The costs of the health services have increased eleven-fold in the last 12 years. The major beneficiaries have been the doctors, the pharmacists, the drug companies and the politicians who have retained votes by opposing the rationalisation of the hospital service. The health of the community has marginally worsened.

Dr. Teeling was in a hurry. He had a surgery at 4pm and he'd like to be called to give evidence first, if that would be alright? No, it wasn't, said the Coroner, Dr. Bofin. Finbar Lynagh was already being sworn in to give testimony in the inquest on the death of his brother. There were six jurors present and five lawyers - representing Finbar's family, the gardai, the Prisoners' Rights Organisation, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the Department of Justice. They were here, said Dr. Bofin, to consider the death of a man aged about 27 years, named Michael Lynagh.

Sean MacBride is the last veteran of the War of Independence and the Civil War to still play a major part in Irish and international politics. He has had an extraordinary career. His father was executed when he was 12, his mother arrested in front of him when he was 14. He joined the IRA at the age of 15 and accompanied Michael Collins to London for the Treaty negotiations when he was 17.

Since 1968 a series of reforms have been introduced in Northem Ireland which had as their objective the ensuring of equal treatment as between Protestants and Catholics. However, in spite of successive measures and indeed some goodwill on the part of both the former Stormont and later Westminster authorities these reforms have failed. This has been especially so in the critical area of employment, where the position is now, if anything, worse than it was 14 years ago.

Jim Telfer's assertion on television that he felt that the British Lions would need big forwards and big men in midfield for the 1983 tour of New Zealand suggests that he, as coach, and Bill McBride, as manager, have already formulated their policy for the selection of the team. The only area of the pack where size could be a matter of choice is in the back row, and the idea that you need large lumps at loose forward in the Land of the Long White Cloud is familiar enough.

The game against Spain was the 10th competitive international under Eoin Hand's managership. The time has come to put the question: just how good exactly are the Republic of Ireland team? There has been a tendency to analyse our achievements too much in our own terms. That way a distorted picture has been built up so that Ireland are often over-praised when they win and over-criticised when they lose.