MONDAY

All the president's men – and his great-great-great grandfather too. Brian, Peter and Martin are on their way to Washington for St Patrick's Day, with the Taoiseach bearing ancestral gifts from Moneygall, including Fulmouth Kearney's baptismal record.

A blue folder hides his face but, as he arrives for his trial, it's the mind of the 73-year-old grandfather, incarcerator, rapist and murderer Josef Fritzl (above) that is beyond the imagination.

Tuesday

The nation turns green and takes to the streets, this time in celebration, not protest. In Washington, it's all gone to Taoiseach Brian Cowen's head . He welcomes guests to the White House, before realising the teleprompter must have had some of that green champagne spilt on it. His host returns the compliment with a "thank you to President Obama". But that's enough silliness, suggests the president later, advising guests "avoid putting any lampshades on your head because there are reporters watching..."

"Traumatic head injuries" leave Natasha Richardson (above) critically ill one hour after a seemingly minor tumble on beginner ski slopes near Montreal.

"Agonising" is how Elisabeth Fritzl describes her mental and physical state during her video testimony, describing 24 years of imprisonment and extreme physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser starkly sums up Elisabeth's existence in the cramped, damp cellar: "Light out. Rape. Light on. Mould. Rape. In front of the children. The uncertainty. Birth. Death. Rape."

"It's a myopic view of sexuality and a nonsense-based approach to public health," says Jon O'Brien of Catholics for Choice, criticising Pope Benedict's remarks at the start of his visit to Africa, where roughly 27 million people are infected with HIV. The pontiff states that condoms are part of the problem in the spread of Aids.

Wednesday

He removes the blue folder and admits his guilt. "When I saw the videotapes I realised for the first time how cruel I was to Elisabeth," says Josef Fritzl. His defence lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, confirms the secret presence of Fritzl's daughter in the courtroom, and its effect. "It was a meeting of eyes that changed his mind."

OK! magazine attempts to wring more cash from its Jade Goody (right) deathwatch by publishing an 'Official Tribute issue 1981-2009' to the dying, but not dead, reality television celebrity featuring her "last words".

The poetic words of Derry man Séamus Heaney (left) are considered a lifetime achievement as he is awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature in London.

Images of Liam Neeson leaving Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side of New York accompany the confirmation of the death of the Northern Irish actor's wife, Natasha Richardson.

Thursday

A recovery will come, but it will be next year, says ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet. There's no time to wait in the US. "Quantitative easing" is rushed in at a speed of noughts – all 12 of them – as the Federal Reserve pumps over $1 trillion into the economy.

Oprah Winfrey (above) is among those paying tribute to Natasha Richardson, saying her death is "yet another reminder of how fleeting life is, and how precious."

It's business as usual in gangland. Following the fatal stabbing in Limerick of
18-year-old Darren Bennet on Wednesday, three families flee their Moyross homes after threats from feuding gangs. A week after the shooting of Shay O'Byrne in Crumlin, Dublin, gardaí speak of a new "front" involving "gangs of young and inexperienced criminals who are armed and off their heads on cocaine."

Friday

Dublin taxi drivers take to the streets in protest at too many taxis on the streets. And there will be another one along shortly –a strike, that is. Dublin Bus will make room for the taxis, confirming its own series of protests, while the imminent end of free third-level education is likely to provoke student street demos. All very apt for the day marking the anniversary of the PAYE demonstrations, when nearly a quarter of a million workers took to the streets 30 years ago in protest at taxation.