“They (the IMF, EU, ECB) see this government as a temporary little arrangement, that another is waiting in the wings and they await to see the colour of their eyes”

Jim McDaid’s opinion of the government, expressed in a letter to Brian Cowen

“This day has been dawning for some time”

High Court Judge Peter Kelly orders Michael Fingleton, who owns properties from Achill to Wicklow, to repay €13.5m he owes Ulster Bank

“He kind of creeps around during the night now and then to see if my door is open”

Mary Byrne on the nocturnal movements of co-competitor Wagner

“I just wanted to apologise to you for any offence that I might have caused you… I have no recollection whatsoever. I’m in shock, you know, I really am. I took some Nurofen Plus all right, I know that, for my neck. And as you know, with me anyway there was pints and wine and stuff and… Jesus, I don’t know where I’d begin to make it up to you”

Voicemail left by cork radio presenter Neil Prendeville to young woman who sat beside him while he masturbated on an Aer Lingus flight on 19 October last

“As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it’s better to like beautiful girls than to be gay”

Silvio Berlusconi refuses to apologise for his fondness for young women (who claim he paid them for sex) at a motorcycle industry show in Milan

“If you do not have a deadline, things can go on for years and years”

Prof Michael Andersen, lead consultant assessing the mobile licence competition in 1995, answers a question put to him by the 13-year-old Moriarty Tribunal investigating whether there was corruption in the licence procedure