LAST MONTH'S Seachtain na Gaeilge was probably one of the most successful series of events organised by Connradh na Gaeilge in Dublin over the past half-century ðyet its impact on the capital city was negligible. A sad reflection on the mass moveement founded by Dr. Dougglas Hyde more than 80 years ago. 

FROM HIS SWIVEL chair behind an old mahogany desk on the fourth floor of the Observer building on the fringes of London's press world of Fleet Street, Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien, former Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, former TD, now Senator for Trinity College Dublin, can see the massive clock faces on the domes of Christopher Wren's cathedral of St. Paul's. By Henry Kelly

PUBLISHING IN IRELAND has been a notoriously precarious enterprise in the last two decades with two newspapers (the Sunday Review and the Evening Mail) going to the wall and being followed there by countless magazines (This Week, Nusight, Scene, Woman's Choice, Spottlight, Profile etc). So it is perhaps surprising that the most spectacular fortunes to be made in Ireland in recent times should have been made by publishers, those of the Sunday World. By VINCENT BROWNE

Mulligan's, Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2. Some people would like to put a preservation order on this pub and its , atmosphere'. Devoid of plastic trimmings, fulfilling its function as a place to meet and drink in much the way that old Wild West saloons must have done, it's a natural for those who are into basic Living, maaaan.

THE CHANGES in farm taxation announced by George Colley in the February Budget, will not persuade the P A YE sector that farmers have been asked to contribute a fair share of government revenue. By ALAN MATTHEWS

THERE IS WAR today, right across Africa's desert regions, from the Western Sahara on the Atlantic to Somalia on the Indian Ocean. It is as if some subterranean fault was causing the continent to crack along its political seams. The wars in Western Sahara, where a liberation struggle is being fought against the Mauritian and Moroccan Governments, and in Chad, represent the resistance of nomads to political settlements which they resent. The wars there are being fought at a fairly primitive level. What is going on in Ethiopia is quite different.

Jeremy Bugler examines the implications of the Irish decision to join the world's exclusive nuclear club.

THE FORD CAPRI has always attracted buyers with an unusual sense of priorities about what they want in a motor car - namely, appearance. According to market research carried out by Ford of Europe,styling is the key to maintaining the Capri's astonishing sales of 103m since the first model was introduced in Europe in 1969.

THE IRISH Motor Show is a lavish carfest which proves annually what everybody already knows: automobiles are fascinating. Like a sumpptuous banquet spread tantalisingly beyond Mr Everyman's reach, the machines stand in exotic, expensive rows, many of them unattainnable.

THE WORST budget performance in years was given by Fine Gael's new spokesman on Finance, Peter Barty. His reply to George Colley's statement was embarrassing as cliche rolled after platitude in monotonous succession.