What is important is that they move, not just sooner rather than later, but that they move with credibility so that everybody, including even the most sceptical and suspicious, can be convinced. - Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, as it is reported that the IRA is about to begin decommissioning
The IRA is making the rules, controlling the programme, refusing the photography, appointing their own referees and engineering the whole affair.
The leader of the DUP, the Rev Ian Paisley, is not convinced by IRA plans to disarm
Those who have been doing these reforms have been magnificent performers. I quote Ireland.
President of the European Central Bank , Jean Claude Trichet, holds up Ireland as an example of how countries can succeed within the euro zone
Bad money shouldn't be burned, it should be transformed.
Mexican Bishop Ramón Godínez says he has accepted donations from drug-dealers
And at the end of the day, it's not more money - or rather less of a financial penalty - that makes you want a third child. It's the idea of having a third child.
Reaction of Sylvie Clarke, a mother from Lille, as the French government, which is hoping to arrest the declining birth rate, announces financial incentives for couples who have a third child
In all probability, at least for the next two or three years, we will not have a constitution.
José Manuel Barroso, EU commission president, says a European constitution may be several years off
Dáil Wars - Attack of the Socialists.
Leaflet produced by the Young Progressive Democrats claims that a Fine Gael-Labour government would lead the country to the dark side
Let me go to the house of the Father.
The Vatican reveals the final words of Pope John Paul II
People need to know that sectarianism has an economic as well as a human cost: it saps business confidence, costs jobs and mortgages, trapping communities in a cycle of poverty and hopelessness.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern says rioting in the North has dissuaded US firms from investing there
After 65 years of trading in the one place, it is time to move on.
Maureen Kenny of Kenny's Bookstore, Galway, which is abandoning the physical realm to sell its wares over the internet
Children are spending longer than is good for them in childcare, as research has repeatedly shown. The longer they spend in childcare, the more stressful it can be for them.
Mary McGrath of Childminding Ireland, after a UK survey suggests children in creches suffer higher levels of stress
I have no interest in it really. None at all. Politics isn't my game. I have been approached, but it's not for me.
Sean Og O hAilpín, Cork hurling captain, responding to rumours that Sinn Féin had sounded him out as an election candidate
Although it is only a week since a young man born in Fiji in the Pacific Ocean lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup in Croke Park and delivered an acceptance speech in fluent Irish, there are significant borders to cross and bridges to build before the inclusive society to which we aspire becomes a reality.
INTO general secretary John Carr says many young people are picking up racist attitudes at home
The only translator needed is the music.
"World-famous" matchmaker Willie Daly, as it is reported that a huge number of migrants have flocked to the Lisdoonvarna matchmaking festival