The top story for the first week of December is almost inevitably about the Budget, delivered by the Minister for Finance for the coming year. On Wednesday Brian Cowen pleased more people than any of his predecessors as he found himself in the enviable position of being able to increase pensions and social welfare payments while reducing taxes and still run a budget surplus.
Unfortunately the week's other big story was of the murder of a postmaster in Kilkenny in the course of what looks to have been a fairly amateurish robbery. A man has been charged with murder and robbery. There was further violence during the week, mostly in Dublin where a murder and two shootings were reported.
The proposal to reduce the age of sexual consent from 17 to 16 was debated during the week and the indications are that it will not come to pass.
Efforts continue to bring about a devolved power-sharing executive in the North but it is hard to gauge progress.
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About Me
- Liam Ferrie
- After a career in the IT sector I spent the final 25 years of my working life, along with my wife Pauline, as online publisher to the Irish Diaspora. From 1987 onward the email version of the Irish Emigrant became a vital link with home for many Irish people who had settled overseas. In retirement I am involved with the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland. I also travel when the opportunity arises and most years Pauline and I walk a Camino to Santiago de Compostela.