WHEN I read the text of the proposed 30th amendment of the Constitution the first thing that came to mind was “Star Chamber”.

OUR democracy and form of government is based on a system of checks and balances between the Government, the Oireachtas and the judiciary.

IT IS the hope that dare not speak its name; it may yet only be whispered even in the secure confines of 65-66 Lower Mount Street, but there is a nascent hope amongst Fianna Fáil’s true believers that they may have weathered the very worst of the storm.