The Corkman mourned a former Taoiseach. "In many ways Jack Lynch represented the old generation of politicians who, despite their faults, were there to serve. Self-aggrandisement was eschewed in the interests of the nation as a whole. He stands as an example to all modern-day politicians - and, sadly, in magnificent contrast to a few." "Big support for nurses' strike," said the Clare Champion, reflecting the mood around the State. "Our nursing professionals deserve a better deal," declared the Connaught Telegraph. "The Government must do whatever it takes to end the nurses' strike."
The profession had a genuine grievance. The Tipperary Star said the Government's handling of the dispute had "been more than just hardline. It has been positively provocative and counter-productive. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the Government is determined to use the nurses' dispute as an opportunity to set down markers for other groups in the queue for wage increases. This is most unfair to the nurses and is also unwise."
The Tullamore Tribune quoted a warning from a strike committee representative at Tullamore General Hospital, that the provision of free emergency nursing cover could be withdrawn if the dispute drags on.
Fearing loss of life, the Guardian commented that "no strike yet was ever settled without compromise . . . how it is done is anyone's guess and it is not trivialising it to state that the intervention of a third party, perhaps not from this country at all, may be required to break the impasse."
"Think first of the suffering patients," urged the Kilkenny People. "Very few people have spoken for them. Yet, they are the people whose interests are most affected." Appealing to the natural sympathy of the public was astute at a basic level, but "holding the Government to ransom was essentially a short-term tactic resulting from a misguided strategy which has failed".
It had become obvious that "the ordinary hard-working and dedicated nurse has little knowledge of industrial relations (and) their leadership is either inexperienced or is deeply lacking in wisdom".
The nurses should heed the advice of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, that "it is possible for the nursing unions to win at least some of their demands, not by ignoring or by trying to break the Partnership Agreement, but by using it to the full", the Kilkenny People advised.
Heated local disputes made other headlines. The Nationalist and Munster Advertiser said "hostile residents" of a Clonmel housing estate are set for a "head-on collision" with the South Eastern Health Board over a pilot scheme for people with acquired brain injury in a residential care unit on the estate.
A 17-year-old girl was due to take up residence in the unit at the weekend. "Feelings are heightened. People are angry and are in genuine fear and we don't know where that fear will lead," warned Jim Cass, a residents' committee member.
Residents have picketed health board headquarters and handed in a letter saying they intended to picket the house if the unit was occupied. The chief executive of the SEHB, John Cooney, said the content of the letter handed to him by the residents was "utterly deplorable". Naas UDC is seeking a court injunction against at least 20 Traveller families camped on a children's playground on the edge of town, according to the Leinster Leader. Sixty extra caravans arrived after the interim injunction was ignored, it claimed.
"We can't leave, we've no place to go," a 17-year-old mother told the newspaper. "I want my kids to stay in school . . . I can't read or write because I never stayed in school long enough so I can't get a job. I want my kids to be able to read and write."
Cllr Seamie Moore, chairman of the urban council, claimed that "many people in the area feel tot ally threatened and are afraid to go out. It's almost like a foreign army surrounding a particular area."
It was difficult to approach the families to establish their intentions, he went on. "They're not the sort of people to come across in any sort of level-headed way, they just crowd around you."
Feeding meat, rashers and sausages to a grey heron from the canal bank of the River Barrow in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, has become a daily labour of love for Jim Doyle.
Jim, a retired Army transport driver, has been providing the full Irish breakfast for the past three years, according to the Nationalist and Leinster Times.