Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. The Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte attend a ceremony to mark their departure at Victoria Harbour seaplane terminal in Victoria during the Royal Tour of Canada. Prince George of Cambridge waves as he leaves from Victoria Harbour to board a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada Princess Charlotte waves prior to getting on a float plane as Britain's Royal family prepares to depart Victoria, British Columbia, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte attend a ceremony to mark their departure at Victoria Harbour seaplane terminal in Victoria during the Royal Tour of Canada. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday October 1, 2016. Photo credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte leave from Victoria Harbour to board a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive at Victoria International Airport on September 24, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski-Pool/Getty Images) Prince George of Cambridge presses his face against the window as he leaves from Victoria Harbour aboard a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada on October 1, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge talk to locals about mountain bikes on Montana mountain near Carcross during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 28, 2016 in Carcross, Canada. The Duchess of Cambridge leaves the National Football Museum during a day of engagements in Manchester. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte depart from Victoria Harbour Airport in Victoria, Canada, on the eighth day of the Royal Tour to Canada. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte leave from Victoria Harbour to board a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada
It looks like Princess Charlotte is following in Queen Elizabeth's footsteps in more ways than one.
The striking resemblance between the one-year-old daughter of Kate Middleton and Prince William and her great-grandmother was the subject of much fanfare during the royal Canada tour last month and now she's developed a similar love of animals as Britain's longest reigning monarch.
During a reception at Buckingham Palace earlier this week, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcomed a group of Olympic athletes and equestrian gold medallist Natasha Baker revealed Charlotte's growing love of horses.
“I asked her how are the children, and she said George really enjoyed the fencing and Charlotte really enjoyed her riding. It obviously got to her and maybe she will be here in a few years time,” Baker revealed.
The Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte attend a ceremony to mark their departure at Victoria Harbour seaplane terminal in Victoria during the Royal Tour of Canada.
"She emphasized that Charlotte has this passion about horses, and although she doesn't echo it, she'll do her best to champion and encourage it."
Read more: Granny's little mini-me: Princess Charlotte is the image of Queen Elizabeth as a child
The Duchess added that her youngest would have loved to be at the reception, but would be "running riot" there.
Meanwhile, the young royals are reportedly keen to expand their growing family and have a younger sibling for George (three) and Charlotte (18 months) sooner rather than later.
In a recent profile by Vanity Fair, sources told the publication: “They want at least three kids and for them to be close in age.”
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada.
The couple are based in their country estate Amner Hall and travel to their apartment at Kensington Palace for overnight stays and royal business in London, but intend on living there until they are called up to duty.
"It’s no secret that William doesn’t like the media intrusion into his life, and in the country he can escape,” a family friend told the mag.
“The Queen and the Prince of Wales have given their blessing for William to live this life, and William is very grateful. It’s enabling him and Kate to raise their family in a way that’s as close to ordinary as they can get.”
“William doesn’t want George and Charlotte going through some of the experiences he went through growing up. Everything he does regarding his family is very deliberate.”
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a First Nation cultural welcome in Carcross, Canada, on the fifth day of the Royal Tour to Canada.
A woman makes a phone call as she sits on the ground after an earthquake in Ussita, central Italy Still image from video shows cracks on the wall of a hotel after an earthquake in Visso, Italy. Picture: REUTERS/Reuters Tv Still image from video shows damaged building after an earthquake in Visso, Italy. Picture: REUTERS/Reuters Tv A view of a damaged building in Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Italy, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 following an earthquake,. A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people. (AP Photo/Sandro Perozzi) Debris lie next to a fountain in Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Italy, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 following an earthquake. A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people. (AP Photo/Sandro Perozzi) Still image from video shows a man trying to remove rubble from a road after an earthquake in Visso, Italy. Picture: REUTERS/Reuters Tv Still image from video shows damaged building after an earthquake in Visso, Italy. Picture: REUTERS/Reuters Tv Residents of Ussita, central Italy prepare to spend the night in tents, early Thursday, Oct 27, 2016, following an earthquake that destroyed part of their neighborhood. A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people. (AP Photo/Sandro Perozzi) The Church of San Sebastiano stands amidst damaged houses in Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Italy, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 following an earthquake,. A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people. (AP Photo/Sandro Perozzi) A view of the damaged cemetery of Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Italy, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 following an earthquake. A pair of strong aftershocks shook central Italy late Wednesday, crumbling churches and buildings, knocking out power and sending panicked residents into the rain-drenched streets just two months after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 300 people. (AP Photo/Sandro Perozzi)
Italians demanded that more money be spent on making buildings resistant to earthquakes, as the country counted the cost yesterday of twin quakes that reduced villages in the Apennines to rubble and left thousands homeless.
