We have a Minister for Health who wants to bring reform. It is for this House to represent citizens, not resisters of change.
- Tánaiste Brian Cowen defends Mary Harney as the Dáil debates a no-confidence motion against her.
Let's get back to basics putting patients and their needs first. Stop calling them "clients" and let's get our existing hospitals functioning properly.
- Fianna Fáil Cork East TD Ned O'Keeffe who resigned from the parliamentary party in protest at Government health policy.
It is an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas.
- Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, criticises a two-week prison sentence given in Sudan to British teacher Gillian Gibbons accused of insulting Islam for allowing her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad
The American tide is ebbing, so it is best for you to press your leaders to change their policies.
- Osama bin Laden warns Europeans to disengage from Afghanistan.
All these guys coming back are probably going to find somebody else living in their house.
- US Col William Rapp outlines the challenges confronting Iraqi refugees returning to their homes in Baghdad.
The elections that took place in the Soviet Union were less falsified than this one.
- Mikhail Delyagin, director of Moscow's Institute on Globalization Problems, on allegations of voting fraud in the run-up to Russia's parliamentary elections this weekend.
I am spiritually close to those who suffer as a result of this terrible illness, as well as to their families.
- Pope Benedict XVI calls for greater efforts to halt the spread of HIV.
Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office.
- Mike Huckabee, Republican party presidential contender in the US, is asked whether Jesus would approve the death penalty.
I never personally handled a halfpenny collected for Fianna Fáil either in the United States or in this country.
- Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds in reference to the Mahon tribunal.
The House has noticed the prime minister's remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean.
- Vincent Cable, acting head of the Liberal Democrats in Britain, assesses prime minister Gordon Brown's recent performance in office.
I was raised Catholic. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic.
- Nicole Kidman denies the Golden Compass, the new fantasy movie of which she is the star, is anti-Catholic.
We want democracy, we want human rights, we want civil liberties, but we will do it our way.
- Pervez Musharraf rejects international pressure to lift Pakistan's state of emergency.
This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it.
- US president George Bush announces Israeli and Palestinian leaders are to start negotiations on a peace treaty.
Common sense prevailed
- Gaelic Players Association leader Dessie Farrell as GAA players call off their strike plans as agreement is reached on the distribution of €3.5 million in Government funds.
