Shane Touhey was found dead in a Co Offaly river almost five years ago. His inquest recorded death by drowning but the Garda investigation into what happened was flawed, indifferent and at times bizarre. Philip Boucher-Hayes reports

The prodigal cost of the state's tribunal industry is frequently cited by critics as an argument for its abolition. However, an assessment of 16 inquiries finds that it is the lukewarm commitment of politicians that undermines them most. By Justine McCarthy

Colin Murphy talks to John Connolly about struggling at the Irish Times, his early psychiatric problems and being the 'nicest guy' in crime fiction

The final days of Fidel Castro, when they arrive, will provide an interesting glimpse of the state of western political consciousness. Already, in the commentaries that greeted news of his recent illness and standing-aside from the Cuban presidency could be observed the ambivalence that derives in part from his status as an icon of 1960s pop culture in the West. But it runs deeper than this. Castro, because of his role of opposition to the United States, is the archetypal hero of the western neurotic imagination.

Veteran foreign correspondent and former Newsweek editor, Patrick Skene Catling talks to John Byrne about bribing his way through Guatemala, romancing Peggy Lee and kissing Billie Holiday

Aaron Monaghan, actor. Soon to be seen as Simey Lacey in The Year of the Hiker, part of the Druid Keane Trilogy.

Samuel Beckett on sports, psychoanalysis and war-time resistance. Extracts from uncollected interviews with his biographer, James Knowlson

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael held internal party inquiries into corruption in 2000. Now it transpires that numerous councillors neglected, or forgot, to to give the inquiries details of donations they had received from the developer, Christopher Jones, and the lobbyist, Frank Dunlop, donations which the Planning Tribunal has since uncovered

The Green Party proposed a motion in the Dáil on 21 March to deal with the 'collective amnesia' suffered by politicians before the Planning Tribunal, and calling for all parties to refuse funding from developers. These are extracts from that debate.

A list of the violent deaths in Ireland over the past two years, the victims and circumstances of death.