Several thousand people were preparing to spend a second night in community halls, sports centres or in their cars after the earthquakes struck within two hours of each other on Wednesday evening.
The second quake was the most powerful, measuring 5.9 in magnitude.
Casualties were far less severe than two months ago, when a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit a string of villages in central Italy, leaving nearly 300 people dead.
This time, only one person died - a 73-year-old man who had a heart attack, brought on by shock. A few dozen people were treated for injuries.
Wounded
Still image from video shows cracks on the wall of a hotel after an earthquake in Visso, Italy. Picture: REUTERS/Reuters Tv
Matteo Renzi, the prime minister, cancelled engagements and travelled to the town of Camerino in the Marche region to meet some of the 3,000 people who have been left homeless. "Italy is wounded, but will not be bowed," he said.
He pledged that the homeless would not have to live in tents through the winter months. "I'm optimistic that we can rebuild," he said.
Opposition politicians and ordinary Italians said the government needed to spend more money on quake-proofing buildings, rather than on other mooted projects such as building a suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina to connect the mainland to Sicily.
Mr Renzi revived the proposal last month, promising it would create tens of thousands of jobs, but there are fears it would cost billions of pounds and that funds would be siphoned off by mafia organisations.
"The only big project that this country needs is to make public buildings safe [from earthquakes]," said Paolo Ferrero, of the Leftist PRC party.
"Renzi should stop blathering on about the Messina Strait bridge and stump up the funds needed to prevent buildings from collapsing in the future."
He called for €20bn to be made available to quake-proof vulnerable buildings.
Geologists said Italy was such a seismically-active country that the only option was to learn to live with the threat by strengthening buildings.
The two quakes struck barely two hours apart so many people were out of harm's way before the second, more powerful quake hit.
'Last night Garda representative sources said anything short of a €3,000 to €4,000 salary increase would mean industrial action would go ahead' (stock photo)
Members of An Garda Siochana were last night said to be "determined" to act on a threat to withdraw labour in what will be an unprecedented development that is likely to pose a significant risk to the rule of law.
In a move that will prove deeply unsettling for the public, and possibly cause serious damage to the reputation of the force and the country, around 12,000 members of the Garda this weekend looked set to take effective strike action on Friday for the first time in the history of the State.
Last night the chances of a deal being reached to end potential industrial action in the next 48 hours were feared by both sides to be receding.
The Department of Justice, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) will this week engage in what Government sources expect to be "intense" negotiations at the Work Place Relations Commission (WRC).
But gardai were last night said to be "determined" to withdraw their labour regardless of the outcome of the talks.
Failure to reach agreement will give rise to fears of a series of unprecedented consequences, such as the potential for an upsurge in crime, gridlock throughout the courts system and the crippling of access into and out of the country at airports and ports.
Read more: Gardaí to come out during strike 'only if victim is in danger'
The Garda Commissioner is expected to activate a national contingency plan by Tuesday if the two associations have not called off or announced the curtailment of the planned withdrawal of service by then.
Once the contingency plan is activated, the Garda will seek talks with the GRA and the AGSI for derogations in sufficient numbers to allow it to provide minimum policing cover.
Garda management have also discussed the option of ordering striking gardai to report for duty, or face disciplinary action. It is understood that many gardai will turn up if ordered to do so by the Commissioner.
Last night Garda representative sources said anything short of a €3,000 to €4,000 salary increase would mean industrial action would go ahead.
The Government is understood to be offering to pay gardai extra money for periods of time before their shifts begin.
Read more: Garda strike chaos: Disruption at airports and courts, 'sitting duck' retailers and 'carnage' on the roads
Talks so far are understood to have focused on allowances and some form of compensation to gardai for extra productivity.
The Government has insisted that any pay deal must stay within the limits of the Lansdowne Road Agreement on public sector pay.
However, a Garda representative source said: "Members are determined to go on strike and talks without real money on the table won't avert that."
And they dismissed the Government's move to allow talks at the WRC as a "last minute stroke".
However, the Government remains determined this weekend to hold out against demands for a direct salary increase, although there is scope of increased pay under the complex allowance scheme available to gardai.
Government sources were again adamant last night that any deal would be within the parameters of the existing Lansdowne Road Agreement on public sector pay, to which 23 other unions are signed up.
