It was obvious throughout the period when he was Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil that Charles Haughey could not possibly have financed his lifestyle from his official salary. And yet the media and the political establishment did not want to know. By Vincent Browne
Conor Lenihan TD, Minister of State for Irish Aid and Jan Egeland, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, on Friday evening (8 December) called for concerted international action to protect civilians in Darfur.
At their quarterly meeting in Maynooth on 7 December the Irish Catholic bishops welcomed the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection of 30 November last. However, even at this stage, Bishops wish to register their deep concern at the lack of any reference to the moral issues involved.
Politics is no more now than a game show. Personality and style with an agenda stacked against fairness and democracy. By Vincent Browne
In the last session of talks between the two governments and Sinn Féin at St Andrews, I proposed to Tony Blair that an Irish-language act be brought forward at Westminster by his government. That last session was a very stormy one – it was about putting together a programme to get the DUP into the powersharing arrangements, as laid out in the Good Friday Agreement.
A Cork city council meeting ended in disorder and was adjourned by the chairman on 27 November after a councillor refused to withdraw comments comparing An Garda Síochána's behaviour at the Shell protests in Mayo to that of the B-specials in the North and Thatcher's militarised police force during the 1980s mining protests.
Government has refused to investigate CIA flights through Irish airports and has rejected Irish Human Rights Commission's advice on renditions. By Justine McCarthy
Conor Lenihan, minister of state at the Department of Foreign affairs, has been criticised for threatening to withhold funding from an agricultural charity active in Africa. The threat followed intervention by the Irish Farmers' Association. By Frank Connolly
It was reported over a week ago that Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly had all intensified their personal security for two reasons: an apprehension they might be assassinated in the run-up to the recognition of the police service in Northern Ireland and a renewed participation in the institutions of the "six-county" state.
