The bottom line is this: a collar will not protect any criminal

Justice minister Dermot Ahern speaks as the Commission of Investigation report is released

Whatever the historical and societal reasons for clerical sex abuse, the government, on behalf of the Irish people, apologised, without reservation or equivocation, for the failures of state agencies

Minister for children Barry Andrews

The damage done to children abused by priests can never be undone. As Archbishop of Dublin and as Diarmuid Martin, I offer to each and every survivor my apology, my sorrow and my shame for what happened to them. I am aware, however, that no words of apology will ever be sufficient

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, responding to the publication of the Commission of Investigation's report into the handling of child abuse complaints in the Archdiocese of Dublin

We have reaped what we have sown

Irish Nobel prize-winning climatologist Professor John Sweeney on climate change and its effects on recent flooding

The events of the past week in respect of weather conditions and the havoc wreaked on thousands of homes, lives, careers and opportunities have been unprecedented

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny on the floods

This is an ongoing emergency, and, while everything that can be done is being done, I expect conditions in certain areas to get worse before they get better

Taoiseach Brian Cowen warns that the flooding will continue

There was no way that anyone would threaten anyone close to him. He'd never hide behind a counter and always confront problems face to face, like that

Wexford town councillor Jim Allen on the death of his friend John Deasy, the Arklow shopkeeper stabbed to death by a robber who threatened a staff member

I've paid for the whole holiday and the tickets never arrived – I presume they're void. Hopefully I have some chance of getting my money back

Padraig Hannon on his planned trip to spend Christmas with a friend in Madeira; he was one of hundreds of customers of Budget Travel affected by its collapse last week

We get more customers at the weekends and when people are off and there's a fair few people off today – obviously not all on the picket lines

Peter Murray, manager of the Buttercrane Shopping Centre in Newry, as consumers poured over the border last Tuesday to do their Christmas shopping