Read more: Gardai set for talks over threatened strike action
It is understood an offer under consideration would boost pay for recently recruited gardai, as well as increasing the hourly rate, and potentially overtime payments for all members of the force; the re-introduction of a €4,000 payment, the equivalent of a rent allowance, for recently recruited gardai is also under discussion.
However, the feeling on the Government side is that some Garda representatives "want their day in the limelight now".
A Government source said: "They have invested a lot of political and personal capital in this campaign so they may feel the need to go out for one day regardless of what's on the table. If this goes ahead there will be very serious consequences. For a police force to strike in a civilised country is something that generally doesn't happen. The reputation risk is massive.
"You can have all the contingency plans you like but if the majority of the police force doesn't show for work, you can't magic them up," the source said.
However, there was no progress in resolving the dispute last night.
All sides took yesterday to consider their approach to WRC talks which are understood to be beginning in earnest today.
Read more: 'The industrial action is still going ahead' - Garda sources
One association source told the Sunday Independent there were concerns that certain garda divisions will embark on industrial action even if the GRA leadership calls for a suspension of the four days of strike due to take place next month.
The WRC initiative, which was being hailed as a "major" move by senior Government sources, is a step closer to allowing trade union status for Gardai - something which has been historically opposed by the Department of Justice.
In relation to the move towards the WRC, a Government source said: "This is what the associations have been looking for. This is a test for them and their own level of professionalism now. The WRC are the consummate professionals when it comes to negotiation and compromise. The associations are on the big pitch now so they need to step up to that. They have to give ground which they are not very good at."
Senior Garda sources said that the contingency planning has been kept under the radar to allow "space" for the associations' negotiations with officials from the Department of Justice on pay.
Read more: No gardai strike contingency plan for at least a week
The plan was drafted by Assistant Commissioner Eugene Corcoran and will include details of policing cover for institutions.
"The reality is that the focus is on actually trying to solve this issue. That is obviously the main priority," said one source. However, failing that, he said, the contingency plan "would actually have to be activated by Tuesday at the latest".
Three airport authorities in Dublin, Cork and Shannon are under huge pressure to make alternative arrangements in the event of the mass withdrawal of service going ahead.
The airports in Cork and Shannon may have to close if immigration garda, who operate passport control, withdraw their services. Dublin Airport hires civilians to operate passport control in Terminal 1, but may have to consider closing Terminal 2, where immigration gardai do the job.
The unprecedented planned mass withdrawal of service has the potential to expose the security of the State, and threatens the safety of citizens. Unless talks this weekend avert it, the strike will run over four Fridays in November, running for 24 hours from 7am, beginning this week.
The Sunday Independent understands that senior officers from the rank of superintendent upwards are quietly supporting the strike.
None is known to have issued any threats to members over the illegality of strike action.
Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, who died after a suspected arson attack on their home in Hamstead, Birmingham. Family handout/PA Wire Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, who died after a suspected arson attack on their home in Hamstead, Birmingham. Family handout/PA Wire Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, who died after a suspected arson attack on their home in Hamstead, Birmingham. Family handout/PA Wire
Police have named a brother and sister who died after a suspected arson attack on their home.
Eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, were pulled from their burning house in Hamstead, Birmingham, at around 3.40am on Friday by neighbours who tried to give first aid.
They were said to have been "lifeless on the lawn" when emergency services arrived and were pronounced dead shortly after arrival at hospital.
West Midlands Police said post-mortem examinations on the children have taken place but added that further tests will need to be carried out to establish a full cause of death.
Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, who died after a suspected arson attack on their home in Hamstead, Birmingham. Family handout/PA Wire
Their father, a man in his 40s, remains in a critical condition in hospital after he was discovered in a burnt-out car on Friday, just hours after the house fire.
He was discovered in a Vauxhall Insignia about 35 miles from the scene in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire at around 7.15am.
The mother of Saros and Leanor, 36-year-old Penil Teklehaimamot, is being treated as a witness and did not suffer serious injuries in the fire, West Midlands Police said.
Detective Inspector Justin Spanner, from Force CID, said: "This is an absolutely tragic set of circumstances and my thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.
Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of eight-year-old Saros Endris and Leanor, aged six, who died after a suspected arson attack on their home in Hamstead, Birmingham. Family handout/PA Wire
"We are still at the early stages of understanding exactly what happened and why - but at this time I can confirm we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this investigation.
