Twelve years of Fianna Fáil mis-government has left us on the edge of economic abyss. If we are to avoid plunging over the edge and ensure that the country is put back on the road to recovery it will require a totally new approach. The basis of this approach should be a new Plan for National Recovery

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore

We pay millions and millions of dollars in tax. The thing that stung us [about the criticism] was the accusation of hypocrisy for my work as an activist

Bono reacting to criticism U2 are depriving the Irish exchequer of much-needed revenue, which could be spent on overseas aid, by registering the company U2 Ltd in Holland

After shoving the garda badge in my face, he hit me three times with the bottom part of his hand into my chin. I was in shock

Emma Collins, in court last week, before garda Shane Waldron, who was prosecuted for allegedly slapping a woman three times in the face, had his case dismissed on a legal technicality

You can't have a cake and eat it at the same time. You can't ask for centralised policies and at the same time oppose a centralised system

German commissioner Gunther Verheugen addressing an Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs debating the global economic crisis

You cannot run the country if your revenue disappears and you don't replace it… certainly within a month or so we should have a mini-budget, and that should be supported by the opposition

Former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald calls for a mini-budget

It is not true to say that we are not managing the economy, and it is not true to say that the government and all those within the cabinet are not acutely aware of the absolute necessity of managing the public finances

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, speaking on RTé's Morning Ireland

I am now calling on government to announce that it will, within the next month, deliver a new budget

Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny in Friday's Irish Times