There is no difference in practical terms if IRA weapons are made permanently inaccessible or unusable - this is decommissioning.
- Mr David Trimble, UUP leader
What they've done on Patten has placed the IRA [arms] statement at risk.
- IRA source on demands by Ulster Unionists for a dilution of the Patten proposals on policing.
The way will be clear for a return to direct rule, only this time it won't be as before. It will be direct rule with a heavy green tinge, with Dublin taking an even bigger say in our affairs, with unionists left with no say at all.
- Mr Trimble warning against a No vote at today's Ulster Unionist Council meeting
A fudge, a fake and a fraud.
- The Rev Ian Paisley, DUP leader, of Mr Trimble's comments about the vote
I think it's a make or break week for Northern Ireland.
- The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson
He's gorgeous.
- The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, of his new son, Leo
What has emerged from all of this is a deviation from the standards and ethos of Fianna Fail.
- The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on the financial wrongdoing of his former political mentor, Mr Charles Haughey
I feel that our sympathy here should be going to the Ryan family on the loss of a mother and a wife, and to everybody who feels that politics has let them down.
- Mr Trevor Sargent, Green Party, on the Government's appointment of Mr Hugh O'Flaherty as vice-president of the European Investment Bank
Mr O'Flaherty has suffered a lot.
- Mr Noel Ahern, Fianna Fail TD
I believe that I should give somebody a second chance. That is what I was being asked to do. I don't think it would have been fair or reasonable for me, taking into account all the circumstances, to have vetoed that appointment.
- The Tanaiste, Mary Harney, of Mr O'Flaherty
[A] symbol of terror and dispossession.
- Mr Frank Godfrey, deputy mayor of Drogheda, objecting to the decision to put Oliver Cromwell's death mask on display
This very endearing, lovable man touched everyone by this purity in him.
- The stage director Peter Brook, of Sir John Gielgud, who has died
There is no reason in my view why we should regard a crash in the property market as a strong probability.
- Mr Moore McDowell, a senior lecturer in economics at UCD
It is like a car that needs a service but whose owner keeps driving it for another 1,000 miles.
- Mr John Beggs, chief economist with AIB, warning of long-term damage to the economy unless action was taken to cool it down