Seven days

"It's going to be a hard year, and we need to keep working hard at it." - Bertie Ahern's downbeat assessment of the Irish economy.
Photograph: The Irish Times

A glance at the week that was

Junket on Paddy's Day
This weekend marks the annual flight of the Ministers, when the cabinet is spread across the globe in an effort to spread the word about the island on St Patrick's Day. In all, over 30 Ministers and Ministers of State will be representing us from Malaysia to Mexico.

Thankfully, Séamus Brennan and Willie O'Dea will remain behind to make the big decisions should the country go to war, face a military coup, or be too exhausted to go back to work on Tuesday.

No kit on the sabbath
The bishops showed themselves to be spoilsports - literally - this week, when complaining that too many children's games are scheduled for Sunday mornings. It could lead to a conflict of interest for young people, said the Bishops' Conference. The amount of training on Sunday mornings, said Archbishop Dermot Clifford, was "out of hand, to be honest". The GAA said it had taken the comments on board, but that accommodating 20,000 teams and 300,000 kids was no easy feat.

We now know
Martina Navratilova is Czech again, 33 years after becoming a US citizen. She still has dual nationality, but admits she is "ashamed" of US president George W Bush.

Ian Paisley is Britain's "Oldie of the Year".

France's final first World War veteran has passed away, two months after the death of Germany's last survivor.

Galway has Ireland's most expensive hotels, according to an index compiled by Hotels.com.

The numbers
100: Number of years a book was overdue when it was finally returned this week to a library in southern Finland

10: Number of races at Cheltenham on Thursday alone, after high winds caused Wednesday's schedule to be cancelled

462: Weight in pounds of a Sicilian Mafioso who is under house arrest because a court deemed him too fat for jail

"It's going to be a hard year, and we need to keep working hard at it." Bertie Ahern's downbeat asessment of the Irish economy

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times