responsible’, writes Conor Ryan

Documentary makers say steelworkers in France whose futures look uncertain will “probably feel very nervous” when they see how employees were treated by one of the world’s richest men after he closed a plant in Co Cork in 2001.

Shane Geoghegan was one of ‘us’ but cultivating an ‘us versus them’ mentality just adds to social divide which has allowed gun crime to flourish, writes Michael Clifford

GAY Byrne seems acceptable to some people as President, on the basis that he is not a politician and thus is deemed not to be part of the old Ireland that failed.

STRANGE times in Belgium as the country enters its 55th week without a Government and one of its few cultural exports, The Smurfs, are outed as racists.

EXACTLY 10 years ago, the steel industry died in Cork Harbour leaving a toxic legacy which, according to a government TD, is about to be finally resolved.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has today asked for public prosecutors to examine the damning findings of the Moriarty Tribunal.

GREATEST misnomer of the election was of any outright winner.

ENDA KENNY last night accused Micheál Martin of “descending into the gutter” as a bitter clash over pension payments dominated the election campaign.

HOMEOWNERS have been told they should share the burden of a new €450 million residential water tax to be fully operational by 2014.

GOVERNMENT inaction will delay the regeneration of the Cork docklands, Fine Gael claimed last night.

NORMAN TURNER is an American businessman and the developer of Europe’s largest entertainment venue the MEN Arena in Manchester.

THE number of unemployed people rose sharply last month by 5,000, making it the biggest jump of the entire year, the latest figures show.

WE have never had it so good and we have a Taoiseach who has been in power for 10 years, gaining enormous experience, and we expect him to live like the poor relation of those leaders with whom he has to mix.

IT has been claimed that further delays in providing a new community school in Skibbereen, Co Cork, are inevitable after Education Minister Mary Hanafin announced that a suitable site hadn’t been located for the project.

FINE GAEL justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe yesterday conceded that crime rates were the same in 2007 as they were in 1995, the last time that his party were in government.

THERE was outrage yesterday after it emerged 470 inmates were released early from Cork Prison last year because of overcrowding.

PD leader Michael McDowell recently declared his party would not join or support a government as “unstable or incoherent” as one involving Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens, saying he believed a second election would be preferable to the establishment of a non-viable Rainbow government.

AS a visual metaphor for the rainbow alternative, the image of a bloated man in a blue shirt, draped in a tattered red cape and swaggering aimlessly in circles wasn’t, perhaps, the wisest.

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte last night accused Tánaiste Michael McDowell of wanting to build a “selfish society” that would strip Ireland of social justice.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday strongly denied his reputation for bluntness and controversy could damage the Government after he becomes Tánaiste.

DURING the recent Dáil debate on a motion calling for an early general election, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell gave a remarkably selective appraisal of the economic record of Fine Gael and Labour when they were last in government from 1994 to 1997.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell contends that our legislative provisions for the granting of bail are very stringent. Our system of justice assumes that people charged with crimes are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

THE A&E crisis could be significantly eased by a radical switch in focus to family doctors and community services, Labour said yesterday.

LABOUR Leader Pat Rabbitte pledged there would be no tax increases under a Rainbow government as he moved his party firmly towards the centre ground of politics ahead of the next general election.

Nobody is above the law, Justice Minister Michael McDowell insisted today as gardaí struggled to cope with a murderous surge in gangland violence in Dublin.

TÁNAISTE Mary Harney last night strongly defended her first 12 months as Health Minister, contending her reforms would lead to a “once-in-a-generation change in health management and policy”.

The Exchequer has reportedly lost out on hundreds of millions of euro as a result of controversial tax breaks relating to seaside holiday homes.

IN response to Deputy Billy Kelleher’s letter headlined ‘Ploughing jaunt won’t fool the farmers’ (Irish Examiner, September 30), it should be pointed out that Fine Gael, unlike Fianna Fáil, are not embarrassed by our record on agriculture in government.

AS a former Fine Gael national youth officer, I am astounded that the party has failed to hone in on the youth vote, with Fianna Fáil being the preference for nearly half of the 18-24 age bracket.

THE campaign of name-calling against the Fine Gael/Labour alliance by nervous Fianna Fáil ministers seems to have reached fever-pitch in recent days.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell should offer a personal apology to the McBrearty family for failing to help them, it was claimed tonight.

IT is downright disgraceful that the Garda Representative Association (GRA), the country’s main garda union, has remained tight-lipped in the face of damning criticism from the Morris Tribunal on corruption within the force in Donegal.

MEMBERS of the McBrearty family last night accused the Minister for Justice of hypocrisy after he announced the State will apologise and concede liability in an expected multi-million euro claim to be heard later this month.

The position on a Government body of a union troubleshooter embroiled in today’s massive money laundering probe was in doubt tonight, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said.

The number of serious crimes reported to the Gardaí fell by 4% last year, according to provisional figures published today by the Department of Justice.

MINISTERS will be warned about abusing their office for party political gain after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday admitted two of them had recently stepped out of line.

GOVERNMENT Ministers were accused last night of splashing out €3.5 million a year on dozens of new spindoctors, advisors and political hacks, while neglecting urgently needed public services.

WITH horse racing now mired in scandal and allegations of race-fixing, wise punters might be diverting their attention to politics.

THEY say that the best fish and chips are wrapped in a quality newspaper. Last week’s Budget was like a particularly greasy cod and chips wrapped in a glossy magazine (with a large emphasis on the cod).

Fianna Fail have reacted angrily to Labour party claims that the Government has broken promises.

CHARITIES are wide open to abuse by individuals seeking to evade tax, it was warned yesterday.