"I am still keen to hear from anyone who was in the area in the early hours of yesterday morning and who has not yet spoken to us, please do get in touch."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Detox: Shane MacGowan stopped drinking during a lengthy hospital stay, according to partner Victoria Mary Clarke Photo: Steve Humphreys
I almost burned the house down just now. The whole place was full of smoke and I couldn't figure out how to get the fire alarm to stop. I need a drink. But I can't have one.
Or, at least, I shouldn't have one. My partner Shane is off the drink and I don't want to jeopardise it. So I sneak some red wine in a teacup.
They say that when people win the lottery, they suddenly have new problems that they hadn't thought of. Shane not drinking has always seemed a lot less likely than the prospect of winning the lottery. Drinking has been as much a part of who he is to me as his laugh.
In the same way that most people need to eat in order to function, Shane has always needed to drink.
Most people who drink do so when they are not at work - because they wouldn't get away with drinking at work.
Shane's work and his drinking have always gone hand in hand. The songs that he writes are more often than not about people who are drinking - sometimes as a way of celebrating, sometimes as a way of drowning their sorrows. Nobody in the songs is ever having a latte or a Coke.
Shane has been a singer all his life, singing in bars and clubs and other venues where people go to drink and have fun. If anyone is not drinking, it is unusual in these places. The people in the audience drink to relax, to be sociable, to be confident, to celebrate, to commiserate. The people in the bands drink to get into a good mood and to have the extra confidence needed to be performers.
So the drinking has not just been a recreational activity, his whole career has revolved around it and, indeed, been both enhanced and simultaneously inhibited by it.
People tell me that they would not get involved with someone who drank too much, but when we first met I was only 16 and I didn't notice that Shane drank. Probably because I drank a vast amount myself, and everyone we knew drank. We drank every night, all night. In my teens, I could drink a whole bottle of whiskey without even getting a hangover. I thought nothing of starting the day with a tequila and grapefruit. And at the office where I worked in London, lunch was typically a gin and tonic and a sandwich. After work, everyone went to the pub - every night.
And so, it took some time before Shane's drinking went from being just a normal part of life to being a problem.
The main problem was not being able to go anywhere that there wasn't a drink, like just going to the beach or to the park. There were mood swings too, and there were fights. But, in the early days, most of our friends had worse mood swings and worse fights. Shane also took a lot of drugs, and as the effects of the drugs became more unpredictable and more disturbing, it was difficult to see which of the substances was the most problematic.
When he answered the door to me after having missed his flight to the United States to open for Bob Dylan, and there was blood pouring out of his mouth because he had eaten a Beach Boys record, it looked as though it was the 100 tabs of acid that were the problem and not the gin and tonic. And when I found him on the floor with a needle in his leg, the drink was not the first thing that I worried about.
Whatever it is that you get used to becomes normal. And, unless you have exceptional self-control, I don't think you can choose who you fall in love with.
You can choose how you behave. I don't have more than a couple of glasses of wine, but I never want to. And I am very fond of yoga, drinking green juices and the great outdoors. But you can't choose how other people behave.
Trust me, I have learned this the hard way.
For many, many years I pleaded and threatened and schemed and begged Shane to take care of his health, to cut down on the drinking, and all the rest of it. Gradually it became clear to me that while I might have some influence over these things, I did not have any control.
I had to learn to concentrate on making my own life the best that it could be, and on minimising the impact of his choices.
That was until one day a few months ago. Shane went into hospital with an excruciating pain in his hip. It was compounded by pneumonia, and the result was a lengthy hospital stay and a total detox. No drink. There was not even a mention of drink. This continued after he got home.
This is the longest that Shane has been sober since we met, and we are getting on very well. I would not have dreamed that it was possible for Shane to be happy and sober.
Our great friend Gerry O'Boyle runs a pub and loves it - without ever touching a drop - so I do know that it is possible for people to enjoy a social life without booze. But it is still an unexpected surprise for me that Shane has got this far and still retains his sense of humour. Shane's manager used to call him Judy Garland - after the tragic, talented alcoholic singer.
Anyone who has ever known an alcoholic knows how destructive and depressing, not to mention terrifying, drink can be.
But that doesn't mean we are all equipped with whatever it takes to control our drinking. So anything could happen.
We just have to take one day at a time. But isn't that what everyone has to do?
The Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe likes to repeat the mantra that the Lansdowne Road agreement on public service pay is the "only show in town".
In the coming days and weeks, as gardaí, teachers and quite possibly other workers go on strike, we may see if Paschal's "only show in town" ends up as a harrowing tragedy, or dismal farce.
