Whether or not Michael O'Leary succeeds in getting control of Aer Lingus, he has already put the airline and the government into a tailspin, which might have been the purpose of the exercise from the outset. By Martin Fitzpatrick

Plans to debate in the Dáil the Barr tribunal report into the Garda killing of John Carthy has been deferred. The report, which was issued in July during the Dáil recess, will now not be debated until 2007 and the chances are it will not be debated at all during the lifetime of the current Dáil. And then the chances are it will never be debated.

Family ties: the O'Malleys and contraception

Judge Paul Carney was wrong in the Pádraig Nally trial but found right in the Wayne O'Donoghue case. By Vincent Browne

Vincent Browne's editorial on the privitisation of Aer Lingus and the government's failure to forsee Ryanair's share buying.

Michael McDowell has dealt what may transpire to be a death blow to the Progressive Democrats by his conduct over the Bertie Ahern payments saga. On Wednesday 27 September, he gave Ahern a clean bill of rectitude. He said: "I think it fair to say in the light of what the Taoiseach has stated that accepting such help was an honest error of judgment and was neither dishonest nor corrupt."

Analysis of Bertie Ahern's contributions to Dáil exchanges on Tuesday 3 October about donations made to him while he was Minister for Finance. By Vincent Browne.

The Irish Times and its editor, Geraldine Kennedy, have come into direct conflict with the judiciary in breaching a court order and in destroying a document that the newspaper was legally obliged to produce to a tribunal. By Vincent Browne and Colin Murphy

Bertie Ahern has done this country some service. He was crucial to the national wage agreements that have underpinned the country's economic success since 1987. He has been crucial to the dramatic progress there has been in the Northern Ireland peace process since he became Taoiseach in 1997. He did the country and himself proud as president of the European Council when Ireland had the EU presidency.

Bertie Ahern has questions to answer about his dealings with Owen O'Callaghan in 1993 and 1994. It seems that guarantees were given to Owen O'Callaghan, who was then about to commence the development of Liffey Valley/Quarryvale (pictured) that another potentially competing development at Blanchardstown would not be afforded tax designation status. Had that happened, the viability of the Liffey Valley/Quarryvale project would have been in doubt. There is a suggestion that Bertie Ahern personally gave this assurance to Owen O'Callaghan.