This Week They Said

An estimated three million men, women and children are homeless

An estimated three million men, women and children are homeless. Many of them have no blankets or tents to protect them against the merciless Himalayan winter. UN secretary general Kofi Annan fears a "second massive wave of death" in earthquake-hit Pakistan.

I am the president of Iraq. I do not recognise this court. Saddam Hussein goes on trial for mass murder in Baghdad.

I met him. I didn't understand one word of what he said, but after it had been translated, I found that he was very impressive. Martin Schultz, German leader of the Socialist group of MEPs in the European Parliament on EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

I believe that the decision is short-sighted and contrary to the much vaunted spirit of the Genesis report. Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr on learning that his contract is not to be renewed.

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If you have a choice to change or go out of business, then change becomes attractive. The impetus to change is absent from the public sector. Donal de Butléir, chair of the Civil Service Performance Verification Group, says the public sector may not always be as efficient as the private sector.

We will take punishment outside of social partnership but we will also inflict it as well, if the need arises. Jack O'Connor, president of Siptu, suggests that the controversy over Irish Ferries's plan to replace staff with lower- paid workers could undermine future national pay agreements.

We have either been lied to, or somebody is totally incompetent. Edward Walsh, whose elderly uncle, Patrick Joseph Walsh, bled to death in Monaghan General Hospital. It was subsequently reported that intensive-care beds were available at hospitals in Cavan and Drogheda.

I don't pay a lot of attention to them. It was probably padded by some friends of mine. Writer and academic Noam Chomsky, who has been named the world's top intellectual in a poll.

No nation is adequately prepared for a pandemic avian flu. US health secretary Mike Leavitt.

If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or a major pandemic . . . you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that'll take you back to the declaration of independence. Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, says the Bush administration is incompetent.

If Lansdowne Road was not there, it would be redeveloped into high-rise apartments and offices. I think it is a far better alternative to live beneath a world- class stadium than a concrete jungle. Minister for Sports John O'Donoghue on plans for a roller-coaster-shaped stadium.

We're losing millions of hours of exercise through the explosion of e-mail. People e-mail colleagues who sit next to them, never mind those who work on the other side of the office. E-mail helps make you fat, says Dr Dorian Dugmore.

At the moment the ice is free, but if we could find a way of targeting a price on it, we would. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary suggests that if the airline could charge for ice, it would.