The week that was at a glance
Forced to disembark
Ryanair is being sued by a calypso band which was taken off a plane after complaints from passengers about their "suspicious" behaviour. This included being in "high spirits" in the terminal, but sitting separately and quietly once on board. There were also suggestions that a blind member of the band was "reading" a newspaper. Taken off the plane on New Year's Eve 2006, following a Sardinian music festival, the Caribbean International Steel Orchestra did not get home to London until two days later.
The Numbers
40,500Number of pints of stout and lager stolen from the Guinness brewery
€12.6mPrice fetched at auction by diamond-encrusted Fabergé egg
3.4Duration, in minutes, of the average Irish mobile phone call, according to a Eurostat survey
Confrontation, privatisation and Americanisation
Ned O'Keeffe's summary of Government policy on the health service, before he resigned the FF whip
We Now Know...
The Fiat 500 is the Car of the Year 2008
Kentucky scientists have bred a mouse that appears invulnerable to cancer
Inappropriate narc
When you're a Fianna Fáil councillor, at a time when drugs are high on the agenda and the whole country is wondering if a minister has a nose for the stuff, it isn't the wisest thing to answer a light-hearted online quiz, "What Drug are You?". It's even worse to include the answer ("I'm cocaine!") on your Facebook page. But Gorey councillor Malcolm Byrne made that mistake this week. "I made an error of judgement," he said.