The week that was at a glance
Cots
Broadcaster Ray D'Arcy and his pregnant partner, Jenny Kelly, last week settled into the sofa in the hope, as he put it, that the boredom of The Late Late Showwould bring on labour.
Instead the intervention of Paul Stokes, who ran from the audience to confront host Pat Kenny, made Kelly laugh so much that, less than 24 hours later, they had a baby girl, Kate.
Cribs
Hotel critic Anthony Lassman may struggle to get a bed in Dublin after he lambasted the city's five-star hotels as unworthy of the rating. The publisher of the Nota Bene anonymous review of hotels, said they suffered from pervasive cooking smells and awful piped music. There were decent hotels, he said, but not great ones. Where he stayed on this week's visit was not reported.
In Quotes
I really hope God has a sense of humour and that, when the referee blows his whistle, the scoreline will read 19-16.
Former Ireland rugby player Ollie Campbelllooks forward to England's arrival at Croke Park.
We now know. . .
Humpback whaleshave similar brain cells to humans.
Half of Dublin commuterssay they would never take the bus.
The US has banned the export of iPods, jet-skis, plasma TVs and Segway scooters to North Korea.
The Numbers
46number of mince pies eaten in 10 minutes by the winner of a British pie eating contest.
€231,514average first-time buyer loan, according to the Irish Banking Federation.
€4.5mestimated amount thrown into wishing wells and fountains worldwide each year, according to a study.