Back in 1967, on April 11 to be precise, the then minister for finance delivered a very long and very remarkable budget speech. 

A regulator could ensure that development plans complied with best planning practice, writes Michael Clifford.

A man armed with an axe on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital may have been planning to attempt the release of his girlfriend from a unit in the complex.

THE general election of 1989 was the first to produce a Fianna Fáil coalition government. 

We don’t own our natural resources under Article 10 of the Constitution. It needs to be repealed, but is there anyone with the bottle to take it on, asks Eddie Hobbs

The €159m Mahon Tribunal has been forced to overturn a series of corruption findings against former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke and key businessmen in a damaging blow to the investigation.

When PJ Mara resigned as Fianna Fáil director of elections for the Nice Treaty referendum in 2002 after adverse findings against him in the Flood Tribunal, it looked like he might be departing the political scene for good.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Ray Burke is not corrupt. A paper trail of money received by him is simply a testament to his political ability, says Michael Clifford

With handicaps ranging from plus 4 to 1.1, the high quality of the entry for the West Coast Hotels sponsored South of Ireland Championship beginning at Lahinch this morning is a source of considerable satisfaction for the organising committee.

Senior Celtic Tiger cabinet members, including Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, and Mary Harney, are still receiving gold-plated ministerial pensions worth up to €80,000 a year, despite seven years of economic crisis.

HOW do you solve a problem like Charlie? Not easily, if the dramatisation of Charlie Haughey’s life that has been showing for the last two Sundays is anything to go by.

The full costs of the Planning Tribunal will not go beyond the estimated €159 million despite the decision to award costs to former minister Ray Burke and a number of businessmen.

I used to work in a bunker. At least, that’s how it felt.

AS the new year is almost upon us we conclude our series of favourite walks with this fine walk which has for a long time been near the top of my list for birdwatching in winter.

Former junior minister Ivor Callely has been jailed for five months for fraudulently claiming mobile expenses while he was a senator after a judge ruled that his position at the time was an aggravating factor in the case.

ONE word stood out from the judgment that sent Ivor Callely to prison for five months yesterday. Entitlement.

Former junior minister Ivor Callely has been jailed for five months for fraudulently claiming mobile expenses at Leinster House while he was a senator.

On the face of it, the Government’s decision yesterday to increase the tax take for the State from all future commercial oil and gas discoveries in Irish waters is a good one.

Ireland’s tax regime for oil and gas exploration is to be reformed, with future discoveries taxed according to their scale and value.

Nothing became Alan Shatter like the manner of his leaving. Yesterday, the former minister for justice tied up some loose ends following his departure from government two weeks ago.

Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill looks at a documentary that explores Ireland’s oil and gas resources that claims the Government is being careless with the country’s precious stocks.

Eddie Hobbs has picked his latest target, the oil industry, and is planning on putting a movement together to try and change Ireland’s attitude to offshore oil and gas.

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL was in Dublin last week, flogging a book, revisiting the past, and standing by an old pal.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin were among hundreds of mourners who gathered yesterday to pay tribute at the funeral of former minister Noel Davern, who died suddenly at the weekend.

Littlefinger as Charlie Haughey? Nidge as Mara? How we scoffed. But we scoff no more…

Independent advisers are being sought by Government to assess if the right tax is being charged for the oil and gas industry.

WE don’t do corruption in this country.

ONE word has been largely missing from the reams of coverage of the Anglo Tapes and that word is... morality.

The latest tax defaulters list from the Revenue Commissioners bears a resemblance to the witness list of the tribunals of yesteryear.

The State is facing legal bills of more than €400m from the Mahon and Moriarty Tribunals.

The publication of the Mahon report in March ended the era of tribunals, writes Michael Clifford

NORMALLY at this time of year I go out and start collecting.

Irish onshore and offshore oil and gas reserves could be worth more than €2tn, writes John Hearne

As pay levels of top-earning bankers come under intense scrutiny, updated figures show taxpayers are also footing an annual €9.65m pensions bill for 111 former ministers.

The tantalising discovery of a commercial oil field off Barryroe on the Cork coast has rekindled debate on the generous nature of Ireland’s oil and gas tax deal.

Like a lot of people, I am convinced that our politicians actually think that we are all idiots complete with the memory span of goldfish. I’d like to think differently but the list of items that support this argument is endless.

Ireland may not be corrupt in the way Mugabe’s Zimbabwe or Putin’s Russia is — citizens don’t disappear if they challenge the incumbent autocrat, the majority don’t starve while a kleptomaniac dictator drains the public coffers — but that legislation as obvious and basic as that advanced this week suggests we have some considerable catching up to do if we are to at least confront corruption in Irish life.

SOMETIMES, the circus gets out of hand. Last Sunday, a Government minister decried the slow rate of progress in criminal investigations into the banking collapse and the results from tribunal reports.

Politics has to be taken out of policing to protect it from Government interference, middle-ranking gardaí have said.

Since the publication of the Mahon Tribunal report, there has been much breast beating about corruption. Politicians have lined up to decry how planning was debased by corrupt councillors.