Nearly six months after the hotchpotch of a Fine Gael government entered office, we are now facing the possibility of the worst winter of industrial unrest in three decades.
The Lansdowne Road agreement, signed by Donohoe's predecessor Brendan Howlin last year and aimed at an orderly restoration of public service pay, seems to be unravelling at alarming speed.
Howlin, now Labour leader, tells Review that the Government's handling of public service pay has been a "disaster".
By Thursday of this week, with the start of a teachers' strike and a garda strike looming for next week, we faced the possibility of schools shutting down for an indefinite period - idle teenagers staying in bed all day or wandering the streets, and calls to gardaí going unanswered in emergencies.
Education Minister Richard Bruton talks to the media about the second-level school strike Photo: Tom Burke
As one seasoned observer of union affairs put: "The idea of gardaí going on strike is historic and unprecedented. We have never seen anything on this scale before."
Some public sector unions, angered by severe wage cuts in the recession, have been emboldened by the large pay rises given to Luas and Dublin bus workers after strikes.
And the sense of grievance has been heightened by a worsening housing crisis, which is making many in low-to-middle income jobs struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
As the teachers took to the picket lines on Thursday, there were familiar gripes from the public about pampered public servants, fat pensions, secure jobs and long holidays.
Pay fight: Orla Quinlan, of Kilkenny, at a teachers' protest outside the Dail earlier this month Photo: Arthur Carron
Other public sector workers such as gardaí and nurses attract more sympathy. Perhaps, deep in our psyche, we all have an unhappy memory of a bad teacher.
According to Government sources, there are much greater concerns about the dispute with the gardaí, and the danger that unrest will spread across the public sector if they cave in, leaving little cash to spend on public services.
Transport Minister Shane Ross Picture: Tom Burke
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has signalled its intention to take industrial action if bed numbers and services are not cut to match the number of staff available. And the nurses' union has also called for the immediate acceleration of pay and pension restoration.
Junior doctors are also airing their grievances and warn that they could take industrial action if a "living-out allowance", paid to cover accommodation costs, is not restored.
If the crisis worsens, and the contagion of industrial unrest spreads to hospital wards and beyond, there may be attempts by ministers to point the finger of blame elsewhere.
But at least part of the blame lies with the politicians in the government, who heightened expectations of income rises during the election campaign.
Teachers on the picket line at Pobalscoil Neasáin in Baldoyle, Dublin Photo: Mark Condren
In hindsight, we can now see just how disastrous the Fine Gael slogan "Let's keep the recovery going" was.
It not only failed to win the party votes, but according to Bill Roche, Professor of Industrial Relations at UCD, it helped to ramp up the demands of workers in the public service.
"In the run-in to the election, politicians talked up economic recovery and the need to share in it, adding to growing impatience in the public service," Prof Roche tells Review.
Class war: Teachers on the picket line at Pobalscoil Neasáin, Baldoyle, on Thursday. Photo: Mark Condren
Regardless of the botched election campaign, Prof Roche believes that concerns over public service pay were likely to bubble to the surface at some point.
We are now seeing a pent-up fury that has built up since the height of the recession being released.
The crash came as a traumatic blow to public servants, whose financial security seemed rock solid. Until then, wages only seemed to increase. Not long before that, former teachers' union boss Joe O'Toole likened doing a benchmarking deal with the government to "walking up to an ATM machine".
How times have changed. Now, a clerical officer in the civil service starting on little more than €20,000, is barely earning above the minimum wage.
Blair Horan, former general secretary of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), says: "On €20,000 a year, someone would find it hard to rent in Dublin, never mind buy a house."
Those in the private sector may still look with envy at the security of public sector jobs and the gilt-edged pension, but the cuts in take-home pay for public servants were unprecedented.
Prof Roche says the cuts to public service pay were between 8pc for lower paid workers to 20pc for those on higher salaries.
There was similar trauma in the private sector, of course, but that came mostly through redundancies rather than swingeing pay cuts.
At the peak of the recession in 2009, an estimated 23pc of private firms cut pay, according to Prof Roche, while 34pc cut staff numbers and 29pc cut hours worked.
"Pay cuts, though by no means insignificant, were not pervasive across the private sector, and nothing like the generalised pay cutting experienced in the public sector," says Prof Roche.
The pay affairs of private sector workers do not attract headlines, but provided that their employer is on a sound financial footing, many have quietly received annual pay rises of 1-2pc since 2011. Last year, under Howlin's Lansdowne agreement, it was agreed that public service workers would receive pay rises that will work out at around €2,000 by 2018.
