The Dáil resumes - Two steps to make society more open

THE Dáil returned after the summer recess yesterday and it is hard to remember a parliamentary session that faced such terrible challenges and had so very few options available to respond to them.

Even yesterday’s welcome announcement that we are to get better terms on another tranche of IMF-EU loans — saving us another €600 million a year — won’t do much to improve the mood of the moment as it is overshadowed by the growing financial turmoil across Europe.

Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s declaration that the EC is preparing options for the introduction of eurobonds, despite German opposition, underlines the potential for collapse.