At the beginning of July, I received the following text message.

A row has erupted between TDs over the recital of a prayer at the start of each Dáil sitting, which Independent TD Clare Daly has described as "offensive".

AFTER listening to Brian Lenihan’s mini budget it reminded me of what Matthew Henry, a English non-conformist clergyman wrote in the early 1700s, and it still holds true today.

IN THEORY, after the past week or so, Brian Lenihan should be in a corner, wearing a dunce’s cap. But Brian Lenihan may have a touch of Bertie’s Teflon, because, for some reason, he hasn’t attracted the worst of the odium.