Particularly aggrieved in many of the unions are the younger entrants, whose pay was slashed by 10pc in 2010. Teachers also lost qualification allowances worth up to €5,000 and new gardaí lost rental allowance of €4,000.
As she went on the picket line at Muckross Park College in Dublin, teacher Breda Ryan told Review: "We are striking for justice for lesser paid teachers. It seems to be the only way to force the Government to listen to us."
The Government has offered to restore some of the pay for new entrants as well as allowances for those in some unions, but the deal has been rejected by ASTI and the Garda Representative Association.
While most unions accept the Lansdowne Road deal, including the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), some groups seemed to have become more radicalised in recent months, and sometimes this militancy has come from unexpected quarters.
Having initially accepted a deal, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors - hardly a hotbed of Trotskyism - rejected it, taking industrial action in pursuit of a 16pc pay rise.
Horan says there is no particular reason why ASTI and the gardaí should be striking, rather than other public service workers.
"It is hard to put your finger on it and say that the groups that are now going into the frontline are uniquely disadvantaged compared to the rest of the public service."
Horan says in the past, ASTI has tried to make the running ahead of the other teachers' unions.
Critics believe ASTI's strategy has been deeply flawed, and that they should have accepted improvements to pay and conditions, while negotiating a better deal later on. The fact that the teachers are disunited on the issue, with other unions accepting the government deal, makes their case less convincing.
While ASTI militancy is par for the course, Horan says the action by the gardaí is a development that nobody was really expecting.
"I wouldn't like to predict what the outcome will be, because the dynamic can change so much."
There are severe dangers for both sides in these strikes, particularly if they continue for a prolonged period.
As they prepare to strike, gardaí may have a lot of public sympathy, but how long will that last if something goes wrong and there is loss of life?
"I have been involved in difficult disputes where farmers could not sell their cattle, or people couldn't get passports to go on holidays," says Horan. "You have to be prepared to take the flak for it.
"The one thing you can't do is put people's lives at risk - 'life and limb' we call it."
If a disaster happens during a garda strike, there is also a possibility that the Government will be blamed for not settling the dispute. "If the Government decides to tough it out," says Prof Roche, "they will hope that public opinion will turn against the strikers and they will be isolated."
On the other hand, a prolonged period of widespread dispute could create a sense of malaise that permanently tarnishes the image of the Government and makes it look political ineffective.
Prof Roche adds that the Government will want to avoid a situation similar to that in Britain in 1978-1979. In terms of industrial relations, that was the original 'Winter of Discontent'. There was a spate of industrial disputes that brought the country to a standstill with oil tanker drivers, railway workers, rubbish collectors and even gravediggers coming out. The spate of strikes is believed to have contributed to the defeat of Jim Callaghan's Labour government in the 1979 general election. But the outcome was not a happy one for the trade unions, with the election of their nemesis, Margaret Thatcher.
If the Government decides to reach a deal by significant restoration of pay, there is a danger that it will blow a hole in the Lansdowne Road agreement. Other public sector workers would inevitably make similar demands and this would affect government finances.
Education Minister Richard Bruton said this week it would not be fair to conclude sectoral deals with particular groups of public servants to the exclusion of others.
"To do so would also mean that we do not have the money left in the public purse to provide increases in social welfare payments for vulnerable groups, tax reductions for people at work, or investments in improvements in public services."
Most union bosses seem to want to negotiate pay rises through national agreements, covering all public sector workers rather than particular groups.
This week, Bernard Harbor, head of communications with the union Impact, said it was unacceptable that some groups of public servants would be favoured with accelerated pay increases at the expense of the rest.
It remains to be seen if Minister Donohoe is up to the job of dampening down industrial unrest, while at the same time keeping a lid on public service pay demands.
The public mood was not helped by the choreography at the time of the Budget, when it emerged that TDs would get a €5,000 pay rise, and ministers would also receive substantial hikes. The Government had to backtrack and announce that ministerial pay would be frozen.
Critics of the Government wonder whether Labour's involvement in the last administration gave them a better handle on public service pay.
As a Labour minister, Howlin had better lines of communication and contacts in the unions. In government from 2011, he pushed through some of the most extensive cuts to public service pay ever implemented.
"There is no doubt that my familiarity with the trade union movement and its leaders was an important part of building trust for an agreement," says Howlin. "I kept in touch with them constantly."
He adds that this Government does not have the same feel for dealing with unions. The Labour leader argues that the issue of public service pay was mishandled by this Government from the start.
