EU commissioner Charlie McCreevey has said the Irish public will be “defying their commonsense” if they vote against the EU treaty, which is a constitution in all but name.

SERIOUS moves are taking place to get rid of the cheque book and to move the economy from cash to cards by 2010.

FORMER Taoiseach Charles Haughey received pension payments of over €132,000 in 2004 as part of a €12 million pension bill for former Oireachtas members.

Counting got underway at 9am today in both the Kildare North and Meath constituencies where by-elections were held yesterday.

The Minister for Defence, Michael Smith, has indicated that he will not be stepping down from office after the resignation of the Minister for Agriculture Joe Walsh yesterday.

POOR cost planning and delays in implementing a major road improvements programme by the National Roads Authority have been blamed for an almost 200% increase to €15.6 billion in the cost of the project over a two-year period.

ON March 3, 2000, I sent a formal request to the Department of Health, under the Freedom of Information Act, for information and records regarding the Nationally Approved Guidelines, Protocols, Principles and Standards of Good Practice for the Investigation and Validation of Reported Alleged Cases of Child Sexual Abuse pertaining to the period January 1983 to January 2001.

ENTERPRISE Minister Mary Harney and European Parliament President Pat Cox both indicated Europe should not move against France and Germany if they continue to breach the eurozone’s Growth and Stability Pact.

THE only real disappointment for Mick O’Dwyer in Croke Park yesterday came when he visited the Kildare dressing room to say the few words which every winning manager hopes will lift the spirit of the opposition.

COSTLY tribunals of inquiry are the only way important matters of public interest can be publicly investigated because the Government has abandoned the only viable alternative, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has warned.