This Wednesday, Brian Cowen will hand a bowl of weeds to the world's most powerful man. Only the Irish could get away with giving weeds as gifts. Anybody else might get a smack in the chops.

The shamrock ceremony in Washington will be the high point of a week ... more

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? The revelations about the dysfunction in Tallaght Hospital have prompted calls for the resignations of Mary Harney and the chairman of the hospital board, its members and as many senior HSE managers as can be found lurking within the blame-game chain of command. But while ... more

Lucinda Creighton was right to point out that setting quotas for women candidates in political parties won't solve the difficulties faced by women in politics, but she was wrong to scupper Enda Kenny's plans to introduce such a scheme in Fine Gael.

Creighton's argument that the long ... more

IT was entirely predictable the debacle at Tallaght hospital would prompt calls for Mary Harney's resignation. For a country where resignations supposedly never happen, it hasn't stopped an almost weekly procession of calls for some minister or other to go.

It's hard to think of a current ... more

Angels & Demons

Damn. Ian Paisley was right after all. According to the Holy See's top exorcist, old Nick is alive and well in the corridors of the Vatican possessing "bishops who are linked to the demon". Fr Gabriele Amorth is the man in the Max von Sydow role, the exorcist in an alarming 70,000 head-spinning, blasphemy-spewing possessions. And that's an awful lot of projectile green vomit… Here, mind those Michelangelos...

Glass ceiling blown out

Living masterpiece ... more

I suppose he was like a killer at large. This pain is on us now and will be for the rest of our lives

Timmy O'Mahony, brother of Ann Corcoran, whose murderer Oliver Hayes was sentenced to life in prison

Gardaí now have serious concerns for Daniel's safety ... more

The picture of the week chosen by Sunday Tribune Picture Editor Maureen Gillespie

mgillespie@tribune.ie
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Your ma. I think this is the first time I've started an article that way (usually it's just how I end any disagreeing correspondence) but it feels appropriate on Mother's Day. It has been a very female week, bookended by International Women's Day on Monday and ... more

Have they no shame? In a Republic that is functioning properly, the actions of low-paid public sector workers might be described as treasonous. The refusal to answer phones, the strike threats from catering staff in hospitals, the promise to ramp up industrial action, all come at a time when the ... more