The Irish Examiner View: Trojan horse case on river protection inevitable

We have a long and expensive tradition of light-touch regulation. That  tradition, that corrosive pretence, often amplified by sanctions that are often more than nominal.

This sorry truth applies to banking, planning, construction, policing and environmental protection legislation, many other areas too. In each instance, ambitions are expressed through legislation but that legislation is all too often an imaginary presence, almost academic to how we live our lives.