"Shortly after the election, the Government should have invited the public sector unions in for a co-ordinated discussion about a new pay agreement, so that they didn't allow powerful unions to make the running.
"This would continue the payback to the public servants in an orderly and affordable way."
According to Howlin, the Government is involved in bi-lateral discussions with individual groups. If there is any leeway given, there will be a disorderly queue of others making demands.
For the Government, the stakes are huge as we face into a Winter of Discontent. Howlin says he's been told by a senior minister that if the Lansdowne Road pay deal collapses, as unions ramp up pay demands, the Government will collapse with it within two or three days.
In this image made from video, firefighters clean rubbles fallen from a damaged building in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless. (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, a man stands in front of a damaged church in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless. (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, firefighters stand in front of a damaged building in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless. (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, residents who fled from their houses gather in a square in front of a damaged church in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 . (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, firefighters clean the road blocked by rubbles fallen from a damaged building in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, priests and nuns escaped from their church join residents in a square in front of a damaged church in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, a damaged church stands in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless. (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, people walk through a street scattered with rubbles fallen from damaged buildings in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, residents who fled from their houses gather in a square in front of a damaged church in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 (Sky Italia via AP) In this image made from video, bricks fallen from a damaged building block a street in Norcia, Italy, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 rocked central and southern Italy following a week of temblors left thousands homeless. (Sky Italia via AP) People are evacuated from an hospital following an earthquake in Rieti, Italy, October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Emiliano Grillotti FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. A patient is evacuated from an hospital following an earthquake in Rieti, Italy, October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Emiliano Grillotti People evacuated from an hospital are covered with blankets following a quake in Rieti, Italy, October 30, 2016. REUTERS/Emiliano Grillotti
A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked the same area of central and southern Italy hit by a quake in August and a pair of aftershocks last week.
It has sent already damaged buildings crumbling after a week of quakes that have left thousands homeless.
The head of Italy's civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there were no immediate reports of deaths, but said some people had suffered injuries as numerous buildings that had resisted the previous shocks collapsed.
Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by the quake at 7.40am local time.
Many people had still been sleeping in cars or evacuated to shelters or hotels in other areas after a pair of strong jolts last Wednesday.
Television images showed nuns rushing out of their church and into the main piazza in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble. One had to be carried by firefighters, while another was supported as she walked.
The mayor of quake-hit Ussita said a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the crumbled buildings.
"It's a disaster, a disaster!" Mayor Marco Rinaldi told the ANSA __news agency. "I was sleeping in the car and I saw hell."
Another hard-hit city, Castelsantangelo sul Nera, also suffered new damage. In Arquata del Tronto, which had been devastated by the August 24 earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, Arquata Mayor Aleandro Petrucci said: "There are no towns left."
"Everything came down," he said.
The quake was felt throughout the Italian peninsula, with reports as far north as Bolzano and as far south as Bari. Residents rushed into the streets in Rome, where ancient palazzi shook, swayed and lurched for a prolonged spell.
Austria's governmental earthquake monitoring organisation said the quake was felt to varying degrees in the east and south of the country and all the way to the city of Salzburg. It says that at its strongest, residents in upper floors noticed a swaying sensation and a slow swinging of hanging objects.
The head of the civil protection authority in Italy's March region, Cesare Spuri, said there have been reports of buildings collapsing in many cities.
In Norcia, nuns knelt in prayer and a firefighter appealed to a priest to help maintain calm among dozens of residents gathered there, including some in wheelchairs.
The church, which had withstood the August earthquake in August and last week's aftershocks, was still standing but television pictures showed piles of stone had accumulated at the bottom of one wall. One stone was thrown metres into the centre of the piazza, illustrating the quake's force.
"We have to keep people calm. Prayer can help. I don't want people to go searching for family members," the firefighter appealed as cameras from SKY TG24 filmed.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicentre of 132 kilometres north-east of Rome and 67 kilometres east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week's quakes. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences put the magnitude at 6.5 and said it had a depth of 10 kilometres, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region.
Rock solid: Dublin North-West TD, Noel Rock, reflects on Ireland's class discrimination problem Photo: David Conachy
Noel Rock was at the Dail bar, eating a toasted sandwich, when a now former senator walked over.
"You're f**king it up for the rest of us," they spat.
At the time Noel was a Dublin City Councillor and had just declined €600 per month in tax-free unvouched expenses.
This week the 28-year-old was once again getting it in the neck, having refused the TD's pay rise.
