Media

I've never regarded myself as one of those silly women who palpitate over film, rock or sports' stars.

Meejit surveys the by-election coverage in which some constituencies were suddenly  became part of Dublin.

By the time you read this I should be revived from my foetal position over the toilet bowl where I will have spent most of Friday recovering from Thursday – commonly known in these parts as St Patrick's Day. I will not have got myself into that state because of unrestrained celebrations to commemorate the national saint and his conversion of the Gaelic hordes to Christianity, because I will have hopefully escaped the bonanza of patriotic, over the top, sure-aren't-we-great revelry.

Sifting through the hype of the Irish print media following the recent newspaper circulation and readership figures, Conor Brady paints the real picture of a shrinking market that is well past its glory days

It's a shock to the system when you spend your first St. Patrick's day away from Ireland and find yourself surrounded on the day by people of various nationalities dressed in green. Emails arrive in your account showing pots of gold and dancing leprechauns and when you are not prepared for it – how could you ever be truly prepared for it? – someone will wish you "top o' the morning". There's no polite response to it. Once so greeted by a Yorkshire man, I risked an "Eee, by gum" by way of reply in kind and he went off, thoroughly miffed.

During all the brouhaha about the Travers report last week, Mary Harney must have had a sinking feeling. In a quiet moment she must have realised that, while the report she commissioned may have revealed the truth about the last 30 years in the Department of Health, it also heralded at least 30 weeks of pure working hell for her.

Irish media outlets have nothing to congratulate themselves about when it comes to coverage of immigration and asylum issues.

There is a fine line being walked with admirable integrity by the McCartney sisters. Much of what has been written or said about them has dwelt on their courage, which is unquestionable, their commitment to truth, which is unswerving and their unity as a family, a matter of survival and solace. Coverage of their campaign to bring their brother's killers to justice has given the impression that they are a new phenomenon within northern nationalism.

Much to the disappointment of journalists and to the delight of politicians, another couple of election campaigns have ended. And even though the by-elections in Meath and Kildare were not the most entertaining of affairs, they did provide a little bit of diversion and amusement in what is threatening to be a very uneventful year.

It's a little bit unfortunate that the OECD's comparative report on taxation and wages should come out as the political system goes into convulsions over how to shift the blame for the nursing home fees debacle. For the government, the OECD report is a vindication of their policy, with Irish workers paying the third lowest tax and social insurance contributions in the industrialised world.