The following questions are framed to assist deputies in the forthcoming Arms Crisis debate in Dail Eireann and also journalists and members of the public who may have occasion to put these questions to the people involved.

Those who waited for ten years for the new beginning with Charlie Haughey, must have begun to wonder by now what the long wait was all about. In the seven months since he has become Taoiseach, Charles Haughey has failed to make any significant impact, on any of the issues on which he was most looked to for leadership and change: the economy, the North and security. But worse than that, he has revealed himself as a weak leader who mistakes public relations gimmicks, for decisiveness and courage.

The real scandal of the arms crisis was not what Haughey did but in what was done to him and the other defendants.

Article 40, section 1, sub-section one of the Constitution states:

The State guarantees liberty for the exercise of the following rights, subject to public order and morality:

Inexplicably, the judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal have delayed the publication of their judgement on the reasons for overturning the Special Criminal Court's conviction of Osgur Breathnach and Brian McNally, both of the IRSP. But even in the absence of this judgement it is possible to make some observations on the significance of the acquittal and of the affair generally.

Part I: Mount Carmel Encounters

Peter Berry  was admitted to Mount Carmel nursing home in Dublin on September 27, 1969 for examination for an aortic clot.  He had suffered a number of momentary seizures around that time but had delayed his entry to hospital until suitable accommodation became available.  He was eventually accommodated with a private suite at Mount Carmel, which had an entrance through French windows from the gardens.

The inside story of the most dramatic political crisis in Ireland's history.  Vincent Browne on how Charles Haughey became implicated in the arms plot, how exchequer funds were used to purchase arms for the IRA, and how the crisis erupted.

Ray McLoughlin analyses the causes for Ireland's failure in International Rugby

Although he was unbelievably fortunate to have attained the leadership at all, given what happened within Fianna Fail over the last decade, CharlieHaughey could not have taken over at a less propitious time. As is argued in the following article by ESRI economist, Joe Durkan, the Government is now forced to impose severe deflationary measures on the economy because of the alarming size of the borrowing requirement and the huge deficit in the balance of payments. This view isn't exclusive to Durkan.

GARRET FITZGERALD has been one of the most outstanding individuals to enter public life in Ireland. He is a man of enormous intellectual capacity, boundless energy, high integrity and great generosity. Since he became leader of Fine Gael immediately after the 1977 general election he has revived remarkably, the fortunes of his party which in that election, were at their lowest ebb for over 30 years.