Stop the traffic! It's Dan Boyle's fried egg

Cork Printmakers held a charity auction for the Chernobyl Children's Project in Cork last Thursday. Among the artwork that was auctioned on the night was a selection of 'celebrity drawings in dry-print' by people such as Rachel Allen, John Creedon, David Wallace and Senators David Norris and Dan Boyle. The Green party chairman's abstract print, which was etched on plastic before it was transferred to plate, has caused much debate since it first appeared on his Facebook page. A picture of what Boyle claims is a traffic light has been perceived as a fried egg by some who believe it is a symbol of Boyle's subliminal state when he drew the piece. Boyle has laughed off the criticism and said: "It's not as if I'm looking into it as being my next profession!"

Gogarty calls for self-harm

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's infamous comments that those people who talked down the economy during the boom should kill themselves will forever be remembered. Outspoken Green Party TD Paul Gogarty will also be long remembered for his infamous 'F**k you, Deputy Stagg' remarks in the Dáil chamber. But eyebrows were raised during last week's Dáil debate on reducing the budget deficit when he said, "We basically have to slash our wrists or else somebody else will come in and stab us in the heart."

Right-wing Catholics no better than Klu Klux Klan

Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar claimed in the Dáil chamber that top banking figures have "done more damage to the economy than the IRA". As Varadkar compared bankers to IRA subversives, a Fianna Fáil senator in the Seanad compared the right-wing Catholic and pro-family groups that bullied the social services away from interfering in the affairs of the family at the centre of the horrific Roscommon incest case with the Ku Klux Klan. Senator Denis O'Donovan said, "It is time we stopped shilly-shallying and bowing our heads to these right-wing extremists."

Junior minister Sean Connick became the latest government politician to give out about the media's talking down of the economy when he suggested that RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland should be renamed 'Moaning Ireland'. He added that the programme should get out and about more, though he complimented the show for coming from Wexford on Wednesday for the launch of the Wexford Opera Festival. Connick happens to be a FF TD for Wexford.