We find ourselves in one of the most difficult and uncertain times in living memory

Brain Lenihan's opening line of his budget speech on Tuesday

Like a Hallowe'en B-movie, Nightmare on Merrion Street, with mood music from the shower scene in Psycho

Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton's reaction to the budget in the Dáil

They put the old people on bicycles and took the medical cards off them

Fine Gael's Michael Ring comments on the over-70s medical card controversy

Derek loved Anthony from the moment he was born. He was very protective of him. Derek tried to fill the role of father with his two younger brothers. Any punishment Derek receives will not be as bad as what he is going through at the moment

A letter by Rita McGrath read out in court where she appealed for leniency as her son Derek was sentenced for fatally stabbing his brother Anthony in a drunken row. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years for manslaughter

If that was Steve Staunton or Brian Kerr or Mick McCarthy, he'd be getting plenty of welly. And he'd deserve plenty of welly. He's way out of order

Eamon Dunphy gives his opinion of soccer manager Giovanni Trapattoni's team selection for Ireland's one-nil win against Cyprus on Wednesday

Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago

John McCain, defending himself against Barack Obama in their final debate this week

If I have occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people, you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush

Obama's response