He's been publicly rebuked by Martin Cullen and got in trouble over remarks he made about refugees, but junior Minister Ivor Callely still plans to be Taoiseach. Why so confident? Because a soothsayer once said he was destined for high office. Interview by Katie Hannon
Despite the radical recommendations made by a government report in 1996, the numbers of drug users are increasing and services cannot respond to demand. By John Byrne
The persistent claim by government ministers that there has been no change of policy in facilitating America's war in Iraq by the use of Shannon as a stop-over from US military aircraft and personnel is simply not true. This government has altered fundamentally policy on the use of Irish territory by foreign military. The change took place first when Afghanistan was attacked by US forces following 11 September 2001.
A year after losing his Fine Gael front bench job for smoking in the Dáil members' bar, John Deasy says he is doing just fine. Katie Hannon reports
Fianna Fáil's campaign of vilification against Sinn Féin cost Fianna Fáil the by-election seat in Meath when Sinn Féin voters plumped rather than transfered to the Government party.
They are accused of being political hacks and has-beens, criss-crossing the country, using all their innate guile and ingenuity in clocking up mileage, meals and overnight expenses. Stung by such accusations, The Association Of Fianna Fáil Members of Prison Visiting Committees has started to assert itself.
Five Catholic Worker peace activists went on trial before a packed courtroom in Dublin this week for damaging a US warplane in Shannon in February 2003. Harry Browne reports
The Garda Síochána Bill will leave the Garda as the only police force in these islands that is directly under the authority of an elected politician and his colleagues in Cabinet, writes Conor Brady
The scale of administrative and political incompetence revealed by this residential charges scandal is almost unbelievable, even in the context of a long tradition here of such incompetence. That for a period of 28 years, a legal and financial time bomb could be ticking away at the centre of one of our most eminent Departments of State and nothing done to defuse it during all that time, is staggering.
"The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for... Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop. (The 48 Laws of Power; Robert Greene/Joost Elffers)