Selected quotes of the week.
If the authorities can't protect us then we will defend our holy places with our blood.-
Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia leader, after a terrorist attack on a Shia shrine in Iraq unleashes a wave of sectarian violence
I have found some of the arguments advanced against the free movement of workers from the new member states depressing and, frankly, distasteful . . . Immigration has been proven in the Irish case to be a positive.
Charlie McCreevy, Ireland's EU commissioner
It is a calculated risk, to be sure, but I believe it is a fight worth fighting.
South Dakota state senator Brock L Greenfield. South Dakota is on the verge of banning abortion.
The move would lead to a challenge of the US Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade judgment
We are determined that the will of the Oireachtas and the Government will be implemented.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell says the Government will proceed with plans for a Garda reserve despite widespread opposition within the force
It is important that Serbia's effort leads to full co-operation without delay. It should lead to the arrest and transfer of Mladic.
EU commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn says that Belgrade must arrest genocide suspect Gen Ratko Mladic if its hopes to join the EU are to be fulfilled
We have a cover-up by the government, who actually are in the controlling seat, and they have agreed evidently with the IRA that decommissioning is finished.
The Rev Ian Paisley accuses London of a cover-up over republican disarmament
Nothing is going to bring Robert back, but we've always felt four years was very little for taking the life of a beautiful child.
Majella, mother of Robert Holohan, after the DPP lodges appeal papers against the leniency of the four-year sentence imposed on Wayne O'Donoghue, the 21-year-old Co Cork student convicted of his manslaughter
I couldn't believe it.
Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey after Japanese electronics company NEC announces it will shut its plant at Ballivor, in his Co Meath constituency, with the loss of 350 jobs
Five copies of each of these plans were printed in Irish. To date, no copy has been sold to the general public in Irish.
Bernadette Kinsella, director for planning at Clare County Council, which has spent €30,250 on translating three statutory development plans into Irish
Hard to get good case. Need to move swiftly.
Notes taken by an aide to US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld which suggest that, hours after the September 11th attacks, he was trying to point the finger of suspicion at Iraq. The notes were published on the internet this week
Closure of Guantanamo Bay [ prison] would serve to reassure all of America's friends, including Ireland, who recognise the importance of the role of the United States as a global leader in combating terrorism and promoting democracy.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern calls on the US administration to close its controversial facility in Cuba