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We are carving out hills to support mortgages in major acts of denial involving our historic inheritances, and our futures, whilst existing in a stressful present.

Now that the new Government is installed in office, the roles played by the Irish Times and the Mahon Tribunal in the Election should not be forgotten. It may be tempting for those directly concerned to draw a veil over the entire saga, but actions that have been described as a threat to the electoral process should not be allowed to fade so easily from public memory.

Speaking on the Last Word programme on Today FM on 19 June Republican Sinn Féin Vice President Des Dalton said that Republicans would oppose any visit to the 26-Counties by the Queen of England.

Right-wing commentators, (and some lefties), have used variations of the "contented middle class majority" argument to explain the recent election result. Many people however, want genuine change, (protecting the environment, investment in health and services for people with disabilities, opposition to the Iraq war etc).

Over the last week political analysts have been straining themselves to stress the massive gamble that the Green Party has taken in entering government alongside Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats. The decision to take up the position of the junior partners in coalition is a massive gamble but one that had to be taken at this juncture.

On the 29th January, 2003, Minister John O'Donoghue spoke at the launch of two important documents commissioned by the Music Board of Ireland, an interim body established by Síle de Valera during her tenure as Minister for the the then Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. The documents, entitled a Strategic Plan for the Development of the Music Industry and the Economic Significance of the Irish Music Industry, portrayed an industry of economic significance both domestically and internationally in 2001, the year the reports were drawn-up.

On 5 May, John Gormley TD released a press statement about the Progressive Democrats threatening to pull out of government. Asking the question, "If the PDs pull the plug, who exactly can they go into Government with?" he then answers the question with "the Green Party won't touch those opportunists with a barge pole". This I presumed at the time meant that his party would not go into government with the PDs. 

The naysayers use Ireland's economic boom to argue that we cannot meet our Kyoto targets.  In fact, the argument can be turned on its head.

Two more families have been forced out of Moyross while the campaign of anti-social behaviour continues and the politicians take a long summer holiday.

There is a danger that Bloomsday celebrations will begin to ring very hollow if our poor literacy statistics are not challanged, Cllr Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, has said.