It looks like the Public Sector Unions are looking for more strike action in the form of Work to Rule in the coming weeks. When will everyone involved see that the way forward is not cutting pay or going on strike, but reforming the institutions that make up the public sector?

OK so you've decided you want a new TV and it must be a HDTV now. If you are like me you'll find this a difficult process - not because I don't understand the technology but because I understand it too well. Making a decision on ever changing technology is like a leap of faith. You can never have the best because the definition of best is always changing. Well here's my thought process on buying a HDTV in Ireland.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche spoke yesterday at the launch of the White Paper on the Lisbon referendum in Government Buildings yesterday. They admit that the government are asking the public to vote again on the treaty in a new 'context'. The context change is where the economy is now in the dumps and we should reconsider our position in Europe as a result.

In my humble opinion we are being told that the treaty is exactly the same and that our previous rejection of the treaty is the cause of all our current ill's. I believe that Ireland needs to be involved in the EU but as I've stated before this treaty is not the way to make this happen.

I'm not stupid, misinformed or hitting back at the government. I am trying to protect the citizens of Europe from a regime that lacks accountability and does not have the support of the voters.

If the EU ministers are so sure that this is the right thing for their countries, then let them have a pan European vote and see if Ireland really stands on its own!

I know the 10,000 electricians who have been on strike have a case and that they believe that they have exhausted their avenues for progress but I can't bring myself to support their strike action in the current economic environment. There are now over 400,000 people unemployed and many more self employed electricians who do not qualify to sign on. It is an insult to these people and the rest of those in the country who are being forced to take pay cuts to keep their jobs.

As for the unions supporting an all out strike if the issue is not resolved - lads you need to take a dose of reality. The public will be split on this and you will not therefore get the support you need. I think that this will eventually lead to further job losses.

Sit down and talk the issue through. Get arbitration if you need but stop the strikes.

It is difficult to know where to start with any article on the state of Irish Healthcare. No matter who you speak to they can give you a list of problems longer than your arms, waste on a chronic scale and solutions to their own problems. But who can bring this to a plan and then execute that plan? The HSE were seen as the reform that was waiting to happen - it has failed to devlier on a massive scale. The cronyism that existed in the Health Boards has found its way to the HSE and little has changed. Hospital consultants still run the show and pull the wool over the eyes on administration when making their decisions. The government seems not to know where it stands. Politics is widespread and causing more problems than it solves as usual.

Issues like the location of a new Childrens hospital for Dublin highlight many of the wrongs in the system. The selection process was fraught with problems and even now many do not agree with the decision to locate the hospital on the grounds of the Mater Hospital. If you do agree (or accept the decision) then one look at the plans themselves leaves patients and hospital workers in dismay. No suitable public transport, no carpark on site for staff or patients. So we have a hospital and have no way of getting there. It seems a petty arguement but when you have a sick child you need all of the convienence you can find to get you throught this most difficult situation.

I'm too mad now to go on so I'll leave this until another time.

The European Union's Lisbon reform treaty would have been rejected in most countries had they followed Ireland's example and held a referendum on it last year, according to EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

"I think all of the politicians of Europe would have known quite well that if a similar question had been put to their electorate in a referendum the answer in 95 per cent of countries would have been 'No' as well," Mr McCreevy told a meeting in Dublin.

It is interesting to hear an Irish and European politician speak the truth about this matter. The Lisbon treaty is designed to exclude the people of Europe from decision making. Even its own ratification process is doing that.

Vote No and make the politicians listen.