LATE last night Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue accepted the inevitable and announced that he would resign next week. His position had become untenable and represented a running sore at the heart of this beleaguered Government. For some days there has been the strengthening feeling he could not sustain his position once the Lisbon Treaty vote was out of the way.

The Government has begun the process of establishing the long-awaited National Conference Centre in Dublin.