One high-profile party Fine Gael colleague marched over and said: "It's easy for you, Noel. You don't have kids." (He says that his bank manager laughed at him when he enquired about buying a home. He was turned down because the Government is too unstable.)
But with a basic salary of €87,000 before expenses, the Dublin North-West TD is still grateful for his pay. When we meet in the Fallon & Byrne last Thursday afternoon and I baulk at the figure, I get a very honest response. "It's a mad amount of money," he replies. "The reason I didn't take the increase is because I am not driven or obsessed by money."
This can perhaps be traced back to a time when he had nothing.
The eldest son of a single mother he grew up in Ballymun flats - where he was raised with boisterous twin brothers. The four lived in one room with barred windows for 12 years.
When Noel was just six months old his father died, aged 23. For family reasons he chooses not to speak about it - only to say it was "tragic circumstances".
"At the time I was told it was an accident."
After the death, his paternal grandparents co-raised Noel.
For the "99pc of good people," Noel admits, Ballymun was a very tough environment. He points to a scar at the side of his eye: "I was seven years old when I was set upon on my way home from school. It was unprovoked. I think it could have been a rock. It took a chip out of my skull."
Drugs were a constant. His walk home from school was punctuated by dealers asking if he was interested.
By the age of 12, he said: "Schoolmates would show up for school and their head wouldn't be quite there." At 14, one classmate started using heroin and he died of an overdose a few years later.
I ask what made the difference between him and many of his peers. "A lot were smarter, more articulate, but the difference between achieving and failing is largely down to circumstance," he said.
His guardians were instrumental. His grandparents were teetotallers, "great savers" and funded a lot of his education. "My grandfather still works at 73 and gets up every day at 5am. He travels the country as a market trader."
Both he and his grandmother insisted Noel stayed in school and - with the help of his teachers - he was pushed into breakfast clubs and after school clubs. "I always wondered why I was being made to stay longer than everyone else and the reality was because they wanted to look after me."
He says it is one of the factors, which informed his decision not to take a pay increase, while teachers are fighting for equal pay. In his life, he says, teachers made "a huge difference". They introduced him to a world of books and encouraged him to go to university.
At 16 he worked at McDonald's and Domino's Pizza to earn money, adding to a small student grant to fund his third-level education. And in DCU he developed a deeper interest in politics, which had first took hold as a youngster growing up in Ballymun's notorious towers.
"I remember nobody called to our door. Nobody was interested in us. Nobody cared. Whether an election came or went. Nobody asked my mother for her vote. Up to the age of 16 I don't think we ever saw a politician." Within a year of his studies he was offered the chance to work on Hillary Clinton's Democratic nomination against Barack Obama in Washington. He returned home with a greater passion for politics, but at parties and gatherings in south Dublin, he was still made acutely conscious of his roots.
One evening at an embassy party fundraising event, a fellow guest asked where he was from. When told, she spun him around by the shoulders and loudly announced it to the others.
"You are conscious that you are wearing your only suit, your only tie, you are doing your best to be polite, and talk about things that - in a lot of cases you wouldn't really know about - like theatre," he says. "And then that happens and you just kind of want to get out. I left soon after."
But Noel became more determined. When he finished college he became the youngest Dublin city councillor, then the youngest Fine Gael TD, securing the first seat for the party in the Dublin North-West region. He also took it upon himself to invite every schoolkid in his constituency to visit him in the Dail.
"I am very conscious I am their TD and that I am there for them. I want them to know that. It's too easy to become this distant figure in Leinster House who pops up on Prime Time every now and again." Politics, he believes, is a tough game which has become "very negative and personalised".
Appearances on Vincent Browne have led to hurtful commentary on social media about his appearance.
"They say I have 'stupid red skin' but it's a skin condition called rosacea. I can't help that," he shrugs. "Bertie Ahern had the same, it's the reason he spent so much on make-up."
What's more pertinent, he explains, is that behind closed doors there is still an awful lot of class discrimination in Ireland. "There absolutely is," he says. "Every now and again [other TDs] forget where I have come from and let their guard down.
"And I know people who have to change the address on their CV because they come from certain areas." He is not phased by the ructions over his refusal to take the pay increase and has a clear vision on how he sees the political landscape shaping up: "I would be very proud to see Leo Varadkar become the next Taoiseach," he says. "I would say next year at some stage."
He is hopeful Enda will partake in a "peaceful transition." In the meantime he is travelling to Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters next month to be with her team on election night.
I ask the best advice she has ever given him. "Never leave any stone unturned and always get back to people," he says.
