I think 'austerity' is a much abused word. I prefer to call it 'fiscal discipline' or financial, 'financial competency.'

I think - whether it's music, literature, sport, art, whatever you want - there's nobody who can stop us if we only apply ourselves with the singular objective of being the best in the world.

The lion's share of the damage to the Irish economy was the fault of domestic, economic, and financial mismanagement.

We must ensure that more binding, durable, and enforceable fiscal rules go hand-in-hand with funding certainty for countries pursuing sound and sustainable economic policies. We need to keep pushing forward towards a comprehensive solution to the challenges of the eurozone.

Respectability in this country was a bad word because people did things who were in respected professions that let down the entire nation, and we're washing away their sins yet.

We have so much discrimination in this world - colour, race, creed, all of these things - and there is an issue here that the right of marriage in the civil law is not extended to same-sex couples.