PAVING the way, perhaps, for a royal Irish visit by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, her husband, Prince Philip, arrives in Dublin today.

MIRACULOUSLY, no one was injured when barrels of concentrated sulphuric acid yesterday fell off the back of a lorry near the heart of Ireland’s chemical complex and just after the morning rush hour.

HIGHLY promising moves towards breaking the North’s political logjam were taken yesterday when leading unionists of the DUP made an unprecedented visit to the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body in Killarney.

WHAT a team. What spirit. What supporters.

WITH the uncertainty that pervades global oil supplies at the moment and into the future, the announcement yesterday by Bord Gáis of its intention to develop a power plant at Whitegate, in County Cork, is to be welcomed.

COLE Porter wrote about precisely this kind of thing 70 years ago: red, hot and blue.

OF the many issues preoccupying public opinion, the parlous state of the health service is undoubtedly of greatest concern.

BLEAK forecasts that petrol prices could soar to €5 a litre at the pumps within four years are certain to concentrate the minds of motorists and homeowners who are already paying through the nose for energy products.

THE ongoing confrontation between the international community and Iran has accurately been compared with the Cuban Missile Crisis - the world is waiting for someone to blink.

AS history shows, few issues have greater potential to cause division and strife among the people of the world than the vexed question of religion.

IF teachers anticipated any dramatic initiative from Education Minister Mary Hanafin, in response to their long running and, it has to be said, fully justified demands for a significant reduction in class sizes, they were sorely disappointed at yesterday’s INTO conference, in Killarney.

EYEBROWS are sure to be raised at the surprising results of today’s Irish Examiner-redC opinion poll on cosmetic surgery.

THE Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) is intensifying its campaign on class size by attempting to enlist all the parents of primary school children to exert pressure on politicians to tackle the problem.

RICHARD BRUTON, deputy leader of Fine Gael, has sought to spark a debate on voting rights by suggesting that all foreign nationals living in this country for three years and intending to stay longer should have a right to vote in general elections, whether they take out Irish citizenship or not.

THE commemoration yesterday of the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising was, in the words of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, “a day of remembrance, reconciliation and renewal”.

It may not have overshadowed the elaborate commemorative ceremonies planned for tomorrow’s marking of the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, but the Lie Down And Be Counted protest delivered another apt message to the Government.

It is an incontrovertible fact that the Easter weekend can be a lethal period on our roads as, unfortunately, it has proved to be over the last five years.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has it within his remit to do something positive about the level of crime, instead of merely bemoaning the increase around the country.

The reduction in the health screening of primary school children would appear to be extraordinarily shortsighted on the part of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Ireland is falling further behind the rest of Europe in broadband use, according to an OECD report published yesterday.

The proposal to permit random breath testing of drivers, and on-the-spot convictions for drink driving offences in certain instances, should be warmly welcomed.

The row over the Cork Airport debt has descended into the realm of farce with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) apparently assuming prerogative over the elected Government.

The diversity between the rich and poor gets wider by the day in this country as expectations from the SSIA scheme lead many consumers to ignore persistent amber lights that are being flashed along the economic highway.

As expected, Justice Minister Michael McDowell attracted scathing criticism at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

The meeting of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) in Killarney today has a range of motions before it in relation to Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s plans to introduce a garda reserve.

YESTERDAY, GAA games throughout the country were disrupted by dignified protests of players who delayed proceedings for 15 minutes in what was really a demonstration of player power.

The confidence expressed by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan that her department is fully prepared for bird flu may be intended to be reassuring, but it is hardly sufficient.

The Corrib Gas Field saga is not over yet. One episode was determined in the High Court yesterday when the court decided that the Rossport Five are not to serve any more time in jail, although they are liable for Shell’s costs.

IT is a national disgrace that despite the fact that drink driving is one of the major killers on our roads, as many as three out of every 10 motorists arrested for the offence last year eluded the rigours of the law.

IN recent years, the North has been subjected to a series of deadlines - none of which has worked so far - to get the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin talking to each other.

There has been considerable speculation about who was behind the murder of Denis Donaldson this week. Any number of people could have been behind the killing for their own perverse reasons. Suspicion has focused on various groups.

THE school bus involved in Tuesday’s accident - in which 15-year-old Michael White was killed - was not licensed, Transport Minister Martin Cullen told the Dáil yesterday.

Expectations that the Cabinet would fully endorse the plan to privatise Aer Lingus were realised at its meeting yesterday, despite serious reservations expressed by SIPTU.

Tragic though it was, with the death of a 15-year-old boy, it was exceptionally fortuitous that there were no more fatalities in yesterday’s horrendous school bus accident.

IT still remains to be seen whether Judge Brian Curtin will have to bear his own costs in his attempt to block an investigation by an Oireachtas committee, as the Supreme Court has reserved judgment on this question.

THE mouth-watering prospect of a semi-final clash between Munster and Leinster in the European rugby championship is tempered only by the fact that just one of Ireland’s provincial teams will reach the final in Cardiff.

IF the most crucial annual conference in Labour’s recent history signalled anything, it was the party’s determination to convince voters it would be a safe pair of hands in any alternative government.

WHEN Transport Minister Martin Cullen first unveiled the 35 new penalty points, the plan was to introduce them today - April Fool's Day.