THIS WEEK THEY SAID

Elderly people, babies, the hall was packed

Elderly people, babies, the hall was packed. Then suddenly the blast, the whole place flew in the air, darkness, dead people, people screaming. - Maxim al-Karif

head waiter at the Park Hotel in Netanya, where a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 21 Israelis and wounded hundreds who were celebrating Passover.

We don't agree with the execution. We had hoped there would be a proper investigation and then if they were found guilty they should have been imprisoned. The whole thing happened too quickly - the arrest and trial.

- Family of Father Declan O'Toole, who was murdered in Uganda, after two soldiers were executed for the killing after a hastily convened court martial.

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Supermodels don't get out of bed for less than $10,000, so she hasn't even got enough to pull back the bedclothes.

- Editor of the Mirror Piers Morgan, after Naomi Campbell won £3,500 damages in a privacy case against the paper.

He was a great barrister and a great judge.

- Mr Frank Clarke SC on Mr Justice Rory O'Hanlon, who died this week.

I try not to be begrudging in any of this. Ronnie Flanagan, like some of the rest of us, has survived for 30 years. He knows a lot of secrets; he's been a key to the repressive arm of the British state; he's out of it, sin é, good luck.

- Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adam on the outgoing Chief Constable.

Every faceless woman of colour now has a chance, given that this door has been opened.

- Halle Berry, this year's Oscar winner for best actress

The proposition was put to me and I accepted it.

- Mr Paddy Teahon, speaking after the Cabinet decided he should step aside as chairman and chief executive of Campus and Stadium Ireland Development.

I am mad. I have become a tramp, so I must die.

- Richard Durn, who killed himself 35 hours after he shot dead eight city councillors in a town hall west of Paris.

If errors were made, they will be punished.

- France's Interior Minister, Daniel Vaillant, announcing an investigation into the death of Durn, who jumped out of a fourth-floor window in police HQ.

We have come through five years of a grubby Government whose only priority has been its re-election, a Government headed by a man who would rather open pubs than drive this country forward.

- Labour leader Ruairí Quinn, in his speech at the party conference.

I think that's a likely possibility. The reality is that this Government has worked well.

- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, when asked if he would form a government with the PDs in a position where he was just a few seats short of a majority.

He was a considerable, sporadic explosion of acting talent. But he was just a wonderful chap. I shall miss him very much.

- Director Michael Winner on actor, musician and comedian Dudley Moore, who died this week aged 66 after a long illness.

We are more optimistic because the international economy is picking up faster than we expected.

- Dr Michael Casey, the Central Bank's assistant director general, on a predicted 3 per cent growth in the economy this year.

To any fan of film or any student of how a great life is lived, all roads lead to Billy Wilder.

- Film-maker Cameron Crowe, on the legendary director who died in California.

Compiled by Declan Fahy