A major military commemoration is planned next week to mark the 80th anniversary of the British handover of Spike Island and other coastal forts in Cork.

WE are really in the midst of a revolution of sorts. All of the old certainties are being washed away. People are now questioning all the previously authoritative figures in society.

THE Government described the recent meeting with Cardinal Desmond Connell and five other members of a delegation from the hierarchy as having been “a useful exchange of views”, and it has agreed to continue contacts with the hierarchy, which has been calling for a reference to God in the new EU constitution, as well as demanding an end to stem cell research.