The ongoing crisis in the local and national housing sector is a terrible indictment of all previous and present government policies fuelled by speculative economics and pushed by a EU agenda around privatisation.

I have no doubt Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Magdalene apology in the Dáil was sincere and heartfelt.

The discussion now under way within the ICTU in regard to the commission on the future of the trade union movement will only be relevant to or have any meaning for the tens of thousands of organised workers if it honestly looks at the effect that the dead hand of class collaboration has had on the movement.

THE ongoing sanctions in Iran are leading to nowhere.

THE race for the Áras is now over and whoever takes over I wish them well.

I REFER to the body known as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council which is made up of four professors and one senior economist.

THE country is starting to look up.

SO the Dáil last week discussed some very important legislation concerning ... dogs.

JUSTICE was done in the Saville report, but it’s most disturbing that two of the most prominent figures in the British judiciary, Denning and Widgery, have been proven so wrong in their findings and that such “appalling vistas” are possible within the justice system in Britain.

WHY have we wasted so much money on more reports that will not be acted on.

YOU report (May 31) that the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin is planning to sell some of its property portfolio.

IT’S been reported that, according to the Higher Education Authority, €4bn is needed for third-level education.

THE owner of the Quinn Group says they are making €1 million a day from the insurance business.

SOME years ago we were told by Health Minister Mary Harney there would be a “nominal service charge” of €10 each time one went to A&E.

I WAS flabbergasted by the appeal to its flock from the diocese of Ferns to help it pay for the serious abuse that some of its religious committed against young children.

THE recent revelations that our children’s literacy ratings are average within the OECD and that we are falling behind in science and maths again highlight huge problems within the education system.

MAY I suggest that each and every local authority supplies housing estates with a coal bunker-type container which could be filled with sand or salt so that when we get this type of weather (it will be more frequent than before), local residents could go out and do the gritting themselves.

THE Government has now set its sights on competitiveness in the various semi-state bodies.

THE people have spoken, but it won’t matter a whit to the all-party political hypocrites in the councils who will simply divvy out the plum jobs between each other.

IN the wake of the Ryan commission report, something that has been rarely spoken about so far is the hatred of working people and the rural poor that permeated the state and its agencies as well as the Catholic church.

THE media reports that there is a potential €95 million takeover for Eircom is a tragic indictment of this government and on previous governments in their handling of this whole sorry episode of what was a very powerful state enterprise and at that time had a good efficient customer service attitude.

THE disclosure that the state is paying over €48,000,000 per year in pre-fab rental accommodation is a national disgrace.

CAN I ask why we are not setting up a state bank and to concentrate capital to begin the necessary reorientation of national development towards an economy centred on the needs of the people.

SO Barack Obama is going to invest €10 billion in pre-education in the US.

THE Government’s priorities are now only too apparent following the handout of €180 million to the pig business after cancelling the cervical cancer vaccine for young girls for a fraction of the cost.

THE recent decision to throw out hundreds of speeding cases before the district courts in Dublin once again highlights the way this country conducts — or misconducts — its affairs.

I FIND the comments from President George W Bush on China’s human rights record a mere public relations exercise.

THE international community has ignored the plight of the people of Tibet for far too long.

MY four young children are taught in Gaelscoil na Camóige in Clondalkin, Dublin, in 14-year-old, second-hand prefab huts.