A man called Tigran Petrosian might have studied the debating positions of the representatives of EirGrid and the members of Monaghan Co Council who met in Carrickmacross on Monday for another exchange of views on the controversial north-south electricity interconnector project and nodded with approval.
One of the great Russian chess grandmasters of the Soviet era, Petrosian was not celebrated for the imagination or daring of his play, but was deeply esteemed, and greatly feared, by opponents for his unrivalled capacity to construct labyrinthine defensive positions of all but …

No Leap Year matrimonial proposal will have been embarked upon as nervously this week as the leap of faith the Government has been compelled to make in the people of the country from whom they are to seek endorsement of the European Fiscal Stability Pact by referendum in a number of months.
The instinctive reluctance many will feel at having to trudge to the polls to make another determination on a Europe-related matter, after enduring another tug-of-war campaign between Yes and No advocates that could well obfuscate rather than …

A considerable good news story for the Monaghan area, and for the beleaguered angling tourism sector of our county, was confirmed at Monday night’s meeting of Monaghan Town Council when details were outlined by a three-member delegation of a major international coarse fishing event to be held on waters in and around the county capital in October of this year.
Recent publicity generated by coarse fishing in this county has been of the adverse type.
Concerns have been raised about illegal poaching practices that have been perceived as …

There are several praiseworthy elements to the Government’s “Action Plan for Jobs” unveiled on Monday with much orchestrated fanfare by its creators and, subsequently, a pronounced want of enthusiasm by Opposition politicians and some media commentators.
Its chief merit is perhaps an intrinsic one – by producing a wide-ranging blueprint for employment creation, with a sequel publication planned for next year and the promise of quarterly progress reports on its effect, the Government are signalling some serious, if overdue, concentration on the task of stimulating the economy.
We’ve …

The neglect of Co Monaghan as a location for inward investment by the State agencies charged with generating employment in this country was well illustrated by statistics that emerged in the Dáil last week – and powerfully re-emphasised by a debate at Monday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council which resulted in a bid by councillors to secure a meeting with Minister Richard Bruton in order to redress what Colr Matt Carthy insisted, despite suggestions that he might diplomatically ameliorate the phraseology, was a situation of “blatant disregard”.
The public …

Despite some significant recent successes by the Gardai and the Customs and Excise authorities in striking at its means of production, it is clear that the manufacture, distribution and sale of illegally laundered fuel products remains a thriving organised criminal enterprise across the Border region in general, and in Co Monaghan in particular.
While the breadth of its web extends nationwide, the threads of this pernicious illicit activity are largely spun from the region of which the circulation area of this newspaper is part, and the manifold ills of …

One of the subjects most passionately debated in this country in recent years has concerned the law with regard to the rights of house and property holders to protect person and possession in the event of criminal intrusion.
The subject, which touches on fundamental moral and constitutional issues, acquired force of feeling and relevance a number of years ago in light of the court proceedings taken against a Co Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, who shot and killed an intruder he believed was trespassing with criminal intent on his farm.
…

Even in difficult times such as these, distinctions must be drawn between wise and ill-advised economies.
Proposals apparently afoot to radically change the structures of local government administration in this country, which could involve the abolition of existing town councils and the reduction in the number of county councils as a new district council structure is evolved, would seem to fall into the latter category.
A meeting arranged by Ballybay Town Councillor Gerry Treanor to take place in the town’s Wetlands Centre next Monday (see story page one) …

Many apocalyptic predictions in diverse ancient cultures converge around the year 2012.
The prevailing worldview, founded in rationality and increasingly secular in emphasis, has long since consigned these dire forecasts to the superstitious fringes of thought – although they have surfaced, and will do so increasingly as this New Year progresses, in various forms of our popular culture.
Nonetheless, sober political and economic analysis pictures the year ahead, if not in ‘end of the world’ terminology, in terms of such gloom and uncertainty as to strongly suggest …

Newspapers, and media outlets generally, are often castigated for foregrounding bad news at the expense of the good.
It’s an age-old complaint, but one that seems to have added force nowadays.
Given the fact that there is little break in the cloud cover of global economic gloom, it can be argued that being bombarded relentlessly by news negativity can sustain and even deepen the mood of depression and demotivation it is all too easy for people to fall prey to – and that such a phenomenon can even …