Let us not take decisions on the back of a so-called assessment by the RUC Chief Constable, a force which is prejudiced against Irish republicans.

- Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness on the threat of suspension from the multi-party talks, based on the RUC's belief that the IRA was directly implicated in two murders last week

The IRA have not, in my firmest belief, breached their cessation.

- Gerry Adams

The Garda is of the belief that there is a case to answer . . .

- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on the recent murders

David Trimble had few scruples about sitting down with Billy Wright at Drumcree or with loyalist murderers in the Maze prison. He should not have any difficulty dealing with Sinn Fein either.

- The Irish News, in an editorial which suggested that the UUP was threatening to with- draw from the talks if Sinn Fein was not forced out

Difficult days . . . it is a time for steady nerves.

- The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, on the Northern talks

I don't think he would come into a chaotic, unstructured situation. The first thing the White House would do would be to look at the context in which he was coming; that it was a positive one.

- Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Sean O hUiginn, on the prospect of a second Clinton visit to the North in May

Let there be no mistake about it, these protections matter greatly to the average Irish European and we should resist any cynical impulse to dismiss them as so much window dressing.

- The Attorney General, Mr David Byrne SC, on human protections and rights he says are enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty

Enoch Powell gave a certificate of respectability to white racist views which otherwise decent people were ashamed to acknowledge.

- The Bishop of Croydon, the Right Rev Wilfred Wood, on the decision to allow Mr Powell's body to lie in state in Westminster Abbey on the eve of his funeral

It is enormously emotional for me. I've been the bridesmaid here so many times. It's great to be the bride.

- Mary Banotti MEP after she was named Ireland's European of 1997, an award for which she was nominated many times

Whoever is now opening his land to the Americans to shed the blood of Iraqi women and children will have to bear the consequences of his crime.

- Iraq's Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al Sahhaf in a warning to Arab countries not to allow their territory to be used as a "launching pad" for attacks

Someday, I guarantee you, he [Saddam Hussein] will use the arsenal

- President Clinton on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

We wish him well, but we reserve the right to disagree if the conclusion of the trip is not consistent with Security Council resolutions and our own national interests.

- US Security Council representative Bill Richardson, on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's Iraq visit aimed at averting war

Make no mistake about it, Ryanair is an old-fashioned, anti-union employer, an airborne Dunnes Stores.

- Pat Rabbitte in the Dail

My first priority is to fix the heater in my car, then to pay the taxman and the Visa bill I ran up researching the book in America.

- Irish freelance journalist John Connolly, whose first novel, Every Dead Thing, has been bought by a London publishing house for a £350,000 sterling advance