Dúirt Siad...

You are a hired gun. And you get very well paid for it.

Artist Bobby Ballagh lambasts Irish Independent journalist Sam Smyth over his role in the smear campaign against investigative journalist Frank Connolly. Questions & Answers. RTÉ. Monday 12 December.

What McDowell did under the cloak of Dáil privilege this week undermines the independence of our justice system and steps dangerously close to the creation of a police state.

The Sunday Tribune editorialises on Michael McDowell's attack on Frank Connolly last week. 11 December.

(McDowell) wants to deprive Frank Connolly of his right to earn a living as a journalist and by extension to support his wife and children. Like most bullies he is completely yellow.

Journalist and broadcaster Damien Kiberd. The Sunday Business Post, 11 December.

He (McDowell) cites state security in defence of his conduct against the journalist but more often than not state security is a dust that an autocratic government kicks up in order to shield itself against embarrassing revelations about misconduct within its own ranks.

Professor of Law at the University of Limerick, Dermot Walsh. Irish Examiner, Tuesday 13 December.

Regardless of the alleged wrongdoing, suspects have a right to due process. The logic of stating that the Minister for Justice is allowed to make assumptions on the basis of lesser evidence than the Director of Public Prosecutions is one that I could not claim to understand".

NUJ Irish Secretary Séamus Dooley. RTÉ 1, Tuesday 13 December.

The controversies have made his life and his job impossible to carry out. He thinks the way he has been treated has been very unfair, but he accepts that it has made his job impossible and I accept that position.

Bertie Ahern accepts Ivor 'the little engine that got caught' Callelly's resignation. Thursday 8 December.

At a policing level very serious questions now need to be addressed by the British Government and the PSNI. At a political level those who eagerly used this operation to walk away from the political institutions need to reflect long and hard on their position.

Martin McGuinness after the collapse of the Stormont 'spy-ring' case in Belfast. Thursday 8 December.