The decision to toss our head of state into the boiling political pot of the Middle East might or might not have been a piece in its campaign to win a 12-month seat on the United Nations Security Council. Look, here’s our man at the UN shaking hands with Iran’s Hassan Rouhani, and there he is enjoying a bilateral chat with Lebanon’s president!

A year ago, Leo Varadkar held all the aces.

Des O’Sullivan previews the Irish art on offer at upcoming Dublin and London sales

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe professes to be very proud of his rainy day fund and it is surely good that our Government has a sinking fund from which resources can be drawn should the national roof fall in, or fiscal dry rot develop.

THE Department of Health is an out-of-control monster that could “destroy” this Government.

The Central Bank’s Philip Lane and fiscal watchdog Seamus Coffey have warned about the many risks facing the economy. They should add online shopping to the list, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

A woman in her 50s has been released without charge.

Paschal Donohoe breaks ranks with cabinet colleagues by admitting Frances Fitzgerald made a ‘mistake’ in handling the McCabe affair, says Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

Transparency has proved elusive, and we are being told there is only €300m to €400m for new budget measures, says Brendan Howlin.

It was far from de Valera’s comely lasses dancing at the crossroads proportions, but perhaps given the notorious difficulties at the centre of the issue a tango on the border will more than suffice.

It’s unseemly to view the artefacts of the past on display at the NMI when staff are being harassed in the present. Complaints have been ignored by the Department of the Arts, writes Clodagh Finn.

Primary care centres need to become the place of first resort. They need to be open seven days a week, writes Fergus Finlay

Many will mourn, but few will cheer the passing of 2016, writes John Whelan.

Workers in the public service shouldn’t overestimate what the State can afford, or underestimate how much those in the private sector have suffered, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

There will be no ‘show time’ on Budget Day, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told a dinner gathering of business folk.

The Jobs Minister said a €10 million initiative to support more start-up businesses will be led by people in local and regional areas.

The new rules for mortgage lending will have less of an impact on the property market than “people might think”, according to the governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, who said their aim was to prevent another housing bubble from forming.

Manly knee-slaps rock the polite simmer of exchange in the living-room....“I nailed that one coming around a corner!”

A build up of toxic smoke in a sewer underneath the street was the cause of a manhole cover to blow open in Dublin city yesterday.

Investigations are underway after a manhole cover blew in Dublin City centre this morning.

Long transfers from stages at Grand Tours are nothing strange in the world of cycling but Sunday’s mammoth journey from Dublin to Bari was one of the longest — and logistically difficult — in the race’s recent history.

A couple of news items this week caught my eye.

November 2010 was a very dark month for Ireland, when the weather came out in sympathy with the economy. The scene on Merrion Street across the road from Government Buildings had to be seen to be believed.

The winning of a coveted Michelin star last year greatly improved the fortunes of Sebastien Masi’s Locks Brasserie restaurant, recording profits of over €100,000.

Gardaí are investigating an armed raid in Dublin.

A 58-year-old Dublin man has been returned for trial accused of distributing and possessing child porn on a mobile phone.

A judge has today ordered the arrest of a 17-year-old boy accused of trespassing on Government buildings on Merrion Street in Dublin.

Two reports into a multi-billion euro accountancy blunder at the Department of Finance are to be released this morning.

Regarding Fianna Fáil and Eamon Ó Cuív, I find it very disturbing that the TD does not have the moral freedom to campaign for a no vote in the coming referendum or to state his view throughout the campaign.

THE Government is to revisit the issue of strengthening the powers of the Oireachtas this year in the belief the majority of the public would support such a move.

During the Noughties Government buildings entertained interlopers.

ON the eve of an EU summit, where a draft new treaty emerges, expect a return of the “no alternative” brigade.

Around 15,000 students descended on Government Buildings today with impassioned pleas to resist university fee hikes.

A bus driver was injured when the tourist coach he was driving crashed into a row of parked cars.

FOR Ireland to escape the drop zone and avoid relegation from the euro currency league, we must win our home fixtures. Away games are subject to vagaries of fortune.

A 50-year-old soldier has died following a shooting incident at Government Buildings in Dublin.

An investigation is underway after a soldier died in a shooting incident at Government Buildings in Dublin last night.

IRELAND’S domestic economy is a bit like Raftery the poet: its back to the wall, playing music to empty pockets.

BRIAN LENIHAN was last night derided by the opposition as a puppet whose strings were being pulled by the IMF.

The €6bn Budget comes from a puppet Government under the thumb of the International Monetary Fund and Europe, it was claimed tonight.