It doesn't take long to turn a modest deficit into an unmanageable one. - The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy
A direct and unprecedented challenge to the authority vested in the Office of the Ombudsman.
- Ombudsman Kevin Murphy accuses the Revenue Commissioners of ignoring recommendations made by him
It's not the Republic of Mick McCarthy, but it's not the Republic of Roy Keane either.
- Mick McCarthy steps down as Irish soccer manager
We could not compete with the power of the bully pulpit of a wartime president.
- US senator Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Democratic senatorial campaign committee
This is my first baby, and I didn't even have him for his first day.
- Teresa McGrath, one of the Cork mothers of the same name given the wrong baby by mistake
If there is an impasse as a result of confusion over paramilitary and political ends, there is no way I can cook up some solution with the Irish Government and slam it down.
- The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair
Needed - world-class captain to lead struggling Celtic nation to glory.
- A banner greeting former Ireland captain, Roy Keane, as he returned to Cork to promote his autobiography
Has celibacy been a contributory factor in the area of abuse?
- the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh
For the past four months I have lived in a hole in the ground measuring one and half metres by two and a half metres.
- British banker Peter Shaw, who this week escaped from Georgian kidnappers
If these two, American and British, administrations are able to achieve their wishes, the world would return to a new law, which is the law of evil based on power and opportunity rather than the law of love and justice.
- Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein
Some callers don't even know the bird is an owl. They just know it's the one in Harry Potter.
- Neil Fowler, of Yorkshire's Owl and Raptor Sanctuary, as Potter-mania prompts huge demand for pet owls
We must move forward or we will fall behind.
- China's President, Jiang Zemin, signals a further move towards capitalism
We rely on tourists for a big part of our business, and some of our continental tourists are heavy smokers and have to be accommodated.
- Henry O'Neill of the Restaurants Association of Ireland on plans to ban smoking in pubs when food is being served
A lot of people are walking around who are obese thinking they are just a little bit overweight, or "well built".
- Dr Donal O'Shea, consultant endocrinologist at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin
The most irresponsible option of all would be to shut Sellafield.
- British Energy Minister, Brian Wilson
The Tory party will last. I don't know about Iain Duncan Smith, because we all die.
- The former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher
