A glance at the week that was
PD blues
The PDs are still hanging in there, but a special meeting next month looks as if it may bring the curtain down on the party. The parliamentary party - comprising just two senators and two TDs - believes it should be wound up, and the party's leader, Ciaran Cannon, said that the other option would be to "limp on" while elected members were "picked off the edge of the herd like wounded animals".
Lib Dem Ruse
If the PDs decide to stick together despite their problems, they could always let everyone know with a telephone call. In the UK, 250,000 people answered their telephone this week to be greeted by a message from Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg (left). They claim it was a market research exercise (which would be legal), and not direct marketing (which is not). If they avoid a fine, then Irish parties may adapt it, and we can look forward to nuisance calls from Enda Kenny.
Miniskirt ban in Uganda?
"What's wrong with a miniskirt? You can cause an accident because some of our people are weak mentally" - Uganda's ethics and integrity minister James Nsaba Buturo on why he is seeking a ban on the miniskirt
We now know
A new bridgeis to be built across the Liffey, to allow the Luas to cross the river.
Ireland have been importing euro coins from the Finnish mint.
Astronomers have taken the first picture of a planet around another sun-like star.
The numbers
515The number of motorists who have received 12 penalty pointsor more since the scheme was introduced
€900,000The amount won by Galway man Fintan Gavin in a Barcelona poker tournament
3The number of sightings of blue whalesoff the coast this week, the first validated sightings of the Earth's largest animals in Irish waters.