Sadly, possibly and maybe probably. There is a price to be paid for democracy, that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
- The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, asked if he thought the masterminds behind the Omagh bombing would not be prosecuted. A view endorsed by the RUC
Only God and God alone can sit in judgment, for only He can see into our hearts and minds. The service held today is a sincere admission of the errors committed by the children of the [Catholic] church both in the recent and faraway past.
- Pope John Paul II, explaining his call for forgiveness did not imply an act of judgment on his Christian predecessors
The Pope on his visit to Israel asked for forgiveness for the Catholic Church. I certainly think that in the light of that change and that pronouncement for forgiveness for any offences by the church, that this should be behind us. There is no reason why Christians cannot be buried in a Christian cemetery.
- Meath county councillor Mr Tom Kelly, of the church's refusal to allow Ms Deborah Byrne (18), a member of the Church of Ireland, to be buried with her 10-month-old son, Stephen, who is interred in a Catholic cemetery in Laytown
It's sinister and very unusual. It's unprecedented.
- Dr Sean Daly, master of the Coombe Hospital, after the remains of seven miscarried foetuses were found having earlier been reported missing
In my opinion the shroud is not a medieval fake. The parallels I have found indicate that it could have existed at the same time as Jesus Christ and in what is now Israel.
- A leading authority on the history of textiles who recently examined the Turin shroud
It would be an immense contribution to confidence-building if the public felt assured every organisation involved in the . . . conflict accepts a return to an armed campaign is not an option.
- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern
There's a huge volume of evidence to show that interfering with the years of innocence in children does irreparable harm.
- Nora Bennis, Christian Democrats leader, who is reportedly planning a legal challenge against the Government's sex education programme
The minimum force necessary to restore law and order is to shoot selected ringleaders after giving clear warnings.
- Maj-Gen Robert Ford, in day-to-day command of troops in the North, writing in a secret memo to his superior three weeks before Bloody Sunday
I'll be glad to be back in my own country.
- Paul Berry, DUP, who was n the Republic for the first time to protest at the existence of cross-Border bodies after the NI Assembly's suspension
What we don't need is photographers lurking in bushes. If this is to develop, then give us a chance.
- Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, announcing that he and model Heather Mills are "an item"
You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose children you killed. Your body will then be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid the same way you killed the children.
- Pakistani Judge Allah Baksh Ranja, sentencing serial killer Javed Iqbal (42), to be publicly executed