People who made their mark in 2007
Susie Long
In January, a woman, e-mailing as "Rosie", gave Liveline a devastating account of her experience of the cancer services. Telling of her seven-month wait for her cancer to be diagnosed, she was certain that she would have been treated better had she had private health insurance. By the time her cancer was confirmed, it was too late.
"The blame for the failure to diagnose me in time to save my life lies squarely with the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern," she said. "Rosie" was later revealed to be 41-year-old mother of two Susie Long, and her e-mail would be sadly prescient of further scandals ahead. Long died in September, but in a year during which health stories often dominated the media, she had given a human face to the issue of an ailing and inequitable system in drastic need of repair.
Noel O'Gara
He was a supreme irritant to Dublin city council and the residents of the capital's Dartmouth Square. By picking up some prime city centre acreage for a song, and then turning it into a tile showroom and car park, he was never likely to win man of the year.
He later ran for a Dáil seat in four constituencies, under the banner of the Planning Reform Party. In Dublin South-East he picked up 27 first-preference votes, but in Longford-Westmeath managed a stunning 84 votes.
But the year would get worse for O'Gara when he was later jailed for contempt of court in Yorkshire as he made unorthodox investigations into his theories over the "true" identity of the Yorksire Ripper. But, as of now, he still owns a square in the heart of leafy Dublin.
Justine Delaney-Wilson
Before the summer, few people outside of journalism had heard of Justine Delaney-Wilson. When she released her book on cocaine and the middle classes, The High Society, most journalists didn't know who she was either. How was it possible, they asked, for a newcomer to convince a Government Minister to admit, on tape, in Buswell's hotel, to drug-taking? By the end of November, they also wondered if, before adapting her book for a two-part documentary, RTÉ should have asked a few questions too. With the tape destroyed, and the author in New Zealand, her integrity came under scrutiny. RTÉ launched an internal investigation, which was accused of being a whitewash. But it would seem that in launching herself so quickly into the public consciousness, Delaney-Wilson has paid the highest price.
Joe O'Reilly
Few trials in recent times have gripped the public interest as much as that of Joe O'Reilly, accused of murdering his wife Rachel in their home in October 2004. Since that event, and his subsequent appearance on The Late Late Show, it was widely believed that he was the killer. During his trial, the revelations of an affair, and subsequent e-mails and texts to his family and mistress, damned his reputation as a husband while the jury ultimately felt certain that the evidence (central to which were mobile phone records) was strong enough to convict him. He received a life sentence, books were soon on the shelves, and the press, whose early coverage of the murder had hardly been subtle, finally got to brand him as a "wife killer". Since then, it has revelled in every detail of his prison life. O'Reilly has since appealed the decision, meaning that the story has not yet run its course.
Anne Enright
Anne Enright's The Gathering won the Man Booker prize, taking the literary world by surprise and briefly launching a debate over the rather bleak tone apparent in her writing. But such highbrow talk was almost instantly discarded in favour of a media feeding frenzy when it was realised - some weeks after it had been published - that Enright had written about Gerry and Kate McCann in the London Review of Books in a piece enunciating her darker thoughts about Madeleine's parents. Enright was accused of being cruel and insensitive, and some columnists suggested that she should have her prize taken from her. Before leaving for a US visit, Enright offered her regret for any offence caused, but she had become the victim of journalistic bloodlust as much as anything else, and it coloured what should have been a moment of pure joy for the Bray-based writer.
Michael McDowell
He divided opinions like few other politicians, although it turned out that the balance came down very heavily against Michael McDowell when he lost his Dáil seat. The election campaign had featured the comical Rumble in Ranelagh with John Gormley, but it was to be a last punch from a political pugilist. So, when it became clear that he was going to lose the Dublin South-East contest, he did what he always did best and grabbed the limelight. He barrelled into the RDS and, among a scrum of supporters, barracking opponents and crushed journalists, he announced that he was leaving politics. "I love my country and I am deeply ambitious for it, but at this point I have to say with this outcome at this stage of my career it makes it very clear that as far as I am concerned my period of public life as a public representative is over."
And, with a whiff of brimstone, he was gone forever.