We should not apologise for who we are. In an increasingly diverse culture, the future lies in ensuring that our schools become more authentically Catholic, both in terms of the authentic Catholic doctrine they teach and the Christian environment which they create.– Cardinal Seán Brady defends Catholic control of some 92 per cent of primary schools
If it proves impossible for the parties to resolve the outstanding issues, we are prepared to bring forward our specific proposals at that point for wider debate and discussion. – Brian Cowen and Gordon Brown on what they will do if Sinn Féin and the DUP cannot agree on devolution
Sometimes what is important is not to ask the March 2003 question, but to ask the 2010 question . . . Supposing we had backed off this military action, supposing we had left Saddam and his sons who were going to follow him in charge of Iraq.
What we now know is that he retained . . . the intent and the intellectual know-how to restart a nuclear and a chemical weapons programme when the inspectors were out and the sanctions changed . . .
Now, I think that it is at least arguable that he was a threat, that had we taken that decision to leave him there, with an oil price not $25 but $100 a barrel, he would have had the intent, he would have had the financial means, and we would have lost our nerve.– Tony Blair defends his role in the Iraq war
I don't carry a sword for the prosecution or a shield for the defence. – Mr Justice Barry White summing up the Lillis case before sending the jury out to consider their verdict
We have hosted some iconic rugby and soccer matches here over the last two years, so the stadium holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts. – Croke Park commercial manager Linda McCoy on its appeal as a wedding location
The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people. We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit.– US president Barack Obama's State of the